Name	George W. Bush
Alt	A portrait shot of a smiling older male looking straight ahead. He has short gray hair, and is wearing a dark navy blazer with a blue styled tie over a white collared shirt. In the background is an American flag hanging from a flagpole.
Office	43rd President of the United States
Vicepresident	Dick Cheney
Term start	January 20, 2001
Term end	January 20, 2009
Predecessor	Bill Clinton
Successor	Barack Obama
Order2	46th Governor of Texas
Lieutenant2	Bob BullockRick Perry
Term start2	January 17, 1995
Term end2	December 21, 2000
Predecessor2	Ann Richards
Successor2	Rick Perry
Birth name	George Walker Bush
Birth date	July 06, 1946
Birth place	New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
Party	Republican Party
Spouse	Laura Welch (1977–present)
Children	BarbaraJenna
Profession	Businessman (Oil, baseball)
Alma mater	Yale UniversityHarvard Business School
Religion	Episcopal (Before 1977)United Methodism (1977–present)
Signature	GeorgeWBush Signature.svg
Signature alt	Cursive signature in ink
Website	Bush Presidential LibraryBush Presidential CenterThe White House ''Archived''
Branch	Texas Air National GuardAlabama Air National Guard
Serviceyears	1968–1974
Rank	First Lieutenant
Unit	147th Reconnaissance Wing187th Fighter Wing }}

George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the eldest son of Barbara Bush and 41st President George H. W. Bush, making him the second American president to have been the son of a former president. He is also the brother of Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida.

After graduating from Yale University in 1968 and Harvard Business School in 1975, Bush worked in oil businesses. He married Laura Welch in 1977 and ran unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives shortly thereafter. He later co-owned the Texas Rangers baseball team before defeating Ann Richards in the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election. In a close and controversial election, Bush was elected President in 2000 as the Republican candidate, defeating Vice President Al Gore in the Electoral College.

Early on, the Bush administration withdrew from a number of international treaty processes, notably the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. A series of terrorist attacks occurred eight months into Bush's first term as president on September 11, 2001. In response, Bush announced the War on Terror, an international military campaign which included the war in Afghanistan launched in 2001 and the war in Iraq launched in 2003. In addition to national security issues, Bush promoted policies on the economy, health care, education, and social security reform. He signed into law broad tax cuts, the PATRIOT Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, and Medicare prescription drug benefits for seniors. His tenure saw national debates on immigration, Social Security, electronic surveillance, and enhanced interrogation techniques.

Bush successfully ran for re-election against Democratic Senator John Kerry in 2004, in another relatively close election. After his re-election, Bush received increasingly heated criticism from across the political spectrum. In 2005, the Bush Administration dealt with widespread criticism over its handling of Hurricane Katrina. Following this and other controversies, as well as the growing unpopularity of the Iraq War, Democrats won control of Congress in the 2006 elections. In December 2007, the United States entered its longest post–World War II recession, prompting the Bush Administration to enact multiple economic programs intended to preserve the country's financial system. Though Bush was popular in the U.S. for much of his first term, his popularity declined sharply during his second. He was a highly controversial figure internationally, with public protests occurring even during visits to close allies, such as the United Kingdom.

After leaving office, Bush returned to Texas and purchased a home in a suburban area of Dallas. He is currently a public speaker and has written a book about his life entitled ''Decision Points''.

Childhood to mid-life

George Walker Bush was born in New Haven, Connecticut at Grace-New Haven Hospital (now Yale – New Haven Hospital), on July 6, 1946, the first child of George H. W. Bush and Barbara Bush (née Pierce). He was raised in Midland and Houston, Texas, with four siblings, Jeb, Neil, Marvin and Dorothy. Another younger sister, Robin, died from leukemia at the age of three in 1953. Bush's grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut. Bush's father, George H. W. Bush, was Vice President from 1981 to 1989 and President from 1989 to 1993. Bush is of primarily English descent and also more distant German, Dutch, Welsh, Irish, French, and Scottish ancestry.

Education

Bush attended public schools in Midland, Texas until the family moved to Houston after he completed seventh grade. He then went to The Kinkaid School, a prep school in Houston, for two years.

Bush finished high school at Phillips Academy, a boarding school (then all-male) in Andover, Massachusetts, where he played baseball and during his senior year was the head cheerleader. Bush attended Yale University from 1964 to 1968, graduating with an A.B. in history. During this time, he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon, being elected the fraternity's president during his senior year. Bush also became a member of the Skull and Bones society as a senior. Bush was a keen rugby union player and was on Yale's 1st XV. He characterized himself as an average student. His average during his first three years at Yale was 77 and he had a similar average under a nonnumeric rating system in his final year.

Beginning in the fall of 1973, Bush attended the Harvard Business School, where he earned a Master of Business Administration. He is the only U.S. President to have earned an M.B.A.

Texas Air National Guard

In May 1968, Bush was commissioned into the Texas Air National Guard. After two years of active-duty service while training, he was assigned to Houston, flying Convair F-102s with the 147th Reconnaissance Wing out of Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base. Critics, including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe, have alleged that Bush was favorably treated due to his father's political standing, citing his selection as a pilot despite his low pilot aptitude test scores and his irregular attendance. In June 2005, the United States Department of Defense released all the records of Bush's Texas Air National Guard service, which remain in its official archives.

In late 1972 and early 1973, he drilled with the 187th Fighter Wing of the Alabama Air National Guard, having moved to Montgomery, Alabama to work on the unsuccessful U.S. Senate campaign of Republican Winton M. Blount. In 1972, Bush was suspended from flying for failure to take a scheduled physical exam. He was honorably discharged from the Air Force Reserve on November 21, 1974.

Marriage, family, and personal life

At a backyard barbecue in 1977, friends introduced him to Laura Welch, a school teacher and librarian. Bush proposed to her after a three-month courtship, and they married on November 5 of that year. The couple settled in Midland, Texas. Bush left his family's Episcopal Church to join his wife's United Methodist Church. In 1981, Laura Bush gave birth to fraternal twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara; they graduated from high school in 2000 and from the University of Texas at Austin and Yale University, respectively, in 2004.

Prior to his marriage, Bush had multiple episodes of alcohol abuse. In one instance, on September 4, 1976, he was arrested near his family's summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine, for driving under the influence of alcohol. He pleaded guilty, was fined $150 and had his Maine driver's license suspended until 1978. Bush's alleged drug usage is less clear; when asked about alleged past illicit drug use, Bush has consistently refused to answer. He defended his refusal to answer in a publicized casual conversation with a friend, saying that he feared setting a bad example for the younger generation.

Bush says his wife has had a stabilizing effect on his life, and attributes to her influence his 1986 decision to give up alcohol. While Governor of Texas, Bush said of his wife, "I saw an elegant, beautiful woman who turned out not only to be elegant and beautiful, but very smart and willing to put up with my rough edges, and I must confess has smoothed them off over time."

Bush mostly reads "serious historical nonfiction" for pleasure. During his time as president, Bush read 14 Lincoln biographies and, during the last three years of his presidency, he reportedly read 186 books. A reporter recalls seeing "books by John Fowles, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce, and Gore Vidal lying about, as well as biographies of Willa Cather and Queen Victoria" in his home when Bush was a Texas oilman. Other hobbies include cigar smoking and golf.

Early career

In 1978, Bush ran for the House of Representatives from Texas's 19th congressional district. His opponent, Kent Hance, portrayed him as out of touch with rural Texans; Bush lost by 6,000 votes (6%) of the 103,000 votes cast. He returned to the oil industry and began a series of small, independent oil exploration companies. He created Arbusto Energy, and later changed the name to Bush Exploration. In 1984, his company merged with the larger Spectrum 7, and Bush became chairman. The company was hurt by decreased oil prices, and it folded into HKN, Inc. Bush served on the board of directors for HKN. Questions of possible insider trading involving HKN arose, but the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) investigation concluded that the information Bush had at the time of his stock sale was not sufficient to constitute insider trading.

Bush moved his family to Washington, D.C. in 1988 to work on his father's campaign for the U.S. presidency. He served as a campaign adviser and liaison to the media; he assisted his father by campaigning across the country. Returning to Texas after the successful campaign, he purchased a share in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise in April 1989, where he served as managing general partner for five years. He actively led the team's projects and regularly attended its games, often choosing to sit in the open stands with fans. Bush's sale of his shares in the Rangers in 1998 brought him over $15 million from his initial $800,000 investment.

In December 1991, Bush was one of seven people named by his father to run his father's 1992 Presidential re-election campaign as "campaign advisor". The prior month, his father asked him to tell White House chief of staff John H. Sununu that he should resign.

Governor of Texas

As Bush's brother, Jeb, sought the governorship of Florida, Bush declared his candidacy for the 1994 Texas gubernatorial election. His campaign focused on four themes: welfare reform, tort reform, crime reduction, and education improvement. Bush's campaign advisers were Karen Hughes, Joe Allbaugh, and Karl Rove.

After easily winning the Republican primary, Bush faced popular Democratic incumbent Governor Ann Richards. In the course of the campaign, Bush pledged to sign a bill allowing Texans to obtain permits to carry concealed weapons. Richards had vetoed the bill, but Bush signed it after he became governor. According to ''The Atlantic Monthly'', the race "featured a rumor that she was a lesbian, along with a rare instance of such a tactic's making it into the public record – when a regional chairman of the Bush campaign allowed himself, perhaps inadvertently, to be quoted criticizing Richards for 'appointing avowed homosexual activists' to state jobs". ''The Atlantic'', and others, connected the lesbian rumor to Karl Rove, but Rove denied being involved. Bush won the general election with 53.5% against Richards' 45.9%.

Bush used a budget surplus to push through Texas's largest tax-cut, $2 billion. He extended government funding for organizations providing education of the dangers of alcohol and drug use and abuse, and helping to reduce domestic violence. Critics contended that during his tenure, Texas ranked near the bottom in environmental evaluations, but supporters pointed to his efforts to raise the salaries of teachers and improved educational test scores.

In 1999, Bush also helped make Texas eventually the leading producer of wind powered electricity in the U.S. by signing a state law obliging electric retailers to buy a certain amount of energy from renewable sources (RPS).

In 1998, Bush won re-election with a record 69% of the vote. He became the first governor in Texas history to be elected to two consecutive four-year terms. For most of Texas history, governors served two-year terms; a constitutional amendment extended those terms to four years starting in 1975. In his second term, Bush promoted faith-based organizations and enjoyed high approval ratings. He proclaimed June 10, 2000 to be Jesus Day in Texas, a day on which he "urge[d] all Texans to answer the call to serve those in need".

Throughout Bush's first term, national attention focused on him as a potential future presidential candidate. Following his re-election, speculation soared. Within a year, he decided to seek the 2000 Republican presidential nomination.

Presidential campaigns

2000 Presidential candidacy

Primary

In June 1999, while Governor of Texas, Bush announced his candidacy for President of the United States. With no incumbent running, Bush entered a large field of candidates for the Republican Party presidential nomination consisting of John McCain, Alan Keyes, Steve Forbes, Gary Bauer, Orrin Hatch, Elizabeth Dole, Dan Quayle, Pat Buchanan, Lamar Alexander, John Kasich, and Robert C. Smith.

Bush portrayed himself as a compassionate conservative, implying he was more centrist than other Republicans. He campaigned on a platform that included increasing the size of the United States Armed Forces, cutting taxes, improving education, and aiding minorities. By early 2000, the race had centered on Bush and McCain.

Bush won the Iowa caucuses, but, although he was heavily favored to win the New Hampshire primary, he trailed McCain by 19% and lost that primary. Despite this, Bush regained momentum and, according to political observers, effectively became the front runner after the South Carolina primary, which according to ''The Boston Globe'' made history for his campaign's negativity; ''The New York Times'' described it as a smear campaign.

General election

On July 25, 2000, Bush surprised some observers by asking Dick Cheney, a former White House Chief of Staff, U.S. Representative, and Secretary of Defense, to be his running mate. Cheney was then serving as head of Bush's Vice-Presidential search committee. Soon after, Cheney was officially nominated by the Republican Party at the 2000 Republican National Convention.

Bush continued to campaign across the country and touted his record as Governor of Texas. Bush's campaign criticized his Democratic opponent, incumbent Vice President Al Gore, over gun control and taxation.

When the election returns came in on November 7, Bush won 29 states, including Florida. The closeness of the Florida outcome led to a recount. The initial recount also went to Bush, but the outcome was tied up in courts for a month until reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. On December 9, in a controversial ruling the ''Bush v. Gore'' case the Court reversed a Florida Supreme Court decision ordering a third count, and stopped an ordered statewide hand recount based on the argument that the use of different standards among Florida's counties violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The machine recount showed that Bush had won the Florida vote by a margin of 537 votes out of six million cast. Although he received 543,895 fewer individual votes than Gore nationwide, Bush won the election, receiving 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266.

2004 Presidential candidacy

In 2004, Bush commanded broad support in the Republican Party and did not encounter a primary challenge. He appointed Ken Mehlman as campaign manager, with a political strategy devised by Karl Rove. Bush and the Republican platform included a strong commitment to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support for the USA PATRIOT Act, a renewed shift in policy for constitutional amendments banning abortion and same-sex marriage, reforming Social Security to create private investment accounts, creation of an ownership society, and opposing mandatory carbon emissions controls. Bush also called for the implementation of a guest worker program for immigrants, which was criticized by conservatives.

The Bush campaign advertised across the U.S. against Democratic candidates, including Bush's emerging opponent, Massachusetts Senator John Kerry. Kerry and other Democrats attacked Bush on the Iraq War, and accused him of failing to stimulate the economy and job growth. The Bush campaign portrayed Kerry as a staunch liberal who would raise taxes and increase the size of government. The Bush campaign continuously criticized Kerry's seemingly contradictory statements on the war in Iraq, and argued that Kerry lacked the decisiveness and vision necessary for success in the War on Terror.

In the election, Bush carried 31 of 50 states, receiving a total of 286 electoral votes. He won an outright majority of the popular vote (50.7% to his opponent's 48.3%). The previous President to win an outright majority of the popular vote was Bush's father in the 1988 election. Additionally, it was the first time since Herbert Hoover's election in 1928 that a Republican president was elected alongside re-elected Republican majorities in both Houses of Congress. Bush's 2.5% margin of victory was the narrowest ever for a victorious incumbent President, breaking Woodrow Wilson's 3.1% margin of victory against Charles Evans Hughes in the election of 1916.

Presidency

Bush was sworn in as president on January 20, 2001. Though he originally outlined an ambitious domestic agenda, his priorities were significantly altered following the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Wars were waged in Afghanistan and later Iraq while significant debates regarding immigration, healthcare, Social Security, economic policy, and treatment of terrorist detainees took place within the United States. Over an eight year period, Bush's once-high approval ratings steadily declined throughout his Presidency while his disapproval numbers increased significantly over the same time frame. During 2007, the United States entered into the longest post World War II recession and the administration responded by enacting multiple economic programs.

