- Jan 1 Alexis Korner, British blues revivalist, guitar player (Blues Incorporated - "Please Please Please Please"), and radio broadcaster, dies of lung cancer at 55
- Jan 11 Fritz Geissler, German composer, dies at 62
- Jan 14 Paul Ben Haim [Frankenburger], Israeli composer, dies at 86
- Jan 17 Kostas Giannidis [Yannis Constantinidis], Greek composer and pianist, dies at 80
- Jan 18 Vassilis Tsitsanis, Greek singer, rebetiko and laïkó songwriter, and bouzouki player, dies on his 69th birthday
- Jan 21 Jackie Wilson, American soul singer-songwriter and performer ("Lonely Teardrops"; "Higher And Higher": "I Get the Sweetest Feeling"), dies from stroke complications at 49
- Jan 23 Samuel Gardner, American composer, dies at 92
- Jan 23 Dean Goffin, New Zealand composer, dies at 67
- Feb 9 (Tanjore) Balasaraswathi, Indian classical dancer, dies at 65
- Feb 15 Ethel Merman [Zimmermann], American Tony and Grammy Award-winning stage and screen singer ("There's No Business Like Show Business"), and actress (It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), dies of brain cancer at 76
- Feb 19 Ina Ray Hutton, American orchestra leader (Ina Ray Hutton Show), dies at 66
- Feb 19 Claude Hopkins, American jazz stride pianist, arranger, bandleader, and musical director (Josephine Baker), dies at 80
- Feb 20 Fikret Amirov, Azerbaijani-Soviet composer (Azerbaijan Capriccio, Shur), dies at 61
- Mar 4 Shalva Mikhailovich Mshvelidze, Russian composer, dies at 79
- Mar 5 Harry Salter, orchestra leader (Stop the Music), dies at 85
- Mar 5 Tito Gobbi, Italian baritone (Scarpia in Tosca), dies at 70
- Mar 6 Pierre Cochereau, French composer, dies at 59
- Mar 11 Kostas Roukounas, Greek rembetiko singer and songwriter, dies at about 81 (b. 1903)
- Mar 16 Evencio Castellanos, Venezuelan pianist, and composer, dies at 68
- Mar 18 Paul Frances Webster, lyricist, dies of Parkinson's disease at 76
- Mar 28 Carmen Dragon, American composer and conductor (Hollywood Bowl Symphony) dies of cancer at 69
Marvin Gaye
Apr 1 Marvin Gaye, American soul singer-songwriter ("It Takes Two"; What's Going On"; "Let's Get It On"), shot to death by his father Marvin Gay, Sr., during a domestic dispute in Los Angeles at 44
- Apr 1 Chepín [Electo Rosell], Cuban violinist, bandleader, and composer (Orquesta Chepín-Chovén), dies at 76
- Apr 6 Jimmy Kennedy, Irish singer-songwriter ("Teddy Bears' Picnic"; "My Prayer"), dies at 81
- Apr 6 Ral Donner, singer/narrator, dies at 41
- Apr 11 Fred Robinson, American jazz trombonist (Louis Armstong's Hot Five; Fats Waller; Cab Calloway), dies at 83
- Apr 13 Ralph Kirkpatrick, American musician, musicologist and harpsichordist (Domenico Scarlatti), dies at 72
- Apr 13 George Fierstone, British jazz and session drummer, (The Skyrockets), dies at 67
- Apr 15 Machito, Latin jazz musician & creator of Cubop and salsa music (Afro-Cubans), dies following a stroke at 76
- Apr 20 Mabel Mercer, British jazz and cabaret singer whose style and phrasing influenced Frank Sinatra ("Fly Me to the Moon"), dies at 84
- Apr 23 (William) "Red" Garland, American jazz pianist (Miles Davis Quintet), dies of a heart attack at 60
- Apr 23 Juan Tizol, Puerto Rican jazz trombonist (Duke Ellington), and composer ("Caravan"; "Perdido"), dies at 84
- Apr 26 (William) "Count" Basie, jazz pianist, organist, and bandleader ("One O'Clock Jump"; "April In Paris"), dies of pancreatic cancer at 79
- Apr 28 Moses "Whispering" Smith, American blues harmonica player and singer ("A Thousand Miles From Nowhere"; "Hound Dog Twist"), dies at 52
- May 1 Gordon Jenkins, American arranger and orchestra leader (Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra), dies of Lou Gehrig's disease at 73
- May 4 Diana Dors [Fluck], British actress and singer (Berserk!; Steaming), dies of cancer at 52
- May 4 Larry Stock, American singer-songwriter ("Blueberry Hill"; "You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You"), dies at 87
- May 10 Jean-Louis Viale, French jazz drummer, dies at 51
- May 25 Piet Ketting, Dutch pianist, conductor and composer, dies at 79
- Jun 1 Nate Nelson, American singer (Flamingos - I Only Have Eyes for You), dies at 52
- Jun 2 Georgios Kasassoglou, Greek musician (b. 1908)
- Jun 8 Gordon Jacob, British composer, dies at 88
- Jun 13 Marinus de Jong, Dutch composer, dies at 92
- Jun 13 António Variações [António Joaquim Rodrigues Ribeiro], Portuguese singer-songwriter (Dar & Receber), dies at 39 of AIDS-related pneumonia complications
- Jun 15 Meredith Willson, American composer for stage (The Music Man), and screen (The Great Dictator; Little Foxes), dies at 82
- Jun 16 Harmonica Slim [Travis Blaylock], American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter ("You Better Believe It"), dies at 49
- Jun 17 Klavdiya Shulzhenko, Soviet jazz and pop singer ("Let's Smoke"), dies at 78
