Events in Music
- Dec 21 David Diamond's 1st Symphony premieres
Music History
Dec 27 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 7th Symphony in Siberia
Birthdays in Music
- Dec 2 Tom McGuiness, British rocker (The Blues Band), born in Wimbledon, London, England
- Dec 6 Helen Cornelius, American country singer (Nashville on the Road), born in Monroe City, Missouri
- Dec 6 John Nelson, American conductor (Berlioz's Les Troyens), born in San José, Costa Rica
- Dec 9 Dan Hicks, American singer and songwriter (Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks), born in Little Rock, Arkansas (d. 2016)
- Dec 10 Chad Stuart [David Stuart Chadwick], English pop-rock vocalist and guitarist (Chad & Jeremy), born in Windermere, Cumberland, England (d. 2020)
- Dec 10 Kyu Sakamoto, Japanese singer (Sukiaki), and actor, born in Kawasaki (d. 1985)
- Dec 10 Peter Sarstedt, British pop-folk singer-songwriter and guitarist ("Where Do You Go To (My Lovely?"; "I Am A Cathedral"), born in New Delhi, British India (d. 2017)
- Dec 10 Ralph Tavares, Cape Verdean-American R&B and soul singer (Tavares - "Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel"), born in Providence, Rhode Island (d. 2021)
- Dec 11 Rogier van Otterloo, Dutch composer and conductor, born in Bilthoven, Netherlands (d. 1988)
- Dec 12 Liesbeth List, Dutch actress and vocalist (Theodorakis), born in Bandoeng, Dutch East Indies (d. 2020)
- Dec 12 Terry Kirkman, American rock vocalist, songwriter, and keyboardist (Association - "Windy"; "Cherish"), born in Salina, Kansas
- Dec 12 Tim Hauser, American jazz singer (Manhattan Transfer - "Boy From New York City"), born in Troy, New York, (d. 2014)
- Dec 13 Robert Covington, American drummer and singer, born in Yazoo City, Mississippi (d. 1996)
- Dec 18 Sam Andrew, American musician (Big Brother and the Holding Company), born in Okinawa, Japan (d. 2015)
- Dec 18 Wadada Leo Smith, American trumpeter and composer ("Divine Love"), born in Leland, Mississippi
- Dec 19 Maurice White, singer-songwriter (Earth, Wind & Fire), born in Memphis, Tennessee (d. 2016)
- Dec 23 Tim Hardin, American singer ("If I Were A Carpenter"; "Black Sheep Boy"; "Reason to Believe"), born in Eugene, Oregon (d. 1980)
- Dec 25 Don Pullen, American jazz pianist and composer, born in Roanoke, Virginia (d. 1995)
- Dec 25 Ronald Perera, American contemporary classical composer, born in Boston, Massachusetts
- Dec 25 Ronnie Cuber, American jazz saxophonist, born in NYC, New York
- Dec 27 Leslie Maguire, British rock pianist (Gerry & the Pacemakers - "Ferry Cross the Mersey"), born in Wallasey, United Kingdom
- Dec 27 Mike Pinder, British keyboard player and Mellotron pioneer (Moody Blues - "Nights in White Satin"), born in Birmingham, England
- Dec 28 Bob Seidemann, American photographer and album cover artist (Blind Faith; Jerry Garcia), born in New York City (d. 2017)
- Dec 29 Ray Thomas, English rock vocalist and flautist (Moody Blues - "Legend Of A Mind"), born in Stourport-on-Severn, United Kingdom (d. 2018)
Weddings in Music
Ella Fitzgerald
Dec 26 Jazz musician Ella Fitzgerald (24) weds convicted drug dealer Benny Kornegay; annulled 1943
Deaths in Music
- Dec 3 Christian Sinding, Norwegian composer (Frühlingsrauschen - Rustle of Spring), dies at 85
- Dec 7 Cecil Forsyth, British composer and musicologist, dies at 71
- Dec 21 Peetie Wheatstraw [William Bunch], American blues singer, songwriter, and piano player, dies on his 39th birthday when the car in which he was a passenger met a freight train
- Dec 22 Leopoldo Mugnone, Italian opera composer and conductor, dies at 83
- Dec 24 Siegfried Alkan, German composer, dies at 83
- Dec 31 Sigwart Aspestrand, Norwegian composer, dies at 85
