Olivia Harrison is the widow of George Harrison, who was the lead guitarist for the legendary Beatles. Many fans of this musician will be interested to know about who he lived with for many years and how his personal life turned out. In this article we will look at the biography of Olivia Harrison.

See you George

Olivia Trinidad Arias was the name of D. Harrison's second wife before her marriage. She was born in the capital of Mexico on May 18, 1948. Her father, Ezekiel Arias, was a dry cleaning worker, and her mother was engaged in sewing. The family was large. In addition to Olivia, there were two boys (Gilbert and Ron) and two girls (Linda and Chris).

At the age of 17, the girl graduated from Hawthorne School (California). After some time, she was hired by the record company A&M Records, where she held the position of secretary. It was here that they met George. The fateful meeting took place in 1974, when the musician signed a contract with this company. During the recording of the Dark Horse album, Olivia acted as a backing vocalist.

The wife of the legendary musician

The couple legalized their relationship in 1978, and before that George managed to divorce his first wife and have a child with Olivia. The wedding took place near the Friar Park estate, which belonged to Harrison, in the town of Henley-on-Thames. Yet there were rumors in the media that Olivia and George never set foot in marriage. Such information appeared after the wedding of Ringo Starr, where the Harrisons were invited. Olivia was spotted without her wedding ring, which gave rise to such false rumors.

What is noteworthy is that the musician himself very often called his wife Arias (by her maiden name). The same name was mentioned in George's albums. And even in a 1991 interview with Musician Magazin, Harrison referred to Olivia as “my wife Arias.”

The couple had been married for about 23 years. But in November 2001, George died from a long illness, leaving Olivia Harrison a widow.

Their son Dhani, who was born in August 1978, followed in his father's footsteps and took up music professionally.

Charity

Olivia Harrison, whose photo is presented in this article, took part in a charity event to raise funds for poor children in Romania in the 90s of the last century. The Romania Angel Appeal also featured Yoko Ono (John Lenon's wife), Linda McCartney and Barbara Bach (Ringo Starr's wife). The event raised several million dollars.

Life after the death of her husband

George and Olivia Harrison's relationship was very warm. The feeling of grief does not leave the wife of a famous musician. In many ways, Eastern religious teachings helped Olivia survive this loss. It was faith that gave her the strength to endure all life’s difficulties that came her way. In 1997, George was given a terrible diagnosis - cancer. There were several years of fighting the disease ahead. Harrison was treated in Swiss clinics, as well as in hospitals in New York and Los Angeles. In 1999, another misfortune befell the family: an unknown man entered the Harrisons’ home and stabbed George multiple times. Olivia was able to stop him by hitting the criminal several times with a poker.

In 2001, the husband's health deteriorated and cancer affected George's brain, throat and lungs. Olivia found herself powerless in the face of such a problem. On November 29, 2001, the legendary lead guitarist of the Beatles passed away.

In 2002, Olivia organized a concert in memory of her husband. The event was held at the royal Albert Hall (London). The concert was attended by world celebrities: Billy Preston, Eric Clapton, two of Harrison's colleagues - McCartney and Starr, Tom Petty, Tom Hanks, as well as the popular British comedy group Monty Python and others. George and Olivia's son also took part in this project. He played acoustic guitar for most of the concert numbers.

Olivia Harrison won a Grammy in 2005. She received the award in the category "Best Full-Length Music Video".

In June 2009, she was invited, along with fellow Beatles and Yoko Ono, to a press conference organized by Microsoft to celebrate the release of The Beatles: Rock Band.

George Harrison, famous member of the Beatles, actor, composer, was born in Great Britain in 1943.

George Harrison was born in February 1943 in prim England into a Catholic family. His parents were simple people and had nothing to do with music, but this happens often: talented musicians are not always born exclusively into creative families. His mother worked as a saleswoman, his father was a sailor, but later got a job as a bus driver so as not to leave the family, as was the case during flights.

They lived in a simple house, the singer also had a sister and two more brothers. Yes, it was not easy for a large family, and at the age of 7 they moved to another area of ​​the city, since it was not possible to pay rent for the house.

