1953 in Music

• Feb 25 "Wonderful Town" opens at Winter Garden Theater NYC for 559 performances
• Mar 8 "Two's Company" closes at Alvin Theater NYC after 90 performances

• Mar 28 "New Faces (of 1952)" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 365 performances
• Apr 18 "Pal Joey" closes at Broadhurst Theater NYC after 542 performances

• Aug 2 Betty Jack Davis, singer (w/Skeeter Davis), killed in car crash

• Sep 8 "Carnival in Flanders" opens at New Century Theater NY for 6 performances
• Sep 12 "Carnival in Flanders" closes at New Century Theater NYC after 6 performances
• Sep 19 "Hazel Flagg" closes at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC after 190 performances
• Sep 24 "Take a Giant Step" opens on Broadway
• Oct 2 "Comedy in Music (Victor Borge)" opens at John Golden NYC for 849 performances
• Oct 19 Singer Julius LaRosa is fired on TV by Arthur Godfrey

• Nov 6 Masao Oki's symphony "Atomic Bomb" premieres
• Nov 13 Dmitri Shostakovich's 4th String Quartet premieres
• Nov 25 "Guys & Dolls" closes at 46th St Theater NYC after 1,200 performances
• Nov 28 "Wish You Were Here" closes at Imperial Theater NYC after 597 performances
• Dec 3 "Kismet" opens at Ziegfeld Theater NYC for 583 performances
• Dec 3 Premier of Dmitri Shostakovich' 5th String Quartet
• Dec 3 "In the Jailhouse Now" single recorded by Webb Pierce (Billboard Song of the Year 1955)
• Dec 10 "John Murray Anderson's Almanac" opens at Imperial NYC for 229 performances
• Dec 17 Dmitri Shostakovich's 10th Symphony premieres in Leningrad

