1988–2001: later life
The Traveling Wilburys
Main article: Traveling Wilburys
In 1988 Harrison formed the Traveling Wilburys with Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and Tom Petty. The band had gathered in Dylan's garage to record a song for a Harrison European single release.[132] Harrison's record company decided the track, "Handle with Care", was too good for its original purpose as a B-side and asked for a full album. The LP, Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1, was released in October 1988 and recorded under pseudonyms as half-brothers, supposed sons of Charles Truscott Wilbury, Sr.[133] Harrison's pseudonym on the first album was "Nelson Wilbury"; he used the name "Spike Wilbury" for their second album.[134]
After Orbison's death in December 1988 the group recorded as a four-piece.[135] Their second release, issued in October 1990, was mischievously titled Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3. According to Lynne, "That was George's idea. He said, 'Let's confuse the buggers.'"[136] It reached number 14 in the UK, where it went platinum with certified sales of more than 3,000,000 units.[137] The Wilburys never performed live and the group did not record together again following the release of their second album.[138]
In 1989 Harrison and Starr appeared in the music video for Tom Petty's song "I Won't Back Down".[139] Starr is filmed playing the drums, but did not play on the track; Harrison played acoustic guitar and provided backing vocals.[140][nb 13] In December 1991, Harrison joined Clapton for a tour of Japan.[143] It was Harrison's first since 1974 and no others followed.[144][nb 14] On 6 April 1992, Harrison held a benefit concert for the Natural Law Party at the Royal Albert Hall, his first London performance since the Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert.[146] In October 1992 he performed at a Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City, playing alongside Dylan, Clapton, McGuinn, Petty and Neil Young.[147]
The Beatles Anthology
Main article: The Beatles Anthology
In 1994 Harrison began a collaboration with McCartney, Starr and producer Jeff Lynne for the Beatles Anthology project. This included the recording of two new Beatles songs built around solo vocal and piano tapes recorded by Lennon as well as lengthy interviews about the Beatles' career.[148] Released in December 1995, "Free as a Bird" was the first new Beatles single since 1970.[149] In March 1996, they released a second single, "Real Love". Harrison refused to participate in the completion of a third song.[150] He later commented on the project: "I hope somebody does this to all my crap demos when I'm dead, make them into hit songs."[151]
Following the Anthology project, Harrison collaborated with Ravi Shankar on the latter's Chants of India. Harrison's final television appearance was a VH-1 special to promote the album, taped in May 1997.[152] In January 1998, Harrison attended Carl Perkins's funeral in Jackson, Tennessee, performing a brief rendition of Perkins's song "Your True Love".[153] In June 1998, he attended the public memorial service for Linda McCartney, and appeared on Starr's album Vertical Man, playing guitar on two tracks.[154]
Knife attack
On 30 December 1999, 36-year-old Michael Abram broke into the Harrisons' Friar Park home and attacked Harrison with a kitchen knife, puncturing a lung and causing head injuries before Olivia Harrison incapacitated the assailant by striking him repeatedly with a poker and a lamp.[155][156] Following the attack, Harrison was hospitalized with more than forty stab wounds. He released a statement soon after regarding his assailant: "[he] wasn't a burglar, and he certainly wasn't auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys."[157][nb 15]
Illness and death
In mid-1997, Harrison was told that he had developed throat cancer, which he attributed to smoking heavily from the 1960s until at least the late 1980s. After undergoing radiotherapy, the cancer was thought to be in remission.[155] In May 2001 it was revealed that Harrison had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs,[161] and in July, it was reported that he was being treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland.[162] While in Switzerland, Starr visited him, but had to cut his stay short to travel to Los Angeles, where his daughter was undergoing emergency brain surgery, prompting Harrison to quip: "Do you want me to come with you?"[163] In November 2001, he began radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City for lung cancer that had spread to his brain.[164] When the news was publicized, Harrison bemoaned his physician's breach of privacy, and his estate later claimed damages.[nb 16] On 12 November, the three living former Beatles met for the last time at Harrison's hotel in New York for lunch.[170]
Harrison died on 29 November 2001, aged 58, from metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.[171] He was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges and Yamuna Rivers near Varanasi, India, by his close family in a private ceremony according to Hindu tradition.[172] He left almost £100 million in his will.[173]
His final album, the posthumously released Brainwashed (2002), was completed by his son Dhani and Jeff Lynne.[174] Included in the album's liner notes is a quotation from the Bhagavad Gita: "There never was a time when you or I did not exist. Nor will there be any future when we shall cease to be."[175] A media-only single, "Stuck Inside a Cloud", which Leng described as "a uniquely candid reaction to illness and mortality", achieved number 27 onBillboard's Adult Contemporary chart.[176][177] The single "Any Road", released in May 2003, reached number 37 on the UK Singles Chart.[128] "Marwa Blues" went on to receive the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, while "Any Road" was nominated for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.[178]
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