Ravi Shankar

A master of the sitar as well as a famous experimenter with its classical forms, Ravi Shankar was probably the world's best-known Indian musician. First recorded in 1936, he had a rich career that spanned nine decades. His mentoring of the Beatles during the height of their fame in the 1960s helped bring him to the attention of Western audiences, but Shankar's influence obviously extends far beyond Western pop, and he spent much of his career bridging the gap between musical cultures. Rabindra Shankar Chowdery was born on April 7, 1920, in Varanasi, India, into a well-off ort...