January 1
Simon "Mac" Nette releases Disco Fling/Bop 'N Boogie not to be confused with Up Yer Kilt the name Disco Fling was released under in some countries.
Bill Graham closes San Francisco's Winterland Ballroom following a New Year's Eve performance by the Blues Brothers and the Grateful Dead.
During a New Year's Eve concert in Cleveland, Ohio, Bruce Springsteen is injured when a firecracker is thrown onstage from the audience.
January 4 – The Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, known for its connections to the early days of the Beatles, reopened.
January 6 – ABC's American Bandstand featured the debut of the "Y.M.C.A. dance" using the hand gestures forming the letters YMCA during a broadcast with the Village People.
January 9 – The Music for UNICEF Concert in held in New York City at the United Nations, starring the Bee Gees. Highlights are aired the following evening on NBC.
January 13 – Singer Donny Hathaway dies after falling 15 stories from his hotel room in New York City. According to Hathaway's record company, Atlantic, the singer had been having some psychological problems.
January 15 – MCA Records purchases ABC Records for a reported $20 million.
February 2 – Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious is found dead from an overdose, a day after being released on bail from Rikers Island prison.
February 7
The Clash kicked off their first concert of their first American tour at the Berkeley Community Theatre outside San Francisco. Bo Diddley opened the show.
Stephen Stills becomes the first major rock artist to record digitally, laying down four songs at The Record Plant in Los Angeles.
February 10 – Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" hit No. 1 on the Billboard magazine charts, and stayed there for 4 weeks.
February 11 – 43 million viewers watch "Elvis!" on ABC, a made-for-TV movie starring Kurt Russell as Elvis.
February 15 – Minnie Riperton appears on the Grammys as a presenter with Stephen Bishop. The Bee Gees collect 4 Grammys for Saturday Night Fever.
February 23 – Dire Straits begin their first U.S. tour in Boston.
February 24
Friedrich Cerha's completion of Alban Berg's opera Lulu is premiered at the Opera Garnier in Paris.
Singer Johnnie Wilder, Jr. of Heatwave is paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio.
February 26 – B.B. King becomes the first blues artist to tour the Soviet Union, kicking off a one-month tour there.
March 2–4 – Weather Report, The CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Stephen Stills, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge and Billy Joel, plus Cuban acts Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Elena Burke, Los Papines, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón play at the historic three-day Havana Jam festival at the Karl Marx Theater, in Havana, Cuba.
March 5 – MCA Records dissolves ABC Records.
March 10 – James Brown performs at the Grand Ole Opry.
March 15 – Elvis Costello gets into a heated argument with members of Stephen Stills' touring entourage at a Holiday Inn in Columbus, Ohio. After Costello makes disparaging remarks about America, he is punched by Bonnie Bramlett. Costello suffers a wave of negative press coverage after the incident is made public.
March 21 – The Pretenders sign a contract with Sire Records.
March 23 – Van Halen releases their second album, Van Halen II.
March 27 – Eric Clapton marries Patti Boyd, ex-wife of Clapton's friend George Harrison.
March 31 – The Eurovision Song Contest, the biggest music festival in the world, takes place for the first time in a country outside Europe – Israel. The show is broadcast live from Jerusalem to Europe and a few countries in Asia. The big winner of this night is Israel for the second time in a row. The winning song is "Hallelujah" sung by Gali Atari and the backing group Milk and Honey. A few months after winning the song had been translated into more than 82 languages, and broke a new record by entering the Guinness Book of Records as the most translated song in the world.
April 2 – Kate Bush begins her first, and to date, only tour. She becomes the first artist to use a wireless microphone, enabling her to sing and dance at the same time.
April 6 – Rod Stewart marries Alana Hamilton.
April 7 – 110,000 people attend the California Music Festival at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum. Performers include Aerosmith, The Boomtown Rats, Cheap Trick, Ted Nugent and Van Halen.
