BEATLES: Ravi Shankar Dead at 92
Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitar master who introduced the instrument to George Harrison and The Beatles, died Tuesday at the age of 92.
The BBC reports Shankar had been admitted to a San Diego hospital last Thursday complaining of breathing difficulties. Shankar had just scored a Grammy nomination last week in the Best World Music Album category.
Shankar is credited with popularizing Indian music in Western culture in the mid-'60s. George Harrison picked up the sitar after hearing one of Shankar's albums and used it on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" from Rubber Soul in 1965. The two musicians met in 1966 and Harrison went to India to study the sitar with Shankar. The two remained close friends until Harrsion's death in 2001. Shankar performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, Woodstock in 1969 and teamed with Harrison to present the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, after massive flooding created a humanitarian disaster in his homeland of Bangladesh.
Shankar's personal life came to light a decade ago when it was revealed he was the father of singer Norah Jones.
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