Famous Families
His Love Was Forever: Get to Know Late Beatle George Harrison’s Only Child, Son Dhani
Out of all the member of The Beatles, it was George Harrison who had the smallest family. His only child, son Dhani, was born on August 1, 1978, eight years after the legendary band broke up.
While in The Beatles, George married model Pattie Boyd in January 1966, after meeting her two years prior during the filming of the band’s movie A Hard Day’s Night. The marriage failed to produce any children, and the pair split in 1974, with their divorce becoming finalized three years later in 1977.
George quickly found the love of his life with American author and film producer Olivia Arias. She came to know the musician in 1974 while working in the marketing department for A&M records, which did the distribution work for the “Give Me Love” singer’s label, Dark Horse. The two connected quickly and became romantically involved.
Olivia gave birth to the couple’s only child, son Dhani, four years later at Princess Christian Nursing Home in Windsor, England, a month before the couple tied the knot in September 1978. Dhani spent his early years growing up at George’s longtime home, a gothic Victorian mansion built in 1889 called Friar Park, in Henley-on-Thames, England. The singer bought the estate in 1970, and it would remain George’s primary residence until his 2001 death.
Dhani was educated at private boarding schools close to the family home, attending Badgemore Primary School and Shiplake College. But when it came to his university studies, Dhani hopped the pond to attend college in the United States. He attended Brown University in Rhode Island, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree after studying industrial design and physics.
He initially took his skills to work as a car designer for MacLaren Automotive, before entering the music industry in time to do production work on his father’s final album, Brainwashed. It was released on November 18, 2002, barely a year after George died following a battle with cancer.
“I did take a course in music and computers — and failed,” Dhani laughed during a May 2018 with Brown Alumni Magazine about why he didn’t study academic music while in school. He added, “The irony is that those are the two things I use the most in my life and am best at.” Dhani has gone on to forge a successful career in music, while bearing such a striking resemblance to his famous dad.
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