January 3 – Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The other inductees this year consist of The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, Clyde McPhatter, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson and Jackie Wilson.
January 5 – Elton John, after several months of voice problems, undergoes throat surgery in an Australian hospital. The outcome would hinder his voice permanently and he would soon start singing in a deep register.
January 16 – Beastie Boys become the first act to be censored by American Bandstand.
January 24 – Steve "Silk" Hurley's innovative "Jack Your Body" becomes the first house music record to top the UK singles chart.
February 6 – Sonny Bono announces his candidacy for mayor of Palm Springs, California.
February 14
Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" reaches #1 in the USA. It would be 1987's biggest hit song worldwide.
Los Angeles radio station KMET signs off after nineteen years on the air. The station had been a pioneer of underground progressive rock programming.
February 15 – Video Hits premieres on Australian television.
February 26 – The first five Beatles albums, Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles for Sale and Help! are released on Compact disc. Capitol Records decides to release the original UK mixes of the Beatles albums, which means that the first four CDs are released in mono. This marks the first time that many of these mono mixes are available in the US.
March 9
U2 releases The Joshua Tree, an album that launches them into superstar status in the music world. The album would sell over 14 million copies worldwide in 1987 alone and would win the Grammy for "Album of the Year" (at the 1988 ceremony). U2 have two #1 hit songs from this album on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Carole King is inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in New York City.
The career that would end in an infamous appearance at The Brit awards and the burning of a million pounds began in Britain, as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu release their debut single, "All You Need Is Love".
March 13
Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In the US, Bryan Adams' "Heat of the Night" becomes the first single to be commercially released on cassette. Cassette singles become known as cassingles.
March 27 – Inspired by The Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert, U2 shoots a music video for the song "Where the Streets Have No Name" on a rooftop in Los Angeles.
April 23 – Carole King sues the owner of her record company, Lou Adler, claiming that she is owed more than $400,000 in royalties. King also asks for rights to her old recordings.
May 9 – Ireland's Johnny Logan wins the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Brussels, Belgium, with the song "Hold Me Now", making him the first artist to win the contest twice. The song tops the charts in Ireland, and peaks at No. 2 in the UK.
June 14 – Madonna starts her Who's That Girl Tour in Osaka, Japan.
June 27 – Whitney Houston's second album Whitney becomes the first album by a female artist to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.
July 4
Kylie Minogue's recording career begins with the release of her cover version of the Little Eva hit The Loco-Motion; the single spends seven weeks at number one in her native Australia and leads to a contract with UK-based record producers Stock Aitken Waterman.
The first joint rock concert between the United States and the Soviet Union is held in Moscow to promote peace. The Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Santana and Bonnie Raitt share the bill with Soviet rock group Autograph.
July 21 – American rock group Guns N' Roses release Appetite for Destruction which, after initial slow sales will become the best selling debut album of all time with more than 18 million copies sold in the US alone to date
August 1
Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and Siobhan Fahey of Bananarama are married in Normandy, France.
MTV Europe is launched. The first video played is "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits.
August 3 – Def Leppard releases Hysteria, the longest rock album ever released as a single LP or cassette.
August 27 – The Jello Biafra criminal trial is dismissed after ending in a hung jury in Los Angeles court. Biafra and his manager had been charged with distributing harmful material to minors due to a poster included in the Dead Kennedys' Frankenchrist album of a painting depicting rows of sexual organs.
August 31 – Michael Jackson releases Bad, the first studio album after Thriller, the best-selling album of all time. The album would produce five number one singles in the USA, a record which has not been broken.
September 3 - Fugazi plays their first live show (as a three-piece; Guy Picciotto had not joined the band yet) at the Wilson Center in Washington DC.
September 6 – Madonna ends her Who's That Girl Tour in Florence, Italy.
September 7 - Pink Floyd release A Momentary Lapse of Reason, their first album after the departure of and legal battle with bassist, Roger Waters. The subsequent tour grossed around $135 million worldwide, a sum that was only equaled by the earnings of Michael Jackson and U2 combined.
September 11 – Reggae musician Peter Tosh is murdered during a robbery in his home.
September 12 – Michael Jackson starts the Bad World Tour, supporting his Bad album.
September 25 - CBS launches an American version of the long-running UK television show Top of the Pops. It lasts one year.
