1973 in Music - Deaths

Deaths

• January 16 – Clara Ward, gospel singer, 48 (stroke)
• January 23 – Kid Ory, jazz trombonist and bandleader, 86
• February 3 – Andy Razaf, composer, poet and lyricist, 77
• February 19
  • Joseph Szigeti, violinist, 80
  • Leon Washington, jazz saxophonist, 63 (leukemia)
• February 28 - Terig Tucci, Argentine composer, violinist, pianist, and mandolinist, 75
• March 5 – Michael Jeffery, Jimi Hendrix's personal manager
• March 8 – Ron Pigpen McKernan, musician and songwriter (Grateful Dead), 27 (stomach hemorrhage)
• March 12 - Esther Ballou, music educator, organist and composer, 57
• March 19 - Lauritz Melchior, Wagnerian tenor, 82
• March 26
  • Safford Cape, American composer and musicologist, 66
  • Noël Coward, composer and dramatist, 73
• March 28 - Gertrude Johnson, coloratura soprano, 78
• April 18 – Willie 'The Lion' Smith, US jazz pianist, 79
• May 9 - Mark Wessel, pianist and composer, 79
• May 21 – Vaughn Monroe, US singer and bandleader, 61
• May 27 - Ilona Kabos, Hungarian-British pianist and teacher, 79

• June 4 - Murry Wilson, musician and record producer, 55
• June 8 - Tubby Hayes, jazz musician, 38 (during heart surgery)
• July 3
  • Betty Grable, US actress and singer, 56 (lung cancer)
  • Karel Ančerl, conductor, 65
• July 6 – Otto Klemperer, conductor, 88
• July 11 – Alexander Mosolov, Russian composer, 72
• July 15 – Clarence White, guitarist (The Byrds), 29 (road accident)
• August 2 - Rosetta Pampanini, operatic soprano, 76
• August 4 - Eddie Condon, jazz banjoist and guitarist, 67
• August 6 - Memphis Minnie, blues singer and guitarist, 76
• August 16 - Astra Desmond, operatic contralto, 80
• August 17
  • Jean Barraqué, French classical composer, 45
  • Paul Williams, baritone singer and co-founder of the Motown group, The Temptations, 34 (suicide by gunshot)
• August 19 - Brew Moore, jazz saxophonist, 49 (fell downstairs)
• September 1 - Graziella Pareto, operatic soprano, 84
• September 6 – Sir William Henry Harris, organist and composer, 90
• September 10 – Allan Gray, composer, 71
• September 11 - Martha Angelici, operatic soprano, 66
• September 16 – Víctor Jara, Chilean folk singer, 40 (murdered)
• September 17 – Hugo Winterhalter, US conductor and arranger, 53
• September 19 – Gram Parsons, guitarist/vocalist, 26 (drug overdose)
• September 20
  • Jim Croce, 30, singer-songwriter (plane crash)
  • Ben Webster, jazz saxophonist, 64
• October 16
  • Gene Krupa, drummer, 64
  • Jorge Peña Hen, composer, 45
• October 22 – Pablo Casals, cellist, 95
• November 10
  • Zeke Zettner (The Stooges), 25 (heroin overdose)
  • David "Stringbean" Akeman, country banjo player and comedian, 57 (murdered)
• November 18 – Alois Hába, composer, 80
• November 23 - De De Pierce, jazz trumpeter, 69
• November 26 - Edith Mason, operatic soprano, 81
• November 27 – Frank Christian, jazz trumpeter, 85
• December 13 - Fanny Heldy, operatic soprano, 85
• December 20 – Bobby Darin, American singer and actor, 37 (heart failure)
• December 31 – Emile Christian, jazz trombonist, 78
• date unknown – Cäwdät Fäyzi, Tatar composer and folklorist