April 12 – Mickey Thomas replaces Marty Balin as the lead singer of Jefferson Starship.
April 13 – During a concert by Van Halen in Spokane, Washington, David Lee Roth collapses from exhaustion. A local doctor treats him for a stomach virus and advises him to "calm down".
April 22 – The New Barbarians and The Rolling Stones perform two concerts in Oshawa, Ontario to benefit the CNIB, as part of Keith Richards' 1978 sentence for heroin possession.
April 24 – The New Barbarians open their US tour at Ann Arbor, Michigan.
April 27 – Ozzy Osbourne is fired as lead singer of Black Sabbath. He is replaced in May by Ronnie James Dio.
May 2 – The Who play their first concert following the death of drummer Keith Moon. The band performs with new drummer Kenney Jones at London's Rainbow Theatre.
May 8 – Iron Maiden, Samson, and Angel Witch share a bill at the Music Machine in Camden, London. Critic Geoff Barton coins the term "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" in a review of the show for Sounds magazine.
May 12 – Disco occupied eight of the top ten spots of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, for two weeks. The charts were led by Peaches and Herb's R&B ballad single "Reunited".
May 19 – Three of the four ex-Beatles perform on the same stage, as Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr jam with Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Mick Jagger and others at a wedding reception for Clapton at his Surrey home.
May 21 – Elton John plays the first of eight concerts in the Soviet Union.
June 1 – Alternative Tentacles record label established by Dead Kennedys frontman Jello Biafra, and Joy Division release their album Unknown Pleasures.
June 8 – Marianne Faithfull marries Ben Brierly of The Vibrators.
June 9 – The Bee Gees tied The Beatles with a record six consecutive number-one singles in the U.S. with "Love You Inside Out".
June 28 – Bill Haley made his final studio recordings at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
July 1 – The Sony Walkman goes on sale in Japan.
July 7 – The Bee Gees play to a sold-out crowd at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium as part of their Spirits Having Flown tour.
July 10 – Chuck Berry is sentenced to four months in prison for tax evasion by a Los Angeles judge.
July 12 – "Disco Demolition Night", an anti-disco promotional event for a Chicago rock station involving exploding disco records with a bomb, causes a near-riot between games during a baseball major league doubleheader, forcing the cancellation of the second game.
July 21 – Disco dominated the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with the first six spots (beginning with Donna Summer's "Bad Girls), and seven of the chart's top ten songs ending that week.
July 28 – Aerosmith and Ted Nugent headline the World Series of Rock at Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. Also on the bill are Journey, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC and the Scorpions. Following the concert, Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry quits the group after an argument with bandmates.
July 31 – 250,000 turn out in Central Park for a free concert by James Taylor in a campaign to restore Sheep Meadow.
August 18 – Nick Lowe and Carlene Carter are married at Carter's Los Angeles home.
August 25 – "My Sharona" by The Knack hits #1 on the Billboard charts. This is the first time in over a year that a song hits #1 that is not either a disco song or a ballad, signalling the potential resurgence of rock.
September 1 – INXS perform in public for the first time, at the Oceanview Hotel in Umina, New South Wales.
September 2 – U2 enters the studio for the first time to record a locally released single.
September 13 – ABBA begins ABBA: The Tour in Edmonton, Alberta, leading off a month of dates in North America.
September 16 – The single "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang is released. Its success marks the commercial emergence of hip hop music.
September 17 – Ontario Court of Appeals rejects a government appeal against the previous year's sentencing of Keith Richards, which allowed him to avoid jail time for his 1977 arrest in Toronto for heroin possession.
September 19-23 – Musicians United for Safe Energy (MUSE) stages a series of five No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden. Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Bonnie Raitt, Tom Petty, James Taylor and Carly Simon are among the participants.
September 22 – The NewMusic, a Canadian weekly music and culture program, makes its début on Citytv.
September 27 – Elton John collapses on stage at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles County, California while performing "Better Off Dead". He refuses to stop the show and resumes playing fifteen minutes later.