Domestic policy

Economic policy

In a February 28, 2001, message to the Congress, Bush estimated that there would be a $5.6 trillion surplus over the next ten years. Facing opposition in Congress, Bush held town hall-style public meetings across the U.S. in 2001 to increase public support for his plan for a $1.35 trillion tax cut program—one of the largest tax cuts in U.S. history. Bush argued that unspent government funds should be returned to taxpayers, saying "the surplus is not the government’s money. The surplus is the people’s money." With reports of the threat of recession from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, Bush argued that such a tax cut would stimulate the economy and create jobs. Others, including the Treasury Secretary at the time Paul O'Neill, were opposed to some of the tax cuts on the basis that they would contribute to budget deficits and undermine Social Security. O'Neill disputes the claim made in Bush's book "Decision Points" that he never openly disagreed with him on planned tax cuts. By 2003, the economy showed signs of improvement, though job growth remained stagnant. Another tax cut program was passed that year. Under the Bush Administration, real GDP grew at an average annual rate of 2.5%, considerably below the average for business cycles from 1949 to 2000. Bush entered office with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 10,587, and the average peaked in October 2007 at over 14,000. When Bush left office, the average was at 7,949, one of the lowest levels of his presidency. Unemployment originally rose from 4.2% in January 2001 to 6.3% in June 2003, but subsequently dropped to 4.5% as of July 2007. Adjusted for inflation, median household income dropped by $1,175 between 2000 and 2007, while Professor Ken Homa of Georgetown University has noted that "after-tax median household income increased by 2%" The poverty rate increased from 11.3% in 2000 to 12.3% in 2006 after peaking at 12.7% in 2004. By October 2008, due to increases in domestic and foreign spending, the national debt had risen to $11.3 trillion, an increase of over 100% from the start of the year 2000 when the debt was $5.6 trillion. Most debt was accumulated as a result of what became known as the "Bush tax cuts" and increased national security spending. By the end of Bush's presidency, unemployment climbed to 7.2%. The perception of Bush's effect on the economy is significantly affected by partisanship, which makes it difficult to determine who or what caused which problems. In December 2007, the United States entered the longest post–World War II recession, which included a housing market correction, a subprime mortgage crisis, soaring oil prices, and a declining dollar value. In February, 63,000 jobs were lost, a five-year record. To aid with the situation, Bush signed a $170 billion economic stimulus package which was intended to improve the economic situation by sending tax rebate checks to many Americans and providing tax breaks for struggling businesses. The Bush administration pushed for significantly increased regulation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2003, and after two years, the regulations passed the House but died in the Senate. Many Republican senators, as well as influential members of the Bush Administration, feared that the agency created by these regulations would merely be mimicking the private sector’s risky practices. In September 2008, the crisis became much more serious beginning with the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac followed by the collapse of Lehman Brothers and a federal bailout of American International Group for $85 billion.

Many economists and world governments determined that the situation became the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Additional regulation over the housing market would have been beneficial, according to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Bush, meanwhile, proposed a financial rescue plan to buy back a large portion of the U.S. mortgage market. Vince Reinhardt, a former Federal Reserve economist now at the American Enterprise Institute, said "it would have helped for the Bush administration to empower the folks at Treasury and the Federal Reserve and the comptroller of the currency and the FDIC to look at these issues more closely", and additionally, that it would have helped "for Congress to have held hearings".

In November 2008, over 500,000 jobs were lost, which marked the largest loss of jobs in the United States in 34 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in the last four months of 2008, 1.9 million jobs were lost. By the end of 2008, the U.S. had lost a total of 2.6 million jobs.

Education and health

Bush undertook a number of educational priorities, such as increasing the funding for the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health in his first years of office, and creating education programs to strengthen the grounding in science and mathematics for American high school students. Funding for the NIH was cut in 2006, the first such cut in 36 years, due to rising inflation.

One of the administration's early major initiatives was the No Child Left Behind Act, which aimed to measure and close the gap between rich and poor student performance, provide options to parents with students in low-performing schools, and target more federal funding to low-income schools. This landmark education initiative passed with broad bipartisan support, including that of Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. It was signed into law by Bush in early 2002. Many contend that the initiative has been successful, as cited by the fact that students in the U.S. have performed significantly better on state reading and math tests since Bush signed "No Child Left Behind" into law. Critics argue that it is underfunded and that NCLBA's focus on "high stakes testing" and quantitative outcomes is counterproductive.

After being re-elected, Bush signed into law a Medicare drug benefit program that, according to Jan Crawford Greenburg, resulted in "the greatest expansion in America's welfare state in forty years;" the bill's costs approached $7 trillion. In 2007, Bush opposed and vetoed State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) legislation, which was added by the Democrats onto a war funding bill and passed by Congress. The SCHIP legislation would have significantly expanded federally funded health care benefits and plans to children of some low-income families from about six million to ten million children. It was to be funded by an increase in the cigarette tax. Bush viewed the legislation as a move toward socialized health care, and asserted that the program could benefit families making as much as $83,000 per year who did not need the help.

Social services and Social Security

Following Republican efforts to pass the Medicare Act of 2003, Bush signed the bill, which included major changes to the Medicare program by providing beneficiaries with some assistance in paying for prescription drugs, while relying on private insurance for the delivery of benefits. The retired persons lobby group AARP worked with the Bush Administration on the program and gave their endorsement. Bush said the law, estimated to cost $400 billion over the first ten years, would give the elderly "better choices and more control over their health care".

Bush began his second term by outlining a major initiative to reform Social Security, which was facing record deficit projections beginning in 2005. Bush made it the centerpiece of his domestic agenda despite opposition from some in the U.S. Congress. In his 2005 State of the Union Address, Bush discussed the potential impending bankruptcy of the program and outlined his new program, which included partial privatization of the system, personal Social Security accounts, and options to permit Americans to divert a portion of their Social Security tax (FICA) into secured investments. Democrats opposed the proposal to partially privatize the system.

Bush embarked on a 60-day national tour, campaigning vigorously for his initiative in media events, known as the "Conversations on Social Security", in an attempt to gain support from the general public. Despite the energetic campaign, public support for the proposal declined and the House Republican leadership decided not to put Social Security reform on the priority list for the remainder of their 2005 legislative agenda. The proposal's legislative prospects were further diminished by the political fallout from the Hurricane Katrina in the fall of 2005. After the Democrats gained control of both houses of the Congress as a result of the 2006 midterm elections, the prospects of any further congressional action on the Bush proposal were dead for the remainder of his term in office.

Environmental and energy policies

Upon taking office in 2001, Bush stated his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the UN Convention on Climate Change which seeks to impose mandatory targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, citing that the treaty exempted 80% of the world's population and would have cost tens of billions of dollars per year. He also cited that the Senate had voted 95–0 in 1997 on a resolution expressing its disapproval of the protocol. In May 2001, Bush signed an executive order to create an inter-agency task force to streamline energy projects, and later signed two other executive orders to tackle environmental issues.

In 2002, Bush announced the Clear Skies Act of 2003, aimed at amending the Clean Air Act to reduce air pollution through the use of emissions trading programs. Many experts argued that this legislation would have weakened the original legislation by allowing higher emission rates of pollutants than were previously legal. The initiative was introduced to Congress, but failed to make it out of committee.

Bush has said that he believes that global warming is real and has noted that it is a serious problem, but he asserted there is a "debate over whether it's man-made or naturally caused". The Bush Administration's stance on global warming remained controversial in the scientific and environmental communities. Critics have alleged that the administration misinformed the public and did not do enough to reduce carbon emissions and deter global warming.

In his 2006 State of the Union Address, Bush declared, "America is addicted to oil" and announced his Advanced Energy Initiative to increase energy development research.

That same year, Bush declared the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands a national monument, creating the largest marine reserve to date. The Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument comprises 84 million acres (340,000 km²) and is home to 7,000 species of fish, birds, and other marine animals, many of which are specific to only those islands. The move was hailed by conservationists for "its foresight and leadership in protecting this incredible area".

In his 2007 State of the Union Address, Bush renewed his pledge to work toward diminished reliance on foreign oil by reducing fossil fuel consumption and increasing alternative fuel production. Amid high gasoline prices in 2008, Bush lifted a ban on offshore drilling. However, the move was largely symbolic as there is still a federal law banning offshore drilling. Bush said, "This means that the only thing standing between the American people and these vast oil reserves is action from the U.S. Congress." Bush had said in June 2008, "In the long run, the solution is to reduce demand for oil by promoting alternative energy technologies. My administration has worked with Congress to invest in gas-saving technologies like advanced batteries and hydrogen fuel cells.... In the short run, the American economy will continue to rely largely on oil. And that means we need to increase supply, especially here at home. So my administration has repeatedly called on Congress to expand domestic oil production." In his 2008 State of the Union Address, Bush announced that the U.S. would commit $2 billion over the next three years to a new international fund to promote clean energy technologies and fight climate change, saying, "Along with contributions from other countries, this fund will increase and accelerate the deployment of all forms of cleaner, more efficient technologies in developing nations like India and China, and help leverage substantial private-sector capital by making clean energy projects more financially attractive." He also announced plans to reaffirm the United States' commitment to work with major economies, and, through the UN, to complete an international agreement that will slow, stop, and eventually reverse the growth of greenhouse gases; he stated, "This agreement will be effective only if it includes commitments by every major economy and gives none a free ride."

Stem cell research and first use of veto power

Federal funding for medical research involving the creation or destruction of human embryos through the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institutes of Health has been forbidden by law since the passage in 1995 of the Dickey-Wicker Amendment by Congress and the signature of President Bill Clinton. Bush has said that he supports adult stem cell research and has supported federal legislation that finances adult stem cell research. However, Bush did not support embryonic stem cell research. On August 9, 2001, Bush signed an executive order lifting the ban on federal funding for the 71 existing "lines" of stem cells, but the ability of these existing lines to provide an adequate medium for testing has been questioned. Testing can only be done on 12 of the original lines, and all of the approved lines have been cultured in contact with mouse cells, which creates safety issues that complicate development and approval of therapies from these lines. On July 19, 2006, Bush used his veto power for the first time in his presidency to veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The bill would have repealed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, thereby permitting federal money to be used for research where stem cells are derived from the destruction of an embryo.

Immigration

In 2006, Bush urged Congress to allow more than 12 million illegal immigrants to work in the United States with the creation of a "temporary guest-worker program". Bush did not support amnesty for illegal immigrants, but argued that the lack of legal status denies the protections of U.S. laws to millions of people who face dangers of poverty and exploitation, and penalizes employers despite a demand for immigrant labor. Nearly 8 million immigrants came to the United States from 2000 to 2005, more than in any other five-year period in the nation's history. Almost half entered illegally.

Bush also urged Congress to provide additional funds for border security and committed to deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexico–United States border. In May–June 2007, Bush strongly supported the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007, which was written by a bipartisan group of Senators with the active participation of the Bush administration. The bill envisioned a legalization program for illegal immigrants, with an eventual path to citizenship; establishing a guest worker program; a series of border and work site enforcement measures; a reform of the green card application process and the introduction of a point-based "merit" system for green cards; elimination of "chain migration" and of the Diversity Immigrant Visa; and other measures. Bush contended that the proposed bill did not amount to amnesty.

A heated public debate followed, which resulted in a substantial rift within the Republican Party, the majority of conservatives opposed it because of its legalization or amnesty provisions. The bill was eventually defeated in the Senate on June 28, 2007, when a cloture motion failed on a 46–53 vote. Bush expressed disappointment upon the defeat of one of his signature domestic initiatives. The Bush administration later proposed a series of immigration enforcement measures that do not require a change in law.

On September 19, 2010, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said that Bush offered to accept 100,000 Palestinian refugees as American citizens if a permanent settlement had been reached between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina, which was one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, struck early in Bush’s second term. Katrina formed in late August during the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season and devastated much of the north-central Gulf Coast of the United States, particularly New Orleans.

Bush declared a state of emergency in Louisiana on August 27, and in Mississippi and Alabama the following day; he authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to manage the disaster, but his announcement failed to spur these agencies to action. The eye of the hurricane made landfall on August 29, and New Orleans began to flood due to levee breaches; later that day, Bush declared that a major disaster existed in Louisiana, officially authorizing FEMA to start using federal funds to assist in the recovery effort. On August 30, DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff declared it "an incident of national significance", triggering the first use of the newly created National Response Plan. Three days later, on September 2, National Guard troops first entered the city of New Orleans. The same day, Bush toured parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama and declared that the success of the recovery effort up to that point was "not enough".

As the disaster in New Orleans intensified, critics charged that Bush was misrepresenting his administration's role in what they saw as a flawed response. Leaders attacked Bush for having appointed apparently incompetent leaders to positions of power at FEMA, notably Michael D. Brown; it was also argued that the federal response was limited as a result of the Iraq War and Bush himself did not act upon warnings of floods. Bush responded to mounting criticism by accepting full responsibility for the federal government's failures in its handling of the emergency. It has been argued that with Katrina, Bush passed a political tipping point from which he would not recover.

Midterm dismissal of U.S. attorneys

During Bush's second term, a controversy arose over the Justice Department's midterm dismissal of seven United States Attorneys. The White House maintained that the U.S. attorneys were fired for poor performance. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would later resign over the issue, along with other senior members of the Justice Department. The House Judiciary Committee issued subpoenas for advisers Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten to testify regarding this matter, but Bush directed Miers and Bolten to not comply with those subpoenas, invoking his right of executive privilege. Bush has maintained that all of his advisers are protected under a broad executive privilege protection to receive candid advice. The Justice Department has determined that the President's order was legal.

Although Congressional investigations have focused on whether the Justice Department and the White House were using the U.S. Attorney positions for political advantage, no official findings have been released. On March 10, 2008, the Congress filed a federal lawsuit to enforce their issued subpoenas. On July 31, 2008, a United States district court judge ruled that Bush's top advisers were not immune from Congressional subpoenas.

In August 2009, Karl Rove and Harriet Miers testified before the House Judiciary Committee. A Justice Department inquiry into the firing of U.S. attorneys concluded that political considerations played a part in as many as four of the dismissals. In July 2010, the Justice Department prosecutors closed the two-year investigation without filing charges after determining that the firings were inappropriately political, but not criminal. According to the prosecutors, "Evidence did not demonstrate that any prosecutable criminal offense was committed with regard to the removal of David Iglesias. The investigative team also determined that the evidence did not warrant expanding the scope of the investigation beyond the removal of Iglesias."

Foreign policy

In July 2001 Bush visited the pope at Castel Gandolfo. During his Presidential campaign, Bush's foreign policy platform included support for a stronger economic and political relationship with Latin America, especially Mexico, and a reduction of involvement in "nation-building" and other small-scale military engagements. The administration pursued a national missile defense. Bush was an advocate of China's entry into the World Trade Organization. He said free trade was a force for democratization in China.

After the September 11 attacks, Bush launched the War on Terror, in which the United States military and an international coalition invaded Afghanistan. In 2003, Bush launched the invasion of Iraq, which he described as being part of the War on Terrorism.

Those invasions led to the toppling of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and the removal of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq as well as the deaths of many Iraqis, with surveys indicating between four hundred thousand to over one million dead, excluding the tens of thousands of civilians in Afghanistan.

Bush began his second term with an emphasis on improving strained relations with European nations. He appointed long-time adviser Karen Hughes to oversee a global public relations campaign. Bush lauded the pro-democracy struggles in Georgia and Ukraine.

In March 2006, a visit to India led to renewed ties between the two countries, reversing decades of U.S. policy. The visit focused particularly on areas of nuclear energy and counter-terrorism cooperation, discussions that would lead eventually to the U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement. This is in stark contrast to the stance taken by his predecessor, Clinton, whose approach and response to India after the 1998 nuclear tests was that of sanctions and hectoring. The relationship between India and the United States was one that dramatically improved during Bush's tenure.

Midway through Bush's second term, it was questioned whether Bush was retreating from his freedom and democracy agenda, highlighted in policy changes toward some oil-rich former Soviet republics in central Asia.

In an address before both Houses of Congress on September 20, 2001, Bush thanked the nations of the world for their support following the September 11 attacks. He specifically thanked British Prime Minister Tony Blair for traveling to the Washington to show "unity of purpose with America", and said "America has no truer friend than Great Britain."

September 11, 2001

The September 11 terrorist attacks were a major turning point in Bush's presidency. That evening, he addressed the nation from the Oval Office, promising a strong response to the attacks but emphasizing the need for the nation to come together and comfort the families of the victims. On September 14, he visited Ground Zero, meeting with Mayor Rudy Giuliani, firefighters, police officers, and volunteers. Bush addressed the gathering via a megaphone while standing on a heap of rubble, to much applause: }} In a September 20 speech, Bush condemned Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda, and issued an ultimatum to the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, where bin Laden was operating, to "hand over the terrorists, or ... share in their fate".

War on Terrorism

After September 11, Bush announced a global War on Terror. The Afghan Taliban regime was not forthcoming with Osama bin Laden, so Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan to overthrow the Taliban regime. In his January 29, 2002 State of the Union Address, he asserted that an "axis of evil" consisting of North Korea, Iran, and Iraq was "arming to threaten the peace of the world" and "pose[d] a grave and growing danger". The Bush Administration proceeded to assert a right and intention to engage in preemptive war, also called preventive war, in response to perceived threats. This would form a basis for what became known as the Bush Doctrine. The broader "War on Terror", allegations of an "axis of evil", and, in particular, the doctrine of preemptive war, began to weaken the unprecedented levels of international and domestic support for Bush and United States action against al-Qaeda following the September 11 attacks.

