Events in Music
- May 2 Beatles' "Beatles' 2nd Album" goes #1 & stays #1 for 5 weeks
Music History
May 18 David Frost interviews Paul McCartney on BBC
- May 24 18th Tony Awards: "Luther" (play) & "Hello, Dolly!" (musical) win
The Beatles on Ed Sullivan
May 24 The Beatles' 4th appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show", features an interview and pre-recorded performance of "You Can't Do That"
Music Premiere
May 26 Betty Comden & Adolph Green and Jule Styne's musical "Fade Out-Fade In", featuring Carol Burnett, Jack Cassidy (later replaced by Dick Shawn), and Tina Louise, opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 271 performances
Music History
May 28 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 9th String quartet
- May 30 "Beyond the Fringe" closes at John Golden Theater NYC after 673 performances
- May 30 Beatles 1961 record of "Cry for a Shadow" is #1 in Australia
- May 30 The Beatles' "Love Me Do" single goes #1 in the United States
Birthdays in Music
- May 5 Lorraine McIntosh, Scottish pop singer (Deacon Blues) and actress, born in Cumnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland
- May 8 Dave Rowntree, British drummer (Blur - "Country House"; Coffee &TV"), and politician, born in Colchester, Essex, England
- May 16 Boyd Tinsley, American violinist and mandolin player (Dave Matthews Band, 1992-2018; Crystal Garden, 2015-), born in Charlottesville, Virginia
Lenny Kravitz (58 years old)
May 26 American musician who holds the record for most Grammy Awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance (1999-2002), born in Manhattan, New York
Tom Morello (58 years old)
May 30 American guitarist (Audioslave; Rage Against the Machine), born in NYC, New York
Wynonna Judd (58 years old)
May 30 American country singer (The Judds), born in Ashland, Kentucky
- May 31 Darryl "DMC" Matthews McDaniels, American Hip Hop musician (Run-DMC), born in NYC, New York
- May 31 Scotti Hill [Mulvehill], American rock guitarist (Skid Row - "18 And Lie": "I Remember You"), born in Manhasset, New York
Weddings in Music
Ritchie Blackmore
May 18 Guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (19) weds Margrit Volkmar
Deaths in Music
- May 6 Harold Morris, American pianist and composer, dies at 74
- May 10 Carol Haney, dancer (Pantomime Quiz), dies at 35
- May 10 Ignace Lilien, Dutch-Austrian composer, dies at 66
- May 20 Rudy Lewis, American pop vocalist (The Drifters - "Up On The Roof"; "On Broadway), dies of a probable drug overdose at 27
- May 25 Vasily Andreyevich Zolotaryov, Russian composer (Rhapsodie hébraïque; Prince Lake), and teacher, dies at 92
- May 28 John Finley Williamson, American choral conductor (Westminster Choir College, 1920-58), dies at 76
