Dhani Harrison was born at the Princess Christian Nursing Home, Windsor, England on the 1st August 1978. The name Dhani, (pronounced 'Danny'), was derived from two notes which form part of the Indian music scale - 'Dha' and 'Ni'.
'Dhani' is also the name of a type of Indian Raga.
Dhani's first school was 'Badgemore County Primary' in Henley-on-Thames and it is situated only a short distance away from the home that he shared with his parents George and Olivia.
He later moved on to 'The Dolphin School' near Twyford. The Dolphin School used the 'Montessori' method of teaching. The Montessori philosophy is a method of seeing children as they really are and of creating environments which foster the fulfillment of their highest potential - spiritual, emotional, physical, and intellectual - as members of a family, the world community and the Cosmos. The founder, Dr. Montessori gave the world a scientific method, practical and tested, for bringing forth the very best in young human beings. She taught adults how to respect individual differences, and to emphasize social interaction and the education of the whole personality rather than the teaching of a specific body of knowledge.
Dhani then moved on to the fee paying Shiplake College, situated just outside Henley, as a day student. Whilst there, Dhani competed at various sports and was in the teams and the art department. The college and its campus are situated next to the river and it was here that Dhani became interested in the sport of rowing and in fact achieved entry into the rowing team as a coxwain. His parents often went along to watch and support Dhani when he was racing in team events.
Eager to prove himself as his own person Dhani continued to study hard at Shiplake college and achieved good grades.
In 1997 Dhani moved on to Brown University, an Ivy League college in Rhode Island, America, where he read Industrial Design and Physics. The initial plan was to study there for three consecutive years but whilst he was staying back home at Friar Park in England during the Christmas and New year holidays in 1999 with his parents; a paranoid schizophrenic broke into the family home. Dhani's parents were brutally attacked and George was stabbed numerous times. Dhani has since confessed that at that point in time he thought that his father was going to die. Incredibly, George survived the attack but the family were clearly shaken. Dhani then decided to take a year out from Brown University so as to be in England to support his parents during the trial.
Despite those determined intentions not to become a musician, it was somewhat inevitable that Dhani would be lured towards that profession. Music had played a major part in his upbringing. Dhani's home not only contained a variety of musical instruments, but also had its own recording studio, and the majority of people that visited, or that his parents socialized with, were in some way connected with the music industry.
Dhani remembers fondly how as a child he used to clatter around on a mini pearl drum kit. He also remembers how Ringo Starr offered to show him how to play something one day on this drum kit and how Ringo made such a clatter that Dhani ended up running off screaming from the room! Dhani did not bother much with the drum kit after this incident and cannot remember what happened to it.
In fact, Dhani began having proper piano lessons at the age of five. He has since admitted that at that time he struggled to read music and that he played by ear, and that music teachers don't really like that, because they want you to read the notes. Dhani remembers having an altercation with his teacher where he decided that he was never going to play the piano again because his teacher was mean.
But, it wasn't until Dhani was nine-years-old that he suddenly decided that being as there were so many guitars around the house, that he ought to be learning how to play one. Natuarally his dad showed him all the chords, not showing him how to play any songs but showing him how to play all the chords that Dhani could cram into his head. When Dhani had learned all those his dad made him practice between them which he admits to finding easy. Dhani has also stated that his dad was adamant that he should learn the correct way to play the Twelve Bar Blues! However, Dhani has also revealed that his dad did not show him his slide technique. He admits that he must have watched his dad play slide a million times and yet still he could not tell you how he got those sounds!
It was as early as 1988 that Dhani made his first appearance on a published recording! On the track 'Ride Rajbun' Dhani supplied backing vocals, although the track itself did not appear on CD until 1992. The song, written and performed by his dad, originally came from a Channel 4 childrens T.V. programme in the U.K. called 'The Bunbury Tails'.
In March 1991, aged only twelve, Dhani happily joined others on stage and played a ukelele at the annual George Formby Convention at The Winter Gardens in Blackpool, England. In December that same year, Dhani played guitar on stage at the Tokyo Dome during his dad's tour of Japan concert to an audience of 45,000. And at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1992 he again joined his father on stage for the encore and played his electric guitar along to 'Roll Over Beethoven'.