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 182

• Jan 1 Alpha Blondy, [Seydou Kone], Ivory coast, reggae singer (Jerusalem)
• Jan 1 Kevin Hangon, composer
• Jan 1 Rochelle S Abramson, violinist
• Jan 1 Greg Carmichael, British guitarist (Acoustic Alchemy)
• Jan 5 Steve Archer, American singer (The Archers), born in Mojave, California
• Jan 6 Malcolm Young, Scottish guitarist (AC/DC-Highway to Hell), born in Glasgow, Scotland
• Jan 7 Earl Lindo, Jamaican reggae musician (Bob Marley & the Wailers), born in Kingston, Jamaica (d. 2017)
• Jan 10 Pat Benatar [Andrezejewski], American singer (Hell Is for Children), born in Brooklyn, New York
• Jan 17 Sheila Hutchinson, rocker
• Jan 19 Desi Arnaz Jr., American actor (Craig-Here's Lucy, Fakeout, Joyride) & musician, born in Los Angeles, California
• Jan 22 Myung-Whun Chung, South Korean pianist & conductor (Chung Trio), born in Seoul, South Korea
• Jan 23 Robin Zander, American rock vocalist & guitarist (Cheap Trick-Dream Police), born in Beloit, Wisconsin
• Jan 25 Malcolm Green, English-born drummer (Split Enz-I Got You), born in United Kingdom
• Jan 26 Bert Heerink, Amsterdam, rock vocalist
• Jan 26 Lucinda Williams, American singer-songwriter (Passionate Kisses, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road), born in Lake Charles, Louisiana
• Jan 29 Teresa Teng, Taiwanese singer (d. 1995)
• Feb 4 Kitaro, Japanese composer
• Feb 10 Carl Joseph Stone, composer
• Feb 11 Alan Rubin, American musician (Blues Brothers) known as "Mr Fabulous", born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2011)
• Feb 13 Rico J. Puno, Filipino pop singer, born in Manila, Philippines (d. 2018)
• Feb 14 Wayne Siegel, composer
• Feb 14 Carmine Rojas, American composer, musical director and bass guitarist (Joe Bonamassa), born in Brooklyn, New York City
• Feb 18 Derek Pellicci, rock drummer (Little River Band-Help Is On It's Way)
• Feb 18 Nico Arzbach, rock guitarist/singer (Stampei, Dike)
• Feb 18 Robin "Robbie" Bachman, Canadian drummer (BTO-You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet, Brave Belt), born in Winnipeg, Manitoba
• Feb 20 Riccardo Chailly, conductor (West Berlin Symph Orchestra), born in Milan, Italy
• Feb 20 Poison Ivy, American musician (The Cramps)
• Feb 22 Graham Lewis, English musician (Wire), born in Grantham, United Kingdom
• Feb 26 Michael Bolton, American rock vocalist (That's What Love Is All About), born in New Haven, Connecticut
• Mar 2 William Simmons, sax/keyboardist (Midnight Star-No Parking)
• Mar 3 Dave Amato, rocker (REO Speedwagon-Can't Fight this Feeling)
• Mar 7 Jules Shear, American rock musician & songwriter (If She Knew What She Wants), born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Mar 7 Kenny Aronoff, American drummer (John Mellencamp), born in Albany, New York
• Mar 8 Bob Brozman, American musician
• Mar 10 Ronnie Earl [Ronald Horvath], American blues guitarist (The Broadcasters), born in Queens, New York
• Mar 11 Bernie LaBarge, Canadian musician
• Mar 12 Labamba, [Richard Rosenberg], rocker (Asbury Jukes)
• Mar 18 Jamie West-Oram, rocker (Fixx)
• Mar 19 Billy Sheehan, rocker (Mr Big-Lean Into It)
• Mar 19 Ricky Wilson, rock guitarist (B-52's-Love Shack), born in Athens, Georgia
• Mar 21 Shotgun Johnson [Robert], rock drummer (KC & the Sunshine Band-Give it Up)
• Mar 23 Chaka Khan [Yvette Marie Stevens], American singer and songwriter (Rufus, I am Every Woman), born in Chicago, Illinois
• Mar 26 Michael Bonagura, country singer (Baille & Boys-Oh Heart), born in Newark, New Jersey
• Mar 26 William "Billy" Lyall, Scottish musician (Bay City Rollers), born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1989)
• Mar 27 Walter "Wally" Stocker, British rock vocalist and guitarist (The Babys- "Missing You"), born in London, England
• Mar 31 Greg Martin, singer (Ky Headhunters-Davy Crockett), born in Louisville, Kentucky
• Mar 31 Sean Hopper, California, rock keyboardist (Huey Lewis & The News)
• Mar 31 Dennis Kamakahi, Grammy Award-winning musician (d. 2014), born in Honolulu, Hawaii
• Apr 2 David Robinson, American rock drummer (Cars, The Modern Lovers), born in Malden, Massachusetts
• Apr 3 Huub van der Lubbe, Dutch rock singer (Stampei-The Dike), born in Amsterdam
• Apr 3 Craig Taubman, Jewish-American singer (Friday Night Live), born in Millington, Tennessee
• Apr 6 Christopher Franke, German musician and composer
• Apr 6 Patrick Doyle, Scottish film composer (Artemis Fowl, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Thor), born in Uddingston, Scotland
• Apr 9 Hal Ketchum, American country singer (Small Town Saturday Night), born in Greenwich Village, New York
• Apr 10 Terre Roche, American rocker (Roches), born in New York
• Apr 11 Branimir "Johnny" Štulić, Croatian rock singer (Azra), born in Skopje, Yugoslavia
• Apr 12 Tony James, English rock bassist (Sigue Sigue Sputnik-Love Missile F-111), born in Shepherds Bush, London
• Apr 16 Peter Garrett, Australian environmentalist, activist, former politician (Labour Party), and musician (Midnight Oil), born in Wahroonga, Sydney

