Harrison, 58, had surgery at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., to remove a cancerous growthfrom one of his lungs, according to the lawyers.

The lawyers did not say when the surgery occurred. They said the operation went according toplan and that Harrison was relaxing in Tuscany, Italy.

“The operation was successful and George has made an excellent recovery. He is in the best ofspirits and on top form the most relaxed and free since the attack on him in 1999,” thelawyers’ statement said. The statement said Harrison had a growth removed from his lung and thelawyers later told the British news agency Press Association that it had been cancerous.

In 1999, Harrison suffered a punctured lung when he was stabbed by a man who broke into hishome in Henley-on-Thames, west of London. A 34-year-old man, Michael Abram, was acquittedby reason of insanity and confined to a mental hospital.

Referring to the star’s rereleased album, the statement continued: “Although All Things MustPass Away, George has no plans right now and is still Living In The Material World, and wisheseveryone all the very best, God Bless and not to worry.”

Harrison was treated for throat cancer in the late 1990s after he found a lump on his neck in1997. He had surgery then, followed by two courses of radiation therapy at the Royal MarsdenHospital, Britain’s leading cancer treatment center.

“I got it purely from smoking,” he later said. “I gave up cigarettes many years ago, but hadstarted again for a while and then stopped in 1997.”

“Luckily for me they found that this nodule was more of a warning than anything else. There aremany different types of cancerous cells and this was a very basic type,” he said at the time. Speaking earlier this year, the intensely private Harrison said: “I had a little throat cancer. I had apiece of my lung removed in 1997. And then I was almost murdered.

“But I seem to feel stronger. I don’t smoke any more. I’m a little more short of breath than I used to be, so I don’t see myself on stage lasting a full 14 rounds.”

The Beatles broke up in 1970 and Harrison, the youngest and quietest of the Fab Four went on toa successful solo career with hits including “My Sweet Lord.”