Determined at that time not to become a musician like his father, Dhani had decided that he wanted to be an aerodynamicist. For many years previously Dhani had been interested in Formula One Motor Racing often accompanying his father to various Grand Prix events around the world. He names his all time favourite Formula One Driver as three times World Champion Ayrton Senna whom he actually had the pleasure of meeting twice before Senna's untimely death in 1994. Dhani has also been known to pay visits to Motor Cycle Grand Prix events and Festivals of Speed. Having such an interest in Cars and Motor Cycles meant that Dhani was keen to learn how to drive and as soon as English law allowed and at the age of 17, Dhani took his driving test and passed.
Dhani managed to finish his final year of study and graduated from Brown University in 2001. Dhani's name was printed in the list of graduates as having earned a Baccalaureate. This makes Dhani the first Beatle offspring to graduate from University.
A while later, he applied for, and got what he thought was going to be his dream job which was working for the car manufacturer McLaren on the F1 and SLR. However, this job did not last long as despite designing his whole education around the hopes of landing that job, he decided that it wasn't as much fun as he thought it would be. Dhani soon tired of commuting an hour and a half to work and sitting beneath an air conditioning duct!
Dhani's personal music tastes are quite varied. He listens to Indian Classical musicians, such as Ravi Shankar and Madras born U. Srinivas, and Rock and Roll giants like Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and jazz greats Bix Beiderbecke and Hoagy Carmichael. He also enjoys listening to Dick Dale, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Prodigy, Air, Beck, Massive Attack, Leadbelly, Led Zeppelin and the New York hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. His favourite song is Bob Dylan's 'Last Thoughts on Woody Guthrie' because he feels it's like a life's lesson in one song. Dhani lists Magical Mystery Tour by The Beatles as his favourite album. He also rates 'Revolver' by The Beatles and believes that it has the best coverwork. He admits that he doesn't like music that pulls its punches and that the music he likes is all hardcore.
Over the years Dhani has had the opportunity to learn to play a variety of musical instruments; electric and acoustic guitar, ukelele, Fender Rhodes and Wurlitzer organ to name a few, and he's picked up a lot of music production skills.
For two years prior to his father's death, and with a lot of encouragement from Dhani, George had started to think about making a new album. Father and son began working on the songs, recording in a number of different locations, including Los Angeles and Australia.
In 2001, because of George's illness, the Harrison family bought another property and moved to Switzerland. A mini recording studio had been installed at the property and so the work on the album was able to continue. Dhani has confessed that he had no friends there and so to fill in his time he also made use of the mini recording studio to record some of his own music.
Father and son continued to work on the tracks together until George's failing health caused the family to leave Switzerland for America, where George died.
The following year, with the help of Jeff Lynne, Dhani began work on completing the production work on the tracks that he had been working on with his dad. Dhani also contributed acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Wurlitzer and backing vocals to most of the tracks. The completed album 'Brainwashed' was released in November, 2002. The photography and art design for the album is listed as being by 'thenewno2'.(The name is a reference to a popular U.K. televison series starring Patrick McGoohan called 'The Prisoner'). thenewno2 is a design company set up by Dhani and long time friend Oli Hecks and would later become the name of Dhani and Oli's band.
During this time and for most of the following year Dhani took part in numerous t.v, radio and magazine interviews to help promote the album. Some of the time he appeared with Jeff Lynne and some of the time he was interviewed alone.
www.absolutelydhaniharrison.com
Also in 2002 a short film by the company Radical Media titled 'Now you Don't Know What To Think' is released. The 90 second short written and directed by Arran De Moubray has Original Music by Dhani Harrison. (** The music may be recognizeable to some as also being part of the opening intro to 'thenewno2' track entitled 'People'.**)
On the 29th November, 2002, Dhani took part in a special tribute concert to his father at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The 'Concert For George', organised by Eric Clapton, took place exactly a year after George's death. Dhani played guitar on stage and supplied backing vocals for most of the western music section of the concert.
The following year, the 'Concert For George' film was released at some cinema's. Dhani attended three premiers of the film - The World film premier in Burbank, California. U.S, the New York Concert For George premier at the Walter Read Theatre in Lincoln Centre, and also the U.K film premier at the Odeon Cinema in London.
2004 saw the release of a CD and DVD set of the 'Concert For George'. As well as in the actual concert footage Dhani also appeared in the documentary. Once more 'thenewno2' are credited for design work.
