- Jan 2 Bernard George Stevens, British composer, dies at 66
- Jan 12 (Anthony) "Rebop" Kwaku Baah, Nigerian percussionist (traffic, 1971-74), dies of cerebral hemorrhage during a performance in Stockholm, Sweden at 38
- Jan 13 Barry Galbraith, American jazz and studio guitarist (Claude Thornhill, Coleman Hawkins, Gil Evans), and educator, dies of cancer at 63
- Jan 18 Cedric Thorpe Davie, British composer of film scores (The Green Man; St. Andrews University), and pedagogue, dies at 69
- Jan 19 Don Costa, American composer (Hello, Dolly!), arranger, and record producer (Sinatra and Strings; My Way), dies at 57
- Jan 21 Lamar Williams, American musician (The Allman Brothers Band), dies of cancer at 34
- Jan 28 "Sweet" Emma Barrett, American Dixieland jazz pianist and singer, dies at 85
- Jan 28 Billy Fury [Ronald Wycherley], British rock singer ("When Will You Say I Love You"; "Halfway To Paradise") and actor (That'll Be The Day), dies of heart failure at 42
- Jan 31 Lorraine Ellison, American soul singer ("Stay with Me"; "Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)"), and songwriter, dies of ovarian cancer at 51
- Feb 2 Sam Chatmon, American Delta blues guitarist, banjo player, and singer (The Mississippi Sheiks), dies at 86
- Feb 4 Karen Carpenter, American pop vocalist and drummer ("We've Only Just Begun"; "Rainy Days And Mondays"; "Top Of The World"), dies of anorexia nervosa at 32
- Feb 8 Alfred Wallenstein, American cellist and conductor (Chicago Symphony 1922-29), dies at 84
- Feb 12 (James Hubert) "Eubie" Blake, American ragtime composer and pianist ("Memories of You"; "I'm Just Wild About Harry"), dies at 96
- Feb 22 Adrian Boult, British conductor (BBC Symphony Orchestra, 1930-50; London Philharmonic, 1950-59), dies at 93
- Feb 22 Christina E "Christine" Auwen, singer and wife of John Kelly, dies at 75
- Feb 24 Herbert Howells, British organist, teacher, and composer of Anglican Church music, dies at 90
- Mar 6 Cathy Berberian, American mezzo-soprano and composer (Stripsody), dies of a heart attack at 57
- Mar 7 Igor Markevitch, Russian composer and conductor (Le Paradis Perdu), dies at 70
- Mar 8 William Walton, English composer (Troilus & Cressida; Belhazzar's Feast), dies at 80
- Mar 11 Lurlean Hunter, American jazz singer, dies at 63
- Mar 17 Ray Barr, American pianist (Vincent Lopez Show), dies at 70
- Mar 23 David Wynne, Welsh composer (Owain ab Urien), dies at 82
- Mar 27 Jānis Ivanovs, Latvian composer, and pedagogue, dies at 76
- Apr 1 Ken Kersey, Canadian jazz pianist, and composer ("Boogie Woogie Cocktail"), dies at 66
- Apr 1 Marc Vaubourgoin, French composer, conductor, and musicologist, dies at 76
- Apr 3 Danny Rapp, American pop singer (Danny & The Juniors - "At The Hop"), takes his own life at 41
- Apr 5 Cliff Carlisle, American country and blues musician, singer, songwriter, and yodeler ("Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad"), dies at 79
- Apr 14 Elisabeth Lutyens, English composer, dies at 76
- Apr 14 Willem Frederik Bon, Dutch composer (Les Prédictions) and pedagogue, dies at 42
- Apr 17 Felix Pappalardi, American rock music producer, songwriter, vocalist, and bassist (Mountain - "Mississippi Queen"), shot and killed by his wife, Gail, at 43
- Apr 22 Earl "Fatha" Hines, American jazz pianist and bandleader (Deep Forest), dies at 79
- Apr 26 Bronislaw Kaper, Polish-American Academy Award-winning film composer (Green Dolphin Street; Lili; The Brothers Karamazov), dies at 81
