Everyone may refer to:

''Everyone'' (album), a 2006 album by Reuben Morgan

''Everyone'' (Olympics song), official theme song of the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics held in Singapore

''Everyone'' (Van Morrison song), a 1970 song by Van Morrison

''Everyone'', a rating from the Entertainment Software Rating Board for video games

''Everyone'' (film), a 2004 film starring and co-produced by Carly Pope

Everyone (Skins series 5), the finale of series 5 of the UK TV series ''Skins''

"Everyone" (Skins series one), the final episode of the first series of ''Skins''

See also

Everybody (disambiguation)

name	Lily Allen
background	solo_singer
birth name	Lily Rose Beatrice Allen
birth date	May 02, 1985
birth place	Hammersmith, London, England
instrument	Guitar
genre	Pop
occupation	Musician, songwriter, presenter
years active	1988–present
label	London, Regal, Capitol
website	}}

Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper, better known as Lily Allen (born 2 May 1985), is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative. Allen abandoned school and concentrated on improving her performing and compositional skills. Afterwards, she created several demo songs and, near the end of 2005, she created a profile on MySpace where she made some of her recordings public.

A contract was signed with the label Regal Recordings, as the views on MySpace rose to tens of thousands. In 2006, she began to work on completing what would be her first studio album and its first mainstream single "Smile" reached the top position on the UK Singles Chart in July 2006. Her debut record, ''Alright, Still'', was well received on the international market, selling over 2.6 million copies and brought Allen a nomination at the Grammy Awards, BRIT Awards and MTV Video Music Awards. She then began hosting her own talk-show, ''Lily Allen and Friends'', on BBC Three.

Her second major album release, ''It's Not Me, It's You'', saw a genre shift for her, having more of an electropop feel, rather than the ska and reggae influences of the first one. The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and the Australian ARIA Charts and was appreciated by the critics, noting the singer's musical evolution and maturity. It spawned the hit singles "The Fear" and "Fuck You", popular mostly in Europe. Allen and Amy Winehouse have been credited with starting a process that led to the media-proclaimed "year of the women" in 2009 that has seen five female artists making music of "experimentalism and fearlessness" long nominated for the Mercury Prize.

During the autumn of 2010, Allen opened a fashion rental shop "Lucy in Disguise" with her sister Sarah, followed by the 2011 launching of her own record label.

Life and career

Childhood and youth

Allen was born in Hammersmith, west London, daughter of Welsh-born comedian and actor Keith Allen and English, Portsmouth-born, film producer Alison Owen. She has an older sister, Sarah; a younger brother, Alfie Owen-Allen (who was the subject of her song "Alfie"); and a younger sister Rebecca. She has a number of half-siblings. At the age of three, Allen appeared on ''The Comic Strip Presents...'' episode "The Yob," which her father had co-written. When Allen was four years old, her father left the family. Allen grew up with her mother living on a council estate during her early childhood. Her family settled in the North London borough of Islington. Allen lived for a while with comedian Harry Enfield while her mother dated him. She is the god-daughter of Wild Colonials vocalist Angela McCluskey. The late Clash singer and guitarist Joe Strummer was close to Allen. Allen has fond memories of the week and a half they would spend together at Glastonbury Festival as part of a regular collective centred on Strummer and her father. Strummer's musical past would not come into focus for Allen until after his death.

She attended some of the UK's most expensive fee-paying public schools; Allen attended 13 schools in all, including Prince Charles's junior alma mater, Hill House School, Millfield, Bedales School and was expelled from several of them for drinking and smoking. When Allen was 11, former University of Victoria music student Rachel Santesso overheard Allen singing Wonderwall by Oasis in the school's playground; impressed, Santesso, who later became an award-winning soprano and composer, called Allen into her office the next day and started giving her lunchtime singing lessons. This would lead to Allen singing ''Baby Mine'' from Disney's Dumbo at a school concert. Allen would tell ''Loveline'' that the audience was "brought to tears at the sight of a troubled young girl doing something good". At that point Allen said she knew that music was something she needed to do either as a lifelong vocation or to get it out of her system. Allen played piano to grade 5 standard and achieved Grade 8 in singing. She also played violin, guitar and trumpet as well as being a member of a chamber choir. Her first solo was "In the Bleak Midwinter." Allen made an appearance as a lady-in-waiting in the 1998 film ''Elizabeth'', which was co-produced by her mother. She dropped out of school at age fifteen, not wanting to "spend a third of her life preparing to work for the next third of her life, to set herself up with a pension for the next third of her life."

2002-2005: Career beginnings

When her family went to Ibiza on holiday, Allen told her mother that she was staying with friends but remained in Sant Antoni de Portmany instead. She earned money by working at a Plastic Fantastic record store and dealing ecstasy. Allen met her first manager, George Lamb in Ibiza. She was rejected by several labels, which she attributed to her drinking and being the daughter of Keith Allen. However, she eventually used her father's connections to get signed to London Records in 2002. When the executive who had signed her left, the label lost interest and she left without releasing the folk songs many of which were written by her father. She then studied horticulture to become a florist, but changed her mind and returned to music. Allen began writing songs, while her manager introduced her to production duo Future Cut in 2004. They worked in a small studio in the basement of an office building.

In 2005, Allen was signed to Regal Recordings; they gave her £25,000 to produce an album, though they were unable to provide much support for it due to their preoccupation with other releases such as ''X&Y;'' (Coldplay) and ''Demon Days'' (Gorillaz). Allen then created an account on MySpace and began posting demos that she recorded in November 2005. The demos attracted thousands of listeners, and 500 limited edition 7" vinyl singles of "LDN" were rush-released, reselling for as much as £40. Allen also produced two mixtapes — ''My First Mixtape'' and ''My Second Mixtape'' — to promote her work. As she accumulated tens of thousands of MySpace friends, ''The Observer Music Monthly'' (OMM), a magazine published in ''The Observer'', took interest in March 2006. Few people outside of her label's A&R; department knew who she was, so the label was slow in responding to publications wanting to report about her. She received her first major mainstream coverage, appearing in the magazine's cover story two months later.

2006–08: ''Alright, Still'' and television

The success convinced her label to allow her more creative control over the album and to use some of the songs that she had written instead of forcing her to work with mainstream producers. Allen decided to work with producers Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson, finishing the rest of the album in two weeks. Allen's debut album, ''Alright, Still'', was released in July 2006. Most of the tracks had been previewed on her MySpace page, including the singles "Smile", "LDN", "Knock 'Em Out", and "Alfie". In September 2006, "Smile" was made available on the United States version of iTunes Store. By December 2006, her music video for ''Smile'' had been played on various music channels as well as the song getting a little airplay. ''Entertainment Weekly'' named ''Alright, Still'' as one of the top 10 albums of 2006 despite the fact that it had not yet been released in the U.S. Allen also did several promotional ads for MTV as their ''Discover and Download'' artist of the month for January 2007. The album was released in the United States on 30 January 2007, landing at 20 on the ''Billboard'' Album Charts. By January 2009, the album had sold 960,000 copies in the United Kingdom and 520,000 copies in the United States.

In 2007, she played the newly launched Park Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, replacing M.I.A. who had cancelled. During the festival she reunited two members of The Specials an act that guitarist Lynval Golding claimed played a "massive part" in the group's 2009 reunion. She also sang the vocals on the top ten single, "Oh My God", a cover of the Kaiser Chiefs song by Mark Ronson. The single, "Littlest Things" from Allen's album produced by Ronson, helped earn him a "Producer of the Year – Non Classical" 2008 Grammy Award. She also provided background vocals to a couple of songs on the Kaiser Chief's third album in 2008. Allen won a 2008 BMI songwriting award for "Smile". Allen began dating musician Ed Simons of the Chemical Brothers in September 2007, and in December, Allen announced that she and Simons were expecting a child. Allen later suffered a miscarriage.

Due to her outspokenness, Allen was the subject of many controversies early in her career. Disparaging remarks about musicians Luke Pritchard of The Kooks, Bob Geldof, Amy Winehouse, Kylie Minogue, and Katy Perry have all garnered minor press attention. She later said that making fun of other pop stars was a result of a lack of confidence, saying "I felt like 'Oh God, I'm short, fat, ugly and I hate all these people who flaunt their beauty.'" On 28 June 2007, Allen was arrested in London for allegedly assaulting photographer Kevin Rush while she was leaving a nightclub in London's West End. Prior to this, she had expressed discomfort with attention from the paparazzi on her MySpace blog. By February 2009 she had stopped addressing controversies about herself on her blog because she found it "boring when people just pick stuff up and write about it. People get hurt, people get upset." In September 2009, she shut down her MySpace account and stopped social networking completely in December due to the abuse she was taking.

Allen signed a one series contract to present her own BBC Three TV show entitled ''Lily Allen and Friends'' based on the social networking phenomenon that helped to launch her music career. Guests included Mark Ronson, Joanna Page, James Corden, Lauren Laverne, Roisin Murphy, Louis Walsh, and Danny Dyer. The show received a 2% share of the total multi-channel audience share despite a high-profile nationwide marketing campaign. Allen was quoted in a British tabloid as rating the show "probably five out of 10" and said "I made a lot of money out of it". Citing Allen's rapid development as a TV host and her popularity among its target audience BBC Three announced it was renewing ''Lily Allen and Friends'' for a second season. BBC Three controller Danny Cohen later said that the show will not air in the Spring of 2009 as originally scheduled because of music commitments.

Allen performed at a benefit concert for War Child, an international child protection agency that works with children affected by war. Backed by Keane, Allen sang "Smile" and "Everybody’s Changing". Although the singer is a staunch supporter of the Labour Party, she has been credited with helping inspire a parliamentary rebellion against Prime Minister Gordon Brown when she wrote to all Members of Parliament asking them to back an amendment to an energy bill. She has since confirmed her support for the UK Labour Party and for Prime Minister Gordon Brown in particular.