October 4 – Electronic data gathering completely replaces the old sales diary technique in compiling the UK singles and albums chart. The publication day of new charts is moved from Tuesday to Sunday.
October 8 – Chuck Berry receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
October 19 – Mötley Crüe release the song "You're All I Need" as a single. MTV refuse to play its video because of the level of violence.
October 30 – George Michael releases his first solo studio album, Faith, which would win the Grammy Award for album of the year and sell 11 million copies in USA alone.
October 31 - The Zorros headline on the Halloween for the last ever show at the Crystal Ballroom, Melbourne's premier Punk/ New Wave Venue. The Crystal Ballroom has seen almost ten years of intense musical evolution. The venue has chandeliers, stained glass windows, paisley wallpaper and a tiled foyer.
November 13 – Sonny and Cher reunite for a performance on Late Night with David Letterman.
November 18 – CBS Records is sold to the Sony Corporation in a deal worth about $2 billion. Company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment in 1991.
November 19 – Cher returns to the music after five years of absence -time that she took to dedicate herself to the filmmaking business- with the lead single of her second self-titled album (and eighteenth overall), I Found Someone, which peaked at number five in UK and number ten in US.
November 24 – ABC airs Rolling Stone Magazine's 20 Years of Rock 'n' Roll television special, chronicling the music and the people of the past twenty years to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Rolling Stone magazine. The special includes new interviews as well as vintage performance footage of many rock legends such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, Bruce Springsteen and many more.
December 16 – John Mellencamp performs two free shows in the small town of Chillicothe, Ohio after one-fifth of the population signed a petition asking him to play.
December 23 – Nikki Sixx of the rock band Mötley Crüe suffers a heroin overdose, but is revived shortly thereafter.
December 31 – The sixteenth annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam, Los Lobos, Barry Manilow, Restless Heart and The Temptations.
Andreas Kisser replaces Jairo Guedes in Sepultura.
Prince cancels the The Black Album just before its release. It eventually becomes officially available in 1994.
See Musical groups established in 1987
Bands disbanded
See Musical groups disestablished in 1987
The Doobie Brothers
Lynyrd Skynyrd
The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1987.
"Alone" – Heart
"Always" – Atlantic Starr
"Always on My Mind" – Pet Shop Boys
"Animal" – Def Leppard
"Angel" – Angela Winbush
"Angel" – Aerosmith
"Another Step (Closer to You)" – Kim Wilde & Junior
"Anyone Can Do the Heartbreak" - Anne Murray
"Are You Still in Love with Me" - Anne Murray
"At This Moment" – Billy Vera and the Beaters
"Back in the High Life Again" – Steve Winwood
"Bad" – Michael Jackson
"Baila Bolero" - Fun Fun
"Ballerina Girl" – Lionel Richie
"Barcelona" – Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé
"Behind the Wheel" – Depeche Mode
"Big Love" – Fleetwood Mac
"Big Time" – Peter Gabriel
"Boy Blue" - Cyndi Lauper
"Break Out" – Swing Out Sister
"Brown Eyes" – Johnny Hates Jazz
"Can't We Try" – Dan Hill and Vonda Shepard
"Carrie" – Europe
"Catch Me (I'm Falling)" – Pretty Poison
"Causing a Commotion" – Madonna
"C'est l'amour" - Léopold Nord & Vous
"C'est la ouate" – Caroline Loeb
"C'est la Vie" – Robbie Nevil
"Change of Heart" - Cyndi Lauper
"China in Your Hand" – T'Pau (UK)
"Cherry Bomb" – John Cougar Mellencamp
"Come Go with Me" – Exposé
"Control" – Janet Jackson (released in 1986)
"Criticize" – Alexander O'Neal
"Cross My Broken Heart" – The Jets
"Debo Hacerlo" - Juan Gabriel
"Didn't We Almost Have It All" – Whitney Houston
"Don't Dream It's Over" – Crowded House
"Don't Disturb This Groove" – The System
"Don't Mean Nothing" – Richard Marx
"Don't Shed a Tear" – Paul Carrack
"Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" – Aerosmith
"Electric Blue" – Icehouse
"Electrica Salsa" – OFF
"Ella elle l'a" – France Gall
"Étienne" – Guesch Patti
"Everlasting Love" – Sandra
"Everybody Have Fun Tonight" – Wang Chung (released in 1986)
"Everywhere" – Fleetwood Mac
"Fairytale of New York" – The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl (UK)
