1951 in Music

Events in Music

Music Recording

Mar 27 Frank Sinatra records "I'm a Fool to Want You"

Singer and Actor Frank Sinatra — Singer and Actor
Frank Sinatra

Mar 29 "King & I" opens at St James Theater NYC for 1246 performances
Apr 18 "Make a Wish" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 102 performances
Apr 19 "Tree Grows in Brooklyn" opens at Alvin Theater NYC for 267 performances
May 5 "Out of This World" closes at New Century Theater NYC after 157 performances
May 14 Sammy Fain and EY Harburg's musical "Flahooley" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 40 performances
Jun 14 "Courtin' Time" opens at National Theater NYC for 37 performances
Jun 17 "Flahooley" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 40 performances
Jun 21 "17" opens at Broadhurst Theater NYC for 180 performances
Jul 14 "Courtin' Time" closes at National Theater NYC after 37 performances
Jul 14 "Make a Wish" closes at Winter Garden Theater NYC after 102 performances
Jul 19 "2 in the Aisle" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 276 performances
Jul 28 "Kiss Me, Kate" closes at New Century Theater NYC after 1077 performances

Film Release

Jul 28 Walt Disney's animated musical film "Alice In Wonderland" released

Animator Walt Disney — Animator
Walt Disney

Sep 11 Stravinsky's opera "Rake's Progress," premieres in Venice
Sep 15 "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" closes at Ziegfeld NYC after 740 performances
Sep 17 "Borscht Capades" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 90 performances
Oct 8 "Music in the Air" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 56 performances

Event of Interest

Nov 1 Johnny Mercer's "Top Banana" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 356 performances

Songwriter Johnny Mercer — Songwriter
Johnny Mercer

Nov 12 "Paint Your Wagon" opens at Shubert Theater NYC for 289 performances
Nov 24 "17" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 180 performances
Nov 24 "Music in the Air" closes at Ziegfeld Theater NYC after 56 performances
Dec 1 Benjamin Britten's opera "Billy Budd" premieres in London
Dec 2 "Borscht Capades" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 90 performances

Event of Interest

Dec 4 Aaron Copland's and Jerome Robbins' ballet "The Pied Piper" premieres in New York City

Composer Aaron Copland — Composer
Aaron Copland

Dec 8 "Tree Grows in Brooklyn" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 267 performances
Dec 11 "The Wild Side of Life" single recorded by Hank Thompson and His Brazos Valley Boys (Billboard Song of the Year 1952)
Dec 24 1st televised opera (Amahl & Night Visitor)

Birthdays in Music

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 223

Jan 4 Peter Haycock, rock guitarist (All Along the Watchtower), (d. 2013)
Jan 6 Kim Wilson, rocker (Fabulous Thunderbirds)
Jan 8 Paul Dresher, composer
Jan 9 Crystal Gayle, Ky, country singer (Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue)
Jan 12 Chris Bell, American rock guitarist (Big Star), born in Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 12 Larry Hoppens, rocker (Orleans-Still the One, Dance With Me)
Jan 14 William Risrook, rocker (BT Express-Here Comes the Express)

Charo

Jan 15 Charo [Maria Baeza], Spanish-American actress, comedienne and flamenco guitarist (Chico and the Man, Love Boat), born in Murcia, Spain

