- Dec 4 Yvonne Minton, Australian-British soprano, born in Sydney, Australia
- Dec 5 J. J. Cale, American rock guitarist and songwriter ("After Midnight": "Call Me The Breeze"; "Cocaine"), born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (d. 2013)
- Dec 6 Oxana Yablonskaya, Russian concert pianist, and music professor (Juilliard School, 1978-2009), born in Moscow, USSR
- Dec 9 William Thomas McKinley, American composer and jazz pianist, born in New Kensington, Pennsylvania (d. 2015)
- Dec 10 Yuri Temirkanov, Russian conductor (Kirov), born in Nalchik, Russia
- Dec 11 Enrico Macias, Algerian-French singer, born in Constantine, Algeria
- Dec 11 McCoy Tyner, American jazz pianist (John Coltrane Quartet), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2020)
- Dec 12 Joel Chadabe, American electronic music composer, born in NYC, New York (d. 2021)
- Dec 13 Alvin Curran, American composer (Inner Cities; I Dreamt John Cage Yodeling at the Zurich Hauptbahnhof), born in Providence, Rhode Island
- Dec 13 Tony Gomez, British rock keyboardist (The Foundations - "Baby Now That I've Found You"; "Build Me Up Buttercup"), born in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) (d. 2015)
- Dec 17 Carlo Little, English drummer (d. 2005)
- Dec 18 [Bryan] Chas Chandler, English rock bassist (The Animals - "House of the Rising Sun") and artist manager (Jimi Hendrix), born in Newcastle upon Tyne
- Dec 20 John Harris Harbison, American composer (The Flight Into Egypt), born in Orange, New Jersey
- Dec 21 Roland Coryn, Belgian violist, composer, and music educator, born in Kortrijk, Belgium
- Dec 25 David Borden, American jazz and minimalist keyboard player and composer, born in Boston, Massachusetts
- Dec 28 Bruce Yarnell, American actor (Outlaws) and singer, born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1973)
- Dec 28 Dick Sudhalter, American jazz trumpeter, and writer, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2008)