Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr shared tributes online to George Harrison on the 20th anniversary of their late Beatles bandmate’s death. Harrison died on Nov. 29, 2001 at age 58, following a battle with cancer. The anniversary of Harrison’s death arrives on the heels of The Beatles: Get Back documentary, which premiered on Disney+ last week. The documentary focuses on footage shot during the making of the group’s final album, Let It Be.
McCartney wrote on Twitter: “Hard to believe that we lost George 20 years ago. I miss my friend so much. Love, Paul.” Back in 2001, McCartney told reporters on the day Harrison died that he was thankful to have had a final visit with Harrison: “He was still laughing and joking, very brave man. I’m just privileged to have known him and I love him like he’s my brother. It’s a very sad day for me and for a lot of other people, but I think he would have wanted us to get on and be loving and remember him as the great man he was.”
In a separate post, Starr said: “Peace and love to you, George. I miss you man. Peace and love, Ringo.” Starr saw Harrison for the last time in Switzerland, where he was being treated for his illness. Said Ringo in the 2011 Harrison documentary “Living in the Material World”: “I was going to Boston, ’cause my daughter had a brain tumor. And I said, ‘Well, I gotta go to Boston,’ and [Harrison] goes — they’re the last words I heard him say, actually — and he said, ‘Do you want me to come with ya?’ So that’s the incredible side of George.”
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