The Beatles fans lost one of the greats in 2001, when George Harrison passed away after a battle with lung cancer.
But now artificial intelligence is on hand to show just what the musician would look like if he’d survived until 2023 along with bandmates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, at the ripe age of 80. With AI being used to construct the final ‘lost’ Beatles recording, Now and Then, it seemed fitting to ask Midjourney AI to investigate what George would look like today.
Aged just 58 when he died, with his health struggles dating back to 1997, when he discovered a cancerous lump on his neck. George revealed the oral cancer was caused by smoking, and successfully treated by surgery and radiation therapy.
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But his cancer journey didn’t end there. In 2001, he confirmed he was being treated for a brain tumour and lung cancer, and was warned by doctors that he didn’t have long left to live.
Now, in images imagined using Midjourney, the Beatles star can be seen looking unrecognisable compared to his former self, with long grey curls and a matching salt-and-pepper beard. With wrinkles gathering under his eyes, fans can see a side to Harrison they never managed to in real life.
The images show the star rocking out with his guitar and posing for the camera head-on, with more wrinkles covering his neck and hands. In one snap, the star’s earlobes appear stretched and loose, while he has to squint at the imaginary camera to keep it in focus.
His health struggles were exacerbated by a horror knife attack that occurred at the star’s home of Friar Park in 1999. George and his wife Olivia were attacked by Michael Abram, who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia. He broke in and attacked George with a kitchen knife, managing to puncture one of his lungs and causing head injuries.
Olivia managed to incapacitate Abram by hitting him with a poker from the fireplace and with a lamp. Abram was placed in a mental hospital until 2002, and later expressed his regret over the incident.
George, meanwhile, was hospitalised with more than 40 stab wounds, requiring part of his lung to be removed via surgery. He said at the time: “I felt exhausted and could feel the strength draining from me. I vividly remember a deliberate thrust to my chest. I could hear my lung exhaling and had blood in my mouth. I believed I had been fatally stabbed.”
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Expressing his regret, attacker Abram released his own statement: “If I could turn back the clock, I would give anything not to have done what I did in attacking George Harrison, but looking back on it now, I have come to understand that I was at the time not in control of my actions. I can only hope the Harrison family might somehow find it in their hearts to accept my apologies.”
Friends believed the attack caused the return of Harrison’s cancer, and sadly died at Paul McCartney’s property in Los Angeles surrounded by family. His last message to the world was: “Everything else can wait, but the search for God cannot wait, and love one another.”
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