Some national leaders alleged abuse by U.S. troops and called for the U.S. to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and other such facilities. Dissent from, and criticism of, Bush's leadership in the War on Terror increased as the war in Iraq expanded. In 2006, a National Intelligence Estimate expressed the combined opinion of the United States' own intelligence agencies, concluding that the Iraq War had become the "cause célèbre for jihadists" and that the jihad movement was growing.

Afghanistan

On October 7, 2001, U.S. and British forces initiated bombing campaigns that led to the arrival of Northern Alliance troops in Kabul on November 13. The main goals of the war were to defeat the Taliban, drive al-Qaeda out of Afghanistan, and capture key al-Qaeda leaders. In December 2001, the Pentagon reported that the Taliban had been defeated, but cautioned that the war would go on to continue weakening Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders. Later that month the UN had installed the Afghan Transitional Administration chaired by Hamid Karzai.

Efforts to kill or capture al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden failed as he escaped a battle in December 2001 in the mountainous region of Tora Bora, which the Bush Administration later acknowledged to have resulted from a failure to commit enough U.S. ground troops. On March 13, 2002, Bush stated that "I truly am not that concerned about him" when asked about bin Laden, brushing him off as "a person who has now been marginalized", despite declaring that he was wanted "Dead or Alive" shortly after 9/11, and statements from U.S. commanders that bin Laden was "still a threat in the new Afghanistan". It was not until May 2011, two years after Bush left office, that bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces. Bin Laden's successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, as well as the leader of the Taliban, Mohammed Omar, remain at large.

Despite the initial success in driving the Taliban from power in Kabul, by early 2003 the Taliban was regrouping, amassing new funds and recruits. In 2006, the Taliban insurgency appeared larger, fiercer and better organized than expected, with large-scale allied offensives such as Operation Mountain Thrust attaining limited success. As a result, Bush commissioned 3,500 additional troops to the country in March 2007.

Iraq

Beginning with his January 29, 2002 State of the Union address, Bush began publicly focusing attention on Iraq, which he labeled as part of an "axis of evil" allied with terrorists and posing "a grave and growing danger" to U.S. interests through possession of weapons of mass destruction.

In the latter half of 2002, CIA reports contained assertions of Saddam Hussein's intent of reconstituting nuclear weapons programs, not properly accounting for Iraqi biological and chemical weapons, and that some Iraqi missiles had a range greater than allowed by the UN sanctions. Contentions that the Bush Administration manipulated or exaggerated the threat and evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities would eventually become a major point of criticism for the president.

In late 2002 and early 2003, Bush urged the United Nations to enforce Iraqi disarmament mandates, precipitating a diplomatic crisis. In November 2002, Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei led UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, but were advised by the U.S. to depart the country four days prior to the U.S. invasion, despite their requests for more time to complete their tasks. The U.S. initially sought a UN Security Council resolution authorizing the use of military force but dropped the bid for UN approval due to vigorous opposition from several countries.

More than 20 nations (most notably the United Kingdom), designated the "coalition of the willing" joined the United States in invading Iraq. They launched the invasion on March 20, 2003. The Iraqi military was quickly defeated. The capital, Baghdad, fell on April 9, 2003. On May 1, Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq. The initial success of U.S. operations increased his popularity, but the U.S. and allied forces faced a growing insurgency led by sectarian groups; Bush's "Mission Accomplished" speech was later criticized as premature. From 2004 until 2007, the situation in Iraq deteriorated further, with some observers arguing that there was a full scale civil war in Iraq. Bush's policies met with criticism, including demands domestically to set a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq. The 2006 report of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, led by James Baker, concluded that the situation in Iraq was "grave and deteriorating". While Bush admitted that there were strategic mistakes made in regards to the stability of Iraq, he maintained he would not change the overall Iraq strategy. In January 2005, free, democratic elections were held in Iraq for the first time in 50 years. According to Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie, "This is the greatest day in the history of this country." Bush praised the event as well, saying that the Iraqis "have taken rightful control of their country's destiny". This led to the election of Jalal Talabani as President and Nouri al-Maliki as Prime Minister of Iraq. A referendum to approve a constitution in Iraq was held in October 2005, supported by the majority Shiites and many Kurds.

On January 10, 2007, Bush addressed the nation regarding the situation in Iraq. In this speech, he announced a surge of 21,500 more troops for Iraq, as well as a job program for Iraqis, more reconstruction proposals, and $1.2 billion for these programs. On May 1, 2007, Bush used his veto for only the second time in his presidency, rejecting a congressional bill setting a deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops. Five years after the invasion, Bush called the debate over the conflict "understandable" but insisted that a continued U.S. presence there was crucial.

In March 2008, Bush praised the Iraqi government's "bold decision" to launch the Battle of Basra against the Mahdi Army, calling it "a defining moment in the history of a free Iraq". He said he would carefully weigh recommendations from his commanding General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker about how to proceed after the end of the military buildup in the summer of 2008. He also praised the Iraqis' legislative achievements, including a pension law, a revised de-Baathification law, a new budget, an amnesty law, and a provincial powers measure that, he said, set the stage for the Iraqi elections.

On July 31, 2008, Bush announced that with the end of July, American troop deaths had reached their lowest number—thirteen—since the war began in 2003. Due to increased stability in Iraq, Bush announced the withdrawal of additional American forces. This reflected an emerging consensus between the White House and the Pentagon that the war has "turned a corner". He also described what he saw as the success of the 2007 troop surge.

Surveillance

Following the events of September 11, Bush issued an executive order authorizing the President's Surveillance Program which included allowing the NSA to monitor communications between suspected terrorists outside the U.S and parties within the U.S. without obtaining a warrant as required by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. As of 2009, the other provisions of program remained highly classified.) Once the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel questioned its original legal opinion that FISA did not apply in a time of war, the program was subsequently re-authorized by the President on the basis that the warrant requirements of FISA were implicitly superseded by the subsequent passage of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists. The program proved to be controversial, as critics of the administration, as well as organizations such as the American Bar Association, argued that it was illegal. In August 2006, a U.S. district court judge ruled that the NSA electronic surveillance program was unconstitutional, but on July 6, 2007, that ruling was vacated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on the grounds that the plaintiffs lacked standing. On January 17, 2007, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales informed U.S. Senate leaders that the program would not be reauthorized by the President, but would be subjected to judicial oversight.

Interrogation policies

Bush authorized the CIA to use waterboarding as one of several enhanced interrogation techniques. Between 2002 and 2003 the CIA considered certain enhanced interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, to be legal based on a secret Justice Department legal opinion arguing that terror detainees were not protected by the Geneva Conventions' ban on torture. The CIA had exercised the technique on certain key terrorist suspects under authority given to it in the Bybee Memo from the Attorney General, though that memo was later withdrawn. While not permitted by the U.S. Army Field Manuals which assert "that harsh interrogation tactics elicit unreliable information", the Bush administration believed these enhanced interrogations "provided critical information" to preserve American lives. Critics, such as former CIA officer Bob Baer, have stated that information was suspect, "you can get anyone to confess to anything if the torture's bad enough."

On October 17, 2006, Bush signed into law the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a law enacted in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on ''Hamdan v. Rumsfeld'', , which allows the U.S. government to prosecute unlawful enemy combatants by military commission rather than a standard trial. The law also denies them access to ''habeas corpus'' and bars the torture of detainees, but allows the president to determine what constitutes torture.

On March 8, 2008, Bush vetoed H.R. 2082, a bill that would have expanded congressional oversight over the intelligence community and banned the use of waterboarding as well as other forms of interrogation not permitted under the United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations, saying that "the bill Congress sent me would take away one of the most valuable tools in the war on terror". In April 2009, the ACLU sued and won release of the secret memos that had authorized the Bush administration's interrogation tactics. One memo detailed specific interrogation tactics including a footnote that described waterboarding as torture as well as that the form of waterboarding used by the CIA was far more intense than authorized by the Justice Department.

North Korea

Bush publicly condemned Kim Jong-il of North Korea, naming North Korea one of three states in an "axis of evil", and saying that "the United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." Within months, "both countries had walked away from their respective commitments under the U.S.-DPRK Agreed Framework of October 1994." North Korea's October 9, 2006, detonation of a nuclear device further complicated Bush's foreign policy, which centered for both terms of his presidency on "[preventing] the terrorists and regimes who seek chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons from threatening the United States and the world". Bush condemned North Korea's position, reaffirmed his commitment to "a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula", and stated that "transfer of nuclear weapons or material by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States", for which North Korea would be held accountable. On May 7, 2007, North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear reactors immediately pending the release of frozen funds held in a foreign bank account. This was a result of a series of three-way talks initiated by the United States and including China. On September 2, 2007, North Korea agreed to disclose and dismantle all of its nuclear programs by the end of 2007. By May 2009, North Korea had restarted its nuclear program and threatened to attack South Korea.

Syria

Bush expanded economic sanctions on Syria. In early 2007, the Treasury Department, acting on a June 2005 executive order, froze American bank accounts of Syria's Higher Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Electronics Institute, and National Standards and Calibration Laboratory. Bush's order prohibits Americans from doing business with these institutions suspected of helping spread weapons of mass destruction and being supportive of terrorism. Under separate executive orders signed by Bush in 2004 and later 2007, the Treasury Department froze the assets of two Lebanese and two Syrians, accusing them of activities to "undermine the legitimate political process in Lebanon" in November 2007. Those designated included: Assaad Halim Hardan, a member of Lebanon's parliament and current leader of the Syrian Socialist National Party; Wi'am Wahhab, a former member of Lebanon's government (Minister of the Environment) under Prime Minister Omar Karami (2004–2005); Hafiz Makhluf, a colonel and senior official in the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate and a cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad; and Muhammad Nasif Khayrbik, identified as a close adviser to Assad.

Assassination attempt

On May 10, 2005, Vladimir Arutyunian, a native Georgian who was born to a family of ethnic Armenians, threw a live hand grenade toward a podium where Bush was speaking at Freedom Square in Tbilisi, Georgia. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili was seated nearby. It landed in the crowd about from the podium after hitting a girl, but it did not detonate. Arutyunian was arrested in July 2005, confessed, was convicted and was given a life sentence in January 2006.

Other issues

Bush withdrew U.S. support for several international agreements, including the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM) with Russia. Bush emphasized a careful approach to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; he denounced Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat for his support of violence, but sponsored dialogues between Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Bush supported Sharon's unilateral disengagement plan, and lauded the democratic elections held in Palestine after Arafat's death.

Bush also expressed U.S. support for the defense of Taiwan following the stand-off in April 2001 with the People's Republic of China over the Hainan Island incident, when an EP-3E Aries II surveillance aircraft collided with a People's Liberation Army Air Force jet, leading to the detention of U.S. personnel. In 2003–2004, Bush authorized U.S. military intervention in Haiti and Liberia to protect U.S. interests. Bush condemned the militia attacks Darfur and denounced the killings in Sudan as genocide. Bush said that an international peacekeeping presence was critical in Darfur, but opposed referring the situation to the International Criminal Court.

In his State of the Union address in January 2003, Bush outlined a five-year strategy for global emergency AIDS relief, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Bush announced $15 billion for this effort which directly supported life-saving antiretroviral treatment for more than 3.2 million men, women and children worldwide.

On June 10, 2007, he met with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and became the first president to visit Albania. Bush has voiced his support for the independence of Kosovo.

Bush opened the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Departing from previous practice, he stood among a group of U.S. athletes rather than from a ceremonial stand or box, saying: "On behalf of a proud, determined, and grateful nation, I declare open the Games of Salt Lake City, celebrating the Olympic Winter Games." In 2008, in the course of a good-will trip to Asia, he attended the Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Judicial appointments

Supreme Court

Following the announcement of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement on July 1, 2005, Bush nominated John Roberts to succeed her. On September 5, following the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, this nomination was withdrawn and Bush instead nominated Roberts for Chief Justice to succeed Rehnquist. Roberts was confirmed by the Senate as the 17th Chief Justice on September 29, 2005.

On October 3, 2005, Bush nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers for O'Connor's position; after facing significant opposition, she asked that her name be withdrawn on October 27. Four days later, on October 31, Bush nominated federal appellate judge Samuel Alito for the position and he was confirmed as the 110th Supreme Court Justice on January 31, 2006.

Other courts

In addition to his two Supreme Court appointments, Bush appointed 61 judges to the United States Courts of Appeals and 261 judges to the United States district courts. Each of these numbers, along with his total of 324 judicial appointments, is third in American history, behind both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. Bush experienced a number of judicial appointment controversies, as 39 people nominated to 27 federal appellate judgeships were blocked by the Senate Democrats either in the Senate Judiciary Committee or on the Senate floor using a filibuster.

Public image and perception

Domestic

[[File:George W Bush approval ratings.svg|thumb|right| Gallup/''USA Today'' Bush public opinion polling from February 2001 to January 2009. Blue denotes approve, red disapprove and green unsure.]]

Image

Bush's upbringing in West Texas, his accent, his vacations on his Texas ranch, and his penchant for country metaphors contribute to his folksy, American cowboy image. "I think people look at him and think John Wayne", says Piers Morgan, editor of the British ''Daily Mirror''. It has been suggested that Bush's accent was an active choice, as a way of distinguishing himself from Northeastern intellectuals and anchoring himself to his Texas roots. Both supporters and detractors have pointed to his country persona as reasons for their support or criticism.

Bush's intelligence has been satirized by the media, comedians, and other politicians. Detractors tended to cite linguistic errors made by Bush during his public speeches, which are colloquially termed as Bushisms. Editorials in ''Harper's Magazine'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''The Washington Post'', ''Common Dreams NewsCenter'', and ''The Nation'' have referred to Bush as "the worst president ever". In contrast to his father, who was perceived as having troubles with an overarching unifying theme, Bush embraced larger visions and was seen as a man of larger ideas and associated huge risks. Tony Blair wrote in 2010 that the caricature of Bush as being dumb is "ludicrous" and that Bush is "very smart".

Approval

Bush's popularity was highly variable during his two terms. He began his presidency with approval ratings near 50%. After the September 11 attacks, Bush gained an approval rating of 90%, maintaining 80–90% approval for four months after the attacks. It remained over 50% during most of his first term.

In 2000 and again in 2004, ''Time'' magazine named George W. Bush as its Person of the Year, a title awarded to someone who the editors believe "has done the most to influence the events of the year". In May 2004, Gallup reported that 89% of the Republican electorate approved of Bush. However, the support waned due mostly to a minority of Republicans' frustration with him on issues of spending, illegal immigration, and Middle Eastern affairs. Within the United States armed forces, according to an unscientific survey, the president was strongly supported in the 2004 presidential elections. While 73% of military personnel said that they would vote for Bush, 18% preferred his Democratic rival, John Kerry. According to Peter Feaver, a Duke University political scientist who has studied the political leanings of the U.S. military, members of the armed services supported Bush because they found him more likely than Kerry to complete the War in Iraq.

Bush's approval rating went below the 50% mark in AP-Ipsos polling in December 2004. Thereafter, his approval ratings and approval of his handling of domestic and foreign policy issues steadily dropped. Bush received heavy criticism for his handling of the Iraq War, his response to Hurricane Katrina and to the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse, NSA warrantless surveillance, the Plame affair, and Guantanamo Bay detention camp controversies.

Polls conducted in 2006 showed an average of 37% approval ratings for Bush, the lowest for any second-term president at that point of his term since Harry S. Truman in March 1951, when Truman's approval rating was 28%, which contributed to what Bush called the "thumping" of the Republican Party in the 2006 mid-term elections. Throughout 2007, Bush's approval rating hovered in the mid-thirties, although in an October 17, 2007, Reuters poll, Bush received a lower approval rating of 24%, the lowest point of his presidency.

By April 2008, Bush's disapproval ratings were the highest ever recorded in the 70-year history of the Gallup poll for any president, with 69% of those polled disapproving of the job Bush was doing as president and 28% approving. In September 2008, in polls performed by various agencies, Bush's approval rating ranged from 19%—the lowest ever—to 34%. and his disapproval rating stood at 69%. Bush left the White House as one of the most unpopular American presidents, second in unpopularity only to Richard Nixon.

