- Genre: Rock & Alternative
Pattie Harrison, the first wife of George Harrison, was Pattie Boyd when she met George on the set of A Hard Day's Night in March 1964. Pattie, then a model, had a bit part as one of the girls watching the Beatles during their train sequence. She and George were married on January 21, 1966, and Pattie ended up taking a couple of minute cameo roles on Beatles records, as one of the background voices on "Yellow Submarine" and a backup vocalist on "Birthday." She also was the inspiration behind George's most famous song, "Something," as well as the much less famous "For You Blue," from the Beatles' Let It Be album.
Even more famously, perhaps, Pattie Harrison was the inspiration for Derek & the Dominos' "Layla." Eric Clapton, a close friend of George's, had fallen in love with Pattie and composed "Layla" to express his anguish over his frustration, the name "Layla" substituting for her real identity. Although Pattie did not leave George at the time around which "Layla" was written (in the early 1970s), she did eventually leave Harrison for Clapton by the mid-1970s. Harrison and Clapton managed to maintain their friendship; George even said at a 1974 press conference that he was "very happy about" Eric and Pattie's romance, "because he's great. I'd rather have her with him than with some dope." In a strange sidelight, a song from George's 1974 album Dark Horse, a cover of the Everly Brothers' "Bye Bye Love," features Pattie on background vocals and Clapton on guitar. Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd Harrison married in 1979, but had separated by the 1980s. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide