- Jan 1 Giovanni D'Anzi, Italian songwriter (d. 1974)
- Jan 8 Serge Poliakoff, Russian/French painter/guitarist
- Jan 11 Johannes Paul Thilman, composer
- Jan 12 Tex Ritter, Texas, country singer (5 Star Jubilee, Wayward Wind)
- Jan 13 Maxime Jacob, composer
- Jan 14 Walter Knape, composer
- Jan 15 Rezso Kokai, Hungarian composer, born in Budapest (d. 1962)
- Jan 19 Lanny Ross, radio singer (Show Boat, The Swift Show), born in Seattle, Washington
- Jan 27 Radames Gnattali, composer
- Jan 31 Benjamin Frankel, composer
- Feb 1 Hildegarde, Adell Wisc, night club vocalist (I'll Be Seeing You)
- Feb 1 Pierre Cardevielle, French composer/conductor (Amants Captifs)
- Feb 3 Ludvig Nielsen, composer
- Feb 8 Artur Balsam, Polish/US pianist (Begeleidde Menuhin, Milstein)
- Feb 9 Gwen Catley, British(?) soprano
- Feb 17 Ramon Tapales, composer
- Feb 19 Grace Mary Williams, composer
- Feb 19 Hendrik W C Spruit, Dutch conductor
- Feb 22 Edmund von Borck, composer
- Feb 25 Boris Papandopulo, composer
- Mar 3 Donald Novis, British singer and actor (Monte Carlo, The Singing Plumber), born in Hastings, East Sussex, England (d. 1966)
- Mar 7 Alejandro Garcia Caturla, composer
- Mar 7 Hans Lachman, composer
- Mar 11 Aasan Ferit Alnar, composer
- Mar 14 Ulvi Cemal Erkin, composer
- Mar 16 Henny Youngman, American comedian and violinist (Take my wife ... please), born in London, England (d. 1998)
- Mar 17 Tamara Geva, Russian-born dancer and actress, born in St. Petersburg (d. 1997)
- Mar 19 Normand Lockwood, composer
- Mar 23 George Posford, composer
- Mar 24 Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Soviet singer (d. 1984)
- Mar 25 Jean Sablon, French singer-songwriter, born in Nogent-sur-Marne, near Paris (d. 1994)
- Mar 27 Pee Wee Russell, American jazz musician, born in Maplewood, Missouri (d. 1969)
- Mar 29 E. Power Biggs, English organist and composer (CBS), born in Westcliff-on-Sea, England (d. 1977)
- Mar 31 Lauri Saikkola, composer
- Apr 8 Raoul Jobin, French Canadian tenor (d. 1974)
- Apr 9 Antal Dorati, Hungarian-American conductor (Minneapolis Symphony 1949-1960), born in Budapest, Hungary (d. 1988)
- Apr 10 Fud Livingston, American jazz clarinetist and composer, born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 1957)
- Apr 13 Bud Freeman, American jazz musician and tenor saxophonist (Eel), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1991)
- Apr 14 Hunter Johnson, American composer, born near Benson, North Carolina (d. 1998)
- Apr 22 Eric William Fenby, composer/president (Delius Society)
- Apr 25 Zoltan Gardonyi, composer
- Apr 26 Leopold Spinner, composer
- Apr 28 Paul Sacher, Swiss conductor (d. 1999)
- May 2 Maurice Thiriet, composer
- May 8 David Van Vactor, Plymouth Indiana, composer (Chaconne)
- May 17 Zinka Milanov, Croatian soprano (Ljublama Opera 1927, NY Metropolitan Opera), born in Zagreb, Croatia (d. 1989)
- May 23 Hellmuth Christian Wolff, composer
- May 28 Phil Regan, singer (My Wild Irish Rose)
- May 29 Hans Joachim Schaeuble, composer
- Jun 3 Josephine Baker, American dancer/Parisian night club owner (Folies-Bergere) in St. Louis, Missouri (d. 1975)
- Jun 10 Janos Viski, Hungarian composer, born in Kolozsvár (d. 1961)
- Jun 18 Kay Kyser, Rocky Mount NC, orchestra leader (Kay Kyser's Kollege)
- Jun 20 Bob Howard, singer/pianist (Sing it Again), born in Newton, Massachusetts
- Jun 21 Helene Costello, American dancer and actress (Love Toy), born in NYC, New York (d. 1957)
- Jun 21 Luis Maria Millet, composer
- Jun 21 Harold Spina, American composer (d. 1997)
- Jun 24 Pierre Fournier, violon cellist (Paris Conservatoire), born in Paris, France