- Apr 28 Charlie LaVere [Johnson], American jazz pianist, arranger, bandleader (Chicago Loopers), and composer (Disneyland's Golden Horseshoe Revue), dies at 72
Apr 30 Russian-American ballet composer and choreographer who founded the New York City Ballet, dies from Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease at 79
- May 3 Armando José Fernandes, Portuguese neoclassical composer, dies at 76
- May 4 Nino Sanzogno, Italian conductor (La Fenice) and composer, dies at 72
- May 6 Kai Winding, Danish-American Jazz musician and trombonist ("Georgia On My Mind"), dies of a brain tumor at 60
- May 16 Carel Brons, Dutch composer, dies at 52
- May 21 Finn Einar Mortensen, Norwegian composer, music critic, and educator, dies at 61
- May 27 (Arnoldus) Arnold van Wyk, South African concert pianist and composer (Nagmusiek - Night Music), dies at 67
- Jun 2 Donald Gramm, American concert and opera bass-baritone, dies of a heart attack at 56
- Jun 2 Stan Rogers, Canadian folk musician and songwriter, dies in aircraft fire at 33
- Jun 7 Daniele Amfitheatrof [Amfiteatrov], Russian-Italian pianist, conductor, and composer of concert and Hollywood film score music (American Panorama; The Naked Jungle), dies at 81
- Jun 17 Peter Mennin [Mennini], American composer (Moby Dick; The Cycle), and educator (Juilliard, 1962-83), dies of cancer at 60
- Jun 18 Luther Tucker, American blues guitarist, dies of a heart attack at 57
- Jun 25 Alberto Evaristo Ginastera, Argentine composer (Panambi), dies at 67
- Jun 26 Walter O'Keefe, songwriter, radio and TV host (Mayor of Hollywood), dies of congestive heart failure at 82
- Jun 30 Bo Gentry [Robert Ackoff] American songwriter ("Mony, Mony"), and record producer (Tommy James), dies at 41
- Jul 1 Sandy Mosse, American jazz tenor saxophonist, and bandleader (Pieces of Eight), dies at 54
- Jul 4 Claus Adam, American composer and cellist (Juilliard Quartet), dies at 65
- Jul 5 Harry James, American swing-era bandleader, trumpeter and husband to Betty Grable, dies from lymphatic cancer at 67
- Jul 5 Václav Trojan, Czech composer, dies at 76
- Jul 10 Werner Egk, German composer (Die Zaubergeige), dies at 82
- Jul 12 Chris Wood, British rock saxophone and flute player (Traffic; Ginger Baker's Air Force, Jimi Hendrix), dies of pneumonia at 39
- Jul 12 Edwin Denby, American dance critic and poet (Snoring in N, Horse Eats Hat), dies at 80
- Jul 17 Roosevelt Sykes, American blues and boogie-woogie pianist, and singer ("The Honeydripper"), dies of a heart attack at 77
- Jul 23 Georges Auric, French composer (one of Les Six), dies at 84
- Jul 25 Jerome Moross, American composer (Frankie & Johnny), dies at 69
- Jul 30 Howard Dietz, American lyricist and librettist ("Dancing In The Dark"; "I Guess I'll Have To Change My Plans"), and MGM executive, dies of Parkinson's disease at 86
- Jul 30 Vasantrao Deshpande, Indian Hindustani vocalist, dies at 63
- Aug 1 "Wild Bill" Moore, American R&B and jazz tenor saxophone player ("We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll": Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy Me"), dies at 65
- Aug 2 James Jamerson, American session bass guitarist (Motown Records' "Funk Brothers"), dies of alcohol-related complications at 47
- Aug 6 Klaus Nomi [Sperber], German new wave singer, and performance artist, dies of AIDS at 39
Aug 17 American lyricist ("Embraceable You"; "I Got Rhythm"; "They Can't Take That Away From Me"), dies in Beverly Hills at 86
- Sep 5 Antonio Mairena, Spanish flamenco singer (b. 1909)