2008–09: ''It's Not Me, It's You''

After the release of her first album, her parent record company, EMI, was taken over by Terra Firma. She also changed her management company from Empire Artist Management to Twenty-First Artists, although her core team remained in place. At the urging of her record company, Allen tried unsuccessfully to create the album with several writers and producers. Allen eventually returned to Greg Kurstin who had written three songs for ''Alright, Still.'' The album was produced by Kurstin at Eagle Rock Studios in Los Angeles. Before returning to Kus, Allen co-wrote the songs for the album with Kurstin who played piano on it. This is a change from her earlier work in which she wrote lyrics for finished tracks. Allen released a statement saying "We decided to try and make bigger sounding, more ethereal songs, real songs ... I wanted to work with one person from start to finish to make it one body of work. I wanted it to feel like it had some sort of integrity. I think I've grown up a bit as a person and I hope it reflects that." She posted two new song demos on her MySpace page and planned to release a mixtape to give her fans an idea of what the new direction was.

Allen cancelled a scheduled appearance at the 2008 Isle of Wight Festival telling festival promoter John Giddings the reason for the cancellation was that her album was behind schedule. Giddings said that the reason given was not acceptable and possibly a lie. Giddings decided not to sue her. Photos of her drunk and topless in the Cannes Film Festival were also widely covered in the press. Her appearance at the 2008 ''Glamour'' Awards also generated criticism, as she showed up intoxicated wearing a dress covered in decapitated Bambi figures, and had an on-stage, expletive-laced exchange with Elton John. On 29 June 2008, Allen performed at the Glastonbury Festival alongside producer Mark Ronson. An emotional Allen dedicated her performance of "Littlest Things" to her grandmother who died the night before. ''It's Not Me, It's You'' was first scheduled for an early 2008 release, but her miscarriage and creative issues delayed the release date to the autumn. During autumn 2008, EMI was undergoing restructuring. Due to this environment, a decision was made to move the album's eventual release date. An online game, ''Escape the Fear,'' was created by Matmi as part of the viral marketing campaign targeted at people unaware of Allen or the album. Since its release, the game has topped the worldwide viral charts three times, including the week of Christmas—a highly contested time of the year. By 18 February 2009, the game had been played over two million times. The singer and The Clash guitarist Mick Jones performed The Clash’s song "Straight to Hell" on an album for the charity Heroes.

''It's Not Me, It's You'' was released in February 2009. It debuted at the number 1 position in the UK, Canada, and Australia and the number 5 position in the United States. The album has been certified platinum in the United Kingdom. The release of the album was a factor in EMI’s more than trebling its earnings. The first single from the album, "The Fear", was number 1 for the first four weeks in the UK after its release. The second single released from the album, "Not Fair", reached the number 9 position. She began her It's Not Me, It's You World Tour in March, touring throught the next two years until September 2010. Her work on this album with Greg Kurstin earned her the ''Songwriters of the Year'' at the 2010 Ivor Novello Awards. In addition, she won with Kurstin ''Best Song Musically and Lyrically'' and ''Most Performed Work'' for "The Fear". Allen appeared overwhelmed by this recognition from what she considered "real awards". In October 2010, Allen was awarded by the United States music licensing organization Broadcast Music Incorporated for extensive United States radio airplay of her song, "The Fear". Allen has been named the face of the National Portrait Gallery as part of the gallery's marketing campaign. The picture was photographed by Nadav Kander emblazoned with the words, "Vocalist, Lyricist, Florist" . Allen and Jamie Hince, guitarist for The Kills, raised £48,350 for the children’s charity The Hoping Foundation. The pair sang "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" at a karaoke auction fundraiser. Karl Lagerfeld, the head designer for Chanel personally hired and photographed Allen for a campaign to promote a luxury line of handbags due to launch in September 2009.

In May 2009, French football magazine ''So Foot'' published a fake interview in which Allen was quoted as making derogatory remarks about David and Victoria Beckham and Ashley and Cheryl Cole. Some of the material was reprinted in the British tabloid ''The Sun''. Both publications later apologized and paid damages to Allen.

2009–present: Marriage and musical hiatus

Allen began dating Sam Cooper, the owner of a building company, in the summer of 2009. In September 2009, Allen announced that she was considering a career in acting and that she would not renew her record contract. Allen additionally stated that she has "no plans" to make another record. After the British government's plans to implement a three strikes policy for file sharing copyright infringement, Lily Allen came out in strong support for disconnecting offenders. Creating a blog entitled ''"It’s Not Alright"'' against file sharing, it subsequently came to light that she had copied text directly from the Techdirt website of an interview with 50 Cent. This led to an exchange on the Internet, which culminated in accusations being made that Allen had infringed on other artists' copyrights by creating mix tapes early in her career, that she then made available via her website. A group of supporters of filesharing launched a denial of service attack dubbed Operation Payback that shut down Allen's website and targeted other critics. On 1 October 2009, Allen and several other musicians released the world's first digital musical petition aimed at pressuring world leaders attending the December 2009 climate change summit in Copenhagen. The petition included a cover of the song "Beds are Burning" by Midnight Oil. She featured on the UK top five single, "Just Be Good to Green" by Professor Green in June 2010.

In August, she began a musical hiatus following a performance at the Big Chill Festival in Herefordshire, England. On 5 August 2010, Allen announced that she was pregnant with her and Cooper's first child, later confirmed to be a boy due early in 2011. Allen and her sister opened their own clothing store entitled "Lucy In Disguise" on 15 September 2010. Allen's pregnancy involved early complications, including "about a week and a half of really heavy bleeding." Six months into her pregnancy, Allen contracted a viral infection which caused her to suffer a pre-term delivery. On 6 November, Allen was rushed to the hospital, where she responded well to treatment for the blood poisoning condition septicaemia. Citing invasion of privacy and copyright infringement, in November 2010 Allen took legal action against Associated Newspapers, the parent company of the Daily Mail after the Daily Mail published photographs of Allen's home.

Allen and Cooper became engaged over the Christmas holidays in December 2010 while vacationing in Bali. In January 2011, Allen launched her own record label In the Name Of, financially backed by Sony Music. The first act signed to the label was New York noise pop duo Cults. In February 2011, Allen started penning songs for the musical version of Bridget Jones's Diary which is scheduled to open in London's West End in 2012. Allen and Cooper wed on 11 June 2011 at St. James church in Cranham, Gloucestershire, England. The designer of Allen's wedding dress confirmed she was pregnant.

Musical style

Allen's early released songs saw her take on a thick Cockney accent while singing against retro productions. Her music was used as part of an exhibition at the British Library tracing the history of Cockney English. Her songs also featured other elements, such as the ska influence on second single, "LDN". She was also noted for her liberal use of crude words in her lyrics. Allen has said she cringes now when listening to tracks from ''Alright, Still'', as it reminds her that she was a "sort of over-excitable teenager who desperately wanted attention" when she wrote it. Desiring to move on from the retro sound that many other artists had since adapted after her debut, on ''It's Not Me, It's You'' Allen ventured in a new direction sonically and lyrically, the first single from the album was an electropop track denouncing consumerism. While Allen admittedly did not set out to make a revolutionary record, her new music direction and willingness to write lyrics that tackled less common subjects were lauded by critics.

Discography

''Alright, Still'' (2006)

''It's Not Me, It's You'' (2009)

See also

List of awards and nominations received by Lily Allen

References

External links

Wilson, Beth. ''Smile: The Story of Lily Allen''. Omnibus Press, 2010. ISBN 978-1849380614

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:BBC people Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English television talk show hosts Category:Capitol Records artists Category:English environmentalists Category:English female singers Category:English feminists Category:English people of Welsh descent Category:English pop singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English songwriters Category:English television personalities Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:LGBT rights activists from England Category:Old Bedalians Category:Old Millfieldians Category:People from Hammersmith Category:People from Islington Category:Singers from London Category:Miscarriage victims Category:People educated at Millfield Preparatory School Category:People educated at Hill House School

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name	Shakin' Stevens
background	solo_singer
born	March 04, 1948
alias	Michael Barratt "Shaky"
origin	Ely, Cardiff, Wales
genre	Rock 'n' roll
years active	1968–present
label	Epic
associated acts	The Sunsets
notable instruments	Guitar }}

Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" (born Michael Barratt, 4 March 1948) is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw commercial success in his native land. In the UK alone, Stevens has charted no fewer than 33 top 40 hit singles in the sales charts.

Biography

Early days

Michael Barratt, who would adopt the stage name Shakin' Stevens, was the youngest of 11 children born in Ely, a suburb on the outskirts of Cardiff in South Wales to Jack and May Barratt. His father was a First World War veteran who by 1948 was working in the building trade. The oldest of his siblings were born in the later part of the 1920s, and by the time of his birth some of them were already married and had children of their own. Jack Barratt died in 1972 at the age of 75, while May survived until 1984 and the age of 79.

Shaky married his wife Carole on 7 October 1967 and they have three children. At the time of their marriage, his official occupation was a milkman, and they lived in a flat which formed part of an office block in inner-city Cardiff. The office block was demolished several years later.

As a teenager in the mid 1960s Barratt formed his first amateur rock and roll band with school friends and became its vocalist and frontman. Originally named ''The Olympics'', then ''The Cossacks'', the short lived band finally renamed as ''The Denims'' and performed gigs in the local Cardiff and South Wales area.

In the late 1960s Stevens was associated with the Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain - playing at YCL events. At the time the YCL was associated with several leading music industry figures, including Pete Townshend.

He is a lifelong supporter of his local football team Cardiff City.

The Sunsets

He began his professional performing career during 1968, fronting ''Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets'', created and managed by South Wales rock and roll promoter and impresario Paul 'Legs' Barrett (no relation). The Sunsets were a 1950s-influenced rock'n'roll outfit from Penarth, South Glamorgan that had evolved from a band, previously called ''The Backbeats'' since 1958, who invited Stevens to join them after he had been an avid fan of the band for several years and occasionally hopped on stage to do a guest vocal.

