George Harrison discovered inspiration in many individuals all through his storied profession, together with his son.
The late Beatles singer and his then-fiancée (soon-to-be spouse) Olivia Harrison welcomed their solely baby, Dhani, on Aug. 1, 1978. Harrison, who was a follower of the Hare Krishna sect of Hinduism, named his son after the sixth and seventh notes on the Indian music scale, “dha” and “ni.”
Although The Beatles disbanded years earlier than his delivery, Dhani nonetheless grew up round music due to his dad’s solo profession. “He’s pretty,” Harrison informed ipromiseyoumedia in 1987 of his then-9-year-old son. “He’s good enjoyable, good firm. He can play ‘When We Was Fab’ on the piano.”
Harrison wrote a number of songs for Dhani over time, together with 1982’s “Unknown Delight.” “He was saying, ‘What ought to I write about? What ought to I write a tune about?’ ” Olivia informed NPR of her husband in a 2004 interview. “I mentioned, ‘Write a tune about Dhani.’ And he wrote this lovely tune which was very prescient, really.”
Now 47, Dhani is following in Harrison’s footsteps as a musician whereas working to maintain his dad’s legacy alive following his premature demise in November 2001.
From working as an aerodynamicist to profitable a Grammy Award, here is every part to learn about George Harrison’s son.
He was born in August 1978
Dhani was born on Aug. 1, 1978, in Berkshire, England, and was raised on his dad’s property, Friar Park. His delivery got here eight years after The Beatles broke up and Harrison moved on to a extra quiet life on his 62-acre house.
“My earliest reminiscence of my dad might be of him someplace in a backyard coated in grime, someplace scorching, a tropical backyard, in denims, khakis coated in grime, simply repeatedly planting timber,” Dhani mentioned in Martin Scorsese’s 2011 documentary, George Harrison: Dwelling within the Materials World. “I feel that’s what I believed he did for the primary seven years of my life.”
He went to army faculty
As an act of teenage rebel, Dhani enrolled at a army faculty to bother his brazenly pacifistic dad.
“To insurgent in my household was to go to…a semi-military faculty. We did CCF [Combined Cadet Force] someday per week,” he informed TIME journal in 2011. “That used to piss him off, me strolling round in an Air Drive uniform.”
He studied physics and industrial design
In 1997, Dhani moved to the US to attend Brown College for school. Whereas at Brown, he studied physics and industrial design, although he did strive his hand at music.
“I did take a course in music and computer systems — and failed,” he informed the Brown Alumni Journal in 2018. He additionally joined the college’s rowing workforce, the place he served as a coxswain.
After graduating in 2001, Dhani labored as an aerodynamicist for British sports-car firm McLaren earlier than turning to music, he informed the Day by day Mail in 2012.
He “freaked out” when he discovered his dad was a member of The Beatles
Regardless of his world fame, Harrison didn’t inform Dhani that he was a member of The Beatles till he was in elementary faculty.
“I used to be utterly unaware that he had something to do with music,” Dhani mentioned of his dad within the 2011 documentary about his dad. “I got here house someday from faculty after being chased by children singing ‘Yellow Submarine,’ and I didn’t perceive why. It simply appeared surreal.”
Dhani added that he “freaked out” at his dad when he acquired again from faculty that day. “‘Why didn’t you inform me you had been in The Beatles?’ ” he mentioned within the documentary of the second. “And he mentioned, ‘Oh, sorry. In all probability ought to have informed you that.’ ”
He helped his dad make music
Rising up, Dhani usually sat in on his dad’s recording classes. “My dad handled me like an grownup – I acquired concerned, he taught me how one can make data from an early age. I grew up in a recording studio,” he informed the Day by day Mail.
In 2001, Dhani formally began serving to Harrison make music, co-writing the tune “Horse to the Water” and performing lead guitar behind his dad’s vocals. Dhani additionally helped his father produce his remaining album, Brainwashed, which was launched in 2002, almost a yr after his demise.
In 2021, Dhani labored as the chief producer on the star-studded music video for Harrison’s “My Candy Lord,” 51 years after the tune’s launch. He and his mother additionally made appearances within the video alongside Harrison’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, actors Mark Hamill and Darren Criss, and extra.
He’s a Grammy-winning musician
Although he studied physics, Dhani shortly realized that he needed to observe in his dad’s footsteps and pursue music after engaged on Brainwashed. He began a rock band known as thenewno2, and launched their first album, You Are Right here, in 2009.
“I did every part I may to not be a musician,” he informed Billboard on the time. “It’s within the DNA, I suppose.”
Dhani began one other band, Fistful of Mercy, in 2010 with Ben Harper. In 2017, he launched his first solo album, IN///PARALLEL.
Dhani honored his dad on the 2004 Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame ceremony – when he was posthumously inducted – by performing a rendition of “As My Guitar Gently Weeps” alongside Tom Petty, ELO frontman Jeff Lynne and Prince.
In 2022, Dhani gained his first Grammy Award for his work remastering Harrison’s album All Issues Should Move for its fiftieth anniversary.
He loves Star Wars
Dhani has been open about his love of the Star Wars collection, saying he “grew up” with the movies and collects Star Wars toys and memorabilia.
In a 2017 interview with StarWars.com, Dhani revealed that his dad was additionally a fan of the collection: “I’ve all the time achieved martial arts, and I’ve achieved meditation since I used to be a child, so ‘Jedi coaching’ is a really acquainted factor in my household,” he joked.
He’s been married
In 2012, Dhani married former mannequin Sólveig Káradóttir. Per Vogue, Káradóttir’s costume was designed by Stella McCartney, the daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney, who additionally attended the nuptials together with Starr. Different movie star friends included Tom Hanks and Clive Owen, in keeping with E! On-line.
Dhani and Káradóttir had been common fixtures at pink carpet occasions and even attended Stella’s Prepared-to-Put on present at Paris Trend Week in 2013. In 2016, the couple separated, per TMZ. Dhani is now relationship British musician Mereki Seashore.
He says he’s just like Stella McCartney
Dhani and Stella, are very supportive pals: he’s cheered her on from the entrance row at vogue exhibits, and she or he tapped him to carry out at her Autumn 2016 showcase in Los Angeles.
In his 2012 interview with the Day by day Mail, Dhani revealed that he and Stella have each labored laborious to make names for themselves separate from their well-known dads.
“Of all of them, I feel I’m most just like Stella and Mary [McCartney],” he mentioned of all of the Beatles kids. “I actually relate to the way in which they’ve handled their circumstances — they’re like massive sisters to me.”