"Faith" – George Michael
"Fake" – Alexander O'Neal
"The Final Countdown" – Europe(Sweden) (released in 1986)
"The Game" – Echo & the Bunnymen
"Got My Mind Set On You" George Harrison
"Get Lucky" - Jermaine Stewart
"Hazy Shade of Winter" – The Bangles
"Head to Toe" – Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
"Heart and Soul" – T'Pau
"Heartbreak Beat" – The Psychedelic Furs
"Heat of the Night" – Bryan Adams
"Here I Go Again" – Whitesnake
"Heaven Is a Place on Earth" – Belinda Carlisle
"Hold Me Now" – Johnny Logan
"Hysteria" – Def Leppard
"I Get Weak" – Belinda Carlisle
"I Found Someone" – Cher
"I Just Can't Stop Loving You" – Michael Jackson and Siedah Garrett
"(I Just) Died in Your Arms" – Cutting Crew
"I Knew You Were Waiting for Me" – Aretha Franklin and George Michael
"I Need Love" – LL Cool J
"I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" – U2
"I Think We're Alone Now" – Tiffany
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" – Whitney Houston
"I Want You So Bad" - Heart
"I Want Your Sex" – George Michael
"(I've Had) The Time of My Life" – Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes
"Im Nin'Alu" – Ofra Haza
"Is This Love" – Whitesnake
"In Too Deep – Genesis
"It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)" – R.E.M.
"Jacob's Ladder" – Huey Lewis and the News
"Joe le taxi" – Vanessa Paradis
"Just Gets Better With Time" – The Whispers
"Just to See Her" – Smokey Robinson
"Kiss Him Goodbye" – The Nylons
"Là-bas" – Jean-Jacques Goldman and Sirima
"La Bamba" – Los Lobos
"The Lady in Red" – Chris DeBurgh
"Lean on Me" – Club Nouveau
"Let's Go!" – Wang Chung
"Let Me Be the One" – Exposé
"Let's Wait Awhile" – Janet Jackson
"Lips Like Sugar" – Echo & the Bunnymen
"Little Lies" – Fleetwood Mac
"Livin' on a Prayer" – Bon Jovi (released in 1986)
"Lo Mejor de Tu Vida" - Julio Iglesias
"Looking for a New Love" – Jody Watley
"Lost in Emotion" – Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam
"Love Bites" – Def Leppard
"Love Will Find a Way" – Yes
"Love You Down" – Ready for the World
"Luka" – Suzanne Vega
"Mandolin Rain" – Bruce Hornsby and The Range
"Midnight Blue" – Lou Gramm
"Midnight Man" - Sandra
"Mony Mony" – Billy Idol
"Move Out" - Nancy Martinez
"My Arms Keep Missing You" - Rick Astley
"Need You Tonight" – INXS
"New Sensation" – INXS
"Never Gonna Give You Up" – Rick Astley
"Never Let Me Down Again" – Depeche Mode
"Nothing's Gonna Change My Love for You" – Glenn Medeiros (USA release)
"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" – Starship
"One Heartbeat" – Smokey Robinson
"The One I love" – R.E.M.
"Only in My Dreams" – Debbie Gibson
"Open Your Heart" – Madonna (released in 1986)
"Out of the Blue" – Debbie Gibson
"Paper in Fire" – John Cougar Mellencamp
"People Are Strange" – Echo & the Bunnymen
"The Pleasure Principle" – Janet Jackson
"Point of No Return" – Exposé
"Pour Some Sugar on Me" – Def Leppard
"The Power of Love" – Laura Branigan
"Pump Up The Volume" - MARRS
"Rag Doll" – Aerosmith
"Rent" – Pet Shop Boys
"Respect Yourself" – Bruce Willis
"Rock Steady" – The Whispers
"Rocket" – Def Leppard
"Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" – Mel & Kim
"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" – Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine
"Sans contrefaçon" – Mylène Farmer
"Say It Again" – Jermaine Stewart
"Say You Really Want Me" – Kim Wilde
"Shakedown" – Bob Seger
"Sign "O" the Times" – Prince
"So Emotional - Whitney Houston
"Songbird" – Kenny G
"(Something Inside) So Strong" – Labi Siffre (UK)
"Something So Strong" – Crowded House
"Somewhere Out There" – Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram
"Star Trekkin" – The Firm
"Stone Love" – Kool & the Gang
"Strangelove" – Depeche Mode
"Surrender" – Swing Out Sister
"Sweet Child o' Mine" – Guns N' Roses
"There's The Girl" - Heart
"Throwing It All Away" – Genesis
"Tonight, Tonight, Tonight" – Genesis
"Touch Me (I Want Your Body)" – Samantha Fox
"Touch of Grey" – Grateful Dead
"Tristana" – Mylène Farmer
"Twilight World" – Swing Out Sister
"U Got the Look" – Prince and Sheena Easton
"Une autre histoire" – Gérard Blanc
"Wait" – White Lion
"Walking Down Your Street" – The Bangles
"Walking in the Air (Theme from 'The Snowman')" – The Shadows
"Wanted Dead or Alive" – Bon Jovi
"War" – Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band
"The Way It Is" – Bruce Hornsby and the Range
"We Connect"- Stacey Q.
