Ken Brown is perhaps best remembered as the guitarist in the Quarrymen who was to some, the main reason the Beatles ever formed. While Paul McCartney and John Lennon were writing songs together, Brown was playing in the Les Stewart Quartet with George Harrison. In the summer of 1959, Pete Best’s mother opened the Casbah Coffee Club where Brown got the group booked as the house band. But due to a dispute over rehearsals, Stewart lost interest so Brown asked Lennon and McCartney to join the band and they quickly renamed themselves the Quarrymen. That following October, the band found themselves in a disagreement over money, so McCartney, Lennon, Harrison and Stu Sutcluffe (who had recently joined the band) left the group, soon recruited Best, and the rest is history. In later years, Brown could be found making music in his home studio and playing occasional reunion gigs or Casbah anniversary shows. On June 14, 2010, Brown’s body was found in his home after a family member became concerned having not heard from him for a while. Cause of death was not immediately released, but foul play is not suspected, and it is believed that he had been dead for several days [Ed.: I settled on June 9 as the date until I hear otherwise]. Ken Brown was 70 years old when he passed away.
John Lennon was to some, the leader of the Beatles. As guitarist and primary songwriter along with Paul McCartney, it was Lennon’s vision and drive that helped transform the young Liverpool skiffle band into the game-changing band that would become arguably the greatest pop band in history. Lennon was given his first guitar when he was 16, and within a year, he formed his first band, the Quarrymen. The following year he met McCartney at one of their shows and asked him to join the band based solely on his ability to tune a guitar and his knowledge of songs. They would soon become the Beatles with the addition ofGeorge Harrison and Ringo Starr. Over the next decade, the Beatles would change the face of popular music and would go on to be the biggest selling group in history. Following the break up of the Beatles in 1970, Lennon began releasing albums with his wife and sometime musical partner, Yoko Ono. Songs like “Imagine,” “Cold Turkey,” “Happy X-Mas (War Is Over),” and “Whatever Gets You Through The Night” kept Lennon relevant during a time that saw many changes throughout America and beyond. In November of 1980, Lennon’s Double Fantasy was released to rave reviews and strong fan anticipation due to the fact that Lennon had been all but invisible raising his son Sean. His last albums was 1975’s Rock ‘n’ Roll, a collection of covers with no new compositions by Lennon. Before that, it was 1974’s Walls and Bridges. Just three weeks after the release of Double Fantasy, and while still enjoying the overwhelming response to the album, Lennon was walking outside of his New York City apartment building only to be senselessly shot and killed by deranged fan, Mark David Chapman. John Lennon was 40 years old when he was murdered, and the world was never the same.
George Harrison
February 24*, 1943 – November 29, 2001
Photo by David Plastik – Click To Order Quality Prints – Discount code: 10OFF
George Harrison achieved massive fame and success as the lead guitarist for the Beatles. His post-Beatles career, whether as a solo artist or member of the Traveling Wilburys was just as critically acclaimed. Born in Liverpool, London, Harrison was still in grade school when he got his first guitar. Before long, he formed his own skiffle band, the Rebels. Another of his schoolmates, Paul McCartney had a band as well, the Quarrymen, along with John Lennon. Harrison was just 16 when McCartney heard his guitar playing and asked him to join the band. The group would soon morph into the Beatles, made up of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and Pete Best, who was later replaced by Ringo Starr. Following the unexpected 1962 death of Sutcliffe, it would be Harrison along with Lennon, McCartney and Starr, who would forever change the landscape of popular music. Although Lennon and McCartney were the primary songwriters of the group, Harrison contributed such later hits as “Taxman,” “Within You Without You,” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Following the Beatles’ break-up in 1970, Harrison immediately launched a successful solo career with the release of All Things Must Pass which included his first hit, “My Sweet Lord.” Over the better part of the next two decades, Harrison released a series of critical and commercial successes which included The Concert For Bangladesh, Living In The Material World, Dark Horse, and Cloud Nine. In 1988, Harrison formed the popular “supergroup,” the Traveling Wilburys which included Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. Harrison also found success in the film industry. In 1978, he started his own production company, HandMade Films. Over the next 15 years, his company released such hits as Life of Brian, Shanghai Surprise and Time Bandits. On December 30, 1999, Harrison was the victim of an attack that was frightening similar to the one that killed John Lennon. In the early morning hours, Harrison and his wife, Olivia Harrison, were startled to hear an intruder loudly calling out George’s name from another room in their house. When he confronted the crazed man, he was stabbed seven times in a struggle that reportedly lasted 15 minutes. The assailant was subdued with the help of Olivia who hit him numerous times with a fireplace poker. George suffered a punctured lung and head injuries. The incident caused him to all but eliminate public appearances from that day forward. In 1997, Harrison discovered he was suffering from lung cancer. He was 58 when he died of the cancer on November 29, 2001.
*Despite what is reported elsewhere, George Harrison was actually born just before midnight on February 24, 1943. The wrong date was mistakenly written on his birth certificate. It was brought to his attention later in life.
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