An early break for Shaky and the band presented itself when they were given a support slot for The Rolling Stones in December 1969. Despite landing a recording contract with Parlophone Records the following year and releasing a Dave Edmunds produced album, the optimistically and prematurely titled ''A Legend'', the band found success hard to come by, at least in their native Great Britain, though they had several hit singles in other countries. The band toured Germany and the Netherlands in between regular UK dates as the band's reputation for staging a vibrant and exciting show grew.

"Elvis!" and a hit record

In 1977, after seven years of constant touring and recording, Shaky had been spotted during a London Sunset's gig by Jack Good who personally invited him to attend a London audition for his planned new West End "Elvis!" musical. Three actors were to portray Elvis's life during the course of the show and Shaky landed one of the lead roles, playing Elvis in his prime charting, army and movie star years, with young actor Tim Whitnall covering the earlier formative years and veteran 1960s singer P J Proby taking over the part for Elvis's 'Las Vegas' years.

The rest of the Sunsets waited in South Wales, doing occasional performances with drummer Robert 'Rockin Louis' Llewellyn taking the frontman duties, but fully expecting Shaky to return to the band and recommence touring after the show's planned short six month run. However, the expectations were overtaken by subsequent events. The media wise Good made sure that both the audition process and the early months of the show were widely and regularly covered by the British daily press and TV shows. The photogenic Shakin' Stevens came to such prominence that almost overnight all agegroups of the UK population knew who he was. During the "Elvis!" show's highly successful and then twice extended two year run Shaky made regular TV appearances, firstly on Good's revived British ITV show Oh Boy and later on his follow up 30 week long series ''Let's Rock'' that was syndicated in thirty two countries including the United States. This led almost inevitably to his first major chart success with a cleverly reworked version of a Buck Owens song "Hot Dog", which Owens would go on to re-record using Stevens's arrangement, which had been created by pedal steel guitar player B.J. Cole.

The 1980s and 1990s

In late 1979, Shaky signed what was to be his most successful management deal with music industry doyenne Freya Miller, who immediately advised Stevens to sever his association with The Sunsets and continue developing a more lucrative solo career. Under Miller's deft hand, in 1981, Shaky scored his first UK chart topping number 1 with "This Ole House" and would follow up with ten more songs reaching the top five, including three number 1 hits with "Green Door", "Oh Julie" and "Merry Christmas Everyone", while "You Drive Me Crazy" and "A Love Worth Waiting For" reached number 2 in 1981 and 1984 respectively. His 1984 hit "Teardrops", which reached #5 in the UK, featured Hank B. Marvin on guitar and Stevens has often featured famous musicians such as Albert Lee, Roger Taylor, Bonnie Tyler and more recently Tony Joe White on his recordings. Chart successes also included his album ''Shaky'' reaching number 1 in the album charts. In the mid 1980s, Stevens reunited with former producer Dave Edmunds to record an album ''Lipstick, Powder and Paint'' and the Christmas smash Merry Christmas Everyone, which was a number 1 hit over Christmas 1985. Its original planned release was put back by a year to avoid clashing with the runaway success of Band Aid's charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", to which he did not contribute, having been out of the country touring at the time of recording. Despite Stevens's chart domination over the previous few years, he was not invited to perform at Live Aid on 13 July 1985. That year he became the first artist to appear 50 times on Top of the Pops.

In a Record Collector magazine feature, writer Kris Griffiths wrote: "This was Shaky at the very zenith of his powers and, perhaps, the breaking-point of marketing overload from which there is only decline. Such concentrated commercial success and ubiquity came with a price." The hits continued but chart placings declined throughout the later 1980s and early 1990s. It was in the 1990s that Stevens took a lengthy break from recording and was stung by a court ruling, relating to unpaid royalties from the ''Legend'' album which had been re-released to some commercial success, requiring a substantial payout to former band members of the Sunsets. In 1999, Shaky returned to performing live and undertook tours all that year and the following year.

The 2000s

Stevens hit a low point in January 2002 when he was very publicly convicted of a drink-driving charge and banned from driving for two years, but in 2004 things started to look up again when he had a further platinum CD / DVD album in Denmark and a gold album in South Africa.

In the sitcom ''I'm Alan Partridge'', Stevens's fictional endorsement of Partridge's book ''Bouncing Back'' - in which he described it as "lovely stuff" - was supposedly critical to its success.

In 2005, he returned once again to the charts in the United Kingdom, with his greatest hits album ''The Collection'', which reached the UK top 5. That year, he also appeared in the video to Tony Christie's and Peter Kay's #1 hit single "Is This the Way to Amarillo", alongside many other UK stars, including Ronnie Corbett, Jim Bowen, Michael Parkinson and Geoffrey Hayes. He was the winner on the reality television show, ''Hit Me Baby One More Time''. This was quickly followed by a re-release of his cover and his own biggest hit sung in the show, ("Trouble" covering Pink's version) / "This Ole House"), which reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart in June 2005, his 33rd Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom.

Present day

In May 2007, Stevens released a new album entitled ''Now Listen'' with the album being released first in Denmark. In December 2007, Stevens re-entered the UK charts with a re-issue of "Merry Christmas Everyone" twenty two years after its original launch, reaching a UK chart position of 22.

Chris Evans featured a special ''Shaky Week'' on his Radio 2 show during early March 2008 to celebrate Stevens's 60th birthday and later in 2008, despite his aging years, Shaky embarked on a string of major concerts in the UK and Europe that started at Lulworth Castle on 4 July. On 24 August 2008 Shakin' Stevens performed at a major concert in Poland featuring many European pop stars of the 1980s, including Kim Wilde, Thomas Anders (ex-Modern Talking), Samantha Fox, Sandra Cretu, Sabrina Salerno and Limahl. The concert formed a part of the Sopot International Song Festival 2008 and was presented live on the Polish television channel TVN. To wind up 2008 Stevens followed his European tour with a short tour of Ireland and an appearance at London's O2 Arena, supported by a ten-piece band. His appearances in 2009 opened with a tour of Poland to coincide with the Polish release of the ''Now Listen'' album.

In mid July 2006, Shaky took to the stage at an open air concert 'The Big Buzz' in Swansea, Wales. He was top of the bill, and performed a repertoire of his hits, including "Oh Julie", "Marie Marie" and "Turning Away". He also performed two songs from his most recent album, ''Now Listen'' ("Now Listen" and "Baby It's You"). The concert also featured Dave Edmunds and was broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales.

Stevens's original band The Sunsets have continued to perform regularly over the years without him and still tour annually in the UK, Europe and Australia with a show of authentic vintage rock and roll. In recent years the band has been fronted by Shaky's younger nephew, Levi Barrett.

In April 2008, it was announced that Shakin' Stevens would be performing at 2008's Glastonbury Festival as the opening act on the Pyramid stage on Saturday 28 June, which he did, opening the day at 11am to a capacity crowd - several hours before the BBC started to film the day's performers for broadcast, although Stevens' performance still received media attention. On 8 December 2009 Shaky played a one - off gig at the O2 Academy Islington to promote the release of the "The Epic Masters Box Set" (released 16 November 2009) which marks the thirtieth anniversary of his first hit "Hot Dog".

On 10 December 2009, Stevens appeared in court in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, charged with assaulting photographer Hugo McNiece at the Tullyglass Hotel in Ballymena on 3 December. In January 2010 he was convicted of the assault and criminal damage in the case. He was fined a total of £300 and ordered to pay McNeice £479 to compensate for the damage to his camera lens. His conviction was overturned on appeal at Ballymena County Court in May 2011.

Stevens was rushed to hospital after he collapsed at his home in Windsor in July 2010. This resulted from exhaustion brought on by the stress of working on a new album. It was later revealed that Stevens suffered a major heart attack which caused him to be hospitalised for two months after strenuous work gardening in his home, in Windsor. He fully recovered and in 2011 embarks on an early part of the year 19-date 30th Anniversary Tour, followed by a further 26 dates in the 2nd leg of the tour later in the year. Shaky will be backed by a 10-piece band on the Anniversary Tour celebrating his success in the UK and Europe.

Discography

References

External links

Official Site

Shakin' Stevens biography from BBC Wales

"Elvis!", the Musical - Musicians involved

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:Welsh rock singers Category:Welsh male singers Category:People from Cardiff Category:Epic Records artists

cy:Shakin' Stevens da:Shakin' Stevens de:Shakin’ Stevens fr:Shakin' Stevens nl:Shakin' Stevens pl:Shakin' Stevens pt:Shakin' Stevens sv:Shakin' Stevens

alt	Black-and-white shot of a mustachioed man in his early thirties with long, dark hair.
background	solo_singer
alias	Carl HarrisonL'Angelo MisteriosoHari GeorgesonNelson/Spike WilburyGeorge HarrysongGeorge O'Hara-Smith
birth date	February 25, 1943
birth place
death date	November 29, 2001
death place
instrument	Guitar, vocals, bass, keyboards, ukulele, mandolin, sitar, tambura, sarod, swarmandal
genre	Rock, pop, psychedelic rock, experimental, world
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, actor, record and film producer
years active	1958–2001
label	Parlophone, Capitol, Swan, Apple, Vee-Jay, EMI, Dark Horse
associated acts	The Quarrymen, The Beatles, Traveling Wilburys, Dhani Harrison, Ravi Shankar
website	GeorgeHarrison.com
notable instruments	Gretsch Country Gentleman"Rocky""Lucy"Rosewood Telecaster }}

George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English rock musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other Beatles, as well as those of their Western audience. Following the band's break-up, he had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys, and also as a film and record producer. Harrison is listed at number 21 in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Although most of The Beatles' songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, Beatle albums generally included one or two of Harrison's own songs, from ''With The Beatles'' onwards. His later compositions with The Beatles include "Here Comes the Sun", "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". By the time of the band's break-up, Harrison had accumulated a backlog of material, which he then released as the acclaimed and successful triple album ''All Things Must Pass'' in 1970, from which came two singles: a double A-side single, "My Sweet Lord" backed with "Isn't It a Pity", and "What Is Life". In addition to his solo work, Harrison co-wrote two hits for Ringo Starr, another former Beatle, as well as songs for the Traveling Wilburys—the supergroup he formed in 1988 with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Roy Orbison.