- Jun 28 Safford Cape, US/Belgian conductor/composer/music historian
- Jul 2 Robert Levine Sanders, American composer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1974)
- Jul 6 Agnes Elisabeth Lutyens, composer
- Jul 7 Anton Karas, Viennese musician (d. 1985)
- Jul 13 Harry Sosnik, American orchestra leader (Jack Carter Show, Your Hit Parade), born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1996)
- Jul 14 Arthur James Bramwell Hutchings, composer
- Jul 18 Belle Stewart, Scottish traditional singer, born in Caputh (d. 1997)
- Jul 19 Klaus Egge, Gransherad, Telemark Norway, composer (Noregsonger)
- Jul 21 Daniel Ayala Perez, composer
- Jul 26 Armando Jose Fernandes, composer
- Jul 28 Gottlob Frick, German opera singer, born in Ölbronn-Dürrn (d. 1994)
- Jul 30 L'udovit Rajter, composer
- Jul 30 Serafin Pro, Cuban composer, born in La Habana (d. 1977)
- Aug 6 Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (d. 1984)
- Aug 7 Gerhard Frommel, composer
- Aug 15 Finn Videro, Danish organist and composer, born in Fuglebjerg, Næstved (d. 1987)
- Aug 21 Joachim Homs, composer
- Sep 1 Franz Biebl, German composer (d. 2001)
- Sep 4 Alexander Moyzes, composer
- Sep 4 Antanas Raciunas, composer
- Sep 5 Peter Mieg, Swiss composer, born in Lenzburg (d. 1990)
- Sep 7 Filip Gershkovich, composer
- Sep 10 Lambertus "Bertus" van Lyre, composer/conductor (Hooglied)
- Sep 12 Ruvim Pergament, composer, born in Petrozavodsk, Russia (d. 1965)
- Sep 15 Kathryn Murray, American dancer (Arthur Murray Dance Party), born in Jersey City, New Jersey (d. 1999)
- Sep 16 Annie Hermes, Dutch singer
- Sep 19 Dalibor Cyril Vackar, composer
- Sep 19 Massimo Freccia, composer
- Sep 20 David Sheinfeld, composer
- Sep 23 Willard F McMurry, musician
- Sep 25 Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, composer [NS], born in St Petersburg, Russia
- Sep 25 Jaroslav Jezek, composer
- Sep 30 Eamonn O Gallagher, composer
- Oct 5 Louise Brown, dancer/teacher
- Oct 9 Janis Ivanovs, Latvian composer, born in Babri, Preiļi, Latvia (d. 1983)
- Oct 10 Paul Creston, [Giuseppe Guttoveggio], NY, composer (Creative Harmony)
- Oct 12 Willy Hess, Swiss musicologist, composer and famous Beethoven scholar, born in Winterthur, Switzerland (d. 1997)
- Oct 22 Cornelis L "Kees" van Baaren, Dutch composer (Willem Pijper)
- Oct 23 Miriam Gideon, composer
- Oct 31 Louise Talma, American composer (Summer Sounds), born in Arcachon, France (d. 1996)
- Nov 4 Arnold Atkinson Cooke, composer
- Nov 4 Siegfried Borris, composer
- Nov 12 Bukka [Booker T. Washington] White, blues guitarist, born in Houston, Mississippi (d. 1977)
- Nov 13 Conrad Thibault, American singer (Jacques Fray Music Room), born in Northbridge, Massachusetts (d. 1987)
- Nov 19 Henri Temianka, composer
- Nov 19 Jacques Leguerney, composer
- Nov 23 Mervyn Roberts, composer
- Nov 26 Sandro Fuga, Italian composer and painist, born in Mogliano, Veneto (d. 1994)
- Dec 1 Jean Cartan, French composer, born in Nancy (d. 1932)
- Dec 7 George Richard James, saxophonist
- Dec 9 Freddy Martin, orchestra leader (started Merv Griffin), born in Cleveland, Ohio
- Dec 9 Greet Koeman, Dutch singer
- Dec 13 Ingemar Liljefors, composer
- Dec 14 Helmut Bornefeld, composer
- Dec 17 Fernando Lopez-Garcia, composer
- Dec 18 Edwin H "Buddy" Morris, music publisher
- Dec 23 Ross Lee Finney, Wells Minnesota, composer (Landscapes Remembered)
- Dec 24 Franz Waxman, German film composer (d. 1967)
- Dec 27 Ivan Brkanovic, composer
- Dec 27 Oscar Levant, American actor (An American in Paris, Dance of Life), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (d. 1972)