When George was 5, his family moved to Upton Green, Speke, and he attended Dovedale Primary School with his brother Peter. In September 1954 he became a pupil at the Liverpool Institute. His interest in music was aroused with the skiffle boom, and he initially bought a guitar from a school-mate, but it was damaged and difficult to play. His mother helped him to obtain a proper guitar, and he formed a group called the Rebels with his brother Peter and best friend Arthur Kelly, although the skiffle group only appeared for a single gig at the local British Legion Club.When George left the Institute, he was sent by the Youth Employment Center to Blackler's Store to apply for a job as a window dresser. That job had been taken, but he found employment at the department store as a trainee electrician. In the meantime, his interest in music continued, although he had failed an audition to join Alan Caldwell's Texans (who were later to become Rory Storm the Hurricanes). He did manage to find a place with the Les Stewart Quartet, who had a residency at Lowlands Club in West Derby. George had also developed a friendship with another Institute boy whom he met while traveling to school on the No. 86 bus - Paul McCartney, and he attended a few of the gigs performed by the Quarry Men, the group Paul was a member of.                         
During the early part of 1959, the Quarry Men had virtually ceased to exist. When Ken Brown, a fellow member of the Les Stewart Quartet, had an argument with Stewart, George walked out with him and suggested he contact John and Paul to join them in a residency at the Casbah Club. The Quarry Men then re-formed on 29 August with John, Paul, George and Ken. A different argument ended with Brown leaving the group in October.
In 1960 the group had become the Beatles, and, with new drummer Pete Best, set off for Germany in August. They appeared at the Indra Club, then at the Kaiserkeller. When an opportunity came to appear at the rival Top Ten Club, Kaiserkeller owner Bruno Koschmider revealed that George was under-age and would have to return home. George told Beatles biographer Hunter Davies, "At all clubs, they used to read out a notice every night saying that all people under eighteen had to leave. Someone eventually realized I was only seventeen, without a work permit or a resident permit. So I had to leave. I had to go home on my own. I felt terrible."          
When the newspaper Mersey Beat reported on the Beatles' recording activities in Hamburg, it mentioned that George written the only Beatles original composition recorded - "Cry For A Shadow". George had also co-written with Paul a number called "In Spite Of All The Danger",
which was the first original song the group recorded when they made a demonstration record in Kensington, Liverpool, in 1958. Over the next few years of the Beatles' success, the main focus of attention was John and Paul, in particular because of their songwriting. George felt frustrated because he believed his work wasn't being taken seriously by the others. He eventually began writing seriously with "Don't Bother Me" and began to emerge as a talented songwriter in his own right, although he still had to fight to have his songs accepted on the group's albums. His compositions included: "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much" on the "Help!" album; "Think For Yourself" and "If I Needed Someone" on the "Rubber Soul" album; "Taxman", "Love You Too" and "I Want To Tell You" on the "Revolver" album; "Within You, Without You" on the "Sgt. Pepper" album and "Blue Jay Way" on the "Magical Mystery Tour" EP set. "The Inner Light" became George's first song to be included on a single when it was issued as the flipside of "Lady Madonna". His compositions on "The Beatles" double album (white album) were "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Piggies", "Long Long Long" and "Savoy Truffle". Other compositions by George included:
"Only A Northern Song" on the "Yellow Submarine" album; "Old Brown Shoe", which became the flipside of the "Ballad of John And Yoko" single; and "Something" and "Here Comes The Sun" on "Abbey Road". It was Allen Klein who finally made the decision to place a George Harrison song as the "A" side of at Beatles single and this happened with "Something". On the Beatles' final album, (final album released) "Let It Be", George had 2 songs, "I.Me.Mine" and "For You Blue". George did not have as large a profile in the Beatles' set-up as John or Paul, but he did attract fans.