- Jun 19 Wladimir Rudolfovich Vogel, composer, dies at 88
- Jun 20 Hans Studer, Swiss composer, dies at 73
- Jul 2 Ramiro Cortes, composer, dies at 50
- Jul 4 Jimmie Spheeris, American singer and songwriter, dies at 34
- Jul 5 Don Elliott [Helfman], American jazz trumpeter, vibraphonist, mellophone player, and vocalist, dies of cancer at 57
- Jul 8 Christine McIntyre, American actress and singer (The Three Stooges, The Rangers' Round-Up), dies from cancer at 73
- Jul 9 Randall Thompson, American composer (Trip to Nahant), dies at 85
- Jul 11 Karel Mengelberg, Dutch composer and conductor, dies at 81
- Jul 14 Philippe Wynne, American soul singer ("I'll Be Around"), dies at 43
- Jul 14 Siegfried Kohler, German composer (Tausend Sterne sind ein Dom), dies at 57
- Jul 16 Billy Williams, American singer (Your Show of Shows), dies at 73
- Jul 17 J Delos Jewkes, American light opera, vaudeville, choral (Mormon Tabernacle), film and television bass singer, and actor (Stars And Stripes Forever; The Music Man; The Andy Griffith Show), dies of a heart attack at 89
- Jul 20 Gail Kubik, American composer (Gerald McBoing Boing), dies at 69
- Jul 21 Michael Osborne, American rock guitarist and vocalist (Axe), dies at 34
- Jul 25 Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton, American rhythm-and-blues singer and songwriter ("Hound Dog"; "Ball & Chain"; "Stronger Than Dirt"), dies of heart and liver disorders at 57
- Jul 28 Ahti Sonninen, Finnish composer (Pessi and Illusia, Rauhaa, vain rauhaa), dies at 70
- Jul 29 Fred Waring, American bandleader, conductor, and Waring Blender namesake, dies at 84
- Jul 31 Paul Le Flem, French composer and music critic, dies at 103
- Aug 7 Esther Phillips, American singer (What a Difference a Day Makes), dies at 48
- Aug 11 Percy Mayfield, American singer (Hit the Road Jack), dies at 63
- Aug 14 Peter Wishart, English composer, dies at 63
- Aug 14 Bobo Jenkins [John Pickens Jenkins], American blues singer-songwriter (Democrat Blues), dies at 68
- Aug 16 György Kósa, Hungarian composer, dies at 87
- Aug 17 Hammie Nixon [Nickerson], American blues harmonica player (Sleepy John Estes), dies at 76
- Aug 22 Charles Whittenberg, American composer, dies at 57
- Sep 3 Arthur Schwartz, American composer (Girl from Paris; Excuse My Dust), dies at 83
- Sep 6 Ernest Tubb, American country musician ("Walking the Floor Over You"), dies of emphysema at 70
- Sep 8 Rene Bernier, Belgian composer, dies at 79
- Sep 9 Walter Kaufmann, German-American conductor (Winnipeg Symphony, 1948-57), composer (Navaratnam), and musicologist (The Ragas of South India), dies at 77
- Sep 11 Hilding Hallnäs, Swedish composer (Kärlekens ringdans), dies at 81
- Sep 19 June Preisser, American acrobatic dancer and actress (Babes in Arms; Strike Up the Band), dies in a car crash at 64
- Sep 20 Steve Goodman, American folk singer and songwriter ("City O f New Orleans"; "Chicken Cordon Blues"), dies of leukemia at 36
- Sep 23 Anatoly Novikov, Soviet composer, dies at 87
- Sep 26 Shelly Manne, American 'West Coast' jazz and session drummer, percussionist, composer, and bandleader, dies of a heart attack at 64
- Oct 7 Hermann Schroeder, German composer, dies at 80
- Oct 17 Alberta Hunter, American blues singer and composer, dies at 89
- Oct 21 Dalibor Cyril Vačkář, Czech composer, dies at 78
- Oct 22 Harold Laurence Walters, American composer, dies at 66
- Oct 25 Pascale Ogier, actress (Ghost Dance), dies of heart attack at 24
- Oct 26 John Woods Duke, American composer, dies at 85
- Oct 28 Giuseppe Savagnone, Italian composer, dies at 81
- Nov 8 Carl Gustav Sparre Olsen, Norwegian composer, dies at 81
- Nov 11 Jan Novák, Czech classical composer, dies at 63
- Nov 16 Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (b. 1906)
- Nov 16 Leonard Rose, American concert cellist (NY Phil 1943-51), dies at 66
- Nov 20 Alexander Moyzes, Slovak composer, dies at 78
- Nov 24 Godfrey Ridout, Canadian composer, dies at 66
- Dec 8 Razzle [Nicholas Dingley], British drummer (Hanoi Rocks), dies at 24
- Dec 15 Jan Peerce [Jacob Pincus Perelmuth], American tenor (NBC Symphony, 1938-55; NY Metropolitan Opera, 1941-67; "Bluebird of Happiness"), dies at 80
- Dec 19 Michel Magne, French experimental music and film score composer (Gigot; Barbarella), and recording studio owner (Château d'Hérouville). takes his own life at 54
- Dec 21 Judith Raskin, American soprano (Susanna-Le Nozze di Figaro), dies at 56
- Dec 22 Viola Wells [Evans], American jazz, blues, and gospel singer, dies at 82
- Dec 26 Gösta Jonsson, Swedish saxophonist, accordion player and band leader, dies at 69
- Dec 29 Leo Robin, American songwriter ("Thanks For the Memory"; "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend"), dies of heart failure at 84