George Harrison

News about George Harrison, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times. More

George Harrison was known as "the quiet Beatle," the reclusive one, during the group's manic touring years. Yet he served as an anchor for the quartet, leading the others on a spiritual quest toward Eastern philosophy that influenced their music in the latter part of the 1960's, epitomized for millions of fans by the sitar he played on "Norwegian Wood."

Some of his best compositions, like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "Something," stand alone in the Beatles' canon for their introspective beauty. Others, like "Taxman" and "Piggies," were brutally mundane.

Before the group broke up, he helped steer it to exclusively studio recording, a compatible environment for experimentation. And afterward, he continued composing and singing, with albums like "All Things Must Pass." The search for a path to God and the Hindu notions of the transitory nature of the physical world were Mr. Harrison's principal subjects here, explored in songs like "What Is Life," "My Sweet Lord," and "The Art of Dying." Allan Kozinn