| Dhani Harrison | |
|---|---|
 Dhani, with his mother Olivia at the Concert for George in 2002.
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| Background information | |
| Born | 1 August 1978  London, England |
| Genre(s) | Rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Writer |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, Piano |
| Years active | 1997 - present |
| Label(s) | Dark Horse/EMI |
| Associated acts |
George Harrison thenewno2 Traveling Wilburys |
Dhani Harrison (born August 1, 1978) is an English musician. The son of George Harrison of The Beatles, Dhani's debut as a professional musician was to finish his father's last album after George's death in November 2001.[1] Dhani formed his own band, thenewno2, in 2006. Dhani's name is pronounced similarly to the name 'Danny' but with an aspirated 'd'. He is named after two notes of the Indian music scale, 'dha' and 'ni'. Before the finale at the Concert for George, in which Dhani participated with a number of his father's friends, Paul McCartney relayed to the audience, "Olivia said that, 'With Dhani up on stage, it looks like George stayed young and we all got old.' " [2]
Contents |
Musical career
After graduating from university, Dhani pursued a career as an aerodynamicist. However, this career turned out not to suit him as well as he had hoped, and is following in his father's footsteps as a professional musician. After George's death from cancer on November 29 2001, Dhani, in collaboration with Jeff Lynne, completed George's final album, Brainwashed, which was released in 2002.[3] He participated in a concert in George's memory organized by Eric Clapton, called Concert For George. The concert, which took place on the first anniversary of George's death, featured some of George's best friends: Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Albert Lee, Joe Brown, and members of Monty Python. Dhani played backup acoustic for most of the concert. In March 2006, Dhani Harrison made a guest appearance on Liam Lynch's Podcast Video Variety Show Lynchland.[4] They performed a duet that will appear on an upcoming Lynch album. He also collaborated with Jakob Dylan on the John Lennon song, "Gimme Some Truth," for the Lennon tribute album, "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur", which was released June 12, 2007.[5] Dhani has also been credited on two unreleased Traveling Wilburys tracks under the pseudonym Ayrton Wilbury, a tribute to Ayrton Senna. In April 2006, it was announced that Dhani Harrison's band, "thenewno2" had begun to record music. The band later released a music video, "Choose What You're Watching", on its website. "thenewno2" features Dhani on lead guitar, synths and vocals and Oli Hecks on drums and synths. He also contributed to the 2007 EP by Heartstring Symphony and Rooney's 2007 cd Calling the World. He also has contributed to "The Heart Gently Weeps", a re-working of the Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", and the first single off of the Wu-Tang Clan's album, 8 Diagrams, released December 2007.
Early Life
Dhani's mother is America-born Olivia Trinidad Arias a Californian of Mexican-American heritage, George Harrison's second wife. Dhani's parents married a month after his birth, on September 2. Dhani grew up with his parents in Henley-on-Thames, in Friar Park, the estate on which George had lived since 1970 and on which Dhani and Olivia still reside[6]. One of Dhani's earlier memories, at the age of 6, is receiving a drumming lesson from his father's friend, "Uncle" Ringo. He recalled that before the "lesson", he had been an avid drummer and had shown an immense amount of skill for a child his age. However, when Ringo began to play, the loud noise frightened him so terribly that he never used his drum kit again. Dhani, like his father, showed a keen interest in Formula One auto racing. He often accompanied his father to various Grand Prix around the world[7].
Education
Dhani attended Badgemore Primary school in Henley-on-Thames, then Dolphin School near Twyford, a Montessori school. He later attended Shiplake College, also near Henley, where he showed a keen interest in the sport of rowing. Dhani is an alumnus of Brown University, where he studied Physics and Industrial Design.
References
- ^ A Family Affair, The Guardian
- ^ Paul McCartney. Concert for George [DVD].
- ^ http://www.xfm.co.uk/article.asp?id=5281
- ^ http://liamlynch.sjc.cachefly.net/podcasts/LynchlandEps03.m4v
- ^ http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=ENGUSA20070427003
- ^ http://beatlesnumber9.com/dhani.html
- ^ http://www.stuck-inside-a-cloud.net/Dhani.html
