MUMBAI: Internationally acclaimed music maestro A.R. Rahman has witnessed loss in the form of his old friend and guitarist John Anthony. A popular musician, John, who was famous for his rock music, died of a cardiac arrest last Friday. He was 62.

For those unaware, A.R. Rahman, John and Drums Sivamani had form a band, Roots, years ago. Going further, when Sivamani and Rahman took the film music route, they had introduced John Anthony as a led guitarist.

Rahman took to his Twitter handle to express grief on losing a dear friend, with an old picture of his with John.

Will miss you Johnny Cheta ...RIP pic.twitter.com/pRmdLpmlXW

— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) January 20, 2019

The late musician has played about 2000 songs in both Malayalam and Tamil movies. He was very popular in The Tamil as well as Malayalam film industry circuit as Chetta and has left a void, with many mourning his demise. Others like Sean Roldon and Santhosh Narayanan also shared their emotions on John’s death, on their respective social media handles.

Survived by wife Supritha and son Siddhatha, Anthony John was trained in classical, Carnatic music and Western music, John Anthony was an environmentalist, who took part in various eco-preservative and social causes. He was also a cartoonist.

We hope John Anthony’s soul rests in peace!