Harrison embraced Indian culture and Hinduism in the mid 1960s, and helped expand Western awareness of sitar music and of the Hare Krishna movement. With Ravi Shankar he organised a major charity concert with the 1971 ''Concert for Bangladesh''.

Besides being a musician, he was also a record producer and co-founder of the production company HandMade Films. In his work as a film producer, he collaborated with people as diverse as the members of Monty Python and Madonna.

He was married twice, to model Pattie Boyd from 1966 to 1974, and for 23 years to record company secretary Olivia Trinidad Arias, with whom he had one son, Dhani Harrison. He was a close friend of Eric Clapton. He is the only Beatle to have published an autobiography, with ''I Me Mine'' in 1980. Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001.

Early years: 1943–1959

Harrison was born in Liverpool, England, on 25 February 1943, the last of four children to Harold Hargreaves Harrison and his wife Louise, née French. thumb|alt=Exterior of a red brick building. Visible are a black door with a small window just above it, two larger windows to the left of the door, one above the other, and a flowerpot between the door and the lower larger window|Harrison's first home – 12 Arnold Grove He had one sister, Louise, born 16 August 1931, and two brothers, Harry, born 1934, and Peter, born 20 July 1940. His mother was a Liverpool shop assistant, and his father was a bus conductor who had worked as a ship's steward on the White Star Line. The family were Roman Catholic; his maternal grandfather, John French, was born at County Wexford, Ireland, emigrating to Liverpool where he married a local girl, Louise Woollam.

Harrison was born in the house where he lived for his first six years: 12 Arnold Grove, Wavertree, Liverpool, which was a small 2 up, 2 down terraced house in a cul-de-sac, with an alley to the rear. The only heating was a single coal fire, and the toilet was outside. In 1950 the family were offered a council house, and moved to 25 Upton Green, Speke.

His first school was Dovedale Primary School, very close to Penny Lane, the same school as John Lennon who was a couple of years ahead of him. He passed his 11-plus examination and achieved a place at the Liverpool Institute for Boys (in the building that now houses the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts), which he attended from 1954 to 1959. George said that, when he was 12 or 13, he had an "epiphany" of sorts – riding a bike around his neighbourhood, he heard Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" playing from a nearby house and was hooked. Even though he had done well enough on his 11-plus examination to get into the city's best high school, from that point on, the former good student lost interest in school. When Harrison was 14 years old, he sat at the back of the class and tried drawing guitars in his schoolbooks: “I was totally into guitars. I heard about this kid at school who had a guitar at £3 10s, it was just a little acoustic round hole. I got the £3 10s from my mother: that was a lot of money for us then.” Harrison bought a Dutch Egmond flat top acoustic guitar. While at the Liverpool Institute, Harrison formed a skiffle group called the Rebels with his brother Peter and a friend, Arthur Kelly. At this school he met Paul McCartney, who was one year older. McCartney later became a member of John Lennon's band called The Quarrymen, which Harrison joined in 1958.

The Beatles: 1960–1970

Harrison became part of The Beatles when they were still a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. McCartney told Lennon about his friend George Harrison, who could play "Raunchy" on his guitar. Although Lennon considered him too young to join the band, Harrison hung out with them and filled in as needed. By the time Harrison was 15, Lennon and the others had accepted him as one of the band. Since Harrison was the youngest member of the group, he was looked upon as a kid by the others for another few years.

Harrison left school at 16 and worked as an apprentice electrician at local department store Blacklers for a while. When The Beatles were offered work in Hamburg in 1960, the musical apprenticeship that Harrison received playing long hours at the Kaiserkeller with the rest of the group, including guitar lessons from Tony Sheridan, laid the foundations of The Beatles' sound, and of Harrison's quiet, professional role within the group; this role would contribute to his reputation as "the quiet Beatle". The first trip to Hamburg was shortened when Harrison was deported for being underage.

When Brian Epstein became The Beatles' manager in December 1961 after seeing them perform at The Cavern Club in November, he changed their image from that of leather-jacketed rock-and-rollers to a more polished look, and secured them a recording contract with EMI. The first single, "Love Me Do", with Harrison playing a Gibson J-160E, reached number 17 in the UK chart in October 1962, and by the time their debut album, ''Please Please Me'', was released in early 1963, The Beatles had become famous and Beatlemania had arrived.

After he revealed in an interview that he liked jelly babies, British fans inundated Harrison and the rest of the band with boxes of the sweets as gifts. A few months later, American audiences showered the band with the much harder jelly beans instead. In a letter to a fan, Harrison mentioned jelly babies, insisting that no one in the band actually liked them and that the press must have made it up.

The popularity of The Beatles led to a successful tour of America, the making of a film, ''A Hard Day's Night'' (during which Harrison met his future wife Pattie Boyd), and in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours, all four Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE). Harrison, whose role within the group was that of the careful musician who checked that the instruments were tuned, by 1965 and the ''Rubber Soul'' album, was developing into a musical director as he led the others into folk-rock, via his interest in The Byrds and Bob Dylan, and into Indian music with his exploration of the sitar. Harrison's musical involvement and cohesion with the group reached its peak on ''Revolver'' in 1966 with his contribution of three songs and new musical ideas. By 1967, Harrison's interests appeared to be moving outside the Beatles, and his involvement in ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' consists mainly of his one song, "Within You Without You", on which no other Beatle plays, and which stands out for its difference from the rest of the album.

During the recording of ''The Beatles'' in 1968, tensions were present in the band; these surfaced again during the filming of rehearsal sessions at Twickenham Studios for the album ''Let It Be'' in early 1969. Frustrated by ongoing slights, the poor working conditions in the cold and sterile film studio, and Lennon's creative disengagement from the group, Harrison quit the band on 10 January. He returned on 22 January after negotiations with the other Beatles at two business meetings.

Relations among The Beatles were more cordial (though still strained) during recordings for the album ''Abbey Road''. The album included "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something", "Something" was later recorded by Frank Sinatra, who considered it "the greatest love song of the past fifty years". Harrison's increasing productivity, coupled with his difficulties in getting The Beatles to record his music, meant that by the end of the group's career he had amassed a considerable stockpile of unreleased material. Harrison's last recording session with The Beatles was on 4 January 1970. Lennon, who had left the group the previous September, did not attend the session.

Relationships with the other Beatles

For the most part of The Beatles career, the relationships in the group were extremely close and intimate. According to Hunter Davies, "The Beatles spent their lives not living a communal life, but communally living the same life. They were each other's greatest friends." Harrison's wife Pattie Boyd described how The Beatles "all belonged to each other" and admitted, "George has a lot with the others that I can never know about. Nobody, not even the wives, can break through or even comprehend it."

Ringo Starr also stated, "We really looked out for each other and we had so many laughs together. In the old days we'd have the biggest hotel suites, the whole floor of the hotel, and the four of us would end up in the bathroom, just to be with each other." and added "There were some really loving, caring moments between four people: a hotel room here and there – a really amazing closeness. Just four guys who loved each other. It was pretty sensational."

John Lennon stated that his relationship with George was "one of young follower and older guy", and admitted that "[George] was like a disciple of mine when we started." The two would often go on holiday together throughout the 60s. Their relationship took a severe turn for the worse after George published his autobiography, ''I Me Mine''. Lennon felt insulted and hurt that George mentioned him only in passing. Lennon claimed he was hurt by the book and also that he did more for George than any of the other Beatles. As a result, George and John were not on good terms during the last months of Lennon's life. After Lennon's murder, George paid tribute to Lennon with his song "All Those Years Ago" which was released in 1981, six months after Lennon's murder. In it, he admitted "I always look up to you", thereby implicitly agreeing with Lennon's appraisal of their relationship.

Paul McCartney has often referred to Harrison as his "baby brother", and he did the honours as best man at George's wedding in 1966. The two were the first of The Beatles to meet, having shared a school bus, and would often learn and rehearse new guitar chords together. McCartney stated that he and George usually shared a bedroom while touring.

Guitar work

Harrison's guitar work with The Beatles was varied and flexible; although not fast or flashy, his guitar playing was solid and typified the more subdued lead guitar style of the early 1960s. The influence of the plucking guitar style of Chet Atkins and Carl Perkins on Harrison gave a country music feel to The Beatles' early recordings. Harrison explored several guitar instruments, the twelve-string, the sitar and the slide guitar, and developed his playing from tight eight- and twelve-bar solos in such songs as "A Hard Day's Night" and "Can't Buy Me Love", to lyrical slide guitar playing, first recorded during an early session of "If Not for You" for Dylan's ''New Morning'' in 1970. The earliest example of notable guitar work from Harrison was the extended acoustic guitar solo of "Till There Was You", for which Harrison purchased a José Ramírez nylon-stringed classical guitar to produce the sensitivity needed.

Harrison's first electric guitar was a Czech built Jolana Futurama/Grazioso, which was a popular guitar among British guitarists in the early 1960s., The guitars Harrison used on early recordings were mainly Gretsch played through a Vox amp. He used a variety of Gretsch guitars, including a Gretsch Duo Jet – his first Gretsch, which he bought in 1961 second hand off a sailor in Liverpool; a Gretsch Tennessean, and his (first out of two) Gretsch Country Gentleman, bought new for £234 in April 1963 at the Sound City store in London, which he used on "She Loves You", and on The Beatles' 1964 appearance on ''The Ed Sullivan Show. During The Beatles' trip to the US in 1964, Harrison acquired a Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar. He had tried out the 12-string electric guitar during an interview with a Minneapolis radio station, and was given the guitar either by the Rickenbacker company or the radio station. The 360/12 was an experimental 12-string guitar with the strings reversed so that the lower pitched string was struck first, and with an unusual headstock design that made tuning easier. Harrison used the guitar extensively during the recording of ''A Hard Day's Night'', and the jangly sound became so popular that the ''Melody Maker'' termed it "the beat boys' secret weapon". Roger McGuinn liked the effect Harrison achieved so much that it became his signature guitar sound with the Byrds.