"Welcome to the Jungle" – Guns N' Roses
"What's Going On" – Cyndi Lauper
"What You Get Is What You See" – Tina Turner
"Whenever You Need Somebody" - Rick Astley
"Where the Streets Have No Name" – U2
"Who's That Girl" – Madonna
"Why Can't I Be You?" – The Cure
"Wonderful Life" – Black
"With or Without You" – U2
"Y Tú También Llorarás" - José Luis Rodríguez "El Puma"
"You're the Voice" – John Farnham
"You Keep Me Hanging On" – Kim Wilde
"¿A quién le importa?" - Alaska y Dinarama (Spain)
"Bring Him Back Home" – Hugh Masekela (South Africa)
"Beds Are Burning" – Midnight Oil (Australia)
"Hey, Matthew" - Karel Fialka (India)
"In The Dutch Mountains" – The Nits (Netherlands)
"Je ne veux pas" - Céline Dion (Canada)
Jeg Ved En Lærkerede" - Kim Larsen (Denmark)
"Keine Sterne In Athen" - Stephan Remmler (Germany)
"The Irish Rover" - The Pogues & The Dubliners (Ireland)
"Pour en arriver là" – Dalida (France)
"Premier Baiser" - Emmanuelle Mottaz (France)
"The Return of the Juju King" – King Sunny Ade (Nigeria)
"Last Midnight" w.m. Stephen Sondheim
"Children Will Listen" w.m. Stephen Sondheim
"Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" w.m. Gloria Estefan & E. E. Garcia
"(I've Had) The Time of My Life" w.m. Franke Previte, Donald Markowitz & John DeNicola
John Cage – As Slow as Possible
Mario Davidovsky – Quartet for flute, violin, viola and violoncello
Joël-François Durand – Lichtung
Philip Feeney – Mémoire imaginaire (ballet)
Lorenzo Ferrero
Ostinato
Non parto, non resto
Malcolm Forsyth – Songs from the Qu'appelle Valley
Karel Goeyvaerts – Aanloop en kreet (Run and Cry), for symphony orchestra and chorus
Francisco Llácer Pla – Ricercare Concertante
Nicholas Maw – Odyssey
Henri Pousseur – Traverser la forêt
Ahmed Adnan Saygun – Cello Concerto
Byambasuren Sharav – Symphony No. 2
Juan Maria Solare – Doce variaciones 1987 (for piano)
Joan Tower – Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1
John Adams – Nixon in China
Friedrich Cerha – Der Rattenfänger (The Pied Piper)
Michael Nyman – Vital Statistics
Judith Weir – A Night at the Chinese Opera, 8 July, Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, England
Abyssinia, with music by Ted Kociolek and lyrics by James Racheff - New York production at the CSC Repertory Theater
Up on the Roof by Simon Moore and Jane Prowse --Portsmouth, UK production
Roza, with music by Gilbert Bécaud and lyrics and book by Julian More based on Romain Gary's novel La vie devant soi - Broadway production opened at the Royale Theatre and closed after only 10 days
Anything Goes – Broadway revival
Bless the Bride – West End revival
Cabaret (Kander and Ebb) - Broadway revival
Dreamgirls – Broadway revival
Into the Woods – Broadway production opened at the Martin Beck Theatre and ran for 765 performances
Les Misérables – Broadway production opened at The Broadway Theatre and ran for a total of 6680 performances, the second-longest run of any Broadway musical after Cats
Oil City Symphony – off-Broadway production ran for 626 performances
Starlight Express (Andrew Lloyd Webber and Richard Stilgoe) – Broadway production opened at the Gershwin Theatre and ran for 761 performances
Aria
Dirty Dancing
Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll
Hearts of Fire
La Bamba
Mr. India
Rock 'n' Roll Nightmare
Sign o' the Times
Testimony
January 2 – Syesha Mercado, American singer and actress
January 12 – Sunday (Jin Bo-ra), Korean pop singer (TSZX The Grace)
January 22 – Angel Olsen, American folk and indie rock singer