• Apr 19 Rod Morgenstein, American musician (Winger), born in NYC, New York
• Apr 22 Juhani Komulainen, Finnish composer
• Apr 24 Porter Carroll Jr, drummer (Atlantic Star-Touch a 4 Leaf Clover)
• Apr 27 Arielle Dombasle, American-French singer and actress, born in Norwich, Connecticut
• Apr 28 Kim Gordon, American musician (Sonic Youth)
• Apr 30 Merrill Osmond, singer (Osmond Brothers, Donnie & Marie), born in Ogden, Utah
• May 1 Felix Hanemann, rocker (Zebra)
• May 1 Glen Ballard, American songwriter and record producer (Alanis Morissette, Michael Jackson), born in Natchez, Mississippi
• May 3 Bruce Hall, American rock bassist (Reo Speedwagon), born in Champaign, Illinois
• May 3 Van McLain [McElvain], American rock guitarist (Shooting Star), born in Kansas City, Missouri (d. 2018)
• May 8 Billy Burnette, rock guitarist (Fleetwood Mac), born in Memphis, Tennessee
• May 8 Alex Van Halen, Amsterdam The Netherlands, Dutch drummer (Van Halen)
• May 10 Steve Thomas, rocker (Shooting Star)
• May 12 Phil Beer is an English multi-instrumentalist and composer (Show of Hands), born in Exminster, Devon
• May 14 Tom Cochrane, Canadian rock vocalist/guitarist (Red Rider), born in Toronto, Ontario
• May 15 Mike Oldfield, British musician and composer (Tubular Bells) born in Reading, Berkshire
• May 16 Richard Page, rocker (Mr Mister), born in Los Angeles, California
• May 17 George Johnson, rocker (Brothers Johnson), born in Los Angeles, California
• May 18 [Feliciano] Butch Tavares, rocker (Tavares)
• May 24 Mark Rivera, American saxophonist, musical director and corporate entertainment provider (Billy Joel), born in Brooklyn, New York
• May 25 Rich Alves, American singer (Pirates of Miss-Fred Jake), born in Pleasanton, California
• May 28 Arto Lindsay, American musician and producer (Cookie, Desperately Seeking Susan), born in Richmond, Virginia

• May 29 Rick Henderson, singer (Mason Dixon-Karen Comes Around), born in Beaumont, Texas
• Jun 4 Jimmy McCulloch, Scottish songwriter and guitarist (Wings), born in Dumbarton (d. 1979)
• Jun 4 Paul Samson, British guitarist (Samson) (d. 2002)
• Jun 7 Johnny Clegg, South African musician "The White Zulu", born in Bacup, Lancashire
• Jun 12 Jonathan "Rocky" Burnette, American rock and roll vocalist ("Tired of Toein' the Line"), born in Memphis, Tennessee
• Jun 14 David Thomas, American singer and songwriter (Pere Ubu), born in Miami, Florida
• Jun 16 Ian Mosley, Paddington London, drummer (Marillion-Clutching at Straws)
• Jun 18 Jerome Smith, American guitarist (KC & the Sunshine Band-Boogie Shoes), born in Miami, Florida (d. 2000)
• Jun 19 Larry Dunn, [Dunhill], US keyboardist (Earth Wind & Fire)
• Jun 21 Augustus Pablo, Jamaican musician (King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown), born in St. Andrew, Jamaica (d. 1999)
• Jun 22 Cyndi Lauper, American singer (Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Time After Time), born in NYC, New York
• Jun 26 Ralph Ezell, American singer (Shenandoah-Sunday in the South), born in Union, Mississippi
• Jun 26 Robert Davi, American actor and opera singer (Die Hard, Gangster Chronicles, License to Kill), born in Queens, New York
• Jun 29 Billy Hinsche, American musician (Dino, Desi & Billy), born in Manila, the Philippines
• Jun 29 Don Dokken, American heavy metal rocker (Dokken-Alone Again), born in Los Angeles, California
• Jun 29 Colin Hay, Scottish-Australian guitarist and singer (Men At Work), born in Saltcoats, Scotland
• Jun 30 Hal Lindes, American-English rocker (Dire Straits), born in Monterey, California
• Jul 6 Nanci Griffith, American singer and songwriter (Poet in My Window), born in Seguin, Texas