On the 15th March 2004 Dhani, along with his mother, Olivia, attended the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame awards ceremony where they picked up an award on behalf of George who had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. Dhani and Olivia gave a brief acceptance speech after they received the award. Later, Dhani joined Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty on stage for a performance of 'Handle With Care' and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. Prince also joined them on stage part way through the latter song.
A year later, on the 15th March 2005 Dhani and Olivia attend 'A Concert for George' book launch at Taschen Store in Beverly Hills, California, U.S. The book, published by Genesis contains photographs taken by Oli Hecks.
On the 19th October 2005 at the World Premier of the Concert For Bangladesh Documentary Screening, Burbank Studio's California, Dhani participated in a small concert. Other artists performing were Marc Mann, Klaus Voorman, Ringo Starr and Billy Preston. The artists perform several songs from the original concerts. Dhani/thenewno2, are responsible for the 'menu's' used on the DVD documentary that accompanied this 2005 release of the Bangladesh concerts.
On the 1st March 2006, Dhani's friend Liam Lynch published his online podcast - Lynchland Episode 3. Dhani is the featured guest in this episode. He also duets with Liam on the song 'We're All Stars'. The song is available for purchase from itunes on the album 'Songs From Lynchland Volume 1'.
On 18th March in Mark Hudson's studio in Los Angeles, Dhani, along with Dave Stewart, add electric guitar to a 1992 unreleased recording of George's song 'This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)'. The tune is used in a project for Dave Stewarts' new band 'Platinum Weird'. Dhani also appears in a promotional advertisement and a short documentary about Platinum Weird.
On the 9th April 2006 Dhani launched an official website for his band 'thenewno2'. (Link). This was followed two days later by an official Myspace site for the band. (Link). thenewno2 is Dhani Harrison and Oli Hecks.
**For More detailed information on this site about thenewno2 please click on the thenewno2 tab at the top of this page.
In May 2006 Dhani was photographed in Knightsbridge in London. The photographs later appeared in The London Evening Standard's E.S. Magazine on 23rd June along with an interview with Dhani entitled 'George's Boy' in which amongst other things, Dhani talks about his band 'thenewno2'.
Recently, Dhani has supplied backing vocals to 'The Heartstring Symphony's' latest E.P. 'Summer 2007' Dhani is featured on the track 'Sea Town Sky'. The E.P. is available at iTunes.
Dhani also recorded with Jakob Dylan (yes, Bob Dylan's son!), donating their track, the John Lennon penned 'Gimme Some Truth' to "Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur," released by Warner Bros. Records on 12th June, 2007.
Also on the 11th June, 2007 'The Traveling Wilburys Collection' was released in the U.K. (12th June. U.S.A.) Dhani, credited under his Wilbury name of 'Ayrton' (named after the Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna), appears on two tracks. Along with Jeff Lynne he supplied additional backing vocals on 'Like A Ship', and Dhani also supplied backing vocals and the guitar solo on 'Maxine'. Like on the original album, Dhani's name appears in the 'Special Thanks' section. {**Note: Due to an underestimated high demand for this release a second edition of this collection was released in December, 2007 as well as a limited edition vinyl set.**}
Dhani also appears on the album by Rooney titled 'Calling The World'. The album was released in U.S. stores on July 17th 2007 and also made available for download. Dhani supplied additional vocals on the title track. The band has a myspace and the full track is currently featured on there. The U.K. release date for this album was 10th September, 2007.
During the spring and summer of 2007 Dhani was hard at work in the studio recording and producing tracks for his own band 'thenewno2'. A release date for their full length album at the time of this update, has yet to be officially announced.
On 9th October, 2007 The George Harrison Fund for UNICEF announced that it had teamed up with students for 'Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF'. The information packs provided to schools contains a DVD on which Dhani appeals on behalf of the Schools for Africa program.
Dhani has also collaborated with Hip-Hop artists 'Wu-Tang Clan.' He played a vintage acoustic 1961 Gretsch guitar on the track 'The Heart Gently Weeps' which is an interpolation of the classic George Harrison composition 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps.' On the 4th October, 2007 in order to satisfy increased curiosity about the track the Wu-Tang Clan allowed it to be exclusively available to listen to at www.Loud.com.
