Olivia Harrison Shares Rare Photo Of George Harrison And Tom Petty
Words by Riley Fitzgerald
Graphic by Getty Images
Olivia Harrison, wife of George Harrison, has shared a rare photo George in the company of Tomy Petty at his Friar Park estate.
“Found this photo of 3 cool cats,” Olivia writes via her official Instagram account. “George, Derek Taylor and Tom.”
After first meeting in a recording studio in 1974, Harrison and Petty later became close friends.
George would play guitar and provide backing vocals on one of Tom Petty’s biggest hits ‘I Won’t Back Down‘.
Petty would also perform alongside Harrison, Jeff Lyne, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison in George’s all-star band The Traveling Wilburys.
A larger than life personality, Derek Taylor was the Beatles‘ publicist and also assisted George Harrison in writing the lyrics to several songs including The White Album’s ‘Savoy Truffle‘.
“They were deep thinkers with light hearts,” Olivia reflects. “Good times in the garden.”
George Harrison was an avid gardener, a fact not lost upon the council of Harrison’s home city of Liverpool who recently announced the opening of a 12-acre memorial garden to pay tribute to the former Beatle.
Derek Taylor passed away in 1997, Harrison in 2001.
“George was a man who really lived every minute of his life,” Petty reflected in 2004. “He really filled a room. He was a very upbeat person. He had a very keen sense of humor. A very keen sense of spirit. He was never preachy, he led by example.”
“I think [spirituality], probably, was the greatest gift he gave me,” Petty later shared of Harrison to NPR in 2014. “He gave me a way of understanding a higher power without it being stupid, or having tons of rules and books to read. … George was probably everything that you thought he was, and then some more. Very funny man; he could just kill me with his humor. He was a great guy and I miss him terribly.”
Petty himself passed away in 2017.