- Sep 7 Hans Münch, Swiss conductor and composer, dies at 90
- Sep 15 Johnny Hartman, American jazz ballad singer (John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman - "My One And Only Love"), dies of lung cancer at 60
- Sep 15 Prince Far I [Michael Williams], Jamaican reggae deejay, producer and Rastafarian, killed during a robberya t his home at 38-ish
- Sep 15 Willie Bobo [Correa], American jazz percussionist ("Evil Ways"), dies of cancer at 49
- Sep 18 Roy Milton American R&B and jump blues singer, drummer, and bandleader ("Information Blues"), dies at 76
- Sep 24 Isobel Baillie, Scottish oratorio singer, dies at 88
- Sep 26 Tino Rossi, French singer and actor (Destins, Belle Menuniere), dies at 76
- Sep 30 Adele Sebastian, American jazz flute player and vocalist (The Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra), dies of kidney failure at 27
- Sep 30 Freddy Martin, American orchestra leader (started Merv Griffin) and tenor saxophonist, dies at 76
- Sep 30 William Elliott, American actor (Bridget Loves Bernie - "Otis"; Adam-12- "Officer Grant"), and jazz drummer, dies at 49
- Oct 2 Gerald Strang, American classical and electronic music composer, dies at 75
- Oct 16 George Liberace, American violinist (The Liberace Show), dies of leukemia at 72
- Oct 16 Øivin Fjeldstad, Norwegian conductor and composer, dies at 80
- Oct 20 Merle Travis, American country singer, dies at 75
- Oct 25 Hermann Ambrosius, German composer and educator who worked with the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda, dies at 86
- Oct 29 Sten Broman, Swedish composer, dies at 81
- Nov 1 Anthony van Hoboken, Dutch musicologist (Haydn Catalog), dies at 96
- Nov 3 Alfredo Antonini, Italian-American Emmy Award-winning conductor (CBS Symphony; Columbia Pan-American Orchestra), and composer (The Great City), dies during heart surgery at 82
- Nov 3 Bob Scholte, Dutch vocalist, dies at 81
- Nov 6 Robert Gross, American composer and violinist, dies at 69
- Nov 7 David Alexandrovich Toradze, Soviet composer, dies at 61
- Nov 7 Germaine Tailleferre [Taillefesse], French composer (Le Marin du Bolivar; L'adieu du cavalier), dies at 91
- Nov 12 Preston Jackson [James Preston McDonald], American jazz trombonist (Preservation Hall Jazz Band), dies at 81
- Nov 13 Alvin "Junior" Samples, American comedian and country singer (Hee Haw), dies of a heart attack at 57
- Nov 19 Tom Evans, British rock guitarist, bass player, and singer-songwriter (Badfinger - "Come and Get It"; "Without You": "Maybe Tomorrow"), commits suicide at 36
- Nov 25 Anton Dolin [Sydney Francis Patrick Chippendall Healey-kay], British dancer (Girl From Petrovka), dies at 79
- Dec 2 Fifi D'Orsay [Yvonne Lussier] Canadian-American vaudeville and film actress and singer known as the "French Bombshell" (The Life Jimmy Dolan; Dixie Jamboree), dies from cancer at 79
- Dec 6 Lucienne Boyer, French singer (Parlez-moi d'amour), dies at 82
- Dec 11 Szymon Laks, Polish composer (head of prisoners orchestra at Auschwitz), dies at 82
- Dec 15 Jimmy McLin, American jazz banjo player, and guitarist (James P. Johnson; Willie "The Lion" Smith; The Ink Spots), dies at 75
- Dec 15 “Big Chief” Russell Moore, Pima-American jazz trombonist (Lionel Hampton; Louis Armstrong), and composer ("Wounded Knee Chant"), dies at 70
- Dec 27 Walter Scott, American singer (Bob Kuban), murdered at 40
- Dec 28 Dennis Wilson, American drummer and singer (Beach Boys), drowns at 39
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