Jan 15 Martha Davis, California, vocalist/guitar (Motels-Only the Lonely, Shame)
Jan 16 Richard Thompson, American rocker (B. T. Express-Here Comes the Express)
Jan 20 Ivan Fischer, Hungarian conductor
Jan 26 Andy Hummell, rock bassist (Big Star), born in Memphis, Tennessee
Jan 26 David Briggs, rock guitarist (Little River Band-Help is on it's Way)
Jan 27 Brian Downey, rock drummer (Thin Lizzy-Boys are Back in Town)
Jan 27 Seth Justman, rock keyboardist (J Geils Band-Centerfold), born in Washington, D.C.
Jan 28 William Nelson Jr, US bassist (Connections & Disconnections)
Jan 30 Clifford Leon Anderson, rocker (Cure)
Jan 30 Marv Ross, rocker (Quarterflash)
Jan 30 Phil Collins, England, singer/drummer (Genesis-Against All Odds)
Jan 31 Harry Casey, [KC], rock vocalist (KC & Sunshine Band-Give It)
Jan 31 Phil Manzanera, rock guitarist (Roxy Music-Let's Stick Together)
Jan 31 Dave Benton, Aruban-born singer
Feb 2 Alphonso Johnson, American jazz bassist, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Feb 4 Dariush Eghbali, Iranian singer and musician
Feb 5 Elizabeth Swados, composer/playwright (1972 TONY), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 2016)
Feb 6 Margo [Margeret Catherine O'Donnell ], County Donegal Ireland, Irish singer
Feb 9 Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, saxophonist (Kool & Gang-Celebration)
Feb 14 Michael Doucet, singer/musician (Beausoleil)
Feb 15 Melissa Manchester, vocalist (Don't Cry Out Loud), born in The Bronx, New York
Feb 20 Kathy Baillie, country vocalist (Baille Boys-Oh Heart), born in Morristown, New Jersey
Feb 20 Randy [Wolfe] California, American guitarist (Spirit), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1997)
Feb 21 Vince Welnick, American rock keyboardist (The Tubes, Grateful Dead), born in Phoenix, Arizona (d. 2003)
Feb 27 Steve Harley, rocker (Come Up & See Me)
Feb 28 Bill Cratty, American modern dancer and choreographer (d. 1998)
Mar 3 Lindsay Cooper, English musician and composer (Henry Cow, News from Babel)
Mar 4 Chris Rea, English rock guitarist (Fool If You Think It Is Over), born in Middlesbrough, England
Mar 4 Linda Yamamoto, Japanese singer
Mar 7 Francis Rocco Prestia, American musician (Tower of Power)
Mar 12 Jack Green, Scottish musician (T. Rex, The Pretty Things), born in Glasgow
Mar 16 Ray Benson, country singer (House of Blue Lights), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Mar 16 Ritchie Teeter, rocker
Mar 17 Scott Gorham, Irish hard rock guitarist (Thin Lizzy-21 Guns)
Mar 20 Guy Perry, rock guitarist/vocalist (Motels-Only the Lonely)
Mar 20 Jimmie Vaughan, American guitarist (Fabulous Thunderbirds), born in Dallas County, Texas
Mar 21 Russell Thompkins Jr, US soul singer (Stylistics-Sing Baby Sing)
Mar 22 Howard Reitzes, Southgate Ca, rocker (Iron Butterfly)
Mar 24 Dougie Thompson, rocker (Supertramp-Bloody Well Right)
Mar 25 Bob Pelander, rock keyboardist/vocalist (Michael Stanley Band)
Mar 25 Maisie Williams, Montserrat, rock vocalist (Boney M)
Mar 28 Karen Kain, Canadian ballerina, born in Hamilton, Canada
Mar 28 Matti Pellonpää, Finnish actor and musician, born in Helsinki, Finland (d. 1995)
Apr 4 Steve Gatlin, American country singer (Gatlin Bros-Broken Lady), born in Olney, Texas
Apr 5 Everett Morton, dummer and percussionist (English Beat)
Apr 6 Ralph Cooper, Australia, drummer (Air Supply-All Out of Love)
Apr 7 Janis Ian [Janis Eddy Fink], American singer-songwriter and folk musician (At Seventeen, Society's Child), born in NYC, New York