In response to his poll numbers and "worst president" accusations, Bush said, "I frankly don't give a damn about the polls.... To assume that historians can figure out the effect of the Bush administration before the Bush administration has ended is ... in my mind ... not an accurate reflection upon how history works."

In 2006, 744 professional historians surveyed by Siena College regarded Bush's presidency as follows: Great: 2%; Near Great: 5%; Average: 11%; Below Average: 24%; Failure: 58%. Thomas Kelly, professor emeritus of American studies at Siena College, said that "In this case, current public opinion polls actually seem to cut the President more slack than the experts do." Similar outcomes were retrieved by two informal surveys done by the History News Network in 2004 and 2008.

A March 13, 2008, poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press reported that 53% of Americans believe that "the U.S. will ultimately succeed in achieving its goals" in Iraq. That figure was up from 42% in September 2007 and the highest since 2006.

A 2010 Siena College poll of 238 Presidential scholars found that Bush was ranked 39th out of 43, with poor ratings in handling of the economy, communication, ability to compromise, foreign policy accomplishments and intelligence.

Calls for Bush's impeachment were made, though most polls showed a plurality of Americans did not support the president's impeachment. The reasoning behind impeachment usually centered on the NSA warrantless surveillance controversy, the Bush administration's justification for the war in Iraq, and alleged violations of the Geneva Conventions. Representative Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat from Ohio, introduced 35 articles of impeachment on the floor of the House of Representatives against Bush on June 9, 2008, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi declared that impeachment was "off the table".

Foreign perceptions

Bush has been criticized internationally and targeted by the global anti-war and anti-globalization campaigns, particularly for his administration's foreign policy. Views of him within the international community are more negative than previous American Presidents, with France largely opposed to what he advocated.

Bush was described as having especially close personal relationships with Tony Blair and Vicente Fox, although formal relations were sometimes strained. Other leaders, such as Afghan president Hamid Karzai, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni, Spanish prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, have openly criticized the president. Later in Bush's presidency, tensions arose between himself and Vladimir Putin, which has led to a cooling of their relationship. In 2006, a majority of respondents in 18 of 21 countries surveyed around the world were found to hold an unfavorable opinion of Bush. Respondents indicated that they judged his administration as negative for world security. In 2007, the Pew Global Attitudes Project reported that during the Bush presidency, attitudes towards the United States and the American people became less favorable around the world.

A March 2007 survey of Arab opinion conducted by Zogby International and the University of Maryland found that Bush was the most disliked leader in the Arab world.

The Pew Research Center's 2007 Global Attitudes poll found that out of 47 countries, a majority of respondents expressed "a lot of confidence" or "some confidence" in Bush in only nine countries: Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, and Uganda.

During a June 2007 visit to the predominantly Muslim Eastern European nation of Albania, Bush was greeted enthusiastically. Albania has a population of 3.6 million, has troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and the country's government is highly supportive of American foreign policy. A huge image of the President was hung in the middle of the capital city of Tirana flanked by Albanian and American flags while a local street was named after him. A shirt-sleeved statue of Bush was unveiled in Fushe-Kruje, a few kilometers northwest of Tirana. The Bush administration's support for the independence of Albanian-majority Kosovo, while endearing him to the Albanians, has troubled U.S. relations with Serbia, leading to the February 2008 torching of the U.S. embassy in Belgrade.

Acknowledgements

On May 7, 2005 at an official state visit in Latvia, George W. Bush was awarded the Order of the Three Stars presented to him by president Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga.

Post-presidency

Following the inauguration of Barack Obama, Bush and his family flew from Andrews Air Force Base to a homecoming celebration in Midland, Texas, following which they returned to their ranch in Crawford, Texas. They bought a home in the Preston Hollow neighborhood of Dallas, Texas, where they settled down.

Since leaving office, Bush has kept a relatively low profile though he has made public appearances, most notably after the release of his memoirs in 2010 and for the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2011. He makes regular appearances at various events throughout the Dallas/Fort Worth area, most notably when he conducted the opening coin toss at the Dallas Cowboys first game in the team's new stadium in Arlington and an April 2009 visit to a Texas Rangers game, where he thanked the people of Dallas for helping him settle in and was met with a standing ovation.

In 2009, he delivered a speech in Calgary, Alberta, appeared via video on ''The Colbert Report'' during which he praised U.S. troops for earning a "special place in American history," and attended the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy. Bush made his debut as a motivational speaker on October 26 at the "Get Motivated" seminar in Dallas. In the aftermath of the Fort Hood shooting that took place on November 5, 2009 in Texas, the Bushes paid an undisclosed visit to the survivors and victims' families the day following the shooting, having contacted the base commander requesting that the visit be private and not involve press coverage. They spent one to two hours at the base.

Bush released his memoirs, ''Decision Points'', on November 9, 2010. During a pre-release appearance promoting the book, Bush said he considered his biggest accomplishment to be keeping "the country safe amid a real danger," and his greatest failure to be his inability to secure the passage of Social Security reform. At President Obama's request, Bush and Bill Clinton established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund to raise contributions for relief and recovery efforts following the 2010 Haiti earthquake earlier in January. He also made news defending his administration's enhanced interrogation techniques, specifically the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, saying, "I'd do it again to save lives." He also attended every home playoff game for the Texas Rangers 2010 season and, accompanied by his father, threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington for Game 4 of the 2010 World Series on October 31, 2010.

In February 2011, Bush scrapped a planned visit to Switzerland amid threats of protest at a speech he intended to give at a dinner in Geneva; human rights groups have claimed the cancellation was due to fears of arrest by Swiss authorities based on his acknowledgement that he ordered the waterboarding of detainees. Human rights groups, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, filed papers with Swiss authorities demanding his criminal prosecution pursuant to the Convention on Torture, an international treaty that requires authorities of all countries that have ratified the treaty to open an investigation of people suspected to torturing. On May 2, 2011, President Obama called Bush, who was at a restaurant with his wife, to inform him that Osama bin Laden had been killed. The Bushes joined the Obamas in New York City to mark the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. At the Ground Zero memorial, Bush read a letter that President Abraham Lincoln wrote to a widow who lost five sons during the Civil War.

See also

Electoral history of George W. Bush

Historical rankings of Presidents of the United States

List of George W. Bush legislation and programs

List of nicknames for George W. Bush

List of nicknames used by George W. Bush

List of multilingual Presidents of the United States

Political positions of George W. Bush

References

Further reading

;Academic

Abramson, Paul R., John H. Aldrich, and David W. Rohde. ''Change and Continuity in the 2004 and 2006 Elections'' (2007), 324pp excerpt and text search

Allard, Scott W. "The Changing Face of Welfare During the Bush Administration." ''Publius'' 2007 37(3): 304–332. Issn: 0048-5950

Barone, Michael. ''The Almanac of American Politics'' (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010), highly detailed coverage of electoral politics and Congress.

Berggren, D. Jason, and Nicol C. Rae. "Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush: Faith, Foreign Policy, and an Evangelical Presidential Style." ''Presidential Studies Quarterly.'' 36#4 2006. pp 606+. online edition

Campbell, Colin, Bert A. Rockman, and Andrew Rudalevige, eds.. ''The George W. Bush Legacy'' Congressional Quarterly Press, 2007, 352pp; 14 essays by scholars excerpts and online search from Amazon.com

Congressional Quarterly. ''CQ Almanac Plus'' highly detailed annual compilation of events in Congress, White House, Supreme Court, summarizing the weekly "Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report". (annual, 2002–2009)

Conlan, Tim and John Dinan. "Federalism, the Bush Administration, and the Transformation of American Conservatism." ''Publius'' 2007 37(3): 279–303. Issn: 0048-5950

Corrado, Anthony, E. J. Dionne Jr., Kathleen A. Frankovic. ''The Election of 2000: Reports and Interpretations'' (2001) online edition

Daynes, Byron W. and Glen Sussman. "Comparing the Environmental Policies of Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush." ''White House Studies'' 2007 7(2): 163–179. Issn: 1535-4738

Desch, Michael C. "Bush and the Generals." ''Foreign Affairs'' 2007 86(3): 97–108. Issn: 0015-7120 Fulltext: Ebsco

Eckersley, Robyn. "Ambushed: the Kyoto Protocol, the Bush Administration's Climate Policy and the Erosion of Legitimacy." ''International Politics'' 2007 44(2–3): 306–324. Issn: 1384-5748

Edwards III, George C. and Philip John Davies, eds. ''New Challenges for the American Presidency'' New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. 245 pp. articles from ''Presidential Studies Quarterly''

Edwards III, George C. and Desmond King, eds. ''The Polarized Presidency of George W. Bush'' (2007), 478pp; essays by scholars; excerpt and online search from Amazon.com

Fortier, John C. and Norman J. Ornstein, eds. ''Second-term Blues: How George W. Bush Has Governed'' (2007), 146pp excerpt and online search from Amazon.com

Graham John D. ''Bush on the Home Front: Domestic Policy Triumphs and Setbacks'' (Indiana University Press, 2010) 425 pages; covers taxation, education, health care, energy, the environment, and regulatory reform.

Greenstein, Fred I. ed. ''The George W. Bush Presidency: An Early Assessment'' Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003

Greenstein, Fred I. “The Contemporary Presidency: The Changing Leadership of George W. Bush A Pre- and Post-9/11 Comparison” in ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' v 32#2 2002 pp 387+. online edition

Gregg II, Gary L. and Mark J. Rozell, eds. ''Considering the Bush Presidency'' Oxford University Press, 2004. 210 pp. British perspectives

Hendrickson, Ryan C., and Kristina Spohr Readman, "From the Baltic to the Black Sea: Bush's NATO Enlargement." ''White House Studies.'' (2004) 4#3 pp: 319+. online edition

Hilliard, Bryan, Tom Lansford, and Robert P Watson, eds. ''George W. Bush: Evaluating the President at Midterm'' SUNY Press 2004

Jacobson, Gary C. “The Bush Presidency and the American Electorate” ''Presidential Studies Quarterly'' v 33 No.4 2003 pp 701+. online edition

Jacobson, Gary C. "Referendum: the 2006 Midterm Congressional Elections." ''Political Science Quarterly'' 2007 122(1): 1–24. Issn: 0032-3195 Fulltext: Ebsco

Milkis, Sidney M. and Jesse H.Rhodes. "George W. Bush, the Party System, and American Federalism." ''Publius'' 2007 37(3): 478–503. Issn: 0048-5950

Moens, Alexander ''The Foreign Policy of George W. Bush: Values, Strategy, and Loyalty.'' Ashgate, 2004. 227 pp.

Rabe, Barry. "Environmental Policy and the Bush Era: the Collision Between the Administrative Presidency and State Experimentation." ''Publius'' 2007 37(3): 413–431. Issn: 0048-5950

Sabato, Larry J. ed. ''The Sixth Year Itch: The Rise and Fall of the George W. Bush Presidency'' (2007), experts on the 2006 elections in major states

Strozeski, Josh, et al. "From Benign Neglect to Strategic Interest: the Role of Africa in the Foreign Policies of Bush 41 and 43." ''White House Studies'' 2007 7(1): 35–51. Issn: 1535-4738

Wekkin, Gary D. "George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush: Puzzling Presidencies, or the Puzzle of the Presidency?" ''White House Studies'' 2007 7(2): 113–124. Issn: 1535-4738

Wong, Kenneth and Gail Sunderman. "Education Accountability as a Presidential Priority: No Child Left Behind and the Bush Presidency." ''Publius'' 2007 37(3): 333–350. Issn: 0048-5950

;Reflections on the Bush presidency

Barnes, Fred. ''Rebel-in-Chief: How George W. Bush Is Redefining the Conservative Movement and Transforming America'' (2006)

Bartlett, Bruce. ''Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy'' (2006)

Cheney, Dick. ''In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir'' (2011)

Draper, Robert. ''Inside the Bush White House: The Presidency of George W. Bush'' (2007)

Ferguson, Michaele L. and Lori Jo Marso. ''W Stands for Women: How the George W. Bush Presidency Shaped a New Politics of Gender'' (2007)

Gerson, Michael J. ''Heroic Conservatism: Why Republicans Need to Embrace America's Ideals (And Why They Deserve to Fail If They Don't)'' (2007), excerpt and text search

Greenspan, Alan. ''The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World'' (2007)

Hayes, Stephen F. ''Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President'' (2007), excerpts and online search

Hughes, Karen. ''George W. Bush: Portrait of a Leader'' (2005)

Mabry, Marcus. ''Twice as Good: Condoleezza Rice and Her Path to Power'' (2007)

Moore, James. and Wayne Slater. ''Bush's Brain: How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential'' (2003) online edition

Rice, Condoleezza. ''No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington'' (2011)

Rumsfeld, Donald. ''Known and Unknown: A Memoir'' (2011)

Suskind, Ron. ''The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O’Neill'' (2004), excerpts and online search from Amazon.com

Woodward, Bob. ''Plan of Attack'' (2003), excerpt and text search

; Primary sources

Council of Economic Advisors, ''Economic Report of the President'' (annual 1947– ), complete series online; important analysis of current trends and policies, plus statistical tables

Bush, George W. ''George W. Bush on God and Country: The President Speaks Out About Faith, Principle, and Patriotism'' (2004)

Bush, George W. ''Decision Points'' (2010)

External links

Official White House biography

Archived White House website – National Archives and Records Administration, maintains content from January 20, 2009

George W. Bush Presidential Speech Archive at the Internet Archive

Photographing the President – video slideshow by ''Time Magazine''

Essays on Bush, each member of his cabinet and First Lady the Miller Center of Public Affairs

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name	George Harrison MBE
alt	Black-and-white shot of a moustachioed man in his early thirties with long, dark hair.
background	solo_singer
alias	Carl HarrisonL'Angelo MisteriosoHari GeorgesonNelson/Spike WilburyGeorge HarrysongGeorge O'Hara-SmithJairaj Hari san
birth date	February 25, 1943
birth place
death date	November 29, 2001
death place
instrument	Vocals, guitar, ukulele, harmonica, mandolin, tambura, sarod, swarmandal, bass, keyboards, violin, sitar
genre	Rock, pop, psychedelic rock, experimental, world music
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, Eric Clapton
website
notable instruments	Gretsch Country Gentleman"Rocky""Lucy"Rosewood Telecaster }}

George Harrison, MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter 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 culture and mysticism, and introduced it to the other Beatles, as well as their Western audience. Following the band's break-up he was a successful solo artist, and later a founding member of the Traveling Wilburys. Harrison was also a session musician and a film and record producer. He is listed at number 11 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 triple album ''All Things Must Pass'' in 1970, from which two hit singles originated: 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 former Beatle Ringo Starr, as well as songs for the Traveling Wilburys—the supergroup he formed in 1988 with Jeff Lynne, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, 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 the first major charity concert with the 1971 ''Concert for Bangladesh''. In addition to his musical accomplishments, 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. To date, 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, Lancashire, England, on 25 February 1943, the last of four children to Harold Hargreaves Harrison and his wife Louise, née French. thumb|upright|lt=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. His mother's family had Irish roots and were Roman Catholic; his maternal grandfather, John French, was born in 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.

Harrison 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 most 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 1960s. 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. Actually, the book mentions John 11 times, which is higher than the number of mentions received by Paul, The Beatles, Eric Clapton or even George's second wife, Olivia. Nevertheless, 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. It contains the lyric "I always look up to you", suggesting implicit agreement 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

Although not fast or flashy, Harrison's guitar work with The Beatles 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 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 "And I Love Her", 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. Harrison listed his early influences as Carl Perkins, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry and the Everly Brothers.

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's sitar playing on "Love You To" represented an "astonishing improvement" over "Norwegian Wood" and has been termed "the most accomplished performance on sitar by any rock musician."

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!''. One of his more enduring early works is 1965's "If I Needed Someone".

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 plagiarising 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 license 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 line-up 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)". In June 1966 Harrison met the sitar maestro Ravi Shankar at the home of Mrs Angadi of the Asian Music Circle, asked to be his student and was accepted. Shankar and Alla Rakha gave a private concert at Harrison's house which Starr and Lennon attended. Shankar influenced Harrison and the other Beatles not only musically, but spiritually. On 6 July 1966 Harrison travelled to India to purchase a top flight sitar from Rikhi Ram & Sons in New Delhi. After the Beatles final live tour performance in August, Harrison returned to India in September 1966 to study sitar with Shankar. Initially staying in Bombay, Harrison moved (to avoid crowding fans) to a houseboat on a remote lake in the shadow of the Himalayas where he was taught by Shankar for six weeks and read spiritual texts. Harrison was influential in the decision to have Ravi Shankar included on the bill at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967. After Shankar, Harrison received sitar tutelage from Shambhu Das.

