John Mayer (composer)

[1] Mayer was born in Calcutta, Bengal, British India, to an Anglo-Indian father and Tamil mother.

His Shanta Quintet was recorded by jazz sitar player Diwan Motihar and Denis Preston's Lansdowne String Quartet in 1967.

The Joe Harriott-John Mayer Double Quintet composed the distinctive theme tune, "Acka Raga", for the early episodes of the BBC quiz show Ask the Family, which was broadcast between 1967 and 1984.

From 1989 onwards, Mayer, who lived in north London, taught composition at Birmingham Conservatoire where he introduced the BMus Indian music course in 1997.

[1] He continued to compose concert works (chamber, solo and orchestral) and to record jazz-fusion albums.