This is a summary of 1962 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
Popular music in the UK continued to be dominated by American acts, but a homegrown style of pop music had begun to evolve, led by performers such as Cliff Richard and The Shadows. The Hollies, The Swinging Blue Jeans, The Merseybeats, The Nashville Teens and The Rolling Stones all formed during this year. Novelty records with a British flavour, such as Mike Sarne's "Come Outside", and Anthony Newley's "That Noise", continued to be successful.
1 January – The Beatles and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes both audition at Decca Records, a company which has the option of signing one group only. The Beatles are rejected, mainly because the Tremeloes are Dagenham-based, and thus nearer London.5 January – The first album on which The Beatles play, My Bonnie, credited to "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" (recorded last June in Hamburg), is released by Polydor.24 January – Brian Epstein signs a contract to manage the Beatles.21 February – Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev dance together for the first time, in a Royal Ballet performance of Giselle.March - Record Mirror stops compiling its own chart and begins publishing Record Retailer's instead.21 March - 17-year-old Jacqueline du Pré makes her concerto début at the Royal Festival Hall, playing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Rudolf Schwarz.7 April – Mick Jagger and Keith Richards meet Brian Jones at The Ealing Club, a blues club in London30 May - Meredith Davies co-conducts with Benjamin Britten, the première of Britten’s War Requiem, now regarded as a landmark of British 20th-century choral music, at the re-consecration of Coventry Cathedral.17 August – Telstar by The Tornados is released in the UK. It would eventually be the first song by a British group to reach the top spot on the Billboard Top 100, proving a precursor of the British Invasion.18 August – The Beatles play their first live engagement with the line-up of John, Paul, George and Ringo, at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight.23 August – John Lennon secretly marries Cynthia Powell.See UK No.1 Hits of 1962Malcolm Arnold - Concerto for Two Violins and String OrchestraBenjamin Britten -War RequiemA Hymn of St ColumbaDilys Elwyn-Edwards - Caneuon y Tri AderynAlun Hoddinott - Folksong SuiteWilliam Mathias - PostludeRobert Simpson - Symphony No. 3Michael Tippett - Piano Sonata No. 2Michael Tippett – King PriamFilm and Incidental music
John Addison - The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, starring Tom Courtenay.Antony Hopkins - Billy Budd directed by and starring Peter Ustinov, co-starring Terence Stamp.Monty Norman - Dr. No directed by Terence Young, starring Sean Connery.8 May - Blitz!, Lionel Bart's new musical, opens at London's Adelphi Theatre, and runsfor 568 performances.The Cool Mikado, starring Frankie Howerd and Lionel BlairIt's Trad, Dad!, starring Helen Shapiro and Craig DouglasPlay It Cool, starring Billy Fury4 January - Robin Guthrie (The Cocteau Twins)16 January – Paul Webb (Talk Talk)31 January – Sophie Muller, British music video director5 March - Craig Reid and Charlie Reid, The Proclaimers15 March – Terence Trent D'Arby, American-born singer17 March – Clare Grogan, actress and singer14 May - Ian Astbury, British rock singer (The Cult)8 June – Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)22 June - Bobby Gillespie, vocalist (Primal Scream)27 June – Michael Ball, actor and singer3 November – Marilyn, pop vocalist24 November - John Squire, guitarist, musician (The Stone Roses), (The Seahorses)6 December - Ben Watt, DJ, and record producer, one half of Everything but the Girl12 December - John Jones, record producerdate unknown - Tolga Kashif, composer14 March - Norman Coke-Jephcott, organist and composer, 6710 April – Stuart Sutcliffe, former member of The Beatles, 21 (cerebral paralysis caused by a brain hemorrhage)30 April - Edward Clark, conductor and radio producer, 7312 June – John Ireland, pianist and composer, 8213 June – Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens, conductor, 6924 August - Henry Ley, organist, composer and music teacher, 7418 November - Clifford Bax, playwright, poet, lyricist and hymn writer, brother of Arnold Bax, 76date unknown - Anderson Tyrer, pianist
