Did you know this son of a Beatle is named after the 6th and 7th notes of the Indian music scale, dha and ni? “Dhani” is also a raga in north Indian classical music. [His first name is usually pronounced in English as “Danny.”]
One more thing. He does have a special aka: Ayrton Wilbury, honoring a great motorsports driver.
Dhani Harrison (born 1 August 1978), is a British multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and singer-songwriter and the only child of George and Olivia Harrison. He debuted as a professional musician assisting in recording his father’s final album, Brainwashed. It was completed with the assistance of Jeff Lynne after his father’s death in November 2001.
Harrison went on to win Best Pop Instrumental Performance for the track, “Marwa Blues,” at the 2004 Grammy Awards. Harrison formed his own band, thenewno2, in 2002 and has performed at some of the world’s most prestigious festivals including Coachella where Spin Magazine dubbed their performance as one of the “best debut performances of the festival.”
Dhani has also collaborated with many artists and toured with Eric Clapton, appeared on the Wu-Tang Clan track “The Heart Gently Weeps”, a reworking of The Beatles song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and joining Pearl Jam live on stage several times over the years. One of Harrison’s notable collaborations was in 2004 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, where he appeared alongside Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Prince on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” which was performed to mark the posthumous induction of his father.
In March 2006, Harrison made a guest appearance on Liam Lynch’s Podcast Video Variety Show, Lynchland. He collaborated with Jakob Dylan on the John Lennon song “Gimme Some Truth” for the Lennon tribute album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur, which was released in June 2007. Dhani is credited on two unreleased Traveling Wilburys tracks under the pseudonym Ayrton Wilbury.
In April 2006, it was announced that Harrison’s band, thenewno2, had begun recording. The band released a music video, “Choose What You’re Watching”, on its website. thenewno2 features Harrison on lead guitar, synthesizer and vocals and Oli Hecks on drums and synths. He was involved in a re-working of the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” entitled “The Heart Gently Weeps.”
Thenewno2’s debut album, You Are Here, was released online in August 2008. The song “Yomp” was featured as a downloadable song for the Rock Band series, and “Crazy Tuesday” was featured as one of the 20 free songs that were downloadable with the purchase of Rock Band 2.
In August 2010, Dhani Harrison, Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur joined together to form Fistful of Mercy. After that, Harrison participated in The Night That Changed America: A Grammy Salute to The Beatles in 2014.
Dhani has been consistently busy creating. Harrison produced George Fest, a live album and concert DVD package documenting The George Fest tribute concert in honor of his father. The tribute was held at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles in September, 2014. The album and documentary were released on February 26, 2016.
This year, Harrison will release his debut solo album In///Parallel on October 6th. You can hear a tune from the album on K-ZAP 93.3 FM, a song titled “All About Waiting.” We also spin it for you, online at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
Discography
Thenewno2
You Are Here (2008)
thefearofmissingout (2012)
Beautiful Creatures (2013)
Fistful of Mercy
As I Call You Down (2010)
Solo
In//Parallel (2017)
Video