Hinduism

During the filming of the movie ''Help!'', on location in the Bahamas, the Beatles met Swami Vishnu-devananda, founder of Sivananda Yoga, who gave each member of the band a signed copy of his book ''The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga''. 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:

Harrison was a devotee of Paramahansa Yogananda. The Self-Realization Fellowship gurus Mahavatar Babaji, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Yukteswar, and Yogananda himself appear on the cover of the Beatles' ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'', and a quote by Harrison appears on the back cover of the Self-Realization Fellowship release of ''Autobiography of a Yogi'', Yogananda's own autobiography.

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". 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". Harrison also owned homes on Hamilton Island, Australia and in Nahiku, Hawaii.

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.

Humanitarian Involvement

George Harrison had an interest in humanitarian involvement even when he was a part of The Beatles. The Beatles had a strong stance on human rights, with them showing support for the civil rights movement and the protest against the Vietnam War. However, it was not until the band's split that George Harrison became more involved in humanitarian work.

Harrison's friend, Ravi Shankar, consulted him regarding a means to providing help to the problems in Bangladesh, in the aftermath of the 1970 Bhola Cyclone and the Bangladesh Liberation War. With that, Harrison recorded "Bangla Desh", and pushed Apple Records to release his song alongside Shankar's "Joy Bangla" in an effort to raise funds. Shankar then asked for Harrison's advice about organising a small charity concert in The United States. Harrison took that idea and called up all his friends, organising The Concert for Bangladesh on 1 August 1971 in New York City, which featured other artists of the time like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and former Beatle Ringo Starr. The concert ended up raising US$243,418.50.

The George Harrison Humanitarian Fund for UNICEF still contributes to humanitarian efforts. The fund is a joint effort between the Harrison family and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF that aims to support UNICEF programs providing lifesaving assistance to children caught in humanitarian emergencies. Every year, UNICEF identifies countries and territories where the children suffer from poverty. Much like Bangladesh in 1971, many of these problems are ignored by the media. The fund continues to support UNICEF programs in Bangladesh, while expanding its influence to include other countries in crisis where children are at risk. In December 2007, the fund made a donation of $450,000 to the U.S. Fund for UNICEF for relief and recovery efforts for the victims of Cyclone Sidr in Bangladesh. On 13 October 2009, the first ever George Harrison Humanitarian Award went to Ravi Shankar for his unprecedented efforts in saving the lives of children, and his involvement with the Concert for Bangladesh.

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.

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.

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 58 years old. Harrison 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.

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 alleged that Lederman and his family came uninvited to visit Harrison in the house he was staying in on the day before he was to leave for California. Lederman allegedly had his son play the guitar for Harrison. The complaint further alleged that after the performance, Lederman put the instrument on Harrison's lap and asked him to autograph it, and that Harrison responded, "I do not even know if I know how to spell 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".

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.”

Legacy

===Honours=== Harrison's first official honour came as 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 11 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.

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.

In October 2011 a documentary titled ''Living in the Material World: George Harrison'' directed by Martin Scorsese was released.

Guitars

As a Beatle

Egmond (guitar): Classic Guitar

Hofner President Acoustic

Hofner Club 40 model 244

Resonet Futurama

Gretsch 6128 Duo Jet

Gibson J-160E

Gretsch 6122 Country Gentleman

Gretsch 6119-62 Tennessee Rose

Rickenbacker 425 Fire-glo

Rickenbacker 360-12 Fire-glo

Fender Stratocaster 'Rocky'

Epiphone Casino

Gibson SG Standard

Gibson Les Paul "Lucy"

Gibson Jumbo J-200

Fender Rosewood Telecaster

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, George Harrison: Life in pictures and UK version with different pictures

George and other Beatles at Tittenhurst Hare Krishna temple

British Council implements the promotion of creative work by The Beatles

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Category:Grammy Award winners Category:International Society for Krishna Consciousness Category:Lead guitarists Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire Category:People educated at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys Category:Performers of Hindu music Category:Plastic Ono Band members Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Sitar players Category:Slide guitarists Category:Survivors of stabbing Category:The Beatles members Category:The Quarrymen members Category:Traveling Wilburys members Category:Ukulele players Category:Warner Music Group artists Category:Mystics Category:Autobiographers

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name	George Michael
background	solo_singer
birth name	Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou
birth date	June 25, 1963
birth place	East Finchley, North London, England
instrument	vocals, guitar, bass, piano, keyboards, drums, percussion
genre	Pop rock, New Wave, synthpop, blue-eyed soul
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter, record producer
years active	1980–present
label	Columbia, Sony, Aegean Records
associated acts	Wham!, Band Aid, Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige, Mutya Buena, Whitney Houston, Jody Watley
influences	Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Aretha Franklin, Paul Young, The Temptations, Queen, Marvin Gaye
website
notable instruments	Piano''John Lennon'' model "Z" Steinway }}

George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou []; 25 June 1963) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Michael rose to fame in the 1980s when he formed the pop duo Wham! with his school friend, Andrew Ridgeley. His first solo single, "Careless Whisper", was released when he was still in the duo and sold about six million copies worldwide.

As one of the world's best-selling music artists, Michael has sold more than 100 million records worldwide as of 2010. His 1987 debut solo album, ''Faith'', has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and made several records and achievements in the United States. Michael has garnered seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the US. In 2008, ''Billboard'' magazine ranked Michael the 40th most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists".

Michael has won numerous music awards throughout his 30-year career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male twice, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Ivor Novello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations.

In 2004, the Radio Academy named Michael as the most played artist on British radio between the period of 1984–2004. The documentary ''A Different Story'' was released in 2005; it covered his personal life and professional career. In 2006, George Michael announced his first tour in 15 years. The 25 Live tour was a massive, worldwide undertaking by Michael, spanning three individual tours over the course of three years (2006, 2007 and 2008).

Early life

Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in East Finchley, North London. His father, Kyriacos Panayiotou, a Greek Cypriot restaurateur, moved to England in the 1950s and changed his name to Jack Panos. Michael's mother, Lesley Angold (née Harrison, 1937–1997), was an English dancer who died from cancer in Fulham. His maternal grandmother was Jewish, but hid that fact from her children during World War II for fear of persecution. Michael spent the majority of his childhood in North London, in the home his parents bought soon after his birth. While in his early teens, the family moved to Radlett. There Michael attended the Bushey Meads School, where he met Andrew Ridgeley. The two had the same career ambition of being musicians. George Michael lived in Kingsbury NW9 and use to play in Roe Green Park, he attended Kingsbury High School. His father still has a restaurant in Edgware called Mr Jacks. When Wham reached No 1 they had a party at Mr Jacks.

George Michael used to be seen in Kingsbury as a child playing with his sisters outside Boots.

His involvement in the music business began with his working as a DJ, playing at clubs and local schools around Bushey, Stanmore and Watford. This was followed by the formation of a short-lived ska band called The Executive with Ridgeley, Ridgeley's brother Paul, Andrew Leaver, and David Mortimer (aka David Austin).

Musical career

1981–1986: Wham!

Michael first found success after forming the duo Wham! with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981. The band's first album ''Fantastic'' reached no. 1 in the UK and produced a series of top 10 singles including "Young Guns (Go For It!)", "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)" and "Club Tropicana". Their second album, ''Make It Big'', was the breakthrough that made the duo international superstars, reaching No. 1 on the charts in the US Singles from that album included "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go", "Freedom", "Everything She Wants", and "Careless Whisper", the latter of which was Michael's first solo effort as a single.

Michael sang on the original Band Aid recording of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and donated the profits from "Last Christmas/Everything She Wants" to charity. In addition, he contributed background vocals to David Cassidy's 1985 hit "The Last Kiss", as well as Elton John's 1985 successes "Nikita" and "Wrap Her Up". Michael cited Cassidy as a major career influence and interviewed Cassidy for David Litchfield's prestigious Ritz Newspaper.

Wham!'s tour of China in April 1985, the first visit to China by a Western popular music act, generated enormous worldwide media coverage, much of it centred on Michael. The tour was documented by celebrated film director Lindsay Anderson and producer Martin Lewis in their film ''Foreign Skies: Wham! In China'' and contributed to Michael's ever-increasing fame.

With the success of Michael's solo singles, "Careless Whisper" (1984) and "A Different Corner" (1986), rumours of an impending break up of Wham! intensified. The duo officially separated during the summer of 1986, after releasing a farewell single, "The Edge of Heaven" and a singles compilation, ''The Final'', plus a sell-out concert at Wembley Stadium that included the world premiere of the China film. The Wham! partnership ended officially with the commercially successful single "The Edge of Heaven", which reached no.1 on the UK chart in June 1986.

Solo career

The beginning of his solo career, during early 1987, was a duet with soul music icon Aretha Franklin. "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" was a one-off project that helped Michael achieve an ambition by singing with one of his favourite artists, and it scored number one on both the UK Singles Chart and the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 upon its release.

For Michael, it became his third consecutive solo number one in the UK from three releases, after 1984's "Careless Whisper" (though the single was actually from the Wham! album ''Make It Big'') and 1986's "A Different Corner". The single was also the first Michael had recorded as a solo artist which he had not written himself. The co-writer, Simon Climie, was unknown at the time, although he would have success as a performer with the band Climie Fisher in 1988. Michael and Aretha Franklin won a Grammy Award in 1988 for Best R&B; Performance – Duo or Group with Vocal for the song.

1987–1989: Faith

During the autumn of 1987, Michael released his first solo album, ''Faith''. In addition to playing a large number of instruments on the album, he wrote and produced every track on the recording, except for one, which he co-wrote.

The first single released from the album was "I Want Your Sex," during the summer of 1987. The song was banned by many radio stations in the UK and US, due to its sexually suggestive lyrics. MTV would broadcast the video, featuring celebrity make-up artist Kathy Jeung in a basque and suspenders, only during the late night hours. Michael argued that the act was beautiful if the sex was monogamous. Michael even recorded a brief prologue for the video in which he said: "This song is not about casual sex." One of the racier scenes involved Michael writing the words "explore monogamy" on his partner's back in lipstick. Some radio stations played a toned-down version of the song, "I Want Your Love," which was mainly the word "love" replacing "sex." When the tune reached the US charts, ''American Top 40'' host Casey Kasem refused to say the song's title, referring to it only as "the new single by George Michael."

Despite censorship and radio play problems, "I Want Your Sex" reached No.2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and at No.3 in Britain.

The second single, "Faith", was released during October 1987, just a few weeks before the album. "Faith" would become one of his most popular songs. The song hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and maintained that position for four consecutive weeks. It also reached no.2 in the UK singles chart. The famous video provided some definitive images of the 1980s music industry in the process—Michael in shades, leather jacket, cowboy boots, and Levi's jeans, playing a guitar near a classic-design jukebox. On 30 October, Faith was released in the UK and in several markets worldwide. In the United States, the album had 51 non-consecutive weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard 200, including 12 weeks at no.1. "Faith" had many successes, four of which ("Faith," "Father Figure", "One More Try", and "Monkey") reached no. 1. Eventually, "Faith" received Diamond certification by the RIAA for sales of 10 million copies in the US. To date, global sales of ''Faith'' are more than 25 million units.

In 1988, Michael embarked on a world tour. The nightly set list included from the Wham! era "Everything She Wants" and "I'm Your Man", as well as covers of "Lady Marmalade" or "Play That Funky Music". In Los Angeles, California, Michael was joined on stage by Aretha Franklin for "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)". It was the second highest grossing event of 1988, earning $17.7 million. According to Michael in his film, ''A Different Story'', success did not make him happy and he started to think there was something wrong in being an idol for millions of teenage girls. The whole ''Faith'' process (promotion, videos, tour, awards) left him exhausted, lonely and frustrated, and far from his friends and family. At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles, Michael received the Video Vanguard Award. In 1990, he told his record company Sony that, for his second album, he did not want to do promotions like the one for Faith.

1990–1992: Listen Without Prejudice

''Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1'' was released in September 1990. For this album, Michael tried to create a new reputation as a serious-minded artist; the title is an indication of his desire to be taken more seriously as a songwriter. Michael refused to make any kind of promotion for this album, including no music videos for the singles released. The first single, "Praying for Time", was released in August 1990. It concerned social ills and injustice; the song was an instant success, reaching No. 6 in the UK and No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100, despite the absence of a video. A video was released shortly thereafter, consisting of the lyrics on a dark background. Michael did not appear in this video or any subsequent videos for the album.

The second single "Waiting for That Day" was an acoustic-heavy single, released as an immediate follow-up to "Praying For Time". It reached No. 27 in the US and No. 23 in the UK in October 1990. The album was released in Europe on 3 September 1990 (and one week later in the United States). It reached No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart and peaked at No. 2 on the U.S Billboard 200. It spent a total of 88 weeks on the UK album charts and was certified 4 times Platinum by the BPI. The album produced 5 UK singles, which were released quickly, within an at eight-month period: "Praying For Time", "Waiting For That Day", "Freedom! '90", "Heal the Pain", and "Cowboys and Angels" (the latter being his only single not to chart in the UK top 40).

"Freedom '90" was the second of only two of its singles to be supported by a music video (the other being the Michael-less "Praying for Time"). The song alludes to his struggles with his artistic identity, and prophesied his efforts shortly thereafter to end his recording contract with Sony Music. As if to prove the song's sentiment, Michael refused to appear in the video (directed by David Fincher), and instead recruited supermodels Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Tatjana Patitz, and Cindy Crawford to appear in and lip sync in his stead. It also featured the reduction of his sex symbol status. It had contrasting fortunes on each side of the Atlantic—a No.8 success on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, but only No.28 on the UK singles chart. "Mother's Pride" gained significant radio play in the United States during the first Persian Gulf War during 1991, often with radio stations mixing in callers' tributes to soldiers with the music. It reached No.46 on Billboard Hot 100 with only airplay. In the end, ''Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1'' sold approximately 8 million copies.

In 1991, George Michael embarked on the "Cover to Cover Tour" in Japan, England, the US, and Brazil, where he performed at the "Rock in Rio" event. In the audience in Rio, he saw and later met Anselmo Feleppa, the man who would become his partner. The tour was not a proper promotion for ''Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1''. Rather, it was more about Michael singing his favourite cover songs. Among his favourites was "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," a 1974 song by Elton John; Michael and John had performed the song together at the Live Aid concert in 1985, and again for Michael's concert at London's Wembley Arena on 25 March 1991, where the duet was recorded. The single was released at the end of 1991 and became a success on both sides of the Atlantic.

In the meantime, the expected follow-up album, ''Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2'', was scrapped due to Michael's lawsuit with Sony. Among Michael's complaints was that Sony had not completely supported the release of his second album, resulting in its poor performance in the US as compared to ''Faith''. Sony responded that Michael's refusal to appear in promotional videos had caused the bad response. Michael ended the idea for ''Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 2'' and donated three songs to the charity project ''Red Hot + Dance'', for the Red Hot Organization which raised money for AIDS awareness, while a fourth track "Crazyman Dance" was the B-side of 1992's "Too Funky". Michael donated the royalties from "Too Funky" to the same cause. The song did not appear on any George Michael studio album, although later it was included on his solo collections ''Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael'' in 1998 and ''Twenty Five'' in 2006. The video featured Michael (sporadically) as a director filming supermodels Linda Evangelista, Beverly Peele, Estelle Lefébure and Nadja Auermann at a fashion show. "Too Funky" was a success, reaching number 4 in the UK singles chart and number 10 in the US Billboard Hot 100.

1993: Five Live

George Michael performed at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert on 20 April 1992 at London's Wembley Stadium. The concert was a tribute to the life of the late Queen frontman, Freddie Mercury, with some proceeds going to AIDS research. Michael performed "'39" and "Somebody to Love". The performance of the latter was released on the "Five Live" EP.