He obtained his first Fender Stratocaster in 1965 and used it for the recording of the ''Rubber Soul'' album, most notably on the "Nowhere Man" track, where he played in unison with Lennon who also had a Stratocaster. Lennon and Harrison both had Sonic Blue Stratocasters, which were bought second hand by roadie Mal Evans. Harrison painted his Stratocaster in a psychedelic design that included the word "Bebopalula" painted above the pickguard and the guitar's nickname, "Rocky", painted on the headstock. He played this guitar in the ''Magical Mystery Tour'' film and throughout his solo career.

After David Crosby of the Byrds introduced him to the work of sitar master Ravi Shankar in 1965, Harrison—whose interest in Indian music was stirred during the filming of ''Help!'', which used Indian music as part of its soundtrack—played a sitar on the ''Rubber Soul'' track "Norwegian Wood", expanding the already nascent Western interest in Indian music. Harrison listed his early influences as Carl Perkins, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and the Everly Brothers.

Song writing and singing

Harrison wrote his first song published with the Beatles, "Don't Bother Me", while sick in a hotel bed in Bournemouth during August 1963, as "an exercise to see if I ''could'' write a song", [emphasis in original] as he remembered. "Don't Bother Me" appeared on the second Beatles album (''With the Beatles'') later that year, then on ''Meet the Beatles!'' in the US in early 1964, and also briefly in the film ''A Hard Day's Night''. The group did not record another Harrison composition until 1965, when he contributed "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" to the album ''Help!''.

Harrison's songwriting improved greatly through the years, but his material did not earn respect from his fellow Beatles until near the group's break-up. McCartney told Lennon in 1969: "Until this year, our songs have been better than George's. Now this year his songs are at least as good as ours". Harrison had difficulty getting the band to record his songs. The group's incorporation of Harrison's material reached a peak of three songs on the 1966 ''Revolver'' album and four songs on the 1968 double ''The Beatles''.

Harrison performed the lead vocal on all Beatles songs that he wrote by himself. He also sang lead vocal on other songs, including "Chains" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret" on ''Please Please Me'', "Roll Over Beethoven" and "Devil in Her Heart" on ''With The Beatles'', "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" on ''A Hard Day's Night'', and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" on ''Beatles for Sale''.

Solo work: 1968–1987

Before The Beatles split up in 1970, Harrison had already recorded and released two solo albums, ''Wonderwall Music'' and ''Electronic Sound''. These albums were mainly instrumental. ''Wonderwall Music'' was a soundtrack to the ''Wonderwall'' film in which Harrison blended Indian and Western sounds; while ''Electronic Sound'' was an experiment in using a Moog synthesiser. It was only when Harrison was free from The Beatles that he released what is regarded as his first "real" solo album, the commercially successful and critically acclaimed ''All Things Must Pass''.

''All Things Must Pass'' (1970)

After years of being restricted in his song-writing contributions to the Beatles, ''All Things Must Pass'' contained such a large outpouring of Harrison's songs that it was released as a triple album, though only two of the discs contained songs—the third contained recordings of Harrison jamming with friends. The album is regarded as his best work; it was a critical and commercial success, topping the charts on both sides of the Atlantic, and produced the number-one hit single "My Sweet Lord" as well as the top-10 single "What Is Life". The album was co-produced by Phil Spector using his "Wall of Sound" approach, and the musicians included Eric Clapton, Dave Mason, Gary Wright, Billy Preston, and Ringo Starr.

Harrison was later sued for copyright infringement over the song "My Sweet Lord" because of its similarity to the 1963 Chiffons song "He's So Fine", owned by Bright Tunes. Harrison denied deliberately plagiarizing the song, but he lost the resulting court case in 1976 as the judge deemed that Harrison had "subconsciously" plagiarised "He's So Fine". When considering liable earnings, "My Sweet Lord"'s contribution to the sales of ''All Things Must Pass'' and ''The Best of George Harrison'' were taken into account, and the judge decided a figure of $1,599,987 was owed to Bright Tunes. The dispute over damages became complicated when Harrison's former manager Allen Klein purchased the copyright to "He's So Fine" from Bright Tunes in 1978. In 1981, a district judge decided that Klein had acted improperly, and it was agreed that Harrison should pay Klein $587,000, the amount Klein had paid for "He's So Fine", so he would gain nothing from the deal, and that Harrison would take over ownership of Bright Tunes, making him the owner of the rights to both "My Sweet Lord" and "He's So Fine" and thus ending the copyright infringement claim. Though the dispute dragged on into the 1990s, the district judge's decision was upheld.

The Concert for Bangladesh (1971)

Responding to a request for help by longtime friend Ravi Shankar, Harrison organised a major charity concert, ''The Concert for Bangladesh'', on 1 August 1971, drawing over 40,000 people to two shows in New York's Madison Square Garden. The aim of the event was to raise money to aid the starving refugees during the Bangladesh Liberation War. Ravi Shankar opened the proceedings, which included other popular musicians such as Bob Dylan (who rarely appeared live in the early 1970s), Eric Clapton, who made his first public appearance in months (due to a heroin addiction which began when Derek and the Dominos broke up), Leon Russell, Badfinger, Billy Preston and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr. Tax troubles and questionable expenses tied up many of the concert's proceeds. Apple Corporation released a newly arranged concert DVD and CD in October 2005 (with all artists' sales royalties continuing to go to UNICEF), which contained additional material such as previously unreleased rehearsal footage of "If Not for You", featuring Harrison and Dylan.

''Living in the Material World'' to ''George Harrison'' (1972–1979)

Harrison would not again release an album that came close to the critical and commercial achievements of ''All Things Must Pass''. Although 1973's ''Living in the Material World'' initially did well, holding number one spot on the US album chart for five weeks and reaching number two in the UK, and the album's single, "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", was also successful, reaching number one in the US and the top ten in the UK, neither could match the sales of ''All Things Must Pass'' and "My Sweet Lord". The album was lavishly produced and packaged, and its dominant message was the power of Harrison's Hindu beliefs. The one fully secular song, "Sue Me, Sue You Blues", expressed Harrison's disgust with the endless legal squabbling that had overtaken all of the former Beatles. The ''Dark Horse'' album of 1974 written after Harrison's break-up with his wife Pattie Boyd and when he was suffering from laryngitis received harsh reviews, as did the accompanying tour of North America. Harrison was criticised for poor songwriting and poor vocals on the album, and for over-indulging his love for Indian music during the tour. The album and single "Dark Horse" did briefly make an appearance near the top of the US charts, but both failed to chart in the UK.

His final studio album for EMI (and Apple Records) was ''Extra Texture (Read All About It)'', featuring a diecut cover. The album spawned two singles, "You" which reached the Billboard top 20 and "This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)", which became Apple's final original single release in December 1975. Following the former Beatle's departure from Capitol, the record company was in a position to licence releases featuring Beatles and post-Beatles work on the same album, using Harrison for this experiment. ''The Best of George Harrison'' (1976) combined his Beatles songs with a selection of his solo Apple work.

''Thirty Three & 1/3'' his first Dark Horse release, was his most successful late-1970s album, reaching number 11 on the US charts in 1976, and producing the singles "This Song" (a satire of the "My Sweet Lord"-"He's So Fine" court case ruling) and "Crackerbox Palace", both of which reached the top 25 in the US. With an emphasis on melody, musicianship, and subtler subject matter rather than the heavy orchestration and didactic messaging of earlier works, he received his best critical notices since ''All Things Must Pass''. With its surreal humour, "Crackerbox Palace" also reflected Harrison's association with Monty Python's Eric Idle, who directed a comic music video for the song. After his second marriage and the birth of son Dhani Harrison, Harrison's next released a self-titled album. 1979's ''George Harrison'' included the singles "Blow Away", "Love Comes to Everyone" and "Faster". Both the album and "Blow Away" made the Billboard top 20.

In addition to his own works during this time, between 1971 and 1973 Harrison co-wrote or produced three top ten US and UK hits for Ringo Starr ("It Don't Come Easy", "Back Off Boogaloo", and "Photograph"). Harrison played electric, slide and dobro guitars on five songs on John Lennon's 1971 ''Imagine'' album ("How Do You Sleep?", "Oh My Love", "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier", "Crippled Inside" and "Gimme Some Truth"), with his stinging slide guitar work on the first of these indicating that he took John's side of the intense Lennon-McCartney feud of the time. Lennon later said of Harrison's work on the album, "That's the best he's ever fucking played in his life!" Harrison also produced and played slide guitar on the Apple band Badfinger's 1971 top ten US and UK hit "Day After Day".

During the decade, Harrison also worked with Harry Nilsson ("You're Breakin' My Heart", 1972), as well as Billy Preston ("That's the Way God Planned It", 1969 and "It's My Pleasure", 1975) and Cheech & Chong ("Basketball Jones", 1973). He also appeared with Paul Simon to perform two acoustic songs on ''Saturday Night Live''.