October 10 – Joe Perry officially leaves Aerosmith.
November 16 – Infinity Records is shut down and absorbed into parent company MCA.
November 26 – Bill Haley & His Comets perform at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, in a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II. This was Haley's final recorded performance of "Rock Around the Clock".
November 30 – Pink Floyd released The Wall, rising to top spot on the US charts for fifteen weeks.
December 3 – In Cincinnati, a stampede for seats at Riverfront Coliseum during a Who concert kills 11 fans and injures 26 others. Band members were not informed of the deaths until after the show.
December 26 – Iron Maiden drummer Doug Sampson is replaced by ex-Samson drummer Clive Burr.
December 26-29 – The Concerts for the People of Kampuchea are held over four nights at the Hammersmith Odeon in London to raise funds for victims of war in Cambodia. Queen, The Who, The Clash, Wings, Elvis Costello and members of Led Zeppelin all take part.
December 31 – The eighth annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by The Oak Ridge Boys, Village People, Chic, Blondie and Barry Manilow.
The Welsh Philharmonia becomes the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.
Michael Schenker leaves Scorpions during their tour in France and was replaced by Matthias Jabs.
Stevie Wonder uses digital audio recording technology in recording his album Journey through the Secret Life of Plants.
Ry Cooder releases the first pop/rock record made entirely using digital recording technology, "Bop Til You Drop".
EMI's first digital recording – at Abbey Road Studios – of a non-classical music track is released – UK jazz-funk duo Morrissey–Mullen covered the Rose Royce hit Love Don't Live Here Anymore. Released as a limited edition vinyl EP.
Disco reigned supreme in 1979, with several number-one hits from The Bee Gees and Donna Summer. Several artists who were not regarded as disco acts, scored major successes by releasing disco singles, including new wave band Blondie with their first US number-one single "Heart of Glass", Rod Stewart with "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy" and rock band Electric Light Orchestra go disco this year with their UK No. 1 LP Discovery.
Elton John reunites with lyricist Bernie Taupin after a three-year break. The duos recent songs are recorded in August 1979, to be released a year later on "21 at 33".
December, Iron Maiden is signed by EMI. They hire Dennis Stratton as a second guitarist.
See Musical groups established in 1979
Bands disbanded
See Musical groups disestablished in 1979
The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1979.
"Don't Cry Out Loud" w. Carole Bayer Sager m. Peter Allen
"The Facts of Life" w.m. Alan Thicke, Gloria Loring, and Al Burton, from the TV series of the same name
"I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love" w.m. Carole Bayer Sager & Peter Allen
"Knots Landing theme" m. Jerrold Immel
"The Rainbow Connection" w.m. Kenny Ascher & Paul Williams, from the film The Muppet Movie
"Sultans of Swing" w.m. Mark Knopfler
Arno Babadjanian – Third String Quartet
Osvaldas Balakauskas – Symphony no 2
George Crumb
Apparition for soprano and amplified piano
Celestial Mechanics (Makrokosmos IV) for amplified piano (four hands)
Star-Child (1977, revised 1979) for soprano, antiphonal children's voices, male speaking choir, bell ringers, and large orchestra
Mario Davidovsky – Pennplay for sixteen players
Hugh Flynn – Birds
Jacques Hétu – Bassoon Concerto
Vagn Holmboe
Violin Concerto No. 2
Notater for 3 trombones (alto, tenor, baritone) and tuba
Konstateringer for choir
Guitar Sonata No. 1
Guitar Sonata No. 2
Accordion Sonata No. 1
Bogtrykkemaskinen for violin and piano
Miloslav Kabelac – Metamorphoses II, for piano and orchestra, op. 58
Witold Lutosławski – Novelette for Orchestra
William Lloyd Webber – Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae
Ștefan Niculescu – Sincronie for flute, oboe and bassoon
Allan Pettersson – Viola Concerto
Libby Larsen – The Silver Fox
Ain't Misbehavin' (Music: Fats Waller, Lyrics: Various Book: Murray Horwitz & Richard Maltby, Jr.). London production opened at Her Majesty's Theatre on March 22.