''Five Live'', released in 1993 for Parlophone in the UK and Hollywood Records in the US, features five—and in some countries, six—tracks performed by George Michael, Queen, and Lisa Stansfield."Somebody to Love" and "These Are the Days of Our Lives" were recorded at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. "Killer", "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone", and "Calling You" were all live performances recorded during his "Cover to Cover Tour" from 1991. Michael's performances of "Somebody to Love" was hailed as "one of best performances of the tribute concert". The idea of having George Michael take over as full-time lead singer of Queen was even given serious consideration.

All proceeds from the sale of the EP benefited the Mercury Phoenix Trust. Sales of the EP were very strong through Europe, where it debuted at number 1 in the UK and several European countries. Chart success in the United States was less spectacular, where it peaked at number 40 on the Billboard 200 ("Somebody to Love" reached No.30 on the US Billboard Hot 100).

1994–1997: Older

During November 1994, after a long period of seclusion, George Michael appeared at the first MTV Europe Music Awards show, where he gave a touching performance of a brand-new song, "Jesus to a Child". The song was a melancholy tribute to his lover, Anselmo Feleppa, who had died in March 1993.

The song was Michael's first self-penned success in his homeland in almost four years; it entered the UK singles chart at No. 1 and No. 7 on Billboard in the same month of release. It was also Michael's longest UK Top 40 single, at almost seven minutes long. The exact identity of the song's subject—and the nature of Michael's relationship with Feleppa—was shrouded in innuendo and speculation, as Michael had not confirmed he was homosexual and did not do so until 1998. The video for "Jesus to a Child" was a picture of images recalling loss, pain and suffering. Michael consistently dedicates the song to Feleppa before performing it live.

The second single, released in April 1996, was "Fastlove", an energetic tune about wanting gratification and fulfilment without commitment. The song was somewhat unusual for a popular song, in that it did not have a defined chorus and that the single version was nearly five minutes long. "Fastlove" was supported by a futuristic virtual reality-related video. It scored No. 1 in the UK singles chart, spending three weeks at the top spot. In the US, "Fastlove" peaked at No. 8, his most recent single to reach the top 10 on the US charts. Following "Fastlove", Michael finally released ''Older'', his first studio album in six years and only the third in his ten year solo career. The album's US and Canada release was particularly notable as it was the first album released by David Geffen's (now-defunct) DreamWorks Records. Older was particularly notable for the release of its six singles. Each of them reached the UK Top 3, a record for the most singles in the British Top 3 released from a single album. At the time of release of the album's fifth single, "Star People '97", chart specialist James Masterton noted George Michael's success on the singles charts, writing: "George Michael nonetheless makes an impressive Top 3 entry with this single. The Older album has now proved itself to be far and away his most commercially successful recording ever. Five singles now lifted and every single one has been a Top 3 hit. Compare this with the two Top 3 hits produced by ''Faith'' and ''Listen Without Prejudice's'' scant total of one Top Tenner and one single which missed the Top 40 altogether. This sustained single success has, of course, been achieved with a little help from marketing tricks such as remixes – or in this case a new recording of the album track which gives it a much-needed transformation into a deserved commercial smash."

In 1996, Michael was voted 'Best British Male', at the MTV Europe Music Awards and the Brit Awards; and at The Ivor Novello Awards, he was awarded the prestigious title of 'Songwriter of The Year' for the third time. Michael performed a concert at Three Mills Studios, London, for ''MTV Unplugged''. It was his first long performance in years, and in the audience was Michael's mother. The next year, she died of cancer.

1998: Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael

''Ladies & Gentlemen: The Best of George Michael'' was Michael's first solo greatest hits collection released in 1998. The collection of 28 songs (29 songs are included on the European and Australian release) are separated into two halves, with each containing a particular theme and mood. The first CD, titled "For the Heart," predominantly contains Michael's successful ballads, while the second CD, "For the Feet", consists mainly of his popular dance tunes. It was released through Sony Music Entertainment as a condition of severing contractual ties with the label.

The album is notable for containing a large number of compilation tracks and duets that had not previously appeared on his albums, including his duet with Aretha Franklin, "I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)"; "Desafinado", a duet in Portuguese with Brazilian legendary singer Astrud Gilberto; and the Elton John duet "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me".

''Ladies & Gentlemen'' was an instant success, peaking at number one on the UK Album Chart for 8 weeks. It has spent over 200 weeks in the UK Charts, and it is the 38 best-selling album of all time in the UK. It is certified 7 times platinum in the United Kingdom and Multi-Platinum in the United States, and it's George Michael's most commercially successful album in his homeland having sold more than 2.8 million copies. To date, the album has reached worldwide sales of approximately 15 million copies.

The first single of the album, "Outside" was a humorous song about his arrest for soliciting a policeman in a public restroom. "As", his duet with Mary J. Blige, was released as the second single in many territories around the world. Both singles reached the top 5 in the UK Singles Chart.

1999: Songs from the Last Century

''Songs from the Last Century'' is a studio album of cover tracks. It was released in 1999 and was the final George Michael album to be released through Virgin Records. To date, the album has peaked the lowest of his solo effort. The album debuted at number 157 on the American Billboard Charts, which was also the album's peak positions. It was also his lowest charting album in the UK, becoming his only solo effort not to reach number 1. It peaked at number 2 in the UK Album Chart. It consists of old standards, plus new interpretations of more recent popular songs such as "Roxanne","The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"; and the Frank Sinatra classic "Where or When". Each of the 11 tracks was co-produced by Phil Ramone and George Michael.

2000–2005: Patience

Michael began working on what would be his fifth studio album, spending two years in the recording studio. His first single "Freeek!", taken from the new album, was successful in Europe going to number one in Italy, Portugal, Spain and Denmark in 2002 and reaching the top 10 in the UK and ther top 5 in Australia. It made 22 charts around the world. However, his next single "Shoot the Dog" proved to be highly controversial when released in July 2002. It was highly critical of George W. Bush and Tony Blair in the leadup to the 2003 invasion of Iraq. It reached number one in Denmark and made the top 5 in most European charts. However, in Britain it peaked at only number 12 in the UK Singles Chart.

On 17 November 2003, George Michael re-signed with Sony Music after a legal battle with the company led to his contract being sold to rival record companies Virgin Records and DreamWorks Records. When Michael's fifth studio album, ''Patience'', was released in 2004, it went straight to number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, and became one of the fastest selling albums in the UK, selling over 200,000 copies in the first week alone. In Australia it reached number 2 on 22 March. It reached the Top 5 on most European charts, and peaked at number 12 in the United States, selling over 500,000 copies to earn a Gold certification from the RIAA. Critically acclaimed, it is considered the album of George Michael's comeback to the spotlight in the new millennium, selling around 7 million copies worldwide and spawning four (of six) new hit singles.

"Amazing", the first single off the album, became a number one hit in Europe. When Michael appeared on the ''Oprah Winfrey Show'' on 26 May 2004, to promote the album, he performed "Amazing", along with his classic songs "Father Figure" and "Faith". On the show Michael spoke of his arrest, revealing his homosexuality, and his resumption of public performances. He allowed Oprah's crew inside his home outside of London. The second single taken off the album was "Flawless (Go to the City)", It was a dance hit in Europe as well as North America, reaching no.1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play and became Michael's last number one single on the United States Dance chart. In November, Sony released another single – "Round Here". It was the least successful single taken from ''Patience'' when it stalled the UK charts at no. 32. In 2005, "John and Elvis Are Dead" was released as the final single from the album; it was released as a download single and was therefore unable to chart in the United Kingdom.

George Michael announced that ''Patience'' will be the last record on sale to the public. He told BBC Radio 1 on 10 March 2004 that future music that he puts out will be available for download, with fans encouraged to make a donation to charity.

2005–2008: Twenty Five and concert tours

''Twenty Five'' was George Michael's second greatest hits album, celebrating the 25th anniversary of his music career. Released in November 2006 by Sony BMG, it debuted at no.1 in the UK.

The album contains songs chiefly from George Michael's solo career but also from his earlier days in Wham! It comes in two formats: two CDs or a limited edition three-CD set. The 2-CD set contained 26 tracks, including four recorded with Wham! and three new songs: "An Easier Affair"; "This Is Not Real Love" (a duet with Mutya Buena, formerly of Sugababes, which peaked at No.15 in the UK Charts); and a new version of "Heal the Pain" recorded with Paul McCartney. The limited edition three-CD version contains an additional 14 lesser known tracks, including one from Wham! and another completely new song, "Understand".

''Twenty Five'' was released in North America on 1 April 2008 as a 29-song, two-CD set featuring several new songs (including duets with Paul McCartney and Mary J. Blige and a song from the short-lived TV series Eli Stone) in addition to many of Michael's successful songs from both his solo and Wham! career. To commemorate the ''Twenty Five'' album, George Michael toured North America for the first time in 17 years, playing large venues in major cities including New York, Los Angeles, St. Paul/Minneapolis, Chicago and Dallas.

The DVD version of ''Twenty Five'' contains 40 videos on two discs, including seven with Wham!.

During the 2005 Live 8 concert, Michael joined Paul McCartney on stage, harmonising on The Beatles classic "Drive My Car". Michael was one of several remixers commissioned in 1990 to work on dance mixes for Bananarama's "Tripping on Your Love". Bananarama covered "Careless Whisper" for their ''Exotica'' album in 2001, and the track was also released as a single in France.

In 2006, Michael started his first tour in 15 years, 25 Live. The tour began in Barcelona, Spain, on 23 September and finished in December at Wembley Arena in England. According to his website, the 80-show tour was seen by 1.3 million fans. On 12 May 2007 in Coimbra, Portugal, he began the European "25 Live Stadium Tour 2007", including London and Athens, and ending on 4 August 2007 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. There were 29 tour dates (as of 21 April 2007) across Europe. On 9 June 2007 Michael became the first artist to perform live at the newly renovated Wembley Stadium in London, where he was later fined £130,000 for overrunning the programme for 13 minutes.

On 25 March 2008 a third part of the 25 Live Tour was announced for North America. This part included 21 dates in the United States and Canada. This was Michael's first tour of North America in 17 years. Following news of Michael's North American tour, ''Twenty Five'' was released in North America on 1 April 2008 as a 29-song, 2-CD set featuring several new songs (including duets with Paul McCartney and Mary J. Blige and a song from the short-lived TV series, ''Eli Stone'') in addition to many of Michael's successful songs from both his solo and Wham! career. In addition, a companion 2-disc DVD of 40 videos was also made available.

Michael made his American acting debut by playing a guardian angel to Jonny Lee Miller's character on Eli Stone, a TV series that was broadcast in the United States. In addition to performing on the show as himself and as "visions", each episode of the show's first season was named after a song of his. Michael appeared on the 2008 finale show of ''American Idol'' on 21 May singing "Praying for Time". When asked what he thought Simon will say of his performance, he replied "I think he'll probably tell me I shouldn't have done a George Michael song. He's told plenty of people that in the past, so I think that'd be quite funny."

On 1 December, Michael played a last concert in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, as part of the 37th National Day Celebrations.

2008–present: Latest projects

On 25 December 2008, Michael released a new track "December Song" on his website for free. It was hoped that fans who download the song would donate money to charity. Though the song is not available any more on his website, it remains available on file sharing networks and on 29 October 2009 the BBC said that George Michael was to join the race for the UK Christmas number one as a remastered version of "December Song" would go on sale on 13 December. The popularity of the single was boosted by a promotional appearance that Michael made on ''The X Factor'', where he performed the song with David Austin playing piano.

At the end of 2009, Michael announced, after months of speculation, that he would be performing shows in the Australian cities of Melbourne, Perth and Sydney, his first concerts in Australia since 1988. On 20 February 2010, Michael performed his first show in Perth at the Burswood dome to an audience of 15,000.

On 5 March 2010, Michael confirmed that he would be a guest performer at the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras After Party, where he performed at 1 am, followed by Kelly Rowland at 3 am.

On 2 March 2011 Michael announced the release of his cover version of New Order's 1987 hit "True Faith" in aid of the charity Comic Relief. The Guardian called his version a "dreary run through a song that now sounds like it's being performed by a depressed dalek" and questioned whether it was "the worst 'non-comedy' charity single of all time". Michael released a cover of Stevie Wonder's 1972 song, "You and I" on 15 April 2011, as an MP3 gift to Prince William and Catherine Middleton on the occasion of their wedding on 29 April 2011.

Although the MP3 was released for free download, Michael appealed that those who do download the special track that make a contribution to "The Prince William & Miss Catherine Middleton Charitable Gift Fund".

On 11 May 2011, the Symphonica Tour was announced. Only European dates were released. The first show on the tour was performed at the Prague State Opera House on 22 August. In November, he had to cancel the remainder of the tour though, as he became severely ill in Vienna, Austria.

In October 2011, Michael was announced as one of the final nominees for the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

Michael told fans over Twitter in January 2012 that he did not think his vocal cords would be ready for performance "till the summer", and that the tour will probably take place in September of that year, and may include previously unheard songs. Michael also announced in an interview with OK! magazine in October 2011 that he is working on a dance influenced album.

Personal life

Sexuality

In a 2007 interview, Michael admitted that he had hidden the fact he was gay because of worries over what effect it might have on his mother.

Relationships

Michael established a relationship with Anselmo Feleppa, whom he had met at the 1991 concert Rock in Rio. Feleppa died of a brain haemorrhage in 1993. Michael's single "Jesus to a Child" is a tribute to Feleppa (he consistently dedicates it to him before performing it live), as is his 1996 album ''Older''.

In 1996, Michael entered into a long-term relationship with Kenny Goss, a former cheerleader coach and sportswear executive from Dallas. They had homes in London and Dallas. In late November 2005, it was reported that Michael and Goss would register their relationship as a civil partnership in the UK, but because of negative publicity and his upcoming tour, they postponed it to a later date. On 22 August 2011, the opening night of his Symphonica world tour, Michael announced that he and Goss had split two years earlier. Goss was present at Michael's British sentencing for driving under the influence of marijuana on 14 September 2010.

Anonymous sex

Questions of Michael's sexual orientation persisted in public until 7 April 1998, when he was arrested for "engaging in a lewd act" in a public toilet in a park in Beverly Hills, California. He was arrested by an undercover policeman named Marcelo Rodríguez, in a sting operation using so-called "pretty police."

In an MTV interview, Michael stated: "I got followed into the restroom and then this cop—I didn't know it was a cop, obviously—he started playing this game, which I think is called, 'I'll show you mine, you show me yours, and then when you show me yours, I'm going to nick you!"

After pleading "no contest" to the charge, Michael was fined US$810 and sentenced to 80 hours of community service. Soon afterwards, Michael made a video for his single "Outside" which was obviously based on the public toilet incident and which featured men dressed as policemen kissing. Rodríguez claimed that this video "mocked" him, and that Michael had slandered him in interviews. In 1999, he brought a US$10 million court case in California against the singer. The court dismissed the case, but an Appellate court reinstated the case on 3 December 2002. The court then ruled Rodríguez, as a public official, could not legally recover damages for emotional distress.

After the incident, Michael became explicit about his sexuality and his relationship with Kenny Goss which began in June 1996.

On 23 July 2006. Michael was again accused of engaging in anonymous public sex, this time at London's Hampstead Heath. The anonymous partner was later discovered to be 58-year-old Norman Kirtland, an unemployed van driver. Despite stating that he intended to sue both the ''News of the World'' tabloid who photographed the incident and Norman Kirtland for slander, Michael stated that he cruises for anonymous sex and that this was not an issue in his relationship with partner Kenny Goss.

Drugs

On 26 February 2006, Michael was arrested for possession of Class C drugs, an incident that he described as "my own stupid fault, as usual." He was cautioned by the police and released.

Michael was arrested in Cricklewood, North-West London, after motorists reported a car obstructing the road at traffic lights. He pleaded guilty on 8 May 2007 to driving while unfit through drugs. He was banned from driving for two years, and sentenced to community service.

During September 2007, on ''Desert Island Discs'', he said that his cannabis use was a problem; he wished he could smoke less of it and was constantly trying to do so.

On 19 September 2008, Michael was arrested in a public toilet in the Hampstead Heath area of London for possession of Class A and C drugs. He was taken to the police station and cautioned for controlled substance possession.

On 5 December 2009, in an interview with ''The Guardian'', Michael explained he had cut back on cannabis and now smokes only 'seven or eight' spliffs per day instead of the 25 he used to smoke.