January 27 – Katy Rose, American singer, songwriter, producer, musician and actress
January 29 – Ashley Perez Moza, Mexican singer-songwriter (Ha*Ash)
February 3 – Elvana Gjata, Albanian singer
February 7 – Kerli, Estonian singer and songwriter
February 10 – Choi Si Won, Korean actor and pop singer
February 12 – O'Ryan (Browner), American R&B singer
February 17 – Lee Bo-ram, K-pop singer (SeeYa)
February 24 – Kim Kyu-jong, Korean pop singer (SS501)
March 1 – Kesha, American pop singer
March 9 – Bow Wow, American Hip-Hop artist
March 20 – Jonas Rivanno, Indonesian actor, model and singer
March 26 – YUI, Japanese pop singer
April 3 – Park Jung-min, Korean pop singer (SS501)
April 9
Jesse McCartney, American singer and actor
Jazmine Sullivan, American singer
April 10 – Hayley Westenra, soprano singer
April 11 – Joss Stone, English soul singer-songwriter
April 17 – Jacqueline MacInnes Wood, American soap opera actress
April 30 – Nikki Webster, Australian pop singer
June 16 – Diana DeGarmo, American Idol contestant
June 17 – Kendrick Lamar, American rapper (Black Hippy)
June 19 – Miho Fukuhara, Japanese singer and actress (Sweetbox)
June 21 – Kim Ryeowook, Korean pop singer (Super Junior)
July 1 – Yoga Lin, Taiwanese pop singer, One Million Star, Season 1 winner
July 6 – Kate Nash, English pop singer
July 11 – Shigeaki Kato, Japanese singer and actor (NEWS and K.K.Kity)
July 14 – Dan Reynolds, American singer-songwriter (Imagine Dragons and Egyptian)
July 19 – Nicola Benedetti, Scottish violinist
July 23 – Felipe Dylon, Brazilian singer
August 21 – Kim Kibum, Korean actor and pop singer
September 26 – Rosie Munter, Swedish vocalist and dancer
September 28
Hilary Duff, American singer and actress
Chloë Hanslip, English violinist
October 17 – Stephanie (Kim Bo-kyung), American-born Korean pop singer (TSZX The Grace)
October 18 – Zac Efron, American actor
October 28 – Frank Ocean, American singer-songwriter
November 5 – Kevin Jonas, American pop rock musician (Jonas Brothers)
November 10 – Charles Hamilton, American rapper and producer
November 30 – Dougie Poynter, English bass guitarist (McFly)
December 2 – Teairra Mari, American R&B singer
December 7 – Aaron Carter, American pop singer
December 18 – Ayaka, Japanese pop singer
December 27 – Yui Okada, Japanese pop singer
January 6 – Jaidev, Bollywood composer, 67
January 10 – Marion Hutton, singer and actress, 67
January 15 – Ray Bolger, Wizard of Oz actor (cancer)
January 30 – Harold Loeffelmacher, musician and bandleader (Six Fat Dutchmen), 81
February 2
Spike Hughes, jazz musician, composer and journalist, 78
Alfred Lion, record executive and co-founder of Blue Note Records, 78
February 4 – Liberace, US pianist
February 8 – Tony Destra, drummer, 32 (car accident)
February 18 – Dmitri Kabalevsky, composer
February 23 – Zeca Afonso, folk musician
February 24 – Jim Connors, radio DJ, 46 (car crash)
March 3 – Danny Kaye, actor, singer, dancer and comedian
March 6 – Eddie Durham, jazz musician, 80
March 15 – Don Gant, singer/songwriter, record producer
March 18 – Elizabeth Poston, composer, 82
March 20 – Rita Streich, coloratura soprano, 66
March 21
Dean Paul Martin, singer and actor, 35 (plane crash)
Robert Preston, actor and singer, 68
March 28 – Maria von Trapp, subject of The Sound of Music, 82
March 29 – Felix Prohaska, conductor
April 2 – Buddy Rich, jazz drummer, 69 (brain tumor)
April 7 – Carlton Barrett, reggae drummer (The Wailers), 36 (murdered)
