George Harrison, the singer, guitarist, songwriter and mystic who helped the Beatles to change the sound of music, has died at the age of 58 after a long battle against cancer.
He is the second of the "Fab Four" to die, after the slaying of John Lennon in New York in 1980.
"He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends," his family said.
PHOTO: AP
In a statement which was carried on the BBC his family added: "He often said `everything else can wait but the search for God cannot wait, and love another.'"
Tributes poured in from around the world. Fellow Beatle Paul McCartney called him his "baby brother," adding: "He was a lovely guy and a very brave man and had a wonderful sense of humor."
Harrison had been ill for some time. He was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1998, but was given the all-clear after receiving radiation treatment.
The scare prompted him to go for check-ups at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where in March doctors found a large cancerous growth on his lung and removed it.
A statement then from his solicitor said the operation had been successful and that he had made an excellent recovery -- and in July Harrison denied press reports that he was losing his fight against cancer.
Lately, however, he had been undergoing treatment at a hospital in New York since an operation on a brain tumor earlier this month.
Harrison was almost killed in 1999 when he was stabbed with a knife by an intruder at his country mansion near Oxford, west of London, suffering a punctured lung.
He is survived by his wife Olivia, 51, and son Dhani, 23, who were reported to have been with him when he died.
Harrison's biographer Alan Clayson said the Beatle's legacy was the way he introduced alternative cultures into Western pop music.
Harrison was the youngest of the Beatles and the first of the legendary Liverpool group to find success in a solo career after the Fab Four split up.
His 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass went to the top of the charts, as did two singles from the massive 23-track recording.
McCartney, clearly emotional when speaking to reporters early yesterday, said: "I remember all the beautiful times we had together."
"He was a great guy, full of love for humanity, but he didn't suffer fools gladly. He's a great man. He'll be sorely missed by everyone."
Harrison was also the brains behind a modern phenomenon now standard in the wake of natural disasters and promoting high-profile causes: the charity concert.
It was the "mystic Beatle" who was behind the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, held in New York, becoming at the same time a Western ambassador for something that had not yet taken on the epithet of world or ethnic music.
Today, such events are almost commonplace.
It was to help Bangladesh, which had recently declared independence from Pakistan, that Harrison promoted the August 1971 charity concert held in Madison Square Garden, New York, in aid of the country's famine-stricken people.
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