The first years and creative development

George went to a regular school, the same one John Lennon attended, but two grades older. This was followed by training at the “Liverpool Institute,” as the school for boys was called. He immediately attracted attention, but not with his diligence in his studies, but with his rather daring character and desire to show his nature. He was insolent to teachers, did not want to cut his hair, and wore fashionable trousers that were considered extravagant at that time.

Photo: George Harrison as a child with his parents

He was very interested in guitars and music and persuaded his parents to give him a large sum of 3 pounds at that time to buy an acoustic guitar. He mastered it very quickly, memorizing the chords perfectly, and then was able to perform more complex passages on his own.

Paul McCartney also studied at the same school, with whom he became friends over a common love of music, and then Lennon joined the company. They decided to form their own group, although Lennon was initially against it, believing that George was too young for this. However, over time, the talented guy managed to join the team.

When he turned 16, he left school and went to work as an ordinary electrician's assistant in a department store, devoting all his free time to the newly formed group. For the next few years, Paul McCartney and John Lennon looked at George as a child, but this, on the contrary, spurred the latter to prove his creative worth.

Photo: young George Harrison in the Beatles

It is interesting that at first the group was called “The Silver Beetles”, and then it was decided to remove the first word from it and modify the second, leaving “The Beatles”.

Movement to success

His guitar playing improved, it was a real breakthrough. He took lessons from professional musicians, brought something of his own to the performance, and already at the age of 20 he was considered a completely professional musician, claiming a leading role in the group.

In the mid-60s, his serious passion for Indian philosophy began, which lasted the rest of his life. The group quickly gained popularity, followed by wild success, which all members of the group experienced differently.

The group toured a lot. Each participant had their own most striking character traits. For example, Paul McCartney was considered a romantic, and John Lennon was perceived by others as nothing more than a “cynic intellectual.”

If we talk about George, he was always called “the quiet one.” He was indeed distinguished by a quiet character; not a trace remained of his former insolence. If at school he was considered almost a hooligan, then soon his character changed. And this happened after a serious passion for music, when all his ebullient energy was spent on creativity.

Solo swimming and a special vision of life

The success was colossal, but more and more the group members realized that they were independent creative units, and it became increasingly difficult for them to remain in a single team. Paul McCartney announced his departure from the group, and John Lennon also left. It is not surprising that George Harrison has outlined his own personal creative path. For about 2 years before the final break with the group, he worked on two fronts, participating in projects of his cult group and bringing his own creative ideas to life.

In many ways, his vision of the situation was influenced by his serious passion for Hinduism and Krishnaism.

Also in his life there was a period of passion for LSD, but it must be said that at that time many stars practiced such unsafe “hobbies”. This was the time of the hippie movement in the world, plus, people did not yet perceive such experiments with consciousness with the help of psychotropic drugs as something very serious.

These hobbies were reflected in creativity, when some musical moments or even entire works were created after such experiments. However, later George Harrison began to take a more responsible approach to his lifestyle, study religion more seriously, he became a vegetarian and stuck to it until the end of his life.

Personal life

In 1966, model Pattie Boyd, whom he met on the set of the film, became his wife. They lived together until 1974, when she left for British rock musician Eric Clapton. Despite this, the couple maintained a good relationship and subsequently Patti even wrote a book of memories, and in 2005 a large-scale photo exhibition was held where everyone could see the photos that Patti took during their life together.

The second chosen one was a woman of Mexican origin, Olivia Ariasda, she worked as a secretary in the company founded by the musician - Dark Horse Records. The musician had only one child, son Dhani, who was born in this marriage.

George Harrison was an extremely versatile man. In addition to music and a serious increase in religion, he was engaged in gardening and loved cars. He could afford any hobby; at that time he was one of the richest people in Great Britain, as were all the members of the cult group.

Fighting the disease

In the mid-90s, it turned out that the musician’s larynx and part of his lung were affected. It was a malignant neoplasm, and as a result, doctors decided to perform an operation to remove it. After this, George underwent rehabilitation treatment in Switzerland; he bravely fought the disease throughout the subsequent years of his life until his death in 2001.

Unfortunately, having barely overcome this dangerous illness, he fell ill again: the neoplasm made itself felt by being detected in the brain. This tumor was even more dangerous and inoperable. The musician managed to live only a few months after the discovery, but during this time he did a lot. For example, he restored relations with his sister, with whom, for completely unknown personal reasons, he had not communicated for almost 10 years.

Having learned that he had very little time left to live, he called her, and she immediately flew to him, their communication improved. Relatives, friends, and former colleagues in the music industry also visited the musician, trying to cheer him up. Indian gurus also visited George Harrison, because religion was still the main thing in his life.

Death

He died on November 29, 2001, a Hindu rite was performed over him, his body was cremated, his ashes were scattered over the Ganges River - everything was done as he bequeathed.

After his death, a very impressive fortune remained, amounting to several hundred million dollars. Some of them, in accordance with the will of the cult musician, were spent on charitable purposes. Other sources report that he donated a substantial amount to the Society for Krishna Consciousness.

Albums

• 1968 Wonderwall Music
• 1969 Electronic Sound
• 1970 All Things Must Pass
• 1971 The Concert for Bangla Desh
• 1973 Living in the Material World
• 1974 Dark Horse
• 1975 Extra Texture
• 1976 Thirty Three & 1/3
• 1976 The Best of George Harrison
• 1979 George Harrison
• 1981 Somewhere in England
• 1982 Gone Troppo
• 1987 Cloud Nine
• 1992 Live in Japan
• 2002 Brainwashed

The relevance and reliability of information is important to us. If you find an error or inaccuracy, please let us know. Highlight the error and press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Enter .

The well-known favorite of many women, Harrison Ford, who played the main role in the film Indiana Jones, is distinguished not only by his brilliant acting skills, but also by scandalous facts from his personal life. So, he has three official marriages and five offspring. At the same time, it is known that not all of Harrison Ford’s children want to follow in the footsteps of their star father, and each of them has already chosen their own path in life.

Harrison Ford's family and children

Harrison met his first wife, Mary Marquardt, in college. Married in 1964, the couple were married for 15 years. The wife gave the actor two sons. The eldest, Benjamin, was born in 1967, and Willard was born two years later.

In his second marriage to Melissa Mathison, with whom he also lived from 1983 to 2002, he became the father of a son, Malcolm (1987) and a daughter, Georgia (1990). However, the couple officially divorced only in 2004.

After the second divorce, the actor began to build a relationship with Calista Flockhart. Having lived together for 8 years, the couple decided to legalize their relationship in 2010. They are together, who is now about 15 years old.

It's worth noting that Liam Ford, Harrison Ford's son, is not his biological father. In 2001, on the advice of the actor, who at that time was still a friend of the woman, Calista adopted a 9-year-old boy. Well, when the star couple began to live together, Harrison took upon himself the responsibility of raising a child.

Read also

• 10 examples proving that children of millionaires also know how to work

Today, each of his biological children has achieved success in life on their own. So, for example, Harrison Ford's son Ben Ford became a famous chef, owns a restaurant and even published his own book. Willard founded a furniture manufacturing company. Malcolm and Georgia followed in their father's footsteps and entered the world of show business.

Early in her career, one of the photographers said that “models can’t look like rabbits.” However, neither chubby cheeks nor large front teeth, between which there was a noticeable gap, prevented Pattie Boyd from becoming one of the most popular models in the 60s and winning the love of two great rock musicians.
Patricia Ann Boyd was born in England in 1944, moved to London at the age of 18 and soon began her modeling career. At first, not everything went smoothly (see above about the rabbits), but gradually photographers appreciated Boyd’s charm, and the shortcomings began to be perceived as “highlights.” And in 1964, on the set of the Beatles' film A Hard Days Night, Patti met George Harrison, and her famous love story number one began.

Love Story No. 1: Pattie+George

They were beautiful - young, madly in love, beautiful. He is the guitarist of The Beatles (and there is no need for any epithets like “the greatest”, “the most iconic” and “the most mega-super-duper”, because everything is clear even without epithets), a wonderful composer and just a very good person - calm , kind and without “star” fanfare. She was an up-and-coming model whose appearance was remarkably 1960s-era - equally charming, mischievous, and unconventional. Needless to say, the press howled with delight and never tired of photographing this couple?

