Former Beatle George Harrison is dead

Harrison and his wife Olivia pictured earlier this year Keystone

The former Beatle, George Harrison, who was treated for cancer in Switzerland, has died in Los Angeles.

The 58-year-old guitarist, who bought a multi-million franc villa on Lake Lugano in canton Ticino in August, had been treated for a brain tumour in the San Giovanni clinic in Bellinzona.

In 1998, after it was first revealed that he had been treated for throat cancer, Harrison said: “It reminds you that anything can happen.”

The following year, he survived an attack by an intruder who stabbed him several times. In July 2001, he released a statement asking fans not to worry about reports that he was still battling cancer.

“He died with one thought on his mind: love one another,” said Harrison’s friend Gavin De Becker.

First guitar

The former Beatle was born on February 25, 1943 in Liverpool, one of four children. When he was 13 he bought his first guitar and hooked up with his classmate, Paul McCartney.

McCartney introduced him to John Lennon, who had founded a band called the Quarrymen, and Harrison was allowed to play if one of the regulars didn’t show up.

“When I joined, he didn’t really know how to play the guitar; he had a little guitar with three strings on it that looked like a banjo,” Harrison recalled of Lennon.

“I put the six strings on and showed him all the chords – it was actually me who got him playing the guitar. John and I had a very good relationship from very early on.”

With Harrison’s death, there are now only two surviving Beatles: Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. John Lennon was shot dead by a deranged fan in 1980.

swissinfo with agencies