Musicians Who Died in 1963

Mar 5 Patsy Cline [Virginia Henlsey], American country singer ("Crazy"; "I Fall To Pieces"; "Walkin' After Midnight"), dies in a plane crash at 30

Mar 5 Lloyd "Cowboy" Copas, American country singer ("Candy Kisses"; "Alabam"), dies in a plane crash at 49
Mar 10 Irving Aaronson, American jazz pianist and big band leader, dies of a heart attack at 68
Mar 17 William Henry Squire, composer, dies at 91
Mar 28 Alec Templeton, Welsh pianist and composer (Concertino Lirico), dies at 52

Mar 30 Alexander Gauk, Russian-Soviet composer, dies at 69
Apr 5 Julius Harrison, composer, dies at 78
Apr 9 Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist, dies at 71
Apr 12 Herbie Nichols, American jazz pianist and composer ("Lady Sings the Blues"), dies of leukemia at 43
May 2 Tomas Vackar, composer, dies at 17
May 5 Heinrich Gebhard, German-born American composer, dies at 84
May 12 Stanisław Wiechowicz, Polish composer, dies at 69
May 24 Elmore James, blues guitarist, dies at 45 of a heart attack
May 28 Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin, Soviet composer, dies at 60
Jun 22 Maria Tănase, Romanian singer of traditional and popular music (b. 1913)
Jul 4 Fritz Reutter, German composer, dies at 66
Jul 5 Daniel Ruyneman, composer, dies at 76
Jul 29 Dorian Le Gallienne, Australian composer, dies at 48
Aug 5 Salvador Bacarisse, Spanish composer, dies at 64
Aug 8 Sándor Jemnitz, Hungarian composer, dies at 72
Aug 15 John Powell, American composer, dies at 80
Aug 19 Kathleen Parlow, Canadian violinist (b. 1890)
Aug 23 Glen Gray, American jazz musician and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra (b. 1900)
Aug 30 Axel Stordahl, American arranger & orchestra leader (Frank Sinatra Show), dies of cancer at 50
Sep 3 Frico Kafenda, Slovak composer, dies at 79

Oct 10 Édith Piaf [Édith Giovanna Gassion], French singer (No, I Don't Regret Anything; Le Vie En Rose), dies of liver cancer at 47

Oct 18 Claudio Carneyro, composer, dies at 68
Oct 25 Abu-Bakr Khairat, Egyptian composer, dies at 53
Oct 28 Mart Saar, Estonian composer, dies at 81
Oct 29 Michael Holliday [Norman Milne], British pop singer ("The Story of My Life"), dies of a suspected drug overdose at 38
Nov 8 Simon Jurovsky, composer, dies at 51
Nov 15 Fritz Reiner, Hungarian-American conductor (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1953-63), dies of pneumonia at 74 [1]
Nov 19 Carmen Amaya, Spanish flamenco dancer, dies at about 50
Nov 26 Amelita Galli-Curci, Italian-American operatic soprano (Cave of the Winds), dies at 81
Dec 5 Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer, dies at 58
Dec 13 Stan Jones, American songwriter, composer and actor (Rio Grande, The Sheriff of Cochise), dies of cancer at 49
Dec 14 Dinah Washington, American singer (What a Difference a Day Makes), dies of sleeping pill overdose at 39
Dec 18 Winifried P I Zillig, German composer/conductor (Opfer), dies at 58
Dec 20 Paul Constantinescu, composer, dies at 54

Dec 28 Paul Hindemith, German composer (Composer's World), dies at 68