April 14 – Karl Höller, composer, 79
May 2 – Larry Clinton, US bandleader and songwriter, 75
May 3 – Dalida, singer, actress and Miss Egypt 1954, 54 (suicide)
May 4 – Paul Butterfield, blues vocalist and harmonica player, 44 (drug overdose)
May 5 - Allen Jones, record producer (heart attack)
May 13
Signe Amundsen, operatic soprano, 87
Ismael Rivera, salsa composer and singer, 55 (heart attack)
May 14 – Rita Hayworth, dancer and film star, 68
May 24 – Hermione Gingold, actress and singer
May 26 – Robert Wilkins, blues guitarist and singer, 91
May 29 – Phyllis Tate, avant-garde composer, 76
June 3 – Andrés Segovia, guitar virtuoso, 94
June 18 – Kid Thomas Valentine, jazz trumpeter & bandleader, 91
June 21 – Abram Chasins, pianist and composer, 84
June 22
Fred Astaire, dancer, actor and singer, 88
Frank Rehak, jazz trombonist
June 25 – Boudleaux Bryant, Hall of Fame songwriter, 67
June 26
Henk Badings, composer, 80
Gábor Rejtő, cellist, 70
July 1 – Snakefinger, guitarist, 38 (heart attack)
July 7
Tibor Frešo, composer, 69
Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, pianist, 85
July 10 – John Hammond, producer and musician, 76
July 15 – Pete King, drummer (After The Fire, BAP), 28 (testicular cancer)
July 25 – Alex Sadkin, saxopohonist and record producer, 37 or 38 (motor accident)
July 26 – Joe Liggins, R&B, jazz and blues pianist, 72
August 2 – David Martin, bassist (Sam the Sham), 50 (heart attack)
August 12 – Sally Long, former Ziegfeld Follies star, 85
August 14 – Vincent Persichetti, composer, 72
August 27
Bruce Holder, violinist, conductor and composer, 82
Scott La Rock, hip-hop DJ and producer, 25 (shot)
September 3 – Morton Feldman, composer, 51 (pancreatic cancer)
September 11 – Peter Tosh, reggae musician, 42 (shot and killed in a house invasion/robbery)
September 21 – Jaco Pastorius, jazz bassist, 35 (brain damage resulting from fight)
September 23 – Bob Fosse, dancer, choreographer and director of musicals, 60 (heart attack)
September 29 – Sebastian Peschko, pianist, 77
October 3 – Hans Gál, composer, 97
October 13 – Kishore Kumar, singer, actor, filmmaker, writer, musician and composer, 58
October 14 – Rodolfo Halffter, composer, 86
October 19 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist, 42 (multiple sclerosis)
October 28 – Woody Herman, US bandleader
November 12 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Swedish singer-songwriter, 50 (liver cancer)
November 16 – Zubir Said, composer, 80
November 22 – Verna Arvey, librettist and pianist
November 23 – Joseph Beer, composer, 79
December 5 – Pappy Daily, country music entrepreneur and record producer, 85
December 8 – Annelies Kupper, operatic soprano, 81
December 10 – Jascha Heifetz, violinist
December 12 – Clifton Chenier, zydeco singer and accordionist, 62
December 18 – Conny Plank, record producer, 47
December 21 – John Spence, ska musician, 18 (suicide)
December 22 – Luca Prodan, rock musician, 34 (cirrhosis of the liver)
Unknown - Emani Sankara Sastry, Veena player and composer
The following artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, Bill Haley, B. B. King, Clyde McPhatter, Ricky Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson, Big Joe Turner, Muddy Waters, and Jackie Wilson
Grammy Awards of 1987
Gary P. Blueyes Walker – CMA Air Personality of the Year / KYKX
Eurovision Song Contest 1987
R. Murray Schafer (laureate)
List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1987 (U.S.)
Billboard Top 40 of 1987
