Olivia Harrison

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (October 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (January 2007)

Olivia Trinidad Arias (born May 18, 1948 in Los Angeles), aka Olivia Harrison, is the widow of George Harrison, former member of The Beatles. They were married on September 2, 1978, following George's divorce from Pattie Boyd, and had one son together, Dhani Harrison, born August 1, 1978.

Olivia is the daughter of dry-cleaner Esiquiel Arias, and his wife Mary Louise, who worked as a seamstress. She has brothers named Ron and Gilbert and sisters named Chris and Linda. Olivia attended Hawthorne High School and graduated in 1965. She later worked as a secretary at A&M Records, where George Harrison happened to hold a recording contract. Olivia attended Ringo and Barbara's wedding in 1981 without her wedding ring giving rise to speculation that her marriage to George was a hoax. This is not true however, as Olivia's parents did serve as witnesses and only attendees at their private wedding ceremony at Henley-on-Thames Register Office in England. George's brothers at Friar Park were not invited. George always referred to her by her maiden name Arias on all his original albums and even named her "my wife Arias" in a Musician Magazine article, c.1991.

Olivia, together with Beatles' wives Linda McCartney, Yoko Ono and Barbara Bach, has been involved with the Romanian Angel Appeal since the early 1990s, which has raised millions of dollars to provide aid for children living in devastation.

Olivia Harrison produced The Concert For George in her husband's memory in 2002. Many close friends of George took part in celebrating the life of this legend. This concert was sold out at London's Royal Albert Hall and featured many musicians such as Eric Clapton, Jeff Lynne, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, Ringo Starr, and many more. She has received a Grammy Award in 2005 as a producer for the video of the show in the Best Long Form Music Video category.

Olivia reveals her concerns for the Romanian orphans in this quotation (from her appearance on "Wogan", transmitted 22 June 1990): "It was sort of a gradual assault on my conscience. It was slowly wearing away at me and I decided that perhaps we should try to raise some money...I went to Romania and was just overwhelmed, devastated and shocked by the situation."