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• Sep 24 Singer Dick Haymes (35) weds Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth (34) at The Sands hotel-casino in Las Vegas

• Jan 8 Heinrich Kaspar Schmid, German composer, dies at 78
• Jan 10 Theo Mackeben, German pianist/composer (Golden Cage), dies at 56
• Jan 12 Simeon Roncal, Bolivian composer, dies at 82
• Jan 15 Patrick Vretblad, Swedish composer, dies at 76
• Feb 2 Gustav Strube, composer, dies at 85
• Feb 25 Jesus Garcia Leoz, composer, dies at 49
• Feb 26 Elisabeth "Ilse" Kuyper, Dutch/US (opera)composer, dies
• Mar 5 Sergei Prokofiev, Russian composer (Peter and the Wolf), dies at 61
• Mar 17 Conrado del Campo y Zabaleta, composer, dies at 73
• Mar 26 Albert Spalding, composer, dies at 64
• Mar 27 Narciso Garay, Panamanian composer, dies at 76
• Mar 30 Roderich Mojsisovics-Mojsvar, composer, dies at 75
• May 4 T. Tertius Noble, English composer, dies at 85

• May 17 Eric De Lamarter, American organist, composer and conductor (Chicago Symphony), dies at 73
• May 22 Vaclav Klicka, Czech composer, dies at 70
• May 30 Dooley Wilson [Arthur Wilson], American musician and actor (Beulah, Casablanca), dies of natural causes at 67
• Jun 3 Florence Price, American composer (Wanamaker Prize 1932) and 1st African-American woman to have a composition played by a major orchestra, dies at 66
• Jun 10 Grzegorz Fitelberg, Polish composer, dies at 73
• Jun 17 Walter Niemann, German composer, dies at 76
• Jun 29 Jules van Nuffel, composer, dies at 70
• Jun 30 Gote Carlid, Swedish composer, dies at 32
• Jul 10 Sidney Homer, American composer, dies at 88
• Jul 12 Joseph Jongen, Belgian composer, dies at 79
• Jul 17 Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer, Dutch composer, dies at 65
• Aug 13 Dmitri Arakishvili, composer, dies at 80
• Aug 27 Nicolai Berezowsky, Russian-American composer, dies at 53
• Aug 30 Dimitar Nenov, Bulgarian composer, pianist and architect, dies at 51
• Sep 15 Jacques Thibaud, French violinist, dies
• Sep 17 Henry Holden Huss, American composer, dies at 91
• Sep 21 Roger Quilter, British composer, dies at 75
• Oct 3 Arnold Bax, English composer known for his orchestral music (Coronation March), dies at 69
• Oct 8 Kathleen Ferrier, English contralto singer (Orfeo Ed Evridice), dies at 41
• Oct 18 Federico Gerdes, composer, dies at 80
• Oct 24 Ernest Irving, English composer, dies at 74
• Oct 27 Zdzislaw Jachimecki, composer, dies at 71
• Oct 29 William Kapell, American pianist and recording artist, dies in a plane crash at 31
• Oct 30 Emmerich Kálmán, Hungarian composer of operettas, dies at 71
• Nov 4 Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, American pianist and philanthropist, dies at 89
• Nov 6 John Parsons Beach, American composer, dies at 76
• Nov 21 Larry Shields, American jazz clarinetist (Original Dixieland Jazz Band), dies at 60
• Nov 24 George Alexander Russell, American organist, composer and the first Frick Professor of Music for Princeton University, dies at 73
• Dec 4 Daniel Gregory Mason, composer, dies at 80
• Dec 5 Jorge Negrete [Moreno], Mexican singer and actor (The Rebel, La madrina del diablo), dies of hepatitis at 42
• Dec 15 Kishio Hirao, composer, dies at 46
• Dec 27 Julian Tuwim, Polish poet and lyricist, dies at 59

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