Carmelina (Book: Alan Jay Lerner & Joseph Stein Lyrics: Alan Jay Lerner Music: Burton Lane) Broadway production opened at the St. James Theatre on April 8 and ran for 17 performances. Starring Georgia Brown and Cesare Siepi
Evita (Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics and Book: Tim Rice). Broadway production opened at the Broadway Theatre on September 25 and ran for 1567 performances
The King and I London revival opened at the Palladium on June 12 and ran for 538 performances
My Old Friends (Music, Lyrics and Book: Mel Mandel and Norman Sachs). Off-Broadway production opened at the Orpheum Theatre on January 12 and transferred to the 22 Steps Theatre on Broadway on April 12 for a total run of 154 performances.
Oklahoma! (Music: Richard Rodgers, Lyrics and Book: Oscar Hammerstein II) – Broadway revival opened at the Palace Theatre on December 13 and ran for 310 performances
Peter Pan (Music: Mark Charlap, Lyrics and Book: Carolyn Leigh with additional songs, Music: Jule Styne and Lyrics: Betty Comden & Adolph Green). Broadway revival opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on September 6 and ran for 551 performances.
Saravà (Music: Mitch Leigh, Lyrics and Book: N. Richard Nash). Broadway production opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on February 23 and ran for 140 performances
Sugar Babies Broadway revue opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on October 8 and ran for 1208 performances.
Sweeney Todd (Music and Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim, Book: Hugh Wheeler) – Broadway production opened at the Uris Theatre on March 1 and ran for 557 performances
They're Playing Our Song (Music: Marvin Hamlisch, Lyrics: Carole Bayer Sager, Book: Neil Simon). Broadway production opened at the Imperial Theatre on February 11 and ran for 1082 performances
Tommy London production opened at Queen's Theatre on February 6 and ran for 118 performances
The Venetian Twins (Music: Terence Clarke, Lyrics and Book: Nick Enright). Opened at the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre on October 26.
Whoopee (Music: Walter Donaldson, Lyrics: Gus Kahn, Book: William Anthony McGuire). Broadway revival opened at the ANTA Theatre on February 14 and ran for 212 performances.
All That Jazz
Balada pro banditu
Hair
Metamorphoses
The Muppet Movie
The Music Machine
Ochen sinjaja boroda (animation)
Oolkatal
Radio On
Rock 'n' Roll High School
Roller Boogie
The Rose
Schlager
Skatetown, U.S.A.
January 5 – Kathleen Edwards, Canadian singer/musician
January 10 – Christopher Smith, singer-songwriter (Kris Kross)
January 11 – Siti Nurhaliza, Malaysian singer
January 16 – Aaliyah Haughton, singer and actress (d. 2001)
January 20
Rob Bourdon (Linkin Park)
Will Young, British singer
February 1 – Jason Isbell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Drive-By Truckers)
February 11 – Brandy Norwood, singer, actress
February 14 – Tsakane Valentine Maswanganyi, operatic and concert soprano
February 21 – Jennifer Love Hewitt, singer-songwriter and actress
March 8 – Tom Chaplin, British singer (Keane)
March 11
Benji Madden, lead guitar for Good Charlotte
Joel Madden, lead vocals for Good Charlotte
March 14 – Jacques Brautbar (Phantom Planet)
March 30 – Norah Jones, American singer-songwriter
April 1 – Mikko Franck, violinist and conductor
April 10 – Sophie Ellis-Bextor, British singer, daughter of Janet Ellis
April 11
Danielle de Niese, operatic soprano
Chris Gaylor, drummer (The All-American Rejects)
