Events in Music
- May 5 The Kinks release "Waterloo Sunset" as a single; peaks at #2 on the British charts
Music History
May 10 Rolling Stones Keith Richards, Brian Jones & Mick Jagger arrested on drug charges
- May 11 "Sing, Israel Sing" opens at Brooks Atkinson Theatre NYC for 14 performances
Music Concert
May 12 1st quadraphonic concert by Pink Floyd at the Games for May concert in London
Film Release
May 12 Columbia Pictures releases "Good Times" a musical comedy western staring Sonny & Cher and George Sanders; Cher's 1st starring role is also the feature debut of director William Friedkin
Album Release
May 12 Track Records releases "Are You Experienced" album by the Jimi Hendrix Experience - one of the most influential debut albums ever
Meeting of Interest
May 15 Paul McCartney meets his future wife, American photographer Linda Eastman
Music History
May 25 John Lennon takes delivery of his psychedelically painted Rolls Royce
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
May 26 EMI rush releases The Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in London and select markets in the UK, prior to nation-wide release; it would go to number one for 15 weeks in the US and 22 weeks in the UK
Music Concert
May 28 Dmitri Shostakovich completes his 2nd Violin concert
Birthdays in Music
Tim McGraw (55 years old)
May 1 American country musician and actor, born in Delhi, Louisiana
- May 6 Mark Bryan, American songwriter, and lead guitarist (Hootie & the Blowfish - "Only Wanna Be With You", born in Silver Spring, Maryland
- May 8 James Hurt, American jazz pianist, and composer (Dark Grooves – Mystical Rhythms), born in Memphis, Tennessee
- May 10 Young MC [Marvin Young], British American rapper (Bust a Move), born in London, England
- May 13 Chuck Schuldiner, American heavy metal singer-songwriter and guitarist (Death; Control Denied) (d. 2001)
- May 13 Melanie Thornton, American pop-dance singer (La Bouche - "Be My Lover"), born in Charleston, South Carolina (d. 2001)
- May 14 Deirdre Gribbin, Northern Ireland classical composer (Hey Persephone!, Unity of Being), born in Belfast, Northern Ireland
- May 16 Kirmo Lintinen, Finnish jazz and contemporary classical pianist, conductor, and composer (Cantata Proverbiorum), born in Saarijärvi, Finland
- May 18 Martin Duffy, British rock keyboardist (Primal Scream), born in Birmingham, England (d. 2022)
- May 18 Rob Base [Ginyard], American rapper (Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock - "It Takes Two"), born in Harlem, New York
- May 22 John Vanderslice, American rock musician and producer, born in Gainesville, Florida
- May 23 Freddie "Junior" Waite, British reggae-rock drummer (Musical Youth - "Pass the Dutchie"), born in Birmingham, England
- May 23 Philip Selway, British alternative-rock drummer (Radiohead - "Creep"; "Lucky"), and singer-songwriter, born in Oxfordshire, England
- May 24 Heavy D [Dwight Errington Myers], Jamaican-American rapper, born in Mandeville, Manchester, Jamaica (d. 2011)
- May 24 Steve McDonald, American rocker (Redd Kross), born in Hawthorne, California
- May 26 Kristen Pfaff, American rock bassist (Hole, 1993-94), born in Buffalo, New York (d. 1994)
- May 29 Mark Nightingale, British jazz and session trombonist, composer, and arranger, born in Evesham, Worcestershire, Engalnd
Noel Gallagher (55 years old)
May 29 British pop singer-songwriter, and guitarist (Oasis - "Wonderwall"; "Don't Look Back In Anger"; High Flying Birds - "Holy Mountain"), born in Manchester, England
- May 30 Martin Blunt, British rock singer (The Charlatans - "The Only One I Know"), born in West Midlands, England
Weddings in Music
Elvis Presley
May 1 King of Rock and Roll Elvis Presley (32) weds actress Priscilla Beaulieu (21) at Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada
Deaths in Music
- May 4 Bengt Axel von Torne, Finnish composer, dies at 75
- May 8 LaVerne Andrews, American pop and swing jazz singer (The Andrews Sisters - "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"; "Rum and Coca-Cola"), dies of cancer at 55
- May 9 Philippa Schuyler, African-American child classical piano prodigy, composer, and journalist, dies in a helicopter crash in Vietnam at 35
- May 12 Julius Kalas, Czech composer, dies at 64
- May 15 Jaromír Fiala, Czech composer, dies at 74
- May 17 John Wesley Work III, African-American composer, musicologist and scholar of African-American folklore and music, dies at 65
- May 19 Elmo Hope, American bebop jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, dies of heart failure at 43
Langston Hughes (1902-1967)
May 22 American poet (Weary Blues), playwright (Mulatto), and librettist (Troubled Island), dies at 65
Country Singers
Jazz Musicians
Opera Singers
Pop Stars
Rappers
Rockers