''Somewhere in England'' to ''Cloud Nine'' (1980–1987)

Harrison was deeply shocked by the 8 December 1980 murder of John Lennon. The crime reinforced his decades-long worries about safety from stalkers. It was also a deep personal loss, although unlike former bandmates McCartney and Starr, Harrison had little contact with Lennon in the years before the murder. Their estrangement had been marked by Harrison's longstanding dislike of Yoko Ono, his refusal to allow her participation in the ''Concert for Bangladesh'', and his omission of any mention of Lennon in his autobiography, ''I Me Mine'', published the year of Lennon's murder. The omission had upset Lennon greatly, which Harrison had regretted, leading him to leave a telephone message for Lennon, but Lennon had declined to return the call and they had not spoken again. Following the murder, Harrison said, "After all we went through together I had and still have great love and respect for John Lennon. I am shocked and stunned. To rob life is the ultimate robbery in life."

Harrison modified the lyrics of a song he had written for Starr to make it a tribute song to Lennon. "All Those Years Ago" received substantial radio airplay, reaching number two on the US charts. All three surviving ex-Beatles performed on it, although it was expressly a Harrison single. "Teardrops" was issued as a follow-up single, but was not nearly as successful. Both singles came from the album ''Somewhere in England'', released in 1981. Originally slated for release in late 1980, Warner Bros. rejected the album, ordering Harrison to replace several tracks, and to change the album cover as well. The original album cover that Harrison wanted was used in the 2004 reissue of the album. In 1981, Harrison played guitar on one track of Mick Fleetwood's record ''The Visitor'' and Lindsey Buckingham's song "Walk a Thin Line".

Aside from a song on the ''Porky's Revenge'' soundtrack in 1985 (his version of a little-known Bob Dylan song "I Don't Want to Do It"), Harrison released no new records for five years after 1982's ''Gone Troppo'' received apparent indifference.

In October 1985, Harrison made a rare public appearance on the Cinemax Channel 4 live concert TV special in a tribute to Carl Perkins. He appeared along with Ringo Starr and Eric Clapton among others. The show was called ''Blue Suede Shoes: A Rockabilly Session''. He performed "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby", "Your True Love", "That's Alright Mama" (including the guitar solo), "Glad All Over" (including the guitar solo), "Gone Gone Gone" and "Blue Suede Shoes". He only agreed to appear because he had been a close admirer and friend of Carl Perkins for over 20 years.

In 1987, Harrison returned with the critically acclaimed platinum album ''Cloud Nine'', co-produced with Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, and enjoyed a hit (number one in the US; number two in the UK) when his rendition of James Ray's early 1960s number "Got My Mind Set on You" was released as a single; another single, "When We Was Fab", a retrospective of The Beatles' days complete with musical flavours for each bandmate, was also a minor hit. MTV regularly played the two videos, and elevated Harrison's public profile with another generation of music listeners. The album reached number eight and number ten on the US and UK charts, respectively. In the US, several tracks also enjoyed high placement on Billboard's Album Rock chart – "Devil's Radio", "This Is Love" and "Cloud 9" in addition to the aforementioned singles.

Live performances (1971–1992)

On 23 November 1971, Harrison appeared on an episode of ''The Dick Cavett Show'' in a band called Wonder Wheel performing a song written by Gary Wright called "Two Faced Man". Harrison played slide guitar in this band as a favour since Wright had played piano on Harrison's album ''All Things Must Pass''. The episode can be viewed on DVD ''The Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons'' Disc 3.

Harrison launched a major tour of the United States in 1974. Critical and fan reaction panned the tour for its long mid-concert act of Pandit Ravi Shankar & Friends and for Harrison's hoarse voice. Harrison had hired filmmaker David Acomba to accompany the tour and gather footage for a documentary. Due to Harrison's hoarse voice throughout most of this tour, the film was not released, but in 2007 Acomba placed a newly revised director's cut in the Harrison archive. It was the last time he toured in the United States.

In 1986, Harrison made a surprise performance at the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986 a concert event to raise money for the Birmingham Children's Hospital. Harrison played and sang the finale "Johnny B. Goode" along with Robert Plant, The Moody Blues, and Electric Light Orchestra, among others. The following year, Harrison appeared at The Prince's Trust concert in Wembley Arena, performing "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Here Comes the Sun" with Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and others.

In 1991, Harrison staged a tour of Japan along with Eric Clapton. It was his first tour since the 1974 US tour, but no other tours followed. The ''Live in Japan'' recording came from these shows.

On 6 April 1992, Harrison held a benefit concert for the Natural Law Party at Royal Albert Hall, his first London performance in 23 years and his last full concert. In October 1992, Harrison performed three songs ("If Not for You", "Absolutely Sweet Marie", and "My Back Pages") at a Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City. This was released on the album ''The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration'' in August 1993.

On 14 December 1992, Harrison took part in a memorial concert at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles for Toto drummer Jeff Porcaro. The concert consisted of an all-star lineup that included Boz Scaggs, Donald Fagen, Don Henley, Michael McDonald, David Crosby, Eddie Van Halen, and the members of Toto. The proceeds of the concert were used to establish an educational trust fund for Porcaro's sons.

Later life: 1988–2001

Early in 1989, Harrison, Lynne and Ringo Starr all appeared in the music video for Tom Petty's "I Won't Back Down", although Starr did not actually play on the track; Harrison played acoustic guitar. The same year also saw the release of ''Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989'', a compilation drawn from his later solo work. This album also included two new songs, "Poor Little Girl", and "Cockamamie Business" (which saw him once again looking wryly upon his Beatle past), as well as "Cheer Down", which had first been released earlier in the year on the soundtrack to the film ''Lethal Weapon 2'', which starred Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Unlike his previous greatest hits package, Harrison made sure to oversee this compilation. In 1989 Harrison played slide guitar on the "Leave a Light On" and "Deep Deep Ocean" songs from Belinda Carlisle's third album ''Runaway Horses''. "Leave a Light On" was successful worldwide.

In 1996, Harrison recorded, produced and played on "Distance Makes No Difference With Love" with Carl Perkins for his ''Go-Cat-Go'' record.

Harrison's final television appearance was not intended as such; in fact, he was not the featured artist, and the appearance had been intended to promote ''Chants of India'', another collaboration with Ravi Shankar released in 1997, at the height of interest in chant music. John Fugelsang, then of VH1, conducted the interview, and at one point an acoustic guitar was produced and handed to Harrison. When an audience member asked to hear "a Beatles song", Harrison pulled a sheepish look and answered, "I don't think I know any!" Harrison then played "All Things Must Pass" and revealed for the first time "Any Road", which subsequently appeared on the 2002 ''Brainwashed'' album.

In January 1998, Harrison attended the funeral of his boyhood idol, Carl Perkins, in Jackson, Tennessee. Harrison played an impromptu version of Perkins' song "Your True Love" during the service. That same year he attended the public memorial service for Linda McCartney. Also that same year, he appeared on Ringo Starr's ''Vertical Man'', where he played both electric and slide guitars on two tracks.

In 2001, Harrison performed as a guest musician on the Electric Light Orchestra album ''Zoom''. He played slide guitar on the song "Love Letters" for Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, and remastered and restored unreleased tracks from the Traveling Wilburys. He also co-wrote a new song with his son Dhani, "Horse to the Water". The latter song ended up as Harrison's final recording session, on 2 October, just eight weeks before his death. It appeared on Jools Holland's album ''Small World, Big Band''.

Harrison's final album, ''Brainwashed'', was completed by Dhani Harrison and Jeff Lynne and released on 18 November 2002. It received generally positive reviews in the United States, and peaked at number 18 on the Billboard charts. A media-only single, "Stuck Inside a Cloud", was heavily played on UK and US radio to promote the album (number 27 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart), while the official single "Any Road", released in May 2003, reached number 37 on the British chart. The instrumental track, "Marwa Blues" went on to receive the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, while the single "Any Road" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

The Traveling Wilburys: 1988–1990

In 1988, Harrison played an instrumental role in forming the Traveling Wilburys with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and Tom Petty when they gathered in Dylan's garage to quickly record an additional track for a projected Harrison European single release. The record company realised the track ("Handle With Care") was too good for its original purpose as a B-side and asked for a full, separate album. This had to be completed within two weeks, as Dylan was scheduled to start a tour. The album, ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1'', was released in October 1988 and recorded under pseudonyms as half-brothers (supposed sons of Charles Truscott Wilbury, Sr.). Harrison's pseudonym on the first album was "Nelson Wilbury"; he would use the name "Spike Wilbury" for the Traveling Wilburys' second album.

After the death of Roy Orbison in late 1988 the group recorded as a four-piece. Though ''Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3'' was their second release, the album was mischievously titled ''Vol. 3'' by Harrison. According to Lynne, "That was George's idea. He said, 'Let's confuse the buggers.'" It was not as well received as the previous album, but did reach number 14 in the UK and number 11 in the US where it went platinum, while the singles "She's My Baby", "Inside Out", and "Wilbury Twist" got decent air play.

The Beatles Anthology: 1994–1996

In 1994–1996, Harrison reunited with the surviving former Beatles, and Traveling Wilburys producer Jeff Lynne for ''The Beatles Anthology'' project, which included the recording of two new Beatles songs built around solo vocal and piano tapes recorded by John Lennon in the late 1970s, as well as the lengthy interviews on The Beatles' history. The single "Free as a Bird", was the first Beatles single since "The Long and Winding Road" in 1970.

HandMade Films: 1978–1994

HandMade Films was a British film production and distribution company that Harrison formed in 1978 with his business partner, Denis O'Brien. It was created to help out his Monty Python friends by raising £2 million to finish their film ''Life of Brian'' after EMI Films, the original financiers, pulled out due to the film's satirical content. Harrison took the name from some handmade paper he had been given on a mill visit. Though the company was formed with the intention of funding just the one film (a scenario which became epitomised as Harrison's "world's most expensive cinema ticket", as the Python's Eric Idle put it), Harrison and O'Brien bought the rights to ''The Long Good Friday'', which had been faced with various cuts, and released it in its original form.

The first film started under the company was ''Time Bandits'', equipped with a soundtrack by Harrison, in 1981, a solo project by Python Terry Gilliam for whom HandMade originally also was to finance ''The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' before several funding parties including HandMade dropped out of the project. Harrison produced twenty three films with HandMade, including ''Mona Lisa'', ''Shanghai Surprise'', and ''Withnail and I''. He made several cameo appearances in these movies, including appearing as a nightclub singer in ''Shanghai Surprise'' and as Mr Papadopolous in ''Life of Brian''. Handmade Films became a rarity in the British film industry, a production company that was both consistently successful and internationally known. The company was well regarded both for nurturing British talent and for most of its films having British settings or inspirations.

Harrison was involved in some creative decisions, approving projects such as ''Withnail and I'' and visiting sets as executive producer to sort out creative problems. On the whole, though, he preferred to stay out of the way: "[As a musician] I've been the person who's said of the people with the money, 'What do they know?' and now I'm that person. But I know that unless you give an artist as much freedom as possible, there's no point in using that artist."

The bulk of the financial and business decisions were left to O'Brien, who was tasked with making sure that films got made on time and on budget. This eventually resulted in disagreements and lawsuits between the pair as HandMade Films encountered reversals, and Harrison sold the company in 1994.

Interest in Indian culture

Sitar and Indian music

During The Beatles' American tour in August 1965, Harrison's friend David Crosby of the Byrds introduced him to Indian classical music and the work of sitar player Ravi Shankar. Harrison became fascinated with the instrument, immersed himself in Indian music and played a pivotal role in expanding the emerging interest in the sitar in particular and Indian music in general in the West.

Buying his own first sitar from a London shop called India Craft later that year (as he recalled during interviews for "The Beatles Anthology"), he played one on the ''Rubber Soul'' track "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", which was influential in the decision to have Ravi Shankar included on the bill at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. After a few initial lessons with Pandit Ravi Shankar, Harrison was placed under the tutelage of Shambhu Das.

Hinduism

During the filming of the movie ''Help!'', on location in the Bahamas, a Hindu devotee presented each Beatle with a book about reincarnation. Harrison's interest in Indian culture expanded to Hinduism. During a pilgrimage to Bombay with his wife, Harrison studied sitar, met several gurus and visited various holy places, filling the months between the end of the final Beatles tour in 1966 and the commencement of the ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' recording sessions. In 1968, Harrison travelled to Rishikesh in northern India with the other Beatles to study meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

In the summer of 1969, he produced the single "Hare Krishna Mantra", performed by the devotees of the London Radha Krishna Temple. That same year, he and fellow Beatle John Lennon met A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Soon after, Harrison embraced the Hare Krishna tradition (particularly ''japa-yoga'' chanting with beads), became a lifelong devotee, being associated with it until his death.

Harrison was a vegetarian from 1968 until his death.

While during his lifetime, Harrison bequeathed to ISKCON his Letchmore Heath mansion (renamed Bhaktivedanta Manor) north of London, some sources indicate he left nothing to the organisation, others report he did leave a sum of 20 million pounds.

Harrison respected people of other faiths and believed in a united holy cause; he once remarked:

Personal life

Family and friends

Harrison married model Pattie Boyd on 21 January 1966, at the then Epsom Register Office, Upper High Street, Epsom, with McCartney as best man. They had met during the filming for ''A Hard Day's Night'', in which the 19-year-old Boyd was cast as a schoolgirl. After Harrison and Boyd split up in 1974, she moved in with Eric Clapton and they subsequently married.

Harrison married for a second time, to Dark Horse Records secretary Olivia Trinidad Arias on 2 September 1978. They had met at the Dark Horse offices in Los Angeles in 1974. They had one son, Dhani Harrison. After the 1999 stabbing incident in which Olivia subdued Harrison's assailant nearly single-handedly, Harrison received a fax from his close friend Tom Petty that read: "Aren't you glad you married a Mexican girl?"

Harrison formed a close friendship with Clapton in the late 1960s, and they co-wrote the song "Badge", which was released on Cream's ''Goodbye'' album in 1969. Harrison also played rhythm guitar on the song. For contractual reasons, Harrison was required to use the pseudonym "L'Angelo Misterioso", meaning "The Mysterious Angel" in Italian. Harrison wrote one of his compositions for The Beatles' ''Abbey Road'' album, "Here Comes the Sun", in Clapton's back garden. Clapton also guested on the Harrison-penned Beatles track "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". Through Clapton, Harrison met Delaney Bramlett, who introduced Harrison to slide guitar. They remained close friends after Pattie Boyd split from Harrison and married Clapton, referring to each other as "husbands-in-law".

Through his appreciation of Monty Python, he met Eric Idle. The two became close friends, with Harrison appearing on Idle's ''Rutland Weekend Television'' series and in his Beatles spoof, The Rutles' ''All You Need Is Cash''. Harrison was also parodied as a Beatle as "Stig O'Hara", portrayed by Rikki Fataar. Idle also performed the famous Monty Python sketch, "The Lumberjack Song", at the Concert for George, held in 2002 to commemorate Harrison.

Interests

An accomplished gardener, Harrison restored the English manor house and grounds of Friar Park, his home in Henley-on-Thames. The house once belonged to Victorian eccentric Sir Frank Crisp. Purchased in 1970, it is the basis for the song "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)". Several Harrison videos were also filmed on the grounds, including "Crackerbox Palace"; in addition, the grounds served as the background for the cover of ''All Things Must Pass''. He employed a staff of ten workers to maintain the garden, and both of his older brothers worked on Friar Park as well. Harrison took great solace working in the garden and grew to consider himself more a gardener than a musician; his autobiography is dedicated "to gardeners everywhere".

That autobiography, ''I Me Mine'', published in 1980, is the only full autobiography by an ex-Beatle. Former Beatles' publicist Derek Taylor helped with the book, which was initially released in a high-priced limited edition by Genesis Publications. The book said little about the Beatles, focusing instead on Harrison's hobbies, such as gardening and Formula One automobile racing. It also included the lyrics to his songs and some photographs with humorous captions.

Harrison had an interest in sports cars and motor racing; he was one of the 100 people who purchased the McLaren F1 road car, and would often attend Formula One races. He had collected photos of racing drivers and their cars since he was young; when he was 12 he attended his first race, the 1955 British Grand Prix at Aintree, in which Stirling Moss won his first Grand Prix. He wrote "Faster" as a tribute to the Formula One racing drivers Jackie Stewart and Ronnie Peterson. Proceeds from its release went to the Gunnar Nilsson cancer charity, set up following the Swedish driver's death from the disease in 1978. Harrison's first "important" car was recently sold at auction in Battersea Park, London. The 1964 Aston Martin DB5 was bought new and delivered to Harrison personally in 1965 at his Kinfauns estate in Esher, Surrey, England.

Knife attack

In late 1999, Harrison survived a knife attack by an intruder in his home. At 3:30 am on 30 December 1999, 36-year-old Michael Abram broke into the Harrisons' Friar Park home and began loudly calling to Harrison. Harrison left the bedroom to investigate while his wife, Olivia, phoned the police. Abram attacked Harrison with a kitchen knife, inflicting seven stab wounds, puncturing a lung and causing head injuries before Olivia Harrison incapacitated the assailant by striking him repeatedly with a fireplace poker and a lamp. The attack lasted approximately 15 minutes. Abram, who believed he was being possessed by Harrison and was on a "mission from God" to kill him, was later acquitted of attempted murder on grounds of insanity, but was detained for treatment in a secure hospital. He was released in 2002 after 19 months' detention. Since John Lennon's assassination in 1980, Harrison had rarely made public appearances, except at tightly controlled settings such as Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductions.

Illness and death

Cancer diagnosis

Harrison developed throat cancer, which was discovered in the summer of 1997 after a lump on his neck was analysed. He attributed it to smoking heavily from the 1960s until at least the late 1980s. He was successfully treated with radiotherapy. Early in May 2001, it was revealed that he had undergone an operation at the Mayo Clinic to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs. In July 2001, it was reported that he was being treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland.

On 22 July 2001, media reports claimed that Harrison was close to death as a result of the cancer, but he denied that this was true.

In November 2001, by which time the ''Daily Mail'' had reported that Harrison may only have a month to live, Harrison began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for lung cancer which had spread to his brain.

On 25 November, it was reported in the ''Sunday People'' that Harrison's condition had continued to deteriorate in spite of the treatment, and that he was likely to die within days.

Lederman affair

In a complaint later brought on behalf of Harrison's estate, it was alleged that while under the care of Staten Island University Hospital, Dr Gilbert Lederman, a radiation oncologist, repeatedly revealed Harrison's confidential medical information during television interviews and forced him to autograph a guitar. The complaint alleges that Lederman and his family came to visit Harrison and began singing, and that, in laboured breaths, Harrison said, "Please stop talking." Later, Lederman allegedly had his son play the guitar for Harrison. The complaint alleges that after the performance, Lederman asked Harrison for an autograph on the guitar, and that Harrison responded, "I do not even know if I know how to sign my name any more." Lederman then allegedly took Harrison's hand and guided his hand along to spell his name while encouraging him by saying, "Come on, George. You can do this. G-E-O...". The suit was ultimately settled out of court under the condition that the guitar be "disposed of".

Death

Despite the treatments and operations, Harrison died on 29 November 2001, at a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by McCartney and was previously owned by Courtney Love. The cause of death was listed on his Los Angeles County death certificate as "metastatic non-small cell lung cancer". He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges River by his close family in a private ceremony according to Hindu tradition. He left almost £100 million in his will.

Tribute concert

In 2002, on the first anniversary of Harrison's death, the Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall; it was organised by Eric Clapton and included performances by many of Harrison's musical friends, including Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The profits from the concert went to Harrison's charity, the Material World Charitable Foundation, which he established in 1973 “to sponsor diverse forms of artistic expression and to encourage the exploration of alternative life views and philosophies.”

==Honours== Harrison's first official honour was when The Beatles were appointed Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 1965, and received their insignia from the Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace on 26 October. Another award with The Beatles came in 1970 when they won an Academy Award for the best Original Song Score for ''Let It Be''.

