- Writer: George Harrison
- Producer: George Harrison and Phil Spector
- Recorded: May to October 1970 at Trident, EMI, and Apple Studios in London, England
- Released: November 1970
- Players:
- George Harrison — vocals, guitars
- Eric Clapton — lead guitar
- Carl Radle — bass
- Bobby Whitlock — piano
- Jim Gordon — drums
- Billy Preston — organ
- Bobby Keys — saxophone
- Jim Price — trumpet
- Album: All Things Must Pass (Apple, 1970/Capitol 2001)
- Also On:
- The Best Of George Harrison (Capitol, 1976)
- Live In Japan (Dark Horse, 1992)
- Dark Horse Years 1976-1992 (Capitol/Dark Horse, 2004)
- Asking the philosophical question of its title, “What Is Life” was the B-side of the British single of “My Sweet Lord,” and was released as its own A-side in the U.S. in February 1971.
- “What Is Life” reached Number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for nine weeks.
- Like “My Sweet Lord,” George Harrison wrote “What Is Life” for Billy Preston‘s album Encouraging Words. He later decided it wasn’t Preston’s style and kept it for his own solo album.
- The All Things Must Pass album, Harrison’s first “proper” solo album after the 1966 Wonderwall Music film score and the 1969 Electronic Sounds experiment, hit Number One in the U.S. (where it stayed for seven weeks) and Number Four in the U.K. It’s been certified six-times platinum in the U.S.
FAST FORWARD:
- Olivia Newton-John recorded a version of “What Is Life” that was a Top 20 hit in the U.K. in 1972.
- Harrison received the first-ever Billboard magazine Century Award in 1992.
- Harrison died after a long battle with cancer on November 29th, 2001, at age 58.
- A rough early take of “What Is Life” is one of the five bonus tracks found on a remastered and expanded edition of All Things Must Pass released in 2001, which was overseen by Harrison before his death.
- Brainwashed, the album Harrison was working on at the time of his death, came out in 2002.
- Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton were among those who participated in a 2002 concert in London to commemorate the first anniversary of Harrison’s death. The show at the Royal Albert Hall also featured Traveling Wilburys alumni Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty, former Squeeze pianist Jools Holland, drummer Jim Keltner, singer-keyboardist Leon Russell, British singer-guitarist Joe Brown, sitarist Ravi Shankar, and Monty Python members Michael Palin and Eric Idle.
- Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in 2004.
- Preston died in 2006 at age 59, after several long illnesses.