Hundreds Celebrate Walk Star for “Quiet Beatle”

Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison posthumously received the 2,382nd star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame Tuesday in front of the Capitol Records building, the same day the label announced plans for a new Harrison music release.

Harrison's widow, Olivia, and his son, Dhani, accepted the star during the late-morning ceremony, which was attended by about 1,000 people, some of whom arrived at about 5 a.m.

Harrison, the most self-effacing member of rock 'n' roll's most celebrated band, was born in Liverpool, England, on Feb. 25, 1943, the son of a bus driver.

He attended the Liverpool Institute for Boys, where he was a classmate of Paul McCartney. The two joined John Lennon in the Quarrymen in 1958. Over the next two years, the band would go through several changes before drummer Ringo Starr joined, and the group debuted as the Beatles on Feb. 21, 1961.

Harrison, sometimes called the "quiet Beatle," was primarily a guitarist, his compositional contribution mostly overshadowed by the songwriting of McCartney and Lennon.

The group's early years, though successful, were not Harrison's most artful or productive. It wasn't until 1966 that Harrison really began writing the first of his critical and commercial hits for the group, including "Taxman" and "Love You Too."

From 1968-70, he wrote some of the foursome's most-heartfelt tunes, including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun."

Another one of Harrison's song, "Something," was once hailed by the late Frank Sinatra -- no fan of rock bands -- as "the greatest love song ever written."

In the years immediately following The Beatles' 1970 breakup, Harrison pursued his interest in the creation and restoration of gardens, rare books and car racing. In 1971, he organized one of the first of rock `n' roll's all-star benefit events, The Concert for Bangladesh.

Harrison took a five-year break from recording in the 1980s, then returned in 1987 with the album "Cloud Nine," which reached the top 10 in both the United States and United Kingdom.

In 1988, he joined up with Bob Dylan, Tim Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison to form the Travelling Wilburys, which enjoyed great praise from record buyers and music critics alike.

Harrison's post-Beatles career also included producing 23 movies under the HandMade Films banner, including "Time Bandits," "Mona Lisa," "Shanghai Surprise," and "Withnail and I."

Harrison died Nov. 29, 2001, in Los Angeles from cancer at the age of 58.

In conjunction with the ceremony, Capitol Records announced it will release a collection June 16 titled "Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison," a collection of digitally remastered recordings of Harrison's solo recordings, along with three live recordings of the Harrison-penned Beatles tracks "Something," "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun."

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