1979 in Music - Deaths

Deaths

  • January 5 – Charles Mingus, jazz musician, 56 (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
  • January 13
    • Donny Hathaway, singer, 33 (suicide)
    • Marjorie Lawrence, operatic soprano, 71
  • February 2 – Sid Vicious, punk rocker, 21 (heroin overdose)
  • March 4 – Mike Patto, rock singer, 36 (cancer)
  • March 5 – Alan Crofoot, operatic tenor and host of Mr Piper, 49 (suicide)
  • March 22 – Walter Legge, record producer, 72
  • March 23 - Antonio Brosa, violinist, 84
  • April 10 – Nino Rota, composer, 67
  • April 29 – Julia Perry, composer and conductor, 55
  • May 1 - Bronislav Gimpel, violinist, 68
  • May 11 – Lester Flatt, bluegrass musician, 64
  • May 21 – Blue Mitchell, trumpeter, 49
  • June 5 – Jack Haley, Wizard of Oz star, 80
  • June 29 – Lowell George, singer, songwriter and guitarist, founder of Little Feat, 34 (heart attack)
  • July 3 – Louis Durey, composer, 91
  • July 6 – Van McCoy, singer, 35 (heart attack)
  • July 12 – Minnie Riperton, singer, 31 (breast cancer)
  • July 14 – Pedro Flores, composer, 85
  • July 16 – Alfred Deller, countertenor, 67
  • August 19 – Dorsey Burnette, Rockabilly singer, 46 (heart attack)
  • August 25 – Stan Kenton, bandleader, 67
  • September 2 - Jacques Février, pianist, 79
  • September 6 – Guy Bolton, English librettist, 94
  • September 22 - Richard Nibley, violinist, 66
  • September 27
    • Gracie Fields, actress and singer, 81
    • Jimmy McCulloch, guitarist (Wings), 28
  • October 1 – Roy Harris, composer, 81
  • October 13 – Rebecca Helferich Clarke, viola player and composer, 93
  • October 22 – Nadia Boulanger, French composer, conductor, and music teacher, 92
  • October 27 - Germaine Lubin, operatic soprano, 89
  • November 11 – Dimitri Tiomkin, film composer and conductor, 85
  • November 17 – John Glascock, rock bassist, 28
  • November 30 – Joyce Grenfell, actress and singer-songwriter, 69
  • December 30 – Richard Rodgers, composer and songwriter, 77
  • December 21 – Nansi Richards, harpist, 91

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Famous quotes containing the word deaths:

    “This is the 184th Demonstration.
    ...
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    hurts no one makes no one desperate
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    stretching between people on the street
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