Even in the Hamburg days the "Exis" referred to him as "the beautiful one". During the filming of "A Hard Day's Night" he met and fell in love with teenage model Pattie Boyd, and the two were married on January 21st, 1966. The following two years proved to be a very important period for George. Apart from his marriage, he developed a close friendship with guitarist Eric Clapton and he met two men who were to alter the direction of his life. The first was Indian musician Ravi Shankar, whom George was introduced to in June at a party at the home of Peter Sellers. The other was the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. These two "men from the East" were to have a profound effect on both George's musical and spiritual life, even though his association with the Maharashi was brief. From Shankar, developed a love of Indian music, learned to play the sitar, and opened up his songwriting to new influences. Transcendental meditation was also to prove beneficial to him and he received inspiration from Indian philosophy and traveled to Bombay in January 1968 to record tracks for the album "Wonderwall" with Indian musicians.
With his new interests, George also began to develop confidence in his own abilities and was no longer prepared to take a back seat with the Beatles' activities. Following a dispute with Paul he walked off the set of the "Let It Be" film in January 1969. He returned, but he was determined never again to appear on stage with the Beatles, despite Paul/s attempts to have the group appear in public again. Paul's urgings did, however, result in their last public appearance on the roof of the Apple building in Savile Row. During the year, George and Pattie had been busted for drugs at their home, and he vowed never to keep any drugs at his home again. He also became interested in the Hare Krsna movement and recorded the Radha Krsna Temple performing "The Hare Krsna Mantra". He also met his Divine Grace A.C. Bhakivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
The Beatles were by now, effectively finished as a group, and George recorded a solo triple album, "All Things Must Pass", although following "Wonderwall Music" and "Electronic Sound", it was actually his third solo LP. Other solo albums included "The Concert For Bangladesh", "Living In The Material World", "Dark Horse", "Extra Texture (Read All About It)", "Thirty Three and 1/3", "The Best of George Harrison", "George Harrison", "Somewhere In England", "Gone Troppo", and "Cloud Nine". His singles have included "My Sweet Lord", "What Is Life", "Bangladesh", "Give Me Love", "Dark Horse", Ding Dong", "You", "This Guitar Can't Keep From Crying", "This Song", "Crackerbox Palace", "True Love", "It's What You Value", "Blow Away", "Love Comes To Everyone", "All Those Years Ago", "Teardrops", "Wake Up My Love", "Got My Mind Set On You", and "When We Was Fab". In 1975, George set up his own record label, Dark Horse Records, which was distributed by Warner Brothers Records.
In April of 1984, George announced that he had cut his last record, stating that he'd decided to retire from the music business to concentrate on film production. Fortunately, he changed his mind concerning recording, but he did channel most of his efforts into film making when he founded HandMade Films in partnership with Denis O'Brien in 1978, and the salvaged two films from EMI, "The Life Of Brian" (1979), and "The Long Good Friday" (1981). Other films HandMade was involved with included "Time Bandits" (1981); "Monty Python Live at The Hollywood Bowl" (1982); "The Missionary" (1982); "Privates On Parade" (1982); "Scrubbers" (1982); "Bullshot" (1982); "A Private Function" (1984); "Water" (1984); "Shanghai Surprise" (1986); "Mona Lisa" (1986); "Withnail and I" (1987); "Track Twenty Nine" (1988); "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne" (1989); "Pow Wow Highway" (1989); "Five Corners" (1989); "Checking Out" (1989); "How to Get Ahead In Advertising" (1989) and "Nuns On The Run" (1989).
George triumphed in August 1971 when he presented "The Concert For Bangladesh" at Madison Square Garden, in which he was surrounded by a host of stars, including Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Bad Finger, and Ravi Shankar.
In 1974, he went on the road again and performed 50 concerts in North America. His marriage
with Pattie was breaking down, and she became involved in a love affair with George's best friend, Eric Clapton. The couple were divorced on June 9th, 1977. By that time, George was in love with Olivia Arias, and the couple were living together at George's palatial mansion, Friar Park, in Henley. Olivia gave birth to their son Dhani on August 1st 1978 and the two were married the following month, on September 2nd. In 1979, George had his autobiography "I.Me.Mine" published in a special limited edition.
During the eighties, George began to make a number of appearances on stage and television, including a special TV tribute to the career of Carl Perkins. George was also to become part of a unique band called the Traveling Wilburys in 1988, which included Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison.