Millions of Beatles fans the world over mourned the death of George Harrison Friday, many showing their grief by doing what they've done for almost 40 years — they bought his music.

        “I had all these orders on the fax when I came in this morning,” said Byron Russell, purchasing director for ARC Distributing, which supplies Tristate record stores.

        The recent CD reissue of Mr. Harrison's best-known solo project, All Things Must Pass, was the most commonly requested album, but fans were asking for all Beatles recordings.

SPECIAL REPORT

• George Harrison, 1943-2001

        The Quiet Beatle died at 1:30 p.m. Thursday PST. at a friend's home in Los Angeles. His wife, Olivia, and only child, Dhani, 24, were at his side. He was suffering from an inoperable brain tumor.

        “He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, and at peace, surrounded by family and friends,” the Harrison family said in a statement.

        Although he was part of the most popular rock band of all time, Mr. Harrison maintained a distance from Beatlemania, earning his introverted reputation. Friends and fans recalled his shyness and discomfort with fame.

        “He was very underrated,” said Peter Frampton, who now lives in Indian Hill. Mr. Frampton, who played guitar on All Things Must Pass, recalled Mr. Harrison as a generous man who may have lacked confidence. “He always deferred. If Eric (Clapton) was around, he would defer to him and I was told if Eric wasn't around, he would defer to me.”

        Although Mr. Harrison had been ill for years and his death had been expected, teary-eyed fans gathered around the world at such Beatles shrines as Abbey Road studios in England, as well as Strawberry Fields, the section of Central Park in Manhattan dedicated to the memory of John Lennon.

        In Greater Cincinnati, many Beatles fans congregated at record stores.

        Jessica Lohrey, 31, of Clifton, was born around the time the Beatles broke up, but was raised on their music by her mother. “I had all their songs memorized by the time I was in kindergarten.” She took the news hard.

        “I was crying all morning; I couldn't stop,” she said, standing in front of the empty “George Harrison” rack at the Waves music store in Kenwood Towne Centre. “He was a very spiritual guy. I was drawn to his calm. He was a quiet guy, not in the spotlight but definitely very talented.”

        “It's very sad,” said Kim Johnson, 45, of Loveland. George was her favorite Beatle, she added. “He was the quiet one; he didn't go for the limelight.”

        The death of the band's lead guitarist effectively ends any attempts at additional Beatles reunions. John Lennon was shot to death by a deranged fan in 1980. Of the Fab Four, only Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr remain.

        “I am devastated and very, very sad,” Mr. McCartney told reporters outside his London home Friday. “He was a lovely guy and a very brave man and had a wonderful sense of humor. He is really just my baby brother.”

        In a statement, Mr. Starr said: “George was a best friend of mine. I loved him very much and I will miss him greatly. Both (my wife) Barbara and I send our love and light to Olivia and Dhani. We will miss George for his sense of love, his sense of music and his sense of laughter.”

        If Mr. Lennon was the fiery artiste of the band and Mr. McCartney its winsome charmer, Mr. Harrison was the Beatles' calm, spiritual center. It was he who led the Beatles to India in 1967. He remained a devotee of Hindu mysticism long after the others.

        His biggest solo hit, “My Sweet Lord” blended Western pop music with Hindu chant and paved the way for such contemporary artists as Krishna Das.

        The Beatles got their start in the clubs of Liverpool, England, and Hamburg, Germany. They had their first No. 1 hit single in England, “Please Please Me,” in 1963 and conquered the United States in 1964 with appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1999, a survey of American journalists and scholars ranked the 1964 U.S. visit No. 58 in a list of the century's top news stories.

        Although his songwriting was overshadowed by the prolific Lennon-McCartney team, Mr. Harrison did contribute such classics as “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something.” Mr. Harrison also taught the young Lennon how to play the guitar.

        “As he said himself, how do you compare with the genius of John and Paul? But he did, very well,” rock star and activist Bob Geldof told BBC radio.

        The Quiet Beatle also had a wry sense of humor that blended well with Mr. Lennon's cutting wit and Mr. Starr's puppy-dog appeal.

        At their first recording session under George Martin, the producer reportedly asked the young musicians to tell him if they didn't like anything. Mr. Harrison's response: “Well, first of all, I don't like your tie.” Asked by a reporter what he called the Beatles' famous moptop hairstyle, he said, “Arthur.”

        And though he often complained of the pressures of fame and the “monkey in a zoo” aspect of being a Beatle, he told the The Daily Telegraph in 1992, “We had the time of our lives. We laughed for years.”

        He also remained on the spiritual path he began in 1967 with the Beatles pilgrimage to India.

        “For every human there is a quest to find the answer to why am I here, who am I, where did I come from, where am I going,” Mr. Harrison once said. “For me that became the most important thing in my life — everything else is secondary.”

        Friday, at Mr. Harrison's mansion near London, fans left bunches of roses and lilies. One note read: “The world will never be the same.” Another said: “The music, the rock 'n' roll life you led, won't be forgotten.”

        The Associated Press and other Enquirer wire services provided information for this report.

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