A significant music award as a solo artist was in December 1992, when he became the first recipient of the Billboard Century Award – presented to music artists for significant bodies of work. The minor planet 4149, discovered on 9 March 1984 by B. A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory, was named after Harrison. Harrison is listed at number 21 in ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".

Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist on 15 March 2004 by his Traveling Wilburys friends Lynne and Petty. He was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame on 1 August 2006 for the Concert for Bangladesh.

Harrison featured twice on the cover of ''Time'' magazine, initially with The Beatles in 1967, then on his own, shortly after his death in 2001. In June 2007, portraits of Harrison and John Lennon were unveiled at The Mirage Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, where they will be on permanent display.

American film director Martin Scorsese announced that he will make a documentary titled ''Living in the Material World: George Harrison''.

On 14 April 2009, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce awarded Harrison a star on the Walk of Fame in front of the Capitol Records Building. (The Beatles also have a group star on the Walk of Fame.) Musicians Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty were among those in attendance when the star was unveiled. Harrison's widow Olivia, actor Tom Hanks and comedian Eric Idle made speeches at the ceremony; Harrison's son Dhani uttered the Hare Krishna mantra. After the ceremony, Capitol/EMI Records announced that a new career-spanning CD entitled ''Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison'' would be released in mid-June 2009.

Solo discography

rowspan="2" style="width:33px;"	Year	Album	Label	Notes	Peak chart positions	!colspan="2"
!style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	!style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	!style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	!style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	!style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	!style="width:3em;font-size:90%"	! style="font-size:90%;"	! style="font-size:90%;"
	''Wonderwall Music''	style="text-align:center;"
	''Electronic Sound''	style="text-align:center;"
	''All Things Must Pass''									6x Platinum
		style="text-align:center;"								Gold
	''Living in the Material World''									Gold
										Gold	Silver
	''Extra Texture (Read All About It)''									Gold
	''Thirty Three & 1/3''	style="text-align:center;"								Gold	Silver
	''The Best of George Harrison''	style="text-align:center;"								Gold
										Gold
	''Somewhere in England''
	''Gone Troppo''
										Platinum	Gold
	''Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989''
	Live in Japan (George Harrison album)>Live in Japan''	style="text-align:center;"
										Gold	Gold
	''Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison''	style="text-align:center;"

Notes

References

External links

GeorgeHarrison.com — Official Site

RollingStone.com – George's Greatest Musical Moments

George Harrison – Daily Telegraph obituary

Genesis Publications – Concert for George: A Celebration of the Life of George Harrison

Interview with Paul Cashmere

BBC news article on Harrison's death

BBC news George Harrison: Life in pictures

George and other Beatles at Tittenhurst Hare Krishna temple

BBC news UK version with different pictures

Category:1943 births Category:2001 deaths Category:Apple Records artists Category:Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners Category:Capitol Records artists Category:Cancer deaths in California Category:Deaths from lung cancer Category:English film producers Category:English gardeners Category:English Hindus Category:Converts to Hinduism Category:Krishna Category:English-language singers Category:English male singers Category:English multi-instrumentalists Category:English people of Irish descent Category:English pop singers Category:English record producers Category:English rock guitarists Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English vegetarians Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Lead guitarists Category:People educated at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:Musicians from Liverpool Category:Performers of Hindu music Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Slide guitarists Category:Sitar players Category:Survivors of stabbing Category:The Beatles members Category:The Quarrymen members Category:Delaney & Bonnie & Friends members Category:Traveling Wilburys members Category:Plastic Ono Band members Category:Ukulele players Category:Warner Music Group artists Category:Western mystics

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: ''Palace Music redirects here. For the racehorse, see Palace Music (horse)''

name	Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
background	solo_singer
birth name	William Oldham
alias	Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
born	December 24, 1970 (age 40)
origin	Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.
genre	Folk, alternative country, country
years active	1993–present
label	Drag City, Domino, Spunk
website	www.bonnieprincebilly.com
notable instruments	}}

Will Oldham (born December 24, 1970), better known by the stage name Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded under variations of the Palace name, including the Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music. After releasing material under his own name, he adopted the "Bonnie 'Prince' Billy" moniker for the majority of his output since 1998.

Music

Oldham is known for his "do-it-yourself punk aesthetic and blunt honesty," and his music has been likened to Americana, folk, roots, country, punk, and indie rock. He has been called an "Appalachian post-punk solipsist", with a voice that has been described as "a fragile sort-of warble frittering around haunted melodies in the American folk or country tradition."

Will Oldham first performed and recorded under various permutations of the Palace name, including Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Music, and simply Palace. Regarding the name changes during this period (1993–1997), Oldham said:

Beginning in 1998, Oldham has primarily used the moniker Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which draws inspiration from several sources: }}

Oldham has explained that "the primary purpose of the pseudonym is to allow both the audience and the performer to have a relationship with the performer that is valid and unbreakable."

Discography

''There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You'' – Palace Brothers (1993)

''Days in the Wake'' – Palace Brothers (1994)

''Viva Last Blues'' – Palace Music (1995)

''Arise Therefore'' – Palace Music (1996)

''Joya'' – Will Oldham (1997)

''I See a Darkness'' – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (1999)

''Ease Down the Road'' – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2001)

''Master and Everyone'' – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2003)

''Sings Greatest Palace Music'' – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2004)

''Superwolf'' – Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2005)

''Summer in the Southeast'' - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2005)

''The Brave and the Bold'' – Tortoise & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2006)

''The Letting Go'' – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2006)

''Wai Notes'' – Dawn McCarthy and Bonny Billy (2007)

''Wilding in the West'' – Bonnie "Prince" Billy (2007)

''Lie Down in the Light'' – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2008)

''Is It The Sea?'' – Bonnie 'Prince' Billy with Harem Scarem and Alex Neilson (2008)

''Beware'' - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy (2009)

''Funtown Comedown'' - Bonny Billy and the Picket Line (2009)

''The Wonder Show of the World'' - Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and the Cairo Gang (2010)

Response

Some of his albums, such as ''There Is No-One What Will Take Care of You'' (1993), ''Viva Last Blues'' (1995), and ''I See a Darkness'' (1999), have appeared on greatest albums lists.

He is mentioned in the lyrics of the Biffy Clyro song "Saturday Superhouse" and is the main character in the song "Williamsburg Will Oldham Horror" by New York anti-folk artist Jeffrey Lewis.

Johnny Cash recorded a version of "I See a Darkness" on his American Recordings disc, ''American III: Solitary Man'' (2000). Oldham provided backing vocals.

Steve Adey also covered "I See a Darkness" on his 2006 LP ''All Things Real''.

Mark Kozelek recorded a version of Oldham's "New Partner" on his 2008 disc, ''The Finally LP''.

Katatonia covered "Oh How I Enjoy the Light" on their 2001 EP ''Tonight's Music''.

In 2009 Mark Lanegan and Soulsavers recorded a cover version of "You Will Miss Me When I Burn". The release is a split single, backed with the Lanegan penned "Sunrise" featuring vocals by Oldham.

Film

Will Oldham began his acting career at the age of 17, when he portrayed a teen preacher in John Sayles's film about an Appalachian mining community, ''Matewan'' (1987). Oldham moved to Hollywood to pursue acting in the late 1980s, and landed roles in a couple of films. However, he quickly became disillusioned with the film industry and quit in 1989. He has since had several minor roles in independent films, such as ''Julien Donkey-Boy'' (1999), ''Junebug'' (2005), and ''The Guatemalan Handshake'' (2006). Oldham took a lead role in ''Old Joy'', which was featured at SXSW XX and opened at New York's Film Forum on September 20, 2006. Will Oldham also played the role of a preacher in the "Horse Apples" special of WonderShowzen in series 2 of the show. In 2009, he has been the narrator of "Madam and Little Boy", a documentary film about atomic weapons directed by Swedish artist Magnus Bärtås. In 2010, Oldham had a small part in ''Jackass 3D'' as a gorilla trainer. Oldham revealed that he had to write a theme song in the style of a Saturday morning cartoon show for filmmaker Lance Bangs' life to get the role.

Filmography

''Matewan'' (1987), directed by John Sayles

''Everybody's Baby: The Rescue of Jessica McClure'' (1989) (TV movie)

''Thousand Pieces of Gold'' (1991)

''Elysian Fields'' (1993)

''Radiation'' (1998)

''Julien Donkey-Boy'' (1999) (uncredited role), directed by Harmony Korine

''Slitch'' (2003), directed by Dianne Bellino

''Tripping with Caveh'' (2004), directed by Caveh Zahedi

''Junebug'' (2005)

''The Guatemalan Handshake'' (2006)

''Old Joy'' (2006)

''Wendy and Lucy (2008)

''Madam and Little Boy'' (2009)

''Jackass 3D'' (2010)

''Pioneer'' (2011)

Photography

Will Oldham shot the black-and-white cover photograph of Slint's 1991 album ''Spiderland''. The photo depicts members of the band treading water in the lake of an abandoned quarry.

Oldham also featured as guest aesthetic designer for the North American literary magazine Zoetrope All Story (vol 11, no 1) in 2007. In a note contained in the issue, he jokes that it would be "really magnificent to imagine this issue as a cocktail party at which all of the contributors, word and image, are present. add a bowl of keys and some mushroom cookies and i am there. [sic]"

References

External links

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy official website

Will Oldham at Drag City (record label)

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy at Domino Records (record label)

The Royal Stable - Fan site with news, photos, tour dates, etc.

The Pulpit - Fan site with some lyrics and tablature

Daytrotter session

Freewilliamsburg.com interview

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy as Guest DJ at NPR Music

The Pretender - Profile of Will Oldham in The New Yorker

www.music-illuminati.com - Interview

Category:1970 births Category:American alternative country singers Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:Brown University alumni Category:Drag City artists Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Kentucky Category:People from Louisville, Kentucky

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