Iconic Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar who inspired The Beatles has died, Dec. 12, according to The Washington Post. He was 92. A statement on the musician's foundation site said he died in San Diego. He suffered from respiratory and heart problems and had undergone heart-valve replacement surgery last week.

"It's with a very heavy heart that I confirm this sad news," Shankar's manager Earl Blackburn, said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.

George Harrison, the lead guitarist of "The Beatles" called Shankar "the godfather of world music," and considered him a matchless inspiration. Shankar is also credited with introducing Indian music and the ragas to the western audience.

"An era has passed away with Pt. Ravishankar. The nation joins me to pay tributes to his unsurpassable genius, his art and his humility," the Indian Prime Minister's Office tweeted. "A national treasure and global ambassador of India's cultural heritage," it added.

Shankar has won numerous awards in his career and had just earned a 2013 Grammy nomination for "Best World Music Album" and was set to compete against his daughter Anoushka Shankar who was nominated in the same category but for a different album. Shankar last performed in California in early November with Anoushka.

Born in 1920 in Varanasi, a city in Northern India, Shankar started his career at an early age and composed for films and ballet performances in India, United States and Europe. He is survived by wife Sukanya Rajan, son Shubhendra Shankar and Anoushka.

Shankar had an affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer and fathered singer Norah Jones. All three children of the musician have different mothers.

Jones is said to have met Shankar often during her childhood. She did not see him for years afterwards till she travelled to India a few years ago. Though she had grown close to Shankar in recent years, Jones doesn’t consider herself half Indian.