The track was also the first single and video released from the album '8 Diagrams' available in stores on December 11th, 2007. It is also available for download as both a clean or explicit version. .... ..
Along with his fellow band member, Oli Hecks, Dhani has guested on 'Mind The Road' an album by 'Sound Kartel'. Credited as thenewno2, Dhani plays guitar and Oli plays drums on the track 'Open Up Your Eyes' released 8th January, 2008.
thenewno2's full album 'You Are Here' is now complete. You can listen to 'Another John Doe' from the upcoming album at www.myspace.com/thenewno2 or you can currently watch the video here.
A high res version of this video will be available to watch soon at www.thenewno2.com
On February 28th 2008 Dhani was at the Guitar Center in Hollywood. 'An evening of dialogue and insight with Rza of the Wu-Tang Clan'. Rza was unveiling the limited edition Roland Rza/Forat Custom MV-8800. Dhani sat in on the session and also played guitar.
On 1st April, 2008 a single, 'Another John Doe' by thenewno2 from the upcoming album 'You Are Here' is made available on iTunes.
Another thenewno2 track 'Choose What You're Watching' is also made available at iTunes on this date. The latter track has an additional ending to the track that was first available to listen to on their website in April, 2006.
Dhani guested on the Bobby Digital (aka Rza from the Wu-Tang Clan) album 'Digi Snacks' which is scheduled for release June 24th, 2008. Dhani plays acoustic guitar on the track 'You Can't Stop me Now'.
Other projects that Dhani has worked on recently include being a consultant for Harmonix Music Sytems for their scheduled 'Rock Band 2' video game and he has also produced tracks for up-and-coming artist Thoruun from the Icelandic band 'The Fields'.
An article featuring Dhani appeared in the June/July 'School of Rock issue of Nylon magazine. The article was called 'Manifest Destiny'.
On 3rd June, 2008 Dhani's band thenewno2 played a twenty minute set at the Nylon + Myspace party held in Los Angeles.
Dhani later appeared in a video for Nylon TV titled 'Dhani Harrison School Of Rock' in which he mainly talked about the current state of the music industry.
On 20th June, 2008 Dhani was interviewed live on Indie 103.1 Radio.
On the 8th July thenewno2 set up a profile page at Stickam.com and on the 13th July the band used this resource to broadcast live over the internet from downtown L.A. The band held a cd listening party which also featured live art by Dethkills.
On the 29th and 31st July respectively, 'Yomp' a track from thenewno2's upcoming album 'You Are Here' was made available for DLC for the RockBand game on XBOX 360 and PS 3.
On the 1st August Dhani celebrated his 30th birthday. thenewno2's debut album 'You Are Here' was made available for download on iTunes.
Features on Dhani and thenewno2 begin to appear in various magazine articles - (See Media Articles Section)
On the 31st August Dhani is Interviewed on Klos FM's Breakfast With The Beatles by Chris Carter. (See Audio/Visual Section)
thenewno2 perform every Tuesday in September at the Key Club in Los Angeles. All shows are broadcast live on their Stickam profile. thenewno2 also sell merchandise.
On 11th October thenewno2 play at the opening party at Bardot, whilst the 1st November saw them appearing at The 88's Record Release Party at The Troubadour.
In November, 2008 thenewno2's You Are Here album is released on Slot Music.
In February the band were featured in Rolling Stone Magazine. On the 11th February, 2009 thenewno2 played the Key Club in L.A. On the 15th February thenewno2 played at the Union Hall in Brooklyn. The band made their T.V debut appearing on 'Late Night With Conan O' Brien' on 16th February, 2009 and performed 'Yomp' a track from their 'You Are Here' album. On the 17th February the band performed at The Mercury Lounge in New York. Also on 17th February 'You Are Here' had a digital re-release.
March saw Dhani and thenewno2 featured on Billboard and the April edition of Blender Magazine featured an interview and article with Dhani. thenewno2's debut physical CD was released on 31st March, 2009. The band appeared at Amoeba Record Store in Hollywood on 31st March giving a performance and also signing their CDs.
On 13th April, 2009 thenewno2 will be performing at The Casbah in San Diego, California.
On Saturday, 18th April, 2009 thenewno2 will be performing at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, Indio, California.
