Dhani Harrison facts: George Harrison's only son's songs, age, and how he brought The Beatles to a new generation

26 June 2025, 11:44 | Updated: 28 June 2025, 12:10

Car designer turned musician Dhani Harrison is the only son of George and Olivia Harrison.

While being the child of a famous musician can give you a leg up in showbiz, being compared to and having to live up to your parent's career can be something of a milestone.

For the kids of The Beatles that goes up a whole other level. Julian and Sean Ono Lennon and James McCartney have pushed through to do their thing. Zak Starkey has been a member of The Who and Oasis.

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Without quite the same public profile perhaps, Dhani Harrison has also been forging his own path.

Do you know how Dhani got his unusual name? How he helped complete his dad George's swansong album?

Read on for all the fast facts you need about George Harrison's only son.

How old is Dhani Harrison and what does his name mean?

Dhani Harrison was born on August 1, 1978 in Windsor, Berkshire. He celebrated his 46th birthday in 2024.

His dad was George Harrison (of course), and his mum was Olivia Harrison (Arias), George's second wife.

That's Dhani, not Danny, Dani, or Danni. It's not short for Daniel (or Dhaniel).

As for what his name means, it's worth noting that Dhani is a pentatonic raga in Hindustani classical music.

And while Western musicians name their notes Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do, in Indian music they go for Sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, ni.

With George being such a fan of Indian music, we're guessing that both of those may have been an influence.

What did Dhani Harrison do before he got into music?

While a career in music would have been an obvious choice, Dhani didn't jump into showbiz.

Instead, after attending Dolphin School, Badgemore Primary School, Shiplake College, the Combined Cadet Force and then Brown University, Dhani got a degree in industrial design and physics.

He started off working as a car designer at McLaren, before the call of music became too strong.

How did Dhani Harrison help finish his dad George's final album?

George Harrison - Any Road

Dhani's entrance into the world of professional music came in bittersweet circumstances.

It was when George was very ill that Dhani worked in his home studio with his father on the album that would eventually become Brainwashed.

The album wasn't finished by the time George died in 2001, aged just 58.

It was Dhani and producer Jeff Lynne who finished off the record, which was released in 2002, 15 years after George's previous album Cloud Nine.

As well as earning a co-production credit alongside Jeff and his dad, Dhani played acoustic guitar on eight of the album's 12 songs, electric piano on a couple more, and backing vocals on four.

2021 Remaster "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with Prince, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Steve Winwood

After that, Dhani was very much involved in the musical tributes to his late father.

Dhani played acoustic guitar during the Concert for George a year after his dad's death, rubbing shoulders with some of The Quiet Beatle's many musical collaborators from across the years; Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Ravi Shankar, Jeff Lynne, and Tom Petty, among others.

"Olivia said that with Dhani up on stage, it looks like George stayed young and we all got old," said Paul from the stage.

And when his dad was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, Dhani played 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' with Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne and Prince.

What music has Dhani Harrison released?

Dhani Harrison - New Religion (INNERSOUNDSTAGE)

Once he broke the seal with Brainwashed and those tributes, Dhani put aside his car design dreams and instead focused on his musical career.

As part of Thenewno2 he released the albums You Are Here, thefearofmissingout and Beautiful Creatures, and with Fistful of Mercy he released the album As I Call You Down

He then released the fully solo album In Parallel and, most recently in 2023, Innerstanding.

Dhani has also worked on several film and TV soundtracks, often in collaboration with Paul Hicks. He has credits on Learning to Drive, The Divide, Outsiders, Dogs, The Case Against Adnan Syed and others.

How did Dhani Harrison help bring The Beatles' music to a new generation?

The Beatles- Rock Band video game trailer

Sean Ono Lennon has become part of The Beatles' family, being heavily involved in the recent reissues and other project.

But there's a decent argument that it's Dhani Harrison who has done more than anyone to bring The Beatles to a younger generation of fans.

It was Dhani who was a key figure in The Beatles' camp when it came to getting The Beatles: Rock Band off the ground.

None of the band's songs had featured in a Guitar Hero or Rock Band game, but Dhani Harrison had a chance meeting with MTV boss Van Toffler. MTV had just bought Harmonix, who made the games.

Dhani played go-between, convincing an initially sceptical Apple Corps, Olivia Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Yoko Ono not go ahead with the major project.

The game was a massive hit, and surely helped introduce the band to new fans.