Harrison Denies Dying Rumors
by Marcus Errico
Jul 23, 2001

George Harrison has a message for those vultures expecting him to drop dead any day now: Let it be.

Harrison issued a statement Monday insisting he's "active and feeling very well." The usually quiet Beatle spoke out after London's Mail on Sunday published a supposedly exclusive story quoting the Fab Four's former producer George Martin as saying the cancer-stricken Harrison "knows he is going to die soon and he's accepting it perfectly happily."

"He is taking it easy and hoping that the thing will go away. He has an indomitable spirit but he knows that he is going to die soon and he is accepting that," Martin was quoted as telling the paper. "George is very philosophical. He does realize that everybody has got to die some time. He has been near death many times and he's been rescued many times as well. But he knows he is going to die soon and he's accepting it perfectly happily."

The report was immediately disseminated worldwide by wire services, television and radio stations, newspapers and, of course, the Web, leading fans to eulogize the rocker in newsgroups and online tributes.

By Monday morning, however, the denials were pouring in.

First, Martin's agent Adam Sharp told CBS News that Martin never gave an exclusive interview to the Mail and the producer has no idea where the quotes came from. Furthermore, Sharp said, "George Harrison is fine and working on his new album."

Harrison and his wife, Olivia, quickly chimed in with their own release, calling the Mail's story "unsubstantiated, untrue, insensitive and uncalled for." The Harrisons added that they were "disappointed and disgusted" by the premature rumors of the singer-guitarist's demise.

Harrison, 58, has had a rough go in recent years. He was treated last month at a Swiss clinic, reportedly for a brain a tumor. Earlier this year, he checked into the Mayo Clinic to have a cancerous lung operated on. In 1998, he underwent radiation therapy for throat cancer, which he attributed to years of smoking.

Perhaps his closest brush with death came in 1999, when a deranged fan broke into Harrison's suburban London estate and stabbed him with a knife in the chest, puncturing his lung and nearly killing the musician.

Harrison evenutally recovered and headed back to the studio, rerecording a version of his spirtual anthem "My Sweet Lord" for the 30th anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass, which was released last year.