Anoushka Shankar

Anoushka Shankar is a composer, singer, and sitar player. She has won awards like British House of Commons Shield and Woman of The Year Award on International Women’s Day in 2003. Anoushka is an activist and supports Animal Rights. She recorded a video for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). Shankar was born on 9 June 1984 in London, United Kingdom. She is the daughter of eminent musician and sitar maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Shankar.

Her childhood is spent in Delhi and London, and Anoushka is the half-sister of the American Singer, Norah Jones, born as Geetali Shankar. She attended San Dieguito High School Academy in Encinitas, California. After graduating from school, Anoushka decided to pursue a career in music rather than going to college. She had a relationship with director Joe Wright and married him on 26 September 2010. Shankar had two sons, and the first son was born on 22 February 2011, they named him Zuubin Shankar Wright and the second son, Mohan Shankar Wright was born on 17 February 2015.

She has indulged herself into writing and wrote columns for Hindustan Times. Bapi: The Love of My Life is the biography that Anoushka wrote on her father’s life. She has even written articles for First City Magazine. At a very young age, Anoushka started training on sitar and commenced her training in Tanpura along with her father. She used to accompany him in all the concerts and used to imbibe music in the shows. Anoushka made her first appearance at the Siri Fort on the occasion of Pandit Ravi Shankar’s 75th birthday.

She played sitar along with Zakir Husain, the Tabla maestro on 27 February 1995 when Anoushka was just 13 and same year Angel Records released In Celebration, four-CD box to commemorate Ravi Shankar’s 75th birthday. At the age of 16, she signed her first recording contract with Angel Records. Shankar released her first album Anoushka in 1998 and 2000 another of the album Anurag, released in 2000.

She went on a solo tour instead of pursuing further studies. Anoushka is the first and youngest woman ever to be nominated for Grammy Awards along with her half-sister, Noah Jones in 2003. She was nominated for Live at the Carnegie Hall in World Music Category. Anoushka became the first Indian to perform at Grammy Awards, and she was nominated for the second time for Grammy in Best Contemporary World Music for her album RISE.