Graham died Monday of a seizure in his London home, his former manager Mark Pavey said Wednesday. The musician had long suffered from lung cancer, he said.

Graham’s innovative tuning and dexterity on the acoustic guitar inspired a range of artists. His 1962 song “Anji” became a folk classic and was covered, among others, by Simon and Garfunkel on their 1966 album Sounds of Silence.

Graham drew on a range of influences, including jazz, classical, Indian and Arabic music. Pavey said it was Graham’s unusual family background — his mother was from South America, his father from a remote Scottish island — and access to blues records through his work at the British Library that decisively shaped his sound.