George Harrison to get star on Hollywood Walk of Fame

LOS ANGELES -- Paul McCartney may have a knighthood, but it's George Harrison who is receiving the royal treatment from the Hollywood Walk of Fame this month.

Harrison will receive a star on the fabled walk April 14, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce announced Friday. His widow, Olivia Harrison, and his son, Dhani, are expected to attend the unveiling.

Harrison, who died of cancer in 2001, already shares a Walk of Fame star with all four of the Beatles, but only he and John Lennon, who died in 1980, will have their own stars.

Harrison's, to be unveiled in front of Hollywood's Capitol Records building, will be the 2,382nd on the Walk.

Although once known as "the quiet Beatle" for his shy, retiring nature, Harrison was one of the group's most powerful forces.

His rockabilly-influenced playing gave the Beatles' early recordings their distinctive guitar-driven sound and his voice provided many of the group's most arresting vocal harmonies. His fascination with Eastern music also helped broaden the band's sound on such classic albums as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "The White Album."

Although overshadowed by the more prolific songwriters Lennon and McCartney, Harrison composed several of the Beatles' finest songs, including "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Here Comes the Sun," "Something" and "Within You, Without You."

Following the group's breakup in 1970, he enjoyed a successful solo career that included such albums as "All Things Must Pass," "The Concert For Bangla Desh," "Cloud Nine" and "Brainwashed."

In the late 1980s and early '90s he collaborated with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynne in the whimsical musical supergroup The Traveling Wilburys.

In conjunction with the star's unveiling, Capitol/EMI said it plans to announce details for a new Harrison music project later this month. Martin Scorsese is also directing a forthcoming documentary on Harrison.