George dedicated one of his most beautiful songs to Patti - “Something”, which was included in The Beatles album “Abbey Road”. In the video of those years, the wives of all the Beatles starred in this song, but the main role, of course, was Patti:

George and Patty never talked much about what caused the rift in their relationship. Therefore, the end of their marriage is usually described with the phrase: “In 1974, Boyd left Harrison for Clapton.”

It is Pattie Boyd that we owe the appearance of such great Clapton songs as “Layla”, “Wonderful Tonight”, “Bell Bottom Blues”. Patti's appearance may be far from classical beauty, but there was something about her (something, yes, yes) that inspired men...
However, the marriage to Clapton, alas, did not bring happiness. Firstly, Eric’s passion for alcohol turned into severe alcoholism, which Patti struggled with for almost the entire ten years of marriage, and secondly, Clapton willingly forgot about his Leila for the sake of other women, with two of whom he had quite long affairs. These two gave birth to children from Clapton, which became the most serious wound for Patti, who, unfortunately, could not have children...
Clapton and Boyd's marriage ended in divorce in 1989.

Love Story No. 3: Pattie+Camera
Despite the fact that many remember Patti as the ex-wife of Harrison and Clapton, she was first and foremost a wonderful model, one of the most famous in the 60s-70s. No further words are needed here - enjoy. :)

But the part is a little strange. The winner of 13 Grammy awards, Commander of the Order of the British Empire, was not interested in the trappings of popularity; he was interested in his own inner experiences and near-musical experiments. The guitarist became famous mostly for his creations outside of the Beatles.

Childhood and youth

George, his sister Louise and brothers Harry and Peter were born in Liverpool to a bus driver and a shop assistant. From the very beginning, the details of Harrison's biography developed in such a way that eventually, sooner or later, the guy would have been brought into the Beatles.

At Dovedale Primary School, where little George went, he was two years older. In middle school, The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts met and became friends with. At the same time, the object of interest of the future star was determined - the guitar.

Mom supported her youngest son's passion for music. Despite the fact that the family's income was modest, his parents found an opportunity to buy George a long-awaited instrument - an acoustic guitar. Harrison's playing style was influenced by the American Duane Eddy, whose work remained unknown in England at that time.

The young musician, with his friends and brother, formed a group called The Rebels and began performing skiffle. Paul soon introduced Lennon to 15-year-old George. The guy impressed his new friend with his ability to perform the song “Raunchy.” Due to his young age, the young Harrison firmly joined the group that Lennon and McCartney had created by that time only a year later.

Music

The Beatles period took George ten years of his life. The Fab Four have 210 compositions in their arsenal. Of these, 22 were officially recorded for the musician. But the guitarist held the unofficial title of the favorite of the fair half of the army of fans. And you can’t look for more rabid fans like the Beatles.

Turning into a world star was not on Harrison’s plans. The young man wanted to work as a musician for a couple of years and enter an art school. However, by 1963, when the Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, was released, the world became aware of such a phenomenon as Beatlemania.

Unlike his colleagues, Harrison did not burst with ideas and songs. George's first song, "Don't Bother Me", was released on the Beatles' second album. The Rubber Soul album includes the tracks "If I Needed Someone", "Norwegian Wood" and "Think for Yourself".

According to the musician, his friends had a hard time agreeing to record the songs he composed. The only hits were “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Something”. But from Harrison’s pen came “I Need You”, “Here Comes the Sun”, “Blue Jay Way”, “I, Me, Mine”. Moreover, George performed his compositions himself.

While still a member of The Beatles, the guitarist released two solo instrumental albums - Electronic Sound and Wonderwall Music. The first featured a hitherto unknown instrument – ​​Robert Moog’s synthesizer. Not everyone understood and appreciated the musician’s works. There were opinions that it was possible to make out the cacophony of sounds only when high. And someone thought that the record was a joke from the author. He took part in the creation of the second one.

On the set of the film "Help!" Harrison watched the sitar, an Indian plucked instrument, being played. A passion for Indian music followed. The musician wrote the songs “Taxman”, “Love You To” and “I Want to Tell You” in this style, which became part of the Beatles album “Revolver”.

