When George Harrison died in 2001, he left behind an immense legacy. He’d been a Beatle, however he’d had an extended, simply as profitable solo profession crammed with nice songs like “My Sweet Lord,” “All Things Must Pass,” and “Got My Mind Set On You.” In his closing months, he’d been making an attempt to file his final album, Brainwashed, however by no means completed it.
As an alternative, his son Dhani and one in all his finest associates, ELO frontman Jeff Lynne, completed the album and launched it for George posthumously. This was our first glimpse into what Dhani was keen to do for his father and the great legacy he left behind. Due to Dhani, George Harrison is reaching followers like by no means earlier than.
When George Harrison died, Dhani Harrison modified his thoughts about music
Rising up within the Harrison family, Dhani received many affords to turn into a mannequin, an actor, and, after all, along with his genes, a musician. However Dhani didn’t need any of it. He’d all the time performed music, however his father had by no means pushed it on him and by no means tried to persuade him to hitch the music trade.
He wished his diploma, so he went to Brown College for industrial design and physics. Straight out of faculty, he received a job as an aerodynamicist for the British sports activities automobile firm McLaren. However that each one modified in September 2001. As he watched the aftermath of the Sept. 11 assaults, simply as his father was dying of most cancers in the identical metropolis, he thought this was his probability to do one thing he actually cherished; music. Life was too quick.
After George died, the closest Dhani might get to his father was by way of music, which was a plus for him. Dhani’s first mission as a musician was to complete Brainwashed. Within the Brainwashed “Making Of” video, Dhani stated, “It was almost as if my dad had the whole thing mapped out and we were just these lab rats trying to find our way through the maze that hadn’t quite been finished yet, trying not to leave any footprints of us or any trace of Jeff or me.”
Dhani organized Live performance for George and began to remaster his father’s albums
After Dhani launched Brainwashed in 2002, Dhani hit the bottom operating. He began organizing his father’s tribute live performance, Live performance for George, which noticed all of his father’s finest associates carry out a few of George’s greatest hits at London’s Royal Albert Corridor.
After that success, Dhani began remastering George’s albums along with his accomplice Paul Hicks. He instructed the San Diego Union-Tribune that he wished all his “ducks in a row” regarding his father’s catalog earlier than beginning his personal profession.
Dhani additionally revived his father’s Darkish Horse recording label, “thanks to a new distribution deal with BMG,” Rolling Stone wrote in 2020. The primary recording for the revived label was a canopy of Tom Petty’s “For Real — For Tom,” which featured Dhani, Jakob Dylan (Bob Dylan’s son), Willie Nelson, and Nelson’s sons Micah and Lukas. Nevertheless, the label doesn’t plan to signal new artists. As an alternative, Dhani and his staff have targeted on his father’s work and the work of others like Ravi Shankar.
Dhani’s newest undertaking was a Tremendous Deluxe reissue of All Issues Should Move for its fiftieth anniversary. To verify the reissue was the perfect it might be, Dhani spent hours “digging through mountains of tapes.” In response to Consequence of Sound, Dhani oversaw each element of the mega undertaking.
Dhani Harrison is beginning his personal profession
Dhani will seemingly proceed to remaster and reissue his father’s work for years and years to come back, however he’s beginning to step again now and give attention to his personal profession.
In 2017, Dhani launched his debut solo album, In Parallel. Earlier than that, he’d labored along with his band thenewo2 to attain music for varied movies and TV exhibits over time. In Parallel, although, was his personal undertaking and one which he’d been engaged on in between retaining his father’s legacy alive.
“Creatively, I’ve worked tirelessly on my dad’s catalog, so I think I really wanted to get all my ducks in row with thenewno2 and his catalog first,” Dhani instructed the San Diego Union-Tribune. “So this is a new chapter for me and it’s quite liberating, to be honest. Because I spent so much time scoring other people’s films, I really approached this album very much like a soundtrack. Not having to have to do new edits everyday — and not having to do another episode next week or corrections for the producer — its like having all your homework done and having fun after school!”
The one scary factor to consider is; who will care for George Harrison’s legacy when Dhani’s gone? Hopefully, we received’t have to consider that for a while, however it’s aggravating for some George followers. Fortunately, Dhani has taken nice pains to verify his father’s legacy survives for hundreds of years.