Apr 7 John Dittrich, Union NJ, country singer (Restless Heart-Wheels)
Apr 8 Mel Schacher, American bassist (Grand Funk Railroad-Some Kind of Wonderful), born in Owosso, Michigan
Apr 11 Robbie House, American rocker (Snuff)
Apr 11 Paul Fox, English musician and singer (The Ruts), born in United Kingdom (d. 2007)
Apr 12 Jakson Spires, American rock drummer (Blackfoot), born in Raleigh, North Carolina
Apr 13 Max Weinberg, US rock drummer (E Street Band, Conan O'Brien Show), born in Newark, NJ
Apr 13 Peabo Bryson, R&B vocalist (I'm So into You), born in Greenville, South Carolina
Apr 14 Matima Kinuani Mpiosso, musician
Apr 14 Julian Lloyd Webber, English cellist
Apr 16 John Bentley, English bass guitarist (Fabulous Poodles), born in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England
Apr 16 Björgvin Halldórsson, Icelandic singer
Apr 16 Mordechai Ben David, Jewish singer
Apr 20 Luther Vandross, American rock vocalist (Dance with my Father), born in NYC, New York (d. 2005)
Apr 21 Nicoel Barclay, rocker
Apr 21 Robert Gotobed, English drummer (Wire)
Apr 22 Paul Carrack, rock vocalist (Squeeze/Ace-How Long), born in Sheffield, England
Apr 27 Paul "Ace" Frehley, American heavy metal guitarist (Kiss; Frehley's Comet), born in The Bronx, New York
May 2 John "Jo" Callis, British punk-rock songwriter and musician (The Rezillos, The Human League), born in Rotherham, England
May 3 Christopher Cross [Geppert], American singer-songwriter (Arthur's Theme, Sailing), born in San Antonio, Texas
May 4 Jackie Jackson [Sigmund], American rocker (Jackson 5-ABC), born in Gary, Indiana
May 4 Colin Bass, British bassist (Camel), born in London
May 4 Mick Mars [Robert Alan Deal], guitarist (Mötley Crüe), born in Terre Haute, Indiana (alternative date 4 April 1955)
May 5 Rex Goh, rock guitarist (Air Supply)
May 7 Carlos Alomar, Puerto Rican-American guitarist, composer, and arranger (David Bowie), born in Ponce, Puerto Rico
May 8 Chris Frantz, American rock drummer (Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club), born in Fort Campbell, Kentucky
May 8 Philip Bailey, rocker (Earth Wind & Fire-Shining Star, Easy Lover)
May 10 Ron Banks, US R&B singer (Dramatics-Whatcha See is Whatcha Get)
May 13 Paul Thompson, rock drummer (Roxy Music)
May 14 Jay Beckenstein, saxophonist (Spyro Gyra-Morning Dance)
May 15 Dennis Frederiksen, rocker (Toto-Roseanna, Africa), (d. 2014)
May 16 Jonathan Richman, rocker (Modern Lovers-New England, Egyptian Reggae)
May 19 Joey Ramone, [Jeffrey Hyman], lead singer of the punk rock band The Ramones (Baby I Love You)
May 23 Judy Rodman, country singer (Girls Ride Horses Too), born in Riverside, California
May 24 Rob Baker, rock drummer (Red Rider)
May 25 Clifford Archer, bassist (Atlantic Star-Touch a 4 Leaf Clover)
May 25 Chuck Ruff, American rock drummer (Frankenstein), born in Reno, Nevada (d. 2011)
May 30 Zdravko Čolić, Yugoslav-Bosnian singer, born in Sarajevo, FPR Yugoslavia
Jun 2 Steve Brookins, rocker (.38 Special)
Jun 2 Dave Flett, Scottish rock guitarist (Manfred Mann's Earth Band, Thin Lizzy), born in Aberdeen, Scotland
Jun 6 Dwight Twilley, country singer (Twilley Don't Mind), born in Tulsa, Oklahoma
Jun 8 Bonnie Tyler [Gaynor Hopkins], Welsh rocker (Total Eclipse of the Heart), born in Skewen, Neath, Wales
Jun 8 Tony Rice, American acoustic guitarist
Jun 9 Benny Neyman, Dutch singer (I Don't Know How)
Jun 9 James Newton Howard, American film composer
Jun 12 Bun E. Carlos [Brad Carlson], American rock drummer (Cheap Trick-Dream Police), born in Rockford, Illinois

