One thing I've always thought was kind of cool is how so many of my favorite artists are connected in some way. It seems that all of them know each other or something. As a matter of fact, just about all of them can be linked to George Harrison in some way. Allow me to show you the extent of this great interlinkage that I like to call "the George Harrison connection" (artist names are in bold the first time they appear).
Now, if you have ever heard a note of music in your life, you know that George Harrison was a member of the Beatles (he's my favorite Beatle, BTW). Obviously, this links him to John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. By extension, it also links him to the Moody Blues via Denny Laine (who was in Wings). Another member of the Moody Blues was Patrick Moraz, who was the keyboardist for Yes between 1974 and 1976.
In addition to being a Beatle, Harrison was also in the Traveling Wilburys, whose members included such luminaries as:
- Jeff Lynne (of The Move and Electric Light Orchestra fame)
- Bob Dylan (who can be linked to friend and collaborator Johnny Cash, in addition to The Band and the Grateful Dead)
- Tom Petty (who once recorded a duet with Stevie Nicks)
- Roy Orbison (I can't think of any connections off the top of my head)
George was also best friends with Eric Clapton, the Jesus Christ of Guitar-Playing (not to mention boning). Among the many musicians have had the honor of being bandmates with God:
- The Yardbirds (including his eventual replacements Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, who, as everyone knows, was in Led Zeppelin)
- Cream (including Jack Bruce, who played bass on the album Apostrophe for Frank Zappa, who was friends with Captain Beefheart and Alice Cooper, and whose son Dweezil played guitar for Weird Al Yankovic on the song "Genius in France")
- Derek and the Dominoes (including Dwayne Allman, who can be linked to Derek Trucks, Steve Miller and Zakk Wylde via the Allman Brothers Band)
- John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (in which he would be replaced by Peter Green, who would go on to be a founding member of Fleetwood Mac)
- Blind Faith (including Steve Winwood, who was a member of Traffic and the Spencer Davis Group).
Clapton has also befriended or collaborated with the following musicians:
- J.J. Cale was a huge influence on his solo career, and collaborated with Clapton on the album The Road to Escondido
- B.B. King played with him on the album Riding With the King.
- Pete Townshend helped orchestrate his 1973 comeback performance known as the Rainbow Concert. This means that he can be linked to The Who.
- Robert Cray
- Chaka Khan (no, seriously - she collaborated on his 1989 album Journeyman)
- Phil Collins, who, unfortunately, had a heavy hand in influencing his sound during the '80s. On the plus side, this connects him to Genesis (and Peter Gabriel by extension).
I'm pretty sure there's more, but I think I've made my point. And now I'd like to start a little game. I call it "Six Degrees of George Harrison." The object is to link an artist to George Harrison using six steps or fewer. I'll be generous and let you use covers of another artist's song as a valid connection.
Let's start with something hard...how about ABBA?
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Topic: Six Degrees of George Harrison (Read 7193 times)
