Louise Harrison, older sister of the late George Harrison, said American radio station personnel thought she was crazy in the early ’60s when she would demand they play more Beatles songs. “Help Keep Music Alive," was developed by Louise Harrison in honor of her late brother George Harrison. The concert features “Liverpool Legends" the #1 Beatles tribute show in America.
“Help Keep Music Alive" benefit concerts are to raise funds for continuing music education in schools.
“Help Keep Music Alive" benefit concerts are to raise funds for continuing music education in schools.
Uploaded by OnlineAdvertisingPro on May 3, 2011
http://www.helpkeepmusicalive.org Louise Harrison speaking about the
"Help Keep Music Alive" Fund Raising Program for High School and Colleges.
"Help Keep Music Alive" Fund Raising Program for High School and Colleges.
http://www.helpkeepmusicalive.org
Louise Harrison
BEATLES TRIBUTE SHOW LIVERPOOL LEGENDS
"Help Keep Music Alive"
Sister "Help Keep Music Alive"
Louise and George Harrison pose in this photograph taken Feb. 8, 1964, in New York City.
Posted: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 5:26 pm
http://www.bransontrilakesnews.com/entertainment/article_8665c598-80d5-11e0-809d-001cc4c03286.html
Louise Harrison, older sister of the late George Harrison,
said American radio station personnel thought she was crazy in the
early ’60s when she would demand they play more Beatles
songs.
“I would tell the program director, ‘This is my kid brother’s
band, and they’re No. 1 in England, and you should be playing them
here,’” Harrison said. “At that time, women weren’t really supposed
to stick their noses into anything, business-wise. But I kept on
persisting and persisting.”
That’s not all the promoting done in those early days by
Harrison, who described herself as “protective” of her youngest
brother. She said she also wrote numerous letters to the Beatles’
manager, Brian Epstein, encouraging him to get the boys on a bigger
record label.
“I kept guiding him and giving him research and as much
information as I could,” Harrison said. She said she also
corresponded with the legendary George Martin, the band’s early
producer, and Dick James, one of their music publishers.
“When I take on a project, I take it on 150-percent ferocity,”
Harrison said. “As far as I was concerned, if it was my kid
brother, and he was in a band, I was going to do whatever I could
to make it successful. I just always had that attitude.”
Harrison said she and her three younger brothers, Harry, Peter
and George, had an “average, normal childhood.” Being 11 years
older than George, she said she would often play the babysitter,
taking him to the park or out to the movies.
She said George Harrison was about 14 when he decided he wanted
to be a rock ‘n’ roller.
“Around that time, there was a show on TV of Elvis Presley,”
Harrison said. “And Mom told me George saw this guy on stage and
all the girls screaming. He came to her afterward and said, ‘Hey
Mom, do you think you could buy me a guitar? Because I think that’s
the kind of job I could do.’”
Harrison said she had married and moved away from England by
the time her brother joined the Beatles. However, she stayed in
close touch with him throughout his career. She said fame didn’t
change him, save in one respect.
“He became more cautious,” she said. “To me, (the Beatles’)
business attitude was that they trusted everyone, and they got
royally ripped off.”
Harrison said she also joined the rest of the family in
corresponding with, meeting and talking to her brother’s many fans,
even being given the title of “the flying mum” after the passing of
her parents.
“When the whole Beatle thing started, Mom and Dad were
receiving thousands of fan letters all the time,” she said. “And
their attitude was, ‘All these people are saying nice things about
our son, so we will answer the letters.’ And they encouraged me to
do the same.”
Harrison said the Beatles became so popular that it was often
unsafe for them to interact with their fans publicly. So, the
families did it for them, chatting with the fans and sharing
laughs, memories and hugs. She said her mother, who was also named
Louise, called it “giving back the love.”
She said it didn’t come as a surprise when George Harrison died
of lung cancer Nov. 29, 2001.
“I actually saw him two weeks before he died, so I knew that he
was in really bad shape,” Louise Harrison said. “But I also knew
that he was ready to get on to the next level of existence, like in
his song, ‘My sweet lord, I really want to see you.’”
One of the last times she saw her brother, she said he gave her
a hug and asked her to “pass it on.”
“So that’s what I’ve been doing,” Louise Harrison said. “I’ve
been giving people a hug that came from George.”
She said she turns 80 in August, but she’s not ready to call it
quits. She continues to be involved with “Liverpool Legends,” a
Beatles tribute group she formed that has begun its second season
at The Mansion Theatre in Branson this year.
She said she met Marty Scott, the man who plays George in the
tribute show, shortly after her brother’s death, and “he became
(her) new brother.”
She has also recently put together a board of directors for a
nonprofit group called Keeping Music Alive, which will allow high
school and college orchestras and choirs to perform with “Liverpool
Legends” in a one-time concert to raise funds for the school’s
music department.
She said the tribute group is not about the money for her or
the four men who perform in it.
“It brings joy to people,” Harrison said with a smile. “We can
have four generations in the theater at the same time, and they’re
all equally enjoying the show. And it binds them together as a
family. Invariably, you see older people walking out and they’re
bouncing down the aisles as though they were 17 again.”
For more information on "Help Keeping Music Alive", visit
http://www.helpkeepmusicalive.org
http://liverpoollegends.com/bookings.html
https://www.facebook.com/helpkeepmusicalive
http://www.helpkeepmusicalive.org
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