Weddings in Music

Wedding of Interest

Jan 8 Actor Burgess Meredith (43) weds ballerina Kaja Sundsten

Wedding of Interest

Apr 3 Actress and singer Doris Day (29) marries producer Martin Melcher (35) in Burbank

Singer and Actress Doris Day — Singer and Actress
Doris Day

Wedding of Interest

Jul 31 Musician Ray Charles (20) weds Eileen Williams in Georgia

Wedding of Interest

Nov 7 Entertainer Frank Sinatra (34) marries 2nd wife film star Ava Gardner (26)

Actress Ava Gardner — Actress
Ava Gardner

Wedding of Interest

Nov 14 Musician Louis Jordan (43) weds dancer Vicky Hayes

Divorces in Music

Divorce of Interest

Oct 29 Singer/actor Frank Sinatra and 1st wife Nancy (Barbato) divorce due to infidelity after 12 years of marriage

Deaths in Music

Jan 3 Ferdinand [Fred] Barlow, French composer, dies at 69
Jan 10 Athos Palma, Argentine composer, dies at 59
Jan 19 Constantin Nottara, composer, dies at 60
Jan 22 Eastwood Lane, composer, dies at 71
Feb 9 Eddy Duchin, American musician (b. 1910)
Feb 10 Joseph Bovet, composer, dies at 71
Feb 17 Nikoghayos Fadeyi Tigranyan, Armenian composer, dies at 94
Feb 20 Howard Brockway, composer, dies at 80
Mar 6 Ivor Novello [David Ivor Davies], Welsh composer, writer and actor (Keep the Home Fires Burning, The Truth Game), dies at 58
Mar 8 John Winter Thompson, composer, dies at 83
Mar 20 Kathleen Lockhart Manning, composer, dies at 60
Mar 22 Willem Mengelberg, Dutch conductor (Concertgebouw Orchestra, NY Philharmonic 1922-30), dies at 79
Apr 1 Clement D'Hooghe, Belgian composer, dies at 51
Apr 2 Simon Barere, pianist, dies while perfoming at Carnegie Hall
Apr 6 Halfdan Cleve, composer, dies at 71
Apr 12 Harold Vincent Milligan, American musician and composer, dies at 62
Apr 25 Jerzy Fitelberg, composer, dies at 47
Apr 26 John Alden Carpenter, US composer (Sea Drift), dies at 75
May 17 Karl Heinrich David, composer, dies at 66
May 20 Jan Ingenhoven, Dutch composer and conductor, dies at 74
May 29 Dimitrios Levidis, composer, dies at 66
May 29 Josef Bohuslav Foerster, composer, dies at 91
May 29 Robert Kahn, German composer, dies at 85
Jun 2 John Erskine, US writer/poet/pianist (Venus Love Goddess), dies at 71
Jun 4 Serge Koussevitsky, conductor/composer, dies at 76
Jun 4 Serge Koussevitzky, Russian-American conductor (Boston Symp), dies at 76
Jun 17 Carl Vogler, Swiss composer, dies at 77
Jun 23 Armin Knab, German composer (Wunderhorn), dies at 70
Jul 6 Josef Hüttel, Czech composer, dies at 57
Jul 9 Jorgen Bentzon, Danish composer, dies at 54

Arnold Schoenberg

Jul 13 Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian composer (Verklärte Nacht) and painter associated with the expressionist movement, dies at 76

Jul 19 Max Ettinger, Jewish-German composer (Jiddische Requiem), dies at 77
Aug 11 Ebbe Hamerik, Danish composer, dies at 52
Aug 15 Artur Schnabel, Austrian pianist (Reflections on Music), dies at 69
Aug 21 Leonard Constant Lambert, English composer (Rio Grande), dies at 45
Sep 3 Robert Franz Richard Hernried, composer, dies at 67
Sep 9 Cecil Gray, Scottish composer and music critic, dies at 56
Sep 9 Gibson Gowland, British actor (Greed, Blind Husbands, The Phantom of the Opera), dies at 74
Sep 10 Giuseppe Mulè, Italian composer, dies at 66
Sep 14 Fritz Busch, German conductor, dies at 61
Sep 15 Jacinto Guerrero, composer, dies at 56
Sep 17 Jimmy Yancey, American pianist (b. 1898)
Nov 5 Agrippina J Vaganova, Russian ballet dancer/pegagoge, dies at 72
Nov 5 Bedrich Antonin Wiedermann, Czech organist and composer, dies at 67
Nov 9 Resurreccion Maria de Azkue, composer, dies at 87
Nov 9 Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian/US composer (Blossom Time), dies at 64
Nov 13 Nikolai Medtner, Russian pianist and composer (Skazi), dies at 71
Nov 13 Hugo Leichtentritt, composer, dies at 77
Nov 13 Nikolai Karlovich Metner, composer, dies at 71
Nov 18 Vaclav Kalik, composer, dies at 60
Nov 18 Will Vodery, African-American composer, dies at 66
Dec 1 Felix Petyrek, composer, dies at 59
Dec 12 Mildred Bailey, American jazz singer (b. 1907)
Dec 13 Selim Palmgren, Finnish pianist and composer (Daniel Hjort), dies at 73
Dec 22 Powell Weaver, composer, dies at 61
Dec 23 Alfrēds Kalniņš, Latvian composer, dies at 72

1950
On This Day in Music
1952