And in the End

George's first solo album, All Things Must Pass, released in late 1970, would become his most famous album. It was a three-record set and featured the single “My Sweet Lord,” which would hit number one in several countries, including the United States and Great Britain. While easily one of George's most memorable songs, “My Sweet Lord” would later cause George to be taken to court, accused of copying the melody of “He's So Fine,” a song by the Chiffons from the early 1960s. He lost the lawsuit and eventually had to pay back some of the money he had earned from the song. In 1971, George organized and performed in the Concert for Bangladesh, which also featured performances by some of his musician friends such as Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton. The show was to benefit the people of Bangladesh, who were suffering from famine and disease. It was a massive success and resulted in an album of the show, which also sold extremely well. George's next solo effort, Living in the Material World, contained the number-one single “Give Me Love.”

George has always been the most private and introspective Beatle. He was the one most uncomfortable with his fame and the invasion of privacy it often brought. “There was more good than evil in being a Beatle,” he said, “but it was awful being on the front page of everyone's life, every day.” As a result, he kept recording but did go into a sort of semiretirement in the late 1970s and early 1980s, emerging in 1987 with the number one single “Got My Mind Set on You.” The next year he joined the Traveling Wilburys, which included his friends Bob Dylan and Tom Petty, and recorded an album with them, which made it to number three. A follow-up album made it to number eleven. Most recently, he rerecorded “My Sweet Lord” for inclusion on an anniversary rerelease of his album, All Things Must Pass, in 2001.

Unfortunately, George has dealt with a number of health problems in recent years. He was treated for throat cancer in 1997 and had a cancerous lump removed from one of his lungs in 2001. It was also reported that he was undergoing treatment for a brain tumor that year. Unfortunately, George's health problems escalated, and he died of cancer on November 29, 2001.