Sebastien Grainger (Death from Above 1979)
April 13 – Tony Lundon (Liberty X)
April 20 – Quinn Weng, rock vocalist (Seraphim)
April 22 – Daniel Johns, lead vocals, lead guitar (Silverchair)
April 29
Jo O'Meara, singer (S Club 7)
Matt Tong, drummer (Bloc Party)
May 4 – Lance Bass, singer ('N Sync)
May 9 – Ara Mina, Filipino actress and singer
May 21 – Sonja Vectomov, Czech-Finnish musical artist
June 5 – Pete Wentz, musician and songwriter
June 8 – Derek Trucks, guitarist, songwriter
June 17 – Young Maylay, American rapper, producer, and voice actor
June 26 – Ryan Tedder, singer (OneRepublic)
June 29 – Abz Love, singer (5ive)
July 4 – Dumas, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist
July 5 – Shane Filan, singer (Westlife)
July 6 – Matthew Barnson, American viola player and composer
July 16 – Ivan Tásler
July 25 – Amy Adams, singer
July 26 – Tamyra Gray, singer
August 20 – Jamie Cullum, jazz pianist and singer
August 23 – Ritchie Neville, singer (5ive)
August 27 – Jon Siebels, guitarist (Eve 6)
August 31 – Yuvan Shankar Raja, film composer and singer
September 3 – Jason McCaslin, bass guitarist (Sum 41)
September 6 – Foxy Brown, rapper
September 8 – Pink, singer
September 21 – Maija Kovaļevska, operatic soprano
September 22 – Emilie Autumn, violinist, singer and songwriter
October 3 - Josh Klinghoffer, guitarist, (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
October 9 – Alex Greenwald, vocals, rhythm guitar for Phantom Planet
October 12 – Jordan Pundik, lead vocals for New Found Glory
October 15 – Jaci Velasquez, Latin pop singer
October 24 – Ben Gillies, drummer (Silverchair)
November 5 – Nick Giggler, drummer (Mest)
November 9 – Nicolas Koeckert, violinist
November 10 – Chris Joannou, bass guitar for Silverchair
November 22 – Scott Robinson, singer (5ive)
December 3 – Daniel Bedingfield, English pop singer and songwriter
December 15 – Alex Solowitz, 2gether
December 26 – Chris Daughtry, rock guitarist, singer and songwriter
December 31 – Bob Bryar, drummer (My Chemical Romance)
January 5 – Charles Mingus, jazz musician, 56
January 13
Donny Hathaway, singer, 33
Marjorie Lawrence, operatic soprano, 71
February 2 – Sid Vicious, punk rocker, 21
March 4 – Mike Patto, rock singer, 36 (cancer)
March 5 – Alan Crofoot, operatic tenor and host of Mr Piper, 49 (suicide)
March 13 – Harrison Keller, US violinist and music teacher, 90
March 22 – Walter Legge, record producer, 72
March 23 – Antonio Brosa, violinist, 84
April 3 – Ernst Glaser, Norwegian violinist, conductor and music teacher, 75
April 10 – Nino Rota, composer, 67
April 16 – Maria Caniglia, operatic soprano, 73
April 29 – Julia Perry, composer and conductor, 55
May 1 – Bronislav Gimpel, violinist, 68
May 9 – Zoltán Kelemen, operatic bass-baritone, 53
May 11 – Lester Flatt, bluegrass musician, 64
May 21 – Blue Mitchell, trumpeter, 49
June 5 – Jack Haley, actor, singer (Wizard of Oz) 80
June 21 – Angus MacLise, American drummer and songwriter (Velvet Underground and Theatre of Eternal Music), 41 (hypoglycemia and pulmonary tuberculosis)
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 13 – Freda Betti, French mezzo-soprano opera singer, 55
November 17 – John Glascock, rock bassist, 28
November 30 – Joyce Grenfell, actress and singer-songwriter, 69
December 21 – Nansi Richards, harpist, 91
December 30 – Richard Rodgers, composer and songwriter, 77
Grammy Awards of 1979
Eurovision Song Contest 1979
Japan Music Awards
21st Japan Record Awards
