All About George Harrison's Son Dhani Harrison (2024)

George Harrison found inspiration in many people throughout his storied career, including his son.

The late Beatles singer and his then-fiancée (soon-to-be wife) Olivia Harrison welcomed their only child, Dhani, on Aug. 1, 1978. Harrison, who was a follower of the Hare Krishna sect of Hinduism, named his son after the sixth and seventh notes on the Indian music scale, "dha" and "ni."

Though The Beatles disbanded years before his birth, Dhani still grew up around music thanks to his dad’s solo career. “He’s lovely,” Harrison told PEOPLE in 1987 of his then-9-year-old son. “He’s good fun, good company. He can play ‘When We Was Fab’ on the piano.”

Harrison wrote several songs for Dhani over the years, including 1982’s “Unknown Delight.” “He was saying, ‘What should I write about? What should I write a song about?’ ” Olivia told NPR of her husband in a 2004 interview. “I said, ‘Write a song about Dhani.’ And he wrote this beautiful song which was very prescient, actually.”

Now 46, Dhani is following in Harrison’s footsteps as a musician while working to keep his dad's legacy alive following his untimely death in November 2001.

From working as an aerodynamicist to winning a Grammy Award, here's everything to know about George Harrison's son.

He was born in August 1978

Dhani was born on Aug. 1, 1978, in Berkshire, England, and was raised on his dad's estate, Friar Park. His birth came eight years after The Beatles broke up and Harrison moved on to a more quiet life on his 62-acre home.

“My earliest memory of my dad is probably of him somewhere in a garden covered in dirt, somewhere hot, a tropical garden, in jeans, khakis covered in dirt, just continuously planting trees,” Dhani said in Martin Scorsese’s 2011 documentary, George Harrison: Living in the Material World. “I think that’s what I thought he did for the first seven years of my life.”

He went to military school

As an act of teenage rebellion, Dhani enrolled at a military school to annoy his openly pacifistic dad.

“To rebel in my family was to go to…a semi-military school. We did CCF [Combined Cadet Force] one day a week,” he told TIME magazine in 2011. “That used to piss him off, me walking around in an Air Force uniform.”

He studied physics and industrial design

In 1997, Dhani moved to the United States to attend Brown University for college. While at Brown, he studied physics and industrial design, though he did try his hand at music.

“I did take a course in music and computers — and failed,” he told the Brown Alumni Magazine in 2018. He also joined the school’s rowing team, where he served as a coxswain.

After graduating in 2001, Dhani worked as an aerodynamicist for British sports-car company McLaren before turning to music, he told the Daily Mail in 2012.

He “freaked out” when he found out his dad was a member of The Beatles

Despite his global fame, Harrison didn’t tell Dhani that he was a member of The Beatles until he was in elementary school.

“I was completely unaware that he had anything to do with music,” Dhani said of his dad in the 2011 documentary about his dad. “I came home one day from school after being chased by kids singing ‘Yellow Submarine,’ and I didn’t understand why. It just seemed surreal.”

Dhani added that he “freaked out” at his dad when he got back from school that day. “‘Why didn’t you tell me you were in The Beatles?’ " he said in the documentary of the moment. "And he said, ‘Oh, sorry. Probably should have told you that.’ ”

He helped his dad make music

Growing up, Dhani often sat in on his dad's recording sessions. “My dad treated me like an adult – I got involved, he taught me how to make records from an early age. I grew up in a recording studio,” he told the Daily Mail.

In 2001, Dhani officially started helping Harrison make music, co-writing the song “Horse to the Water” and performing lead guitar behind his dad’s vocals. Dhani also helped his father produce his final album, Brainwashed, which was released in 2002, nearly a year after his death.

In 2021, Dhani worked as the executive producer on the star-studded music video for Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord,” 51 years after the song's release. He and his mom also made appearances in the video alongside Harrison’s Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr, actors Mark Hamill and Darren Criss, and more.

He’s a Grammy-winning musician

Though he studied physics, Dhani quickly realized that he wanted to follow in his dad’s footsteps and pursue music after working on Brainwashed. He started a rock band called thenewno2, and released their first album, You Are Here, in 2009.

“I did everything I could to not be a musician,” he told Billboard at the time. “It’s in the DNA, I guess.”

Dhani started another band, Fistful of Mercy, in 2010 with Ben Harper. In 2017, he released his first solo album, IN///PARALLEL.

Dhani honored his dad at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony – when he was posthumously inducted – by performing a rendition of “As My Guitar Gently Weeps” alongside Tom Petty, ELO frontman Jeff Lynne and Prince.

In 2022, Dhani won his first Grammy Award for his work remastering Harrison’s album All Things Must Pass for its 50th anniversary.

He loves Star Wars

Dhani has been open about his love of the Star Wars series, saying he “grew up” with the films and collects Star Wars toys and memorabilia.

In a 2017 interview with StarWars.com, Dhani revealed that his dad was also a fan of the series: “I’ve always done martial arts, and I’ve done meditation since I was a kid, so ‘Jedi training’ is a very familiar thing in my family,” he joked.

He’s been married

In 2012, Dhani married former model Sólveig Káradóttir. Per Vogue, Káradóttir’s dress was designed by Stella McCartney, the daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney, who also attended the nuptials along with Starr. Other celebrity guests included Tom Hanks and Clive Owen, according to E! Online.

Dhani and Káradóttir were regular fixtures at red carpet events and even attended Stella’s Ready-to-Wear show at Paris Fashion Week in 2013. In 2016, the couple separated, per TMZ. Dhani is now dating British musician Mereki Beach.

He says he’s similar to Stella McCartney

Dhani and Stella, are very supportive friends: he’s cheered her on from the front row at fashion shows, and she tapped him to perform at her Autumn 2016 showcase in Los Angeles.

In his 2012 interview with the Daily Mail, Dhani revealed that he and Stella have both worked hard to make names for themselves separate from their famous dads.

“Of all of them, I think I’m most similar to Stella and Mary [McCartney],” he said of all the Beatles children. “I really relate to the way they’ve dealt with their circ*mstances — they’re like big sisters to me.”