December 13, 2012 10:12

Norah Jones pays tribute to her father Ravi Shankar

Singer says Shankar "will be greatly missed"

Photo: PA Photos

Norah Jones has paid tribute to her father Ravi Shankar, who passed away aged 92 on Tuesday (Dec 11).

The singer, who is understood to have had a distant relationship with Shankar and rarely saw him during her adolescence, issued a statement via her record label which reads: "My dad's music touched millions of people. He will be greatly missed by me and music lovers everywhere."

Shankar famously taught The Beatles' George Harrison how to play the sitar and was instrumental in bringing Indian music to the West. Harrison once described him as the "godfather of world music".

According to the BBC, Shankar died in the early evening of December 11 in San Diego, California. His family said he had been admitted to hospital last week, but had failed to recover fully from surgery.

It has also been confirmed that Shankar will receive a posthumous Lifetime Achievement award at the Grammys next year.

Musicians have also taken to Twitter to pay tribute to Shankar. "The great Ravi Shankar has left the building. An amazing talent and the maker of a beautiful sound, Tim Burgess wrote. Meanwhile, producer Giles Martin, son of longtime Beatles producer Sir George Martin, wrote, "I'm very sad to hear of the death of ?#ravishankar. A beautiful, worldly man with warmth and talent. I bet George is happy to see him again."

Additionally, Rhys Webb from The Horrors appeared on Channel 4 news to speak about Ravi Shankar's influence on rock and pop music, including the way in which his style was adopted by The Rolling Stones and The Kinks. Scroll down the page to see footage of him on screen with Jon Snow now.

To see more tribute messages from musicians posted on Twitter, including Sean Lennon, scroll down the page.

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