Fans Mourns Harrison-ex-Beatle

Paul McCartney called him ``my baby brother.'' A fan thought him ``quiet and nice and powerful.'' Musicians and music lovers on Friday mourned the death of George Harrison, the ``quiet Beatle'' who fit in famously, if not always happily, alongside his more colorful bandmates.

``I am devastated and very, very sad,'' McCartney told reporters outside his London home. ``He was a lovely guy and a very brave man and had a wonderful sense of humor. He is really just my baby brother.''

Harrison, at 58 the youngest Beatle, died at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at a friend's Los Angeles home after a battle with cancer late Thursday. Harrison's wife, Olivia, and son Dhani, 24, were with him.

``He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends,'' the family said in a statement.

With Harrison's death, two Beatles survive: McCartney and Ringo Starr. John Lennon was shot to death by aderangedfan in 1980.

Harrison's appeal was harder to define. He wasn't the cleverest Beatle, that was John. Paul was the cutest and Ringo the most lovable. But something about Harrison - the mysticism, the quiet competence, even the moodiness -endearedhim to fans and musicians alike.

``He was quiet, different from the others,'' McDonald, vacationing in New York, said softly at Strawberry Fields, a Lennon tribute site in Central Park. ``I respected him more for that. I was always influenced by how he was a silent partner but had a lot of influence on the group. It showed me that you could be quiet and nice and powerful at the same time.''

But Harrison never cared for all the attention. He preferred being a musician to being a star, and soon soured on Beatlemania - the screaming girls, the hair-tearing mobs, the wild chases fromlimostogigsand back to limos. Like Lennon, his memories of the Beatles were tempered by what he felt was lost in all the madness.

``There was never anything, in any of the Beatle experiences really, that good: even the best thrill soon got tiring,'' Harrison wrote in his 1979 book, ``I, Me, Mine.'' ``Your own space, man, it's so important. That's why we were doomed, because we didn't have any. We were like monkeys in a zoo.''

When he andbuddiesDylan and Petty formed the Traveling Wilburys in the late 1980s, Harrison seemed to rediscover what he once loved about the Beatles: a gathering of friends committed to music and carefree about individual glory.

George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon

Although his songwriting was overshadowed by the great Lennon-McCartney team, Harrison did contribute such classics as ``Here Comes the Sun'' and ``Something.'' He also taught the young Lennon how to play the guitar.

But he also had awrysense of humor that helped shape the Beatles'irreverentcharm, memorably complementing Lennon's cutting wit and Starr's cartoonish appeal.

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, Harrison hadsporadicsuccess. In addition to ``The Traveling Wilburys,'' he organized the concert for Bangladesh in New York, and produced films that included Monty Python's ``Life of Brian.''

By the late '60s, Harrison was clearlyworn outfrom being a Beatle and openlybickeredwith McCartney, arguing with him on camera during the filming of ``Let It Be.''

``The thing that pleases me the most about it is that young people like it,'' Harrison said in an interview. ``I think the popular music has gone truly weird. It's either cutesy-wutesy or it's hard, nasty stuff. It's good that this has life again with the youth.''