George Harrison

George Harrison   (musician)
Born	25 February 1943 Liverpool, England
Died	29 November 2001 (Age 58) Los Angeles, California, US
Cause of death	cancer
Nationality	UK
Children	Dhani Harrison
Spouse	• Pattie Boyd • Olivia Arias
Lead guitarist of the Beatles. Stabbed

George Harrison was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian culture and helped broaden the scope of popular music through his incorporation of Indian instrumentation and Hindu-aligned spirituality in the Beatles' work. After the group broke up in 1970, he had a solo career.

Knife stabbing

Harrison's Friar Park estate. In December 1999, he and his wife Olivia were the victims of a knife attack by an intruder.

Harrison had become increasingly concerned about his personal safety after the brutal murder of a fellow Beatle, John Lennon, in 1980. "After what happened to John, I'm absolutely terrified," Harrison commented.. Over the years, he had to deal with death threats, stalkers, and even a fan found outside his home who had intentions of burning the place down. At Friar Park, located 25 miles west of London, he took numerous precautions to protect himself and his family. Harrison had so much security that some neighbors reportedly nicknamed the place Fort Knox. But none of these measures were enough to stop this intruder from getting to Harrison.

On 30 December 1999, Harrison and his wife were attacked at their home, Friar Park. Michael Abram, a 34-year-old man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, broke in and attacked Harrison with a kitchen knife, puncturing a lung and causing head injuries before Olivia Harrison incapacitated the assailant by striking him repeatedly with a fireplace poker and a lamp.

Harrison later commented, "I felt exhausted and could feel the strength draining from me. I vividly remember a deliberate thrust to my chest. I could hear my lung exhaling and had blood in my mouth. I believed I had been fatally stabbed." Following the attack, Harrison was hospitalised with more than 40 stab wounds, and part of his punctured lung was removed.

Abram, who believed he was possessed by Harrison and that he was on a mission from God to kill him, was later acquitted of attempted murder on grounds of insanity and was detained for treatment in a secure mental hospital. He was released in 2002. Upon being released from a mental hospital in 2002 after less than three years in state custody, Abram said "If I could turn back the clock, I would give anything not to have done what I did in attacking George Harrison, but looking back on it now, I have come to understand that I was at the time not in control of my actions. I can only hope the Harrison family might somehow find it in their hearts to accept my apologies."

The injuries inflicted on Harrison during the home invasion were downplayed by his family in their comments to the press. Having seen Harrison looking so healthy beforehand, those in his social circle believed that the attack brought about a change in him and was the cause for his cancer's return. In May 2001, it was revealed that Harrison had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs, and in July, it was reported that he was being treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland. While in Switzerland, Starr visited him but had to cut short his stay in order to travel to Boston, where his daughter was undergoing emergency brain surgery. Harrison, who was very weak, quipped: "Do you want me to come with you?" In November 2001, he began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for non-small cell lung cancer that had spread to his brain. When the news was made public, Harrison bemoaned his physician's breach of privacy, and his estate later claimed damages. The suit was ultimately settled out of court under the condition that the guitar be "disposed of".

On 29 November 2001, Harrison died at a property belonging to McCartney, on Heather Road in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

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