Sir Paul McCartney led tributes yesterday to George Harrison whom he described as his "baby brother". Speaking outside his home near Lewes in Sussex, England, Sir Paul said he was "devastated and very, very sad" at the news of Harrison's death.
Harrison (58), the youngest member of the Beatles and the second member of the 1960s group to die prematurely (John Lennon was murdered in New York in 1980), died after a long battle with cancer on Thursday.
He died at the home of a friend in Los Angeles at about 1.30 p.m. local time. His wife, Olivia and 24-year-old son, Dhani, were both with him.
In 1998 the former smoker announced he was being treated for throat cancer and later that year seemed to have recovered.
However, the cancer returned and he was being treated for lung cancer in May.
Despite issuing a statement in July denying reports that he was losing the battle he travelled to New York in the autumn for experimental radio surgery on a brain tumour.
He later travelled to Los Angeles for more conventional chemotherapy.
Sir Paul, along with the other surviving Beatle, Ringo Starr, visited him in America recently.
"He had a long battle with his cancer and I saw him a few weeks ago. He was full of fun as he always was. He's a brave lad.
"To me he's just my little baby brother. We grew up together. I knew him in my old home town of Liverpool and we just had so many beautiful times together and that's what I'm going to remember him by. The world will miss him."
Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow said: "My deep love and concern goes to Olivia and Dhani. The three of them were the closest, most loving family you can imagine.
"His life was magical and we all felt we had shared a little bit of it by knowing him. Thank you, George. It was grand knowing you."
In Dublin, the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, said his generation had grown up with the Beatles.
"The music and the personalities of the band were the background of our lives," he said.
Mr Ahern echoed the sentiment.
"George had his Irish connections and I remember as a young person in the 60s when he came back to see his Irish relations," he said.
The French Premier, Mr Lionel Jospin, said several of Harrison's compositions - Here Comes the Sun and While My Guitar Gently Weeps, "are always present in my memory".
Sir George Martin, who produced most of the Beatles music, said: "George was a wonderful musician and a fine human being. He was the baby of the Beatles, and unlike Paul (McCartney) and John (Lennon), he had a hard time developing his songwriting talent and making his music alone.
"But he worked hard and came to write one of the greatest love songs of all time, Something."