In the early hours of Sunday 4 July 2010 Michael was returning from the Gay Pride parade. The singer was spotted on CCTV driving into the front of a Snappy Snaps store in Hampstead, North London and was arrested on suspicion of being unfit to drive. On 12 August, London's Metropolitan Police said he was "charged with possession of cannabis and with driving while unfit through drink or drugs". Michael had also been taking the prescription medication Amitriptyline.

On 24 August 2010 the singer pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates' Court in London after admitting driving under the influence of drugs and on 14 September 2010 at the same court, was sentenced to eight weeks in prison, a fine, and a five year ban from driving. Michael was released from Highpoint Prison in Suffolk on 11 October 2010, after serving four weeks. It was reported that Michael had also been taking the prescription medication, Amitriptyline, a sleeping pill.

Politics

Michael wrote "Shoot the Dog", a song critical about the friendly relationship between the American and British governments and their involvement in the Iraq War.

During 2000, Michael joined Melissa Etheridge, Garth Brooks, Queen Latifah, the Pet Shop Boys, and k.d. lang, to perform in Washington, D.C. as part of 'Equality Rocks' – a concert to benefit the Human Rights Campaign.

During 2007, he sent the £1.45 million piano that John Lennon used to write "Imagine" around the United States on a "peace tour," having it on display at places where violence had taken place, such as Dallas' Dealey Plaza, where US President John. F. Kennedy was shot.

He devoted his concert in Sofia, Bulgaria from his "Twenty Five Tour" to the Bulgarian nurses prosecuted in the HIV trial in Libya.

On 17 June 2008, Michael said he was thrilled by California's legalisation of same-sex marriage, calling the move "way overdue."

Charity

During 1984, he sang as part of Band Aid on the charity song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for famine relief in Ethiopia. This single scored No.1 on the UK music charts over Christmas 1984, holding Michael's own song, "Last Christmas" by Wham!, at #2. Michael donated the royalties from "Last Christmas" to Band Aid and subsequently sang with Elton John at Live Aid (the Band Aid charity concert) in 1985.

In 2003 he paired up with Ronan Keating on the ''Who Wants to be a Millionaire?'' and won £32,000, after having their original £64,000 winnings halved after missing the £125,000 question.

The proceeds from the single "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" were divided among 10 different charities for children, AIDS and education.

Michael is supporting a campaign to help raise US$32 million (GBP15 million) for terminally ill children.

Assets

According to reports, between the years 2006 and 2008, Michael earned £48.5 million ($97 million) from the 25 Live tour alone, as well as earning millions more for private concerts that he periodically does, such as for Billionaire Vladimir Potanin and super rich fashion shop owner Sir Philip Green. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2011, George Michael is worth £90 million in currency alone.

Memoirs

In 1991 Michael released an autobiography titled "Bare" through Penguin Books, which he co-wrote with writer Tony Parsons. The over 200 page book covers various aspects of his life, including details of his relationship with a former girlfriend. On 16 January 2008, Michael signed a contract with HarperCollins for an autobiography which he is to write "entirely himself".

Health troubles

On 26 October 2011, Michael had to cancel a performance at London's Royal Albert Hall due to viral infection. On 21 November 2011, Michael was admitted to hospital in Vienna after complaining of chest pains at a hotel two hours prior to him performing at a venue there for his Symphonica Tour. Michael was later confirmed to have suffered from pneumonia and until 1 December was in an intensive-care unit. While Michael appeared to be "in good spirits" and was responding well to treatment following his admittance, hospital officials said on 25 November, that Michael's condition had "worsened overnight". This development led to Michael's remaining 2011 dates, most of them in the United Kingdom, being cancelled and postponed. Michael's partner, celebrity hairstylist Fadi Fawaz, told press that Michael's health was improving "by the hour". On 1 December, doctors in the hospital Michael stayed in, announced that the singer was "steadily improving" and had moved out of the intensive care unit. On 21 December 2011, Michael was discharged from the hospital. On 23 December 2011, Michael made a public speech in London about how the staff at the Vienna General Hospital had saved his life and how he was so grateful that he was going to perform a concert for the staff. Whilst making the speech, he became emotional and became breathless. During the speech, he also mentioned he had undergone a tracheotomy.

Discography

Studio albums

1987: ''Faith''

1990: ''Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1''

1996: ''Older''

1999: ''Songs from the Last Century''

2004: ''Patience''

Awards

Tours

Faith World Tour (1988–1989)

Cover to Cover (1991)

25 Live (2006–2008)

George Michael Live in Australia (2010)

Symphonica Tour (2011-2012)

See also

List of artists by total number of UK number-one singles

List of best-selling music artists

References

External links

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playername	George Best
fullname	George Best
dateofbirth	May 22, 1946
cityofbirth	Belfast
countryofbirth	Northern Ireland
dateofdeath	November 25, 2005
cityofdeath	London
countryofdeath	England
height
position	WingerAttacking midfielder
youthyears1	1961–1963 |youthclubs1 Manchester United
years1	1963–1974 |clubs1 Manchester United |caps1 361 |goals1 137
years2	1974 |clubs2 → Jewish Guild (loan) |caps2 5 |goals2 0
years3	1974 |clubs3 → Dunstable Town (loan) |caps3 0 |goals3 0
years4	1975 |clubs4 Stockport County |caps4 3 |goals4 2
years5	1975–1976 |clubs5 Cork Celtic |caps5 3 |goals5 0
years6	1976 |clubs6 Los Angeles Aztecs |caps6 23 |goals6 15
years7	1976–1978 |clubs7 Fulham |caps7 42 |goals7 8
years8	1977–1978 |clubs8 Los Angeles Aztecs |caps8 32 |goals8 12
years9	1978–1979 |clubs9 Fort Lauderdale Strikers |caps9 26 |goals9 6
years10	1979–1981 |clubs10 Hibernian |caps10 17 |goals10 3
years11	1980–1981 |clubs11 San Jose Earthquakes |caps11 56 |goals11 28
years12	1980–1981 |clubs12 San Jose Earthquakes (indoor) |caps12 16 |goals12 25
years13	1982 |clubs13 Sea Bee |caps13 2 |goals13 0
years14	1982 |clubs14 Hong Kong Rangers |caps14 1 |goals14 0
years15	1983 |clubs15 Bournemouth |caps15 5 |goals15 0
years16	1983 |clubs16 Brisbane Lions |caps16 4 |goals16 0
years17	1983 |clubs17 Osborne Park Galeb |caps17 1 |goals17 1
years18	1983 |clubs18 Nuneaton Borough |caps18 - |goals18 -
years19	1984 |clubs19 Tobermore United |caps19 1 |goals19 0
totalcaps	579 |totalgoals 205
nationalyears1	1964–1977 |nationalteam1 Northern Ireland |nationalcaps1 37 |nationalgoals1 9 }}

George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a professional footballer from Northern Ireland, who played for Manchester United and the Northern Ireland national team. He was a winger whose game combined pace, acceleration, balance, two-footedness, goalscoring and the ability to beat defenders. In 1968, his ''annus mirabilis'', he won the European Cup with Manchester United, and was named the European Footballer of the Year. When fit, he was an automatic choice for Northern Ireland, but he was unable to lead them to World Cup qualification, despite being capped 37 times and scoring nine goals.

In 1999, he was voted 11th at the IFFHS European Player of the Century election, and 16th in the World Player of the Century election. Pelé named him as one of the 125 best living footballers in his 2004 FIFA 100 list and Best was named 19th, behind Gerd Müller, at the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In his native Northern Ireland, the admiration for him is summed up by the local saying: "Maradona good; Pelé better; George Best."

He was one of the first celebrity footballers, but his extravagant lifestyle led to problems with alcoholism which curtailed his playing career and eventually led to his death in November 2005 at the age of 59. His cause of death was multiple organ failure brought on by a kidney infection, a side effect of the immuno-suppressive drugs he was required to take after a liver transplant. In 2007, GQ named him as one of the 50 most stylish men of the past 50 years.

Early years and family

George Best was the first child of Dickie Best (1919–2008) and Anne Best (née Withers) (1922–1978), and grew up in Cregagh, Belfast. He was brought up in the Free Presbyterian faith. Dickie Best was a member of the Orange Order and the young George Best carried the strings of the banner in his local Cregagh lodge. In his autobiography, Best mentioned how important the order was to his family. Best had four sisters, Carol, Barbara, Julie and Grace, and a brother, Ian. Best's father Dickie died on 16 April 2008, at the age of 88, in the Ulster Hospital in Dundonald, Northern Ireland. He had been admitted to hospital four weeks earlier. Best's mother Anne died from alcoholism-related heart disease in 1978, aged 55.

In 1957, at the age of 11, the academically gifted Best passed the 11 plus and went to Grosvenor High School, but he soon played truant as the school specialised in rugby. Best then moved to Lisnasharragh Secondary School, reuniting him with friends from primary school and allowing him to focus on football.

Club career

Manchester United (1963–1974)

At the age of 15, Best was discovered in Belfast by Manchester United scout Bob Bishop, whose telegram to United manager Matt Busby read: "''I think I've found you a genius.''" His local club Glentoran had previously rejected him for being "too small and light". Best was subsequently given a trial and signed up by chief scout Joe Armstrong.

Best made his Manchester United debut, aged 17, on 14 September 1963 against West Bromwich Albion at Old Trafford in a 1–0 victory. He was too young to contend for a first-team place for much of the first half of the season. His second appearance came on 28 December against Burnley. This First Division match saw Best's first goal for United in a 5–1 win. Matt Busby used Best much more after the New Year and by the end of the season, Best had made 26 appearances, scoring six goals. Manchester United finished second, four points behind Liverpool.

In his second season, Best and Manchester United claimed the league title.

Best hit the headlines at the age of twenty when he scored two goals in a European Cup quarter-final match against Benfica in 1966. The Portuguese media dubbed him "O Quinto Beatle", "the fifth Beatle" in English. His talent and showmanship made him a crowd and media favourite. Known for his long hair, good looks and extravagant celebrity lifestyle, Best appeared on Top of the Pops in 1965. Other nicknames included the "Belfast Boy" and he was often referred to as ''Georgie'', or ''Geordie'' in his native Belfast.

The 1966–67 season was again successful, as Manchester United claimed the league title by four points. The following season, Best became a European Cup winner after scoring in the final against Benfica. United won 4–1 and Best was later crowned European Footballer of the Year and Football Writers' Association Player of the Year. After this, his steady decline began.

Best opened two nightclubs in Manchester, in the late 1960s, ''Oscar's'' and the other called ''Slack Alice's'' (which later became ''42nd Street Nightclub''). He also owned fashion boutiques, in partnership with Mike Summerbee of Manchester City. He developed problems with gambling, womanising and alcoholism.

Best played at United when shirt numbers were assigned to positions, in the traditional English way, and not the player. When Best played at right wing, as he famously did during the later stages of the 1966 and 1968 European Cups, he donned the number 7. As a left winger, where he played exclusively in his debut season and nearly all of the 1971–72, he wore the number 11. Best wore the number 8 shirt at inside right on occasion throughout the 1960s, but for more than half of his matches during 1970–71. He was playing at inside left (wearing the number 10) in 1972 when he famously walked out on United the first time but was back in the number 11 for the autumn of 1973 before leaving for good. Best even wore the number 9 jersey once for United, with Bobby Charlton injured, on 22 March 1969 at Old Trafford, scoring the only goal in a 1–0 win over Sheffield Wednesday.

In 1974, aged 27, Best quit United for good. His last competitive game for the club was on 1 January 1974 against Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. In total Best made 470 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions from 1963 to 1974, and scored 179 goals (including six in one game against fourth division Northampton Town — an extraordinary feat that in 2002 the British public voted #26 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments). He was the club's top scorer for six consecutive seasons, and was the First Division's top scorer in the 1967–68 season. Over the next decade he went into an increasingly rapid decline, drifting between several clubs, including spells in South Africa, Ireland, United States, Scotland, and Australia.

Jewish Guild (1974)

Playing only five competitive matches for Jewish Guild in South Africa, Best endured criticism for missing several training sessions. During his short time there, he was the main draw attracting thousands of spectators to the matches.

Cork Celtic (1975)

Best had a brief spell at Cork Celtic in December 1975. He played only three league games, against Drogheda United, Bohemians and Shelbourne, but despite attracting big crowds he failed to score or impress. Being on a rolling contract with Cork his failure to show for a game saw him being dropped and subsequently leaving the club.

Fulham (1976–1977)

Best had a brief resurgence in form with Fulham in 1976–77, showing that, although he had lost some of his pace, he retained his skills. His time with the Cottagers is particularly remembered for a second division match against Hereford United on 25 September 1976 in which he tackled his own teammate, and old drinking mate, Rodney Marsh. Best stated later in life that he enjoyed his time most while at Fulham, despite not winning any honours.

United States (1976–1981)

Best played for three clubs in the United States: Los Angeles Aztecs, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and later San Jose Earthquakes; he also played for the Detroit Express on a European tour. Best revelled in the anonymity the United States afforded him after England and was a success on the field, too, scoring 15 goals in 24 games in his first season with the Aztecs and named as the NASL's best midfielder in his second. He and manager Ken Adam opened "Bestie's Beach Club" (now called "The Underground" after the London subway system) in Hermosa Beach, California in the 1970s, and continued to operate it until the 1990s.

Hibernian (1979–1981)

Best caused a stir when he returned to the UK to play for the Scottish club Hibernian. Hibs, who were suffering a decline in fortunes and were heading for relegation from the Premier Division, signed Best on a "pay per play" basis after the club chairman, Tom Hart, received a tip-off from an ''Edinburgh Evening News'' reporter that he was available. Even though Best failed to save Hibs from relegation, gates increased dramatically, as Hibs' attendance quadrupled for his first match at Easter Road. One infamous incident saw Best initially sacked by Hibs after he went on a massive drinking session with the French rugby team, who were in Edinburgh to play Scotland. He was brought back a week later.

Best returned to the USA to play for San Jose Earthquakes in what was officially described as a "loan", though he only managed a handful of appearances for Hibs in the First Division in the following season. He returned one last time to Easter Road in 1984, for Jackie McNamara's testimonial match against Newcastle. In his third season in the States, Best scored only once in 12 appearances. His moves to Fort Lauderdale and San Jose were also unhappy, as his off-field demons began to take control of his life again. After failing to agree terms with Bolton Wanderers in 1981, he was invited as a guest player and played three matches for two Hong Kong First Division teams (Sea Bees and Rangers) in 1982.

Bournemouth (1982–1983)

In late 1982, Bournemouth manager Don Megson signed the 36-year-old Best for the Football League Third Division side, and he remained there until the end of the season, when he finally retired from football at the age of 37. The following season Malcolm Allison apparently persuaded him to sign for Middlesbrough but he never made a League appearance for them.

Brisbane Lions (1983)

Best played in a friendly for Newry Town against Shamrock Rovers in August 1983 before ending his professional career exactly 20 years after joining Manchester United with a brief four-match stint playing for the Brisbane Lions in the Australian National Soccer League during the 1983 season.

Testimonial (1988)

On 8 August 1988, a testimonial match was held for Best at Windsor Park. Among the crowd were Sir Matt Busby and Bob Bishop, the scout who discovered Best, while those playing included Ossie Ardiles, Pat Jennings and Liam Brady. Best scored twice, one goal from outside the box, the other from the penalty spot.

International career

He was capped 37 times for Northern Ireland, scoring nine goals. Of his nine international goals four were scored against Cyprus and one each against Albania, England, Scotland, Switzerland and Turkey.

On 15 May 1971, Best scored possibly the most famous "goal" of his career at Windsor Park in Belfast against England. As Gordon Banks, the English goalkeeper, released the ball in the air in order to kick the ball downfield, Best managed to kick the ball first, which sent the ball high over their heads and heading towards the open goal. Best outpaced Banks and headed the ball into the empty goal, but the goal was disallowed by referee Alistair Mackenzie.

Best continued to be selected for Northern Ireland throughout the 1970s, despite his fluctuating form and off pitch problems. There were still glimpses of his genius; in 1976, Northern Ireland were drawn against Holland in Rotterdam as one of their group qualifying matches for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Holland – midway between successive World Cup final appearances – and Johan Cruyff were at their peak at the time. Five minutes into the game Best received the ball wide on the left. Instead of heading towards goal he turned directly infield, weaved his way past at least three Dutchmen and found his way to Cruyff who was wide right. Best took the ball to his opponent, dipped a shoulder twice and slipped it between Cruyff's feet – nutmegging arguably the best player in the world at that time.

