Ravi Shankar

Image from Rolling Stone

The great sitar player Ravi Shankar began to tour in the fifties and became famous in the sixties. In 1967, he was presented on the Dick Cavett show and performed at the Monterey Pop Festival. He also played at Woodstock. Shankar had an enormous influence on the music of his era. He introduced Indian ragas to Western audiences, and gave sitar lessons to John Coltrane and George Harrison, who helped him put on the Concert for Bangladesh.

Shankar continued to make music for the rest of his life. He died in San Diego in 2012 at the age of 92. His daughter Anoushka Shankar is a sitar player too. Another daughter, Norah Jones, is also a well-known musician.