For the recording, George assembled a star-studded lineup: ex-Beatle, Grammy winners Jim Gordon and Klaus Forman, Procol Harum founder Gary Brooker.

Phil Spector took charge of producing the album. “My Sweet Lord,” dedicated to Krishna, and “What Is Life” were published as separate singles. The songs topped the charts in America and the UK. The updated version of the album, released in 2001, safely rose to number 4 on the Billboard 200 list.

In 1973, a solo album was released - Living in the Material World. The single from it, entitled “Give Me Love (Give Me Peaceon Earth),” hit the top spots in the American and British charts. The album as a whole was not spared from success: for five weeks the album was on the first line of the US hit parade and topped the Canadian, British and Australian charts. It even surpassed Paul McCartney's album.

A year later, George presented another collection of essays - “Dark Horse”. In support of the album, the author went to concerts in the USA, but the tour did not cause delight among admirers of the talent of the guitarist and writer. Although the album was included in the top five on the Billboard 200, listeners did not like the presence of the Indian composer and friend. In addition to this, George lost his voice.

In addition to his personal creativity, fans love George Harrison for his successful cover versions of compositions by other artists. The Beatles' discography was supplemented by “Chains” by The Cookies, “Roll Over Beethoven”, and “Got My Mind Seton You” by James Ray.

“My thoughts are only about you” turned out to be the final solo single that helped conquer the US charts. In the guitarist’s homeland, the hit stayed at the top of the charts for four weeks. The singer produced the album together with the legendary Jeffrey Lynn, lead vocalist and founder of the Electric Light Orchestra. Two videos for the single were directed by American director Gary Weis.

Subsequently, the former member of the Fab Four released the albums Cloud Nine, Extra Texture, George Harrison, Thirty Three & 1/3. According to some critics, the best album is Living in the Material World. These words formed part of the title of the documentary film “George Harrison: Life in the Material World,” which tells about the life and spiritual quest of the musician.

Among other things, Harrison is the first rock musician to organize a charity concert. An event in support of the people of Bangladesh took place in the early 70s in the American Madison Square Garden.

Personal life

In 1966, George walked down the aisle. His wife is the brilliant London model Pattie Anne Boyd, whom fate brought together in 1964 on the set of the film "Hard Day's Night". The beauty left her husband for his friend Eric Clapton. At the showdown on this matter, no matter how terrible it may sound, two comrade dueled with guitar parts. Despite the ambiguity of the situation, the musicians maintained friendly relations, but did not mention the girl’s name in communication. The press, rubbing their hands from the piquancy of the situation, tirelessly published photos of all three.

Harrison found family happiness with Mexican Olivia Trinidad Arias. The woman was caring for George when he contracted hepatitis. Olivia later saved her husband from a mentally ill fan who attacked the musician with a knife. In August 1978, the couple had their only heir, Dhani. From his father, Harrison Jr. picked up an interest in music and Formula 1 auto racing.

Next to his friends from Liverpool, George Harrison was in the shadow of his eminent colleagues and rarely gave interviews. But the guitarist was the first to develop a commercial streak: back in 1964, he founded his own publishing company. Harrisongs Music Ltd quickly filed copyrights for the owner's songs.

In 1974, in America, by that time the producer had acquired the record company Dark Horse Records. Four years later, cinema came into the sphere of business interests, as a result of which the film company Hand Made Films was founded.

It is no secret that the life and work of the ex-Beatle was greatly influenced by his passion for Indian culture and the Hare Krishna movement. Even the name of the son is the name of the notes of the scale in the Indian tradition.

Death

The musician was diagnosed with throat cancer, which caused the death of the famous Briton, in 1997. Harrison passed away in November 2001 in Beverly Hills, surrounded by loved ones. The body was cremated, and the ashes, according to the will, were scattered over the waters of the Ganges.

Discography

• 1970 "My Sweet Lord"
• 1973 "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)"
• 1975 "Dark Horse"
• 1976 "This Song"
• 1981 "All Those Years Ago"
• 1981 "Teardrops"
• 1982 "Wake Up My Love"
• 1982 "I Really Love You"
• 1987 "Got My Mind Set on You"
• 1988 "Handle with Care"
• 1990 "She's My Baby"
• 2003 "Any Road"