Best was considered briefly by manager Billy Bingham for the 1982 World Cup, but at the age of 36 and his football skills dulled by age and drink, he was not selected in the Northern Ireland squad.

International goals

''Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first. '' Lausanne, Switzerland 25 November 1964 7 May 1965 13 October 1968 21 April 1970 3 February 1971 21 April 1971 21 April 1971 21 April 1971

# !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1	14 November 1964	|		1–1	1–2	1966 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	|	Glasgow, Scotland		1–1	2–3	1965 British Home Championship
3	|	Belfast, Northern Ireland		4–0	4–1	1966 FIFA World Cup qualification
4	|	Belfast, Northern Ireland		1–1	4–1	1966 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	|	London, England		1–3	1–3	1970 British Home Championship
6	|	Nicosia, Cyprus		3–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying
7	|	Belfast, Northern Ireland		2–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying
8	|	Belfast, Northern Ireland		3–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying
9	|	Belfast, Northern Ireland		4–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 1972 qualifying

Career honours

Club

;Manchester United

Football League First Division (2): 1965, 1967

European Cup (1): 1968

Individual

European Footballer of the Year: 1968

Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year: 1968

PFA England League Team of the Century (1907 to 2007): 2007

Professional Footballers Association: ALL STAR Award Winner Division 2 (Fulham) 1977

Freeman of Castlereagh, 2002

Inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame, 2002

Honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast, 2001

PFA Special Merit Award, for his services to football, 2006

Career statistics

4 10 9 10 28 19 15 18 18 4 2 0 2 1 15 6 2 !42!!8! 1 !32!!12! 2 !28!!6! 0 !17!!3! 13 !56!!21! 0

Club	Season	League	Cup	League Cup	Continental	!colspan="2"	Total
!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
rowspan="12"	Manchester United		17	|	7	2	–		2	0	0	0	26	6
The Football League 1964–65	1964–65	41	|	7	2	–		11	2	0	0	59	14
The Football League 1965–66	1965–66	31	|	5	3	–		6	4	1	1	43	17
The Football League 1966–67	1966–67	42	|	2	0	1	0	–		0	0	45	10
The Football League 1967–68	1967–68	41	|	2	1	–		9	3	1	0	53	32
The Football League 1968–69	1968–69	41	|	6	1	–		6	2	2	0	55	22
The Football League 1969–70	1969–70	37	|	8	6	8	2	–		0	0	53	23
The Football League 1970–71	1970–71	40	|	2	1	6	2	–		0	0	48	21
The Football League 1971–72	1971–72	40	|	7	5	6	3	–		0	0	53	26
The Football League 1972–73	1972–73	19	|	0	0	4	2	–		0	0	23	6
The Football League 1973–74	1973–74	12	|	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	12	2
!Total	!361!!137!!46!!21!!25!!9!!34!!11!!4!!1!!470!!179
Dunstable Town F.C.	Dunstable Town	1974–75	5	|			–		–
Stockport County F.C.	Stockport County		3	|	0	0	0	0	–		0	0	3	2
Cork Celtic F.C.	Cork Celtic		3	|
Los Angeles Aztecs		23	|
rowspan="3"	Fulham		32	|					–
The Football League 1977–78	1977–78	10	|					–
!Total	!! !! !! !!colspan="2"	–!! !! !! !!
rowspan="3"	Los Angeles Aztecs		20	11	|
1978 North American Soccer League season	1978	12	|
!Total	!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
rowspan="3"	Fort Lauderdale Strikers		9	4	|
1979 North American Soccer League season	1979	19	|
!Total	!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
rowspan="3"	Hibernian		13	3	|
Scottish Football League 1980–81	1980–81	4	|
!Total	!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
rowspan="3"	San Jose Earthquakes		26	8	|
1981 North American Soccer League season	1981	30	|
!Total	!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!
A.F.C. Bournemouth	Bournemouth		5	0	|				–
Queensland Lions Soccer Club	Brisbane Lions		4	|
Career total	!579!!204!! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !! !!

¹Includes other competitive competitions, including Charity Shield and the Intercontinental Cup.

|- |1964||6||2 |- |1965||6||1 |- |1966||1||0 |- |1967||1||0 |- |1968||1||1 |- |1969||4||0 |- |1970||4||1 |- |1971||6||4 |- |1972||2||0 |- |1973||1||0 |- |1974||0||0 |- |1975||0||0 |- |1976||2||0 |- |1977||3||0 |- !Total||37||9 |}

Outside football

Post-football careers

In the late 1980s, Best narrated ''Streaker'', a documentary on the streaking phenomenon, discussing the careers of people such as Erica Roe and Sheila Nicholls.

In 1998, Best became a football pundit on the Sky Sports live show Soccer Saturday. His last appearance on the show was in 2004.

In November 2004, 58-year-old Best agreed to join Premier League club Portsmouth as a youth coach, citing his desire to get involved in football again.

Personal life

Best was married twice, first to Angela MacDonald-Janes (1978–1986). They had a son, Calum, who was born in 1981. He married Alex Pursey in 1995 in Kensington and Chelsea, London. They divorced in 2004; they had no children. He is reported to have had two daughters by other women. His niece by marriage is actress Samantha Janus, who is the daughter of Angie MacDonald-Janes' brother.

In 2004, his second wife Alex Best appeared as a contestant on the reality television programme ''I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!'' and alleged that Best was violent towards her during their marriage. This issue was, in fact, covered in Best's authorised 1998 biography "''Bestie''" in which Alex claimed that Best punched her in the face on more than one occasion, something which Best never denied. Earlier in the book it is revealed that George struck another of his girlfriends, Mary, at least once and was arrested and charged with assault on a waitress, Stevie Sloniecka, in November 1972, when he fractured her nose in Reuben's nightclub, Manchester. He was successfully defended when the case reached court in January 1973 by barrister George Carman QC, a close drinking companion of Best, as acknowledged in his book, ''Scoring at Half Time''.

Frank Evans, a former business partner of Best, claimed in his 2009 book, ''The Last British Bullfighter'', that Carman offered a Manchester gangster "pots of cash" in 1973 to break Best's legs when he discovered that Best had been having an affair with his second wife, Celia. Carman's offer was rejected with the following warning by the gangster: "I don't sort out domestic disputes and I'm not going to harm George [Best]. So you can take your money and go somewhere else. But I'll tell you this – if any harm comes to George I'll know who did it and I'll come after you."

Alcoholism

Best suffered from alcoholism for most of his adult life, leading to numerous controversies and, eventually, his death.

In 1981, while playing in the United States, Best stole money from the handbag of a woman he did not know in order to fund a drinking session. "We were sitting in a bar on the beach, and when she got up to go to the toilet I leaned over and took all the money she had in her bag."

In 1984, Best received a three-month prison sentence for drunk driving, assaulting a police officer and failing to answer bail. He spent Christmas of 1984 behind bars and turned out as a player for Ford Open Prison.

In September 1990, Best appeared on an edition of primetime BBC chat show ''Wogan'' in which he was clearly drunk and swore, at one point saying to the host, "Terry, I like screwing". He later apologised and said this was one of the worst episodes of his alcoholism.

Best was diagnosed with severe liver damage in March 2000. In August 2002, he had a successful liver transplant at King's College Hospital in London. The transplant was performed at public expense on the NHS, a decision which was controversial due to Best's alcoholism. The controversy was reignited in 2003 when he was spotted openly drinking white wine spritzers.

On 2 February 2004, Best was convicted of another drunk driving offence and banned from driving for 20 months.

Illness and death

Best continued to drink, and was sometimes seen at his local pub in Surbiton, Greater London. On 3 October 2005 Best was admitted to intensive care at the private Cromwell Hospital in London, suffering from a kidney infection caused by the side effects of immuno-suppressive drugs used to prevent his body from rejecting his transplanted liver. On 27 October, newspapers stated that Best was close to death and had sent a farewell message to his loved ones. Best's condition improved at first, but deteriorated again in November. On 20 November the British tabloid ''News of the World'' published a picture of Best at his own request, showing him in his hospital bed, along with what was reported to be his final message: "Don't die like me".

Best's "farewell" message was seen as a way of warning others not to risk suffering a similar fate as a result of alcoholism.

In the early hours of 25 November 2005 treatment was stopped; he eventually died, aged 59, after a battle that lasted longer than doctors had expected, at 13:06 GMT that day as a result of a lung infection and multiple organ failure.

The FA Premier League announced that a minute's silence would be observed before all Premier League games to be held over the weekend of his death; this was ignored at many grounds, in favour of a minute's applause in his honour. The first match at Old Trafford after Best's death was a League Cup tie against West Bromwich Albion, the club against which he made his début for Manchester United in 1963. The match, which United won, was preceded by tributes from former team-mate Sir Bobby Charlton. Best's son Calum and former team-mates, surviving members from the West Bromwich Albion team which he played against in his début, all joined the current United squad on the pitch for a minute's silence, during which fans held aloft pictures of Best, which were given out before the match.

Funeral

His body left the family home at Cregagh Road, East Belfast, shortly after 10 a.m. UTC on Saturday, 3 December 2005. The cortege then travelled the short distance to Stormont. The route was lined with around 100,000 mourners. There was an 11 a.m. service in the Grand Hall relayed to around 25,000 mourners inside the grounds of Stormont. As the cortege left Stormont, the Gilnahirk pipe band played. The Funeral was live on several TV stations including BBC One. Afterward, Best was buried beside his mother Annie Elizabeth Kelly in a private ceremony at the hill-top Roselawn Cemetery, overlooking east Belfast.

Memorials

thumb|The new airport signage Belfast City Airport was renamed George Best Belfast City Airport as a tribute to Best. The official new name and signage was unveiled to a gathering of the Best family and friends at the airport on 22 May 2006 which would have been his 60th birthday.

Public opinion in Northern Ireland about the renaming of the airport was divided, with one poll showing 52% in favour and 48% against. Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) deputy leader and East Belfast Member of Parliament Peter Robinson, in whose constituency Belfast City airport is situated, stated that his preference was a sports stadium be named after Best. The move generated negative comments beyond Northern Ireland.

In March 2006, airline Flybe, named a Dash 8 (Q400) plane ''The George Best''. The aircraft was later used to carry Best's family across to the Manchester memorial service for Best.

In June 2006, Sarah Fabergé, great-granddaughter of Russian Imperial Jeweller Carl Fabergé was commissioned to create the George Best Egg, in tribute. A strictly limited edition of 68 eggs were produced, with all profits from the sale of the eggs going to the George Best Foundation. The first egg from the collection is now on permanent public display at the George Best Airport.

For the first anniversary of his death, Ulster Bank issued one million commemorative five pound notes. The notes sold out in five days. The notes sold on the online auction site eBay for up to £30.

Current plans for a new national stadium for Northern Ireland near Lisburn include a proposed statue of Best as one of several celebrating sporting heroes from the country. These statues would surround the main sporting arena and Best would be joined by rugby player Willie John McBride, Gaelic Football player Cormac McAnallen, Olympic gold medalist Mary Peters, Grand National winner Richard Dunwoody, Grand Prix driver Eddie Irvine, Motor cycle World champion Joey Dunlop and snooker world champion Alex Higgins.

In December 2006 the George Best Memorial Trust launched a fund-raising drive to raise £200,000 in subscriptions to pay for a life-size bronze sculpture of George Best. By 2008 the money had still not been raised until a local developer, Doug Elliott, announced on 29 January 2008, that he would put up the rest of the money and would manage delivery of the project.

Best in popular culture

George Best's autobiographies include:

''Bestie'' (co-written with Joe Lovejoy),

''The Good, The Bad and The Bubbly'' (with Ross Benson)

''Blessed: The Autobiography'' (with Roy Collins)

''George Best: A Celebration'' (Bernie Smith and Maureen Hunt)

''Scoring at Half Time'' (with Martin Knight).

''Hard Tackles and Dirty Baths''

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, while at the peak of his career, Best advertised Cookstown Sausages on TV with the phrase "the Best family sausages". In 2007 a memorial plaque was placed outside the pork factory in the County Tyrone town.

In the year 1970, German avantgarde film director Hellmuth Costard made a film entitled "Fußball wie noch nie", translated into English as "Football like never before". The film shows only Best, filmed from 8 cameras, during a regular Manchester United match. The film was screened in the year 1971 by German public broadcast ARD.

One of Best's most widely-known quotes summed up his celebrity lifestyle: "I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars – the rest I just squandered."

Best had a cameo as himself in the 1971 British comedy film ''Percy''.

In 1984 Best made a fitness album with Mary Stavin called ''Shape Up and Dance''.

A warts-and-all biopic simply entitled ''Best'' was released in the year 2000. The film pulled no punches in chronicling Best's struggles within his personal life and footballing career – showing the full extent to which Best's alcoholism and hedonistic lifestyle played in bringing an end to the footballing career of one of the game's most naturally gifted players of all time. The Mary McGuckian directed film starred John Lynch as George Best, Ian Bannen as Matt Busby, Roger Daltrey as Rodney Marsh, Linus Roache as Denis Law, and Jerome Flynn as Bobby Charlton. The film also featured Patsy Kensit and Sophie Dahl as Best's love interests. ''Best'' was released in UK cinemas on 12 May 2000, and was subsequently released on Region 2 PAL DVD on 27 January in the year 2003 by Mosaic Movies.

Indie rock band The Wedding Present named their first album after him. He is featured on the cover wearing his red Manchester United kit.

Best has been mentioned in the song "In the name of the Father" written by Bono, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer and performed by Bono and Gavin Friday.

Former frontman of Men At Work (now solo artist) Colin Hay and Heather Mills re-released Hay's "My Brilliant Feat" in 2005 as a digital single. The re-release in memory of Best's then recent passing gave all proceeds to charity. In Another Colin Hay song, "Are You Lookin' At Me?", Best is mentioned: "Well I loved the Lone Ranger, an' ah loved that Denis Law, im an' George Best sure knew how tae kick a ba'."

His fellow Belfast-man Van Morrison mentioned George Best in his song ''Too Long In Exile'': "I've been too long in exile, like George Best, baby".

In the Irvine Welsh novel "Glue", the main characters attend a fictional Hibernian match which Best competes in. The crowd sings "His Name is Georgie Best"

Elsewhere, Best has been mentioned in numerous other songs, television shows and internet articles. It has been reported that George was the inspiration for ''Dedicated Follower of Fashion'', by The Kinks, and most recently inspired the song ''Where Did It All Go Wrong Mr Best?'' on the 2008 album ''Bingo'' by Rinaldi Sings. British rapper Mike Skinner mentioned George Best in "Such a Twat" from his 2004 album ''A Grand Don't Come for Free'': "As I'm smacking glasses down at George Best's best session rate."

A picture of Best can be seen on the Definitely Maybe album cover by the band Oasis in 1994. Despite the band famously supporting Manchester City, one member of the band at the time Bonehead is a Manchester United supporter. A picture of the Manchester City player Rodney Marsh can also be seen.

Leading the way in popular culture through the 1960s and early 1970s, as well as recognised worldwide, it is no surprise that the legacy left by George Best has ensured that items connected with him are now highly collectable. In January 2010, a previously unknown collection of Best memorabilia and photographs was discovered in a house in Worsley, Greater Manchester.

See also

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award

Grosvenor Grammar School

UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll

References

External links

[http://www.fifa.com/classicfootball/players/player=46539/index.html George Best - FIFA.com Classic Player profile

English Football Hall of Fame Profile

The George Best Foundation

Football legend George Best dies from the BBC

United in grief for a tragic hero – The Guardian

Was George the Best? – BBC

George Best Profile at CultureNorthernIreland.org

George Best Manchester United photo 1, biography & stats at sporting-heroes.net

George Best Manchester United photo 2, biography & stats at sporting-heroes.net

George Best Hibernian photo, biography & stats at sporting-heroes.net

George Best Fulham photo, biography & stats at sporting-heroes.net

George Best Player Profile – A true genius

One on One George Best Interview with Four Four Two

George Best, Post War English & Scottish Football League A – Z Player's Database

NASL stats

www.ihibs.co.uk player profile

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