This last weekend, fans of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr have been consumed with The Beatles: Get Back on Disney+. Peter Jackson’s almost 8-hour revisionist miniseries on the 1969 Let It Be sessions gave a fascinating, funny and heartwarming look at the Fab Four behind the scenes recording their last album. Given that Lennon was killed over 40 years ago and Harrison died of cancer two decades back, it was particularly special for fans to see those two in action.
Surviving Beatles McCartney and Starr have paid touching tribute to Harrison today on the 20th anniversary of his death.
Macca shared a Linda McCartney picture on Instagram of himself in a studio with the Quiet Beatle, both playing guitars.
The 79-year-old captioned the snap: “Hard to believe that we lost George 20 years ago. I miss my friend so much. Love Paul.”
As for the band’s drummer, he posted a happy picture of him and Harrison at a black tie dinner, smoking cigars.
READ MORE: Why Freddie Mercury left ex-girlfriend Mary everything
Starr captioned it with his usual catchphrase: “Peace and love to you George I miss you man. Peace and love Ringo.”
The Quiet Beatle’s widow Olivia Harrison posted a short clip film by Danny Sangra in tribute simply writing: “November 29.”
The video sees Harrison’s face covered in psychedelic colours as sitar music plays and the words, “Within you without you. We love you, George” appear.
Fans will know the music is from his song Within You Without You from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Harrison was hospitalised after taking over 40 stab wounds and had part of his punctured lung removed.
Later, in May 2001, the musician had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth on his lungs, following a throat cancer diagnosis back in 1997.
Then in July, he was treated for a brain tumour in Switzerland and was visited by Starr.
By November he had started radiotherapy at Staten Island University Hospital in New York for non-small cell lung cancer that had spread to his brain.
Harrison died on November 29 at one of McCartney’s properties on Heather Road in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles at 58.
The Quiet Beatle was surrounded by Olivia, his son Dhani and Ravi Shanker with his family. There were also Hare Krishna devotees chanting the Bhagavad Gita.
His final words to the world were: “Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another.”
The star was cremated at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and his funeral was held at the Self-Realisation Fellowship Lake Shrine. His family later scattered his ashes according to Hindu tradition in the Ganges and Yamuna rivers near Varanasi, India.
