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1959 in British music

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1959 in British music

This is a summary of 1959 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

Contents

Events

  • 21 April - Ballerina Margot Fonteyn is jailed for 24 hours in Panama on suspicion of planning a coup against the government of president Ernesto de la Guardia.
  • 1 June - The first edition of Juke Box Jury, presented by David Jacobs, is broadcast on BBC television. The first panel consists of Pete Murray, Alma Cogan, Gary Miller and Susan Stranks.
  • 10 June - On the opening day of a 'Pageant of Magna Carta', Benjamin Britten's Fanfare for St Edmundsbury is given its first performance in the precincts of St Edmundsbury Cathedral.
  • 30 October – Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club opens in the Soho district of London.

    • The Official UK Singles Chart

  • See List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1950s

    • Classical music: new works

  • Benjamin Britten - Missa Brevis (Britten)
  • Francis Jackson - Diversion for Mixtures
  • Grace Williams - All Seasons shall be Sweet

    • Film and Incidental music

  • Richard Rodney Bennett - The Man Who Could Cheat Death directed by Terence Fisher, starring Anton Diffring.
  • James Bernard - The Hound of the Baskervilles directed by Terence Fisher, starring Peter Cushing.

    • Musical theatre

  • Wolf Mankowitz, David Heneker and Monty Norman - Make Me an Offer
  • Sandy Wilson - Pieces of Eight

    • Musical films

  • Expresso Bongo, starring Laurence Harvey and Cliff Richard
  • Follow a Star, starring Norman Wisdom and June Laverick
  • The Lady Is a Square, starring Anna Neagle and Frankie Vaughan
  • Tommy the Toreador, starring Tommy Steele

    • Births

  • 14 January - Chas Smash (Madness)
  • 28 January - Dave Sharp (The Alarm)
  • 3 February - Lol Tolhurst, English drummer (The Cure, Presence, Easy Cure, and Levinhurst)
  • 25 February - Mike Peters, singer/songwriter (The Alarm)
  • 17 March - Mike Lindup, singer/keyboard player (Level 42)
  • 10 April - Brian Setzer, singer/guitarist (The Stray Cats)
  • 21 April - Robert Smith, singer (The Cure)
  • 27 April - Sheena Easton, singer
  • 22 May - Morrissey, singer (The Smiths, solo)
  • 28 May - Steve Strange, singer
  • 24 June - Andy McCluskey (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark)
  • 28 June - Clint Boon, singer and keyboard player (Inspiral Carpets and The Clint Boon Experience)
  • 30 June - Brendan Perry, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Dead Can Dance and The Scavengers)
  • 9 July - Jim Kerr, singer
  • 29 August - Eddi Reader, singer
  • 4 October - Chris Lowe, keyboard player (Pet Shop Boys)
  • 10 October - Kirsty MacColl, singer/songwriter (d. 2000)
  • 7 November - Richard Barrett, composer
  • 27 November - Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds)
  • 1 December - Billy Childish
  • 30 December - Tracey Ullman, actress and singer

    • Deaths

  • 11 March - Haydn Wood, violinist and composer (born 1882)
  • 25 March - Billy Mayerl, pianist and composer (born 1902)
  • 9 June - Sonnie Hale, actor and singer (born 1902)
  • 6 September - Kay Kendall, musical comedy actress (born 1926) (leukaemia)
  • 11 September - Ann Drummond-Grant, operatic contralto (born 1905)
  • 21 September - Agnes Nicholls, operatic soprano (born 1877)
  • 28 September - Gerard Hoffnung, German-born artist, musician and humorist (born 1925) (cerebral haemorrhage)
  • 19 October - Stanley Bate, pianist and composer (born 1911) (suicide)
  • 26 November - Albert Ketèlbey, pianist, conductor and composer (born 1875)
  • 29 December - Robin Milford, composer (born 1903)
  • 30 December - G. W. Briggs, hymn-writer (born 1875)

    • References

    1959 in British music Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA