December 2016 in Music History

Events in Music

Dec 2 Fire during a dance party at an Oakland warehouse kills 36
Dec 7 Pakistan International Airways plane crashes north of Islamabad, killing all 48 on board, including singer turned preacher Junaid Jamshed

Nobel Prize

Dec 10 Bob Dylan is awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden; he does not attend

Music Concert

Dec 14 Rock for the Rainforest benefit concert held at Carnegie Hall, NYC; performers include: Sting, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Ronnie Spector, Idina Menzal, Darlene Love, and Jennifer Nettles

Knighthood

Dec 30 British singer-songwriter Ray Davies, of The Kinks, is awarded a knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II

Deaths in Music

Dec 1 Elisabeth Carron, American soprano ("The Saint of Bleecker Street"; New York City Opera, 1958-73), dies at 94
Dec 3 Antonio Membrado, Spanish-French classical guitarist and composer, dies at 81
Dec 3 Gigliola Frazzoni, Italian operatic soprano, dies at 93
Dec 4 Radim Hladík, Czech guitarist (The Blue Effect), dies from lung illness at 69
Dec 7 Greg Lake, English rock vocalist and bassist (King Crimson; Emerson, Lake & Palmer), dies of cancer at 69
Dec 7 Junaid Jamshed, Pakistani singer (Vital Signs 1), dies in a plane crash at 52
Dec 13 Alan Thicke, Canadian actor (Growing Pains), host (Thicke of the Night), and theme song composer (Diff'rent Strokes; The Facts of Life), dies of an aortic dissection at 69
Dec 14 Karel Husa, Czech-American Pulitzer prize winning composer (Trojan Women), dies at 95
Dec 21 Weston Noble, American music educator and conductor (Luther College, 1948-2005), dies at 94
Dec 22 Bill Price, British audio engineer (Tom Jones; Wings: Sparks; Elton John), and record producer (The Clash; Sex Pistols; Waterboys), dies of cancer at 72
Dec 23 Heinrich Schiff, Austrian cellist and conductor, dies at 65
Dec 24 Jack Philip Cannon, British composer, dies at 87
Dec 24 Rick Parfitt, British pop guitarist and singer (Status Quo - "Wanderer"; "Pictures of Matchstick Men"), dies at 68
Dec 25 Alphonse Mouzon, American jazz musician (Weather Report, Tenacious Records), dies from cancer at 68

George Michael (1963-2016)

Dec 25 English singer-songwriter and pop superstar (Wham! - "Careless Whisper"; "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go"; solo - " I Want Your Sex"; "Faith"), dies of suspected heart failure at 53

Dec 25 Valery Khalilov, Russian military conductor and composer, dies in a plane crash in the Black Sea, near Sochi, at 64
Dec 26 George S. Irving [Shelasky], American broadway singer and actor (Dumplings), dies at 94
Dec 28 (Mary Frances) "Debbie" Reynolds, American actress and singer (Singin' In The Rain -"Kathy Selden"; The Unsinkable Molly Brown), dies of a stroke at 84 one day after her daughter Carrie Fisher passed away