January 19 - Bryan Adams becomes the first major Western music star to perform in Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War.
January 25 – Alice in Chains release their Jar of Flies album which makes its US chart début at number one on the Billboard 200, becoming the first ever EP to do so.
January 29 – The Supremes' Mary Wilson is injured when her Jeep hits a freeway median and flips over just outside Los Angeles, USA. Wilson's 14-year-old son is killed in the accident.
February 1 – Green Day release their breakthrough album Dookie, ushering in the mid-1990s punk revival. Dookie eventually achieves diamond certification.
February 7 – Blind Melon's lead singer Shannon Hoon is forced to leave the American Music Awards ceremony because of his loud and disruptive behavior. Hoon is later charged with battery, assault, resisting arrest, and destroying a police station phone.
February 11 – The three surviving members of The Beatles secretly reunite to begin recording additional music for a few of John Lennon's old unfinished demos, presented to Paul McCartney by Yoko Ono, with Jeff Lynne producing. The track, "Free As A Bird", is released as a single in late 1995 as part of the exhaustive Beatles Anthology project, reaching #2 in the UK and #6 in the United States.
February 14 – The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia marries Deborah Koons.
February 23 – Eddie Van Halen, Chris Isaak, and B.B. King attend the ground breaking ceremony for the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino takes place in Paradise, Nevada, USA.
March 1
Selena becomes the first Tejano music singer to win a Grammy Award.
Nirvana play their final concert, in Munich.
Frank Sinatra receives the Grammy Legend Award. Sinatra's acceptance speech is cut short and other artists, upset by this action, criticize the producer's decision during the show, including Billy Joel who takes extra time to perform his song, The River of Dreams, noting that he is wasting valuable air time.
March 3 – In Rome, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain lapses into a coma after overdosing on Rohypnol and champagne.
March 5 – Grace Slick is arrested for pointing a shotgun at police in her Tiburon, California home.
March 7 - The United States Supreme Court decision Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc. rules that parody can qualify as fair use. The case was spurred by 2 Live Crew releasing a parody of the Roy Orbison hit "Oh, Pretty Woman" without a license from the publishing firm Acuff-Rose Music.
March 13 - Selena releases her final Spanish album Amor Prohibido. Its production had been delayed because of the launch of Selena's fashion clothing line and boutiques, and her extensive tour in support of Live!.
March 18
Courtney Love calls the police, fearing that her husband, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, is suicidal. Police confiscate four guns and twenty-five boxes of ammo from Cobain's home.
Bassist Darryl Jones replaces Bill Wyman in The Rolling Stones,
March 30 – Pink Floyd embark on what would be their last world tour before their breakup. The record-breaking tour supports their Division Bell album, with the band playing to 5,500,000 people in 68 cities and grossing over £150,000,000 ($186,952,500 in US dollars).
March 31 – Madonna on Late Show with David Letterman: Madonna appears on the Late Show with David Letterman, making headlines with her foul-mouthed, profanity-laced interview. Robin Williams later describes the segment as a "battle of wits with an unarmed woman."
April 8 – The body of Kurt Cobain, lead singer of Nirvana, is found. Cobain's death, three days before, is legally declared to be suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot.
April 11 - The Offspring release "Smash", which goes on to become the best selling independent album of all time and one of the most influential albums of the 90s.
April 25
Blur releases Parklife, its first album reaching #1 in UK, where it was certified "quadruple platinum".
Adam Horovitz of the Beastie Boys is sentenced to 200 hours of community service for attacking a television cameraman during funeral services for actor River Phoenix in November 1993.
April 26 - Grace Slick pleads guilty to having pointed a shotgun at police officers on March 5.
April 27 - The legendary Fillmore club reopens in San Francisco with a concert headlined by The Smashing Pumpkins.
May 2 - A Los Angeles jury finds Michael Bolton, along with co-writer Andy Goldmark and Sony Music Entertainment, guilty of copyright infringement over the song "Love Is a Wonderful Thing". The song is ruled to be too similar to a song of the same name by The Isley Brothers.
May 3 - The Rolling Stones arrive by yacht to a press conference in New York City to announce the Voodoo Lounge Tour kicking off in the summer.
May 6
Pearl Jam files a complaint against Ticketmaster with the U.S. Justice Department charging that the company has a monopoly on the concert ticket business.
To help promote his new album, Alice Cooper releases a three-part comic book that followed the album The Last Temptation.
May 9–13 – 1994 International Rostrum of Composers
May 10
Tupac Shakur begins serving a 15-day sentence in a county jail for attacking director Allen Hughes on the set of a video shoot.
Weezer are introduced to the world with their self-titled debut, often referred to as the Blue Album. It would go on to become one of the most influential records of the 1990s spanning hits "Undone - The Sweater Song", "Buddy Holly" and "Say It Ain't So".
May 26 - Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley are married in the Dominican Republic.
May 27 - The Eagles launch the Hell Freezes Over tour in Burbank, California. The reunion tour is the group's first since breaking up in 1980, but much is also made of the band becoming the first to charge over $100 per ticket for arena shows.
June 7 – Grace Slick is sentenced to 200 hours of community service and three month's worth of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings after a March 5 incident with police officers.
June 9 - Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC, in a domestic dispute with partner Andre Rison, sets fire to his shoes; the fire ultimately spreads to the mansion they share and destroys it.
June 21 - George Michael loses his legal bid to be released from his contract with Sony Records in a London court.
June 27 - Aerosmith becomes the first major band to premiere a new song on the Internet. Over 10,000 CompuServe subscribers download the free track "Head First" within its first eight days of availability.
July 12–16 – The Yoyo A Go Go punk and indie rock festival opens in Olympia, Washington.
July 30
The Verbier Festival is launched.
In keeping with the country's new constitution and the promotion of its native language, Moldova adopts Limba noastră as its new national anthem, replacing the anthem of Romania which was previously in use.
Suede announce that guitarist Bernard Butler has left the band following fractious recording sessions for their album Dog Man Star
August 9
Rich Mullins and "Leave a Legacy" contest winner, 76-year-old Miguel Garcia Massiate, travel to Bogotá, Colombia with Compassion International. The two men visit the Ciudad Sucre Center where Mullins presented them with over $40,000 that was raised on his summer '94 Ragamuffin Band tour.
Decca releases a recording of the 1949 première of Benjamin Britten's Spring Symphony for the first time.
Machine Head release their first album Burn My Eyes, which was a big success and becomes Roadrunner Records' best selling debut album.
August 12–14 – Woodstock '94 is held in Saugerties, New York. As with the original 1969 festival, attendance is swelled by a high number of gatecrashers, while heavy rains turn the festival grounds into a sea of mud. Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, Aerosmith, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Peter Gabriel and Green Day are among the many performers.
August 23 – Jeff Buckley releases his single, critically acclaimed, full-length studio album Grace.
August 30
Oasis release their debut album Definitely Maybe, it becomes the fastest selling debut album in the United Kingdom at the time until 2006 when it was beaten by the Arctic Monkeys' debut album, Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not.
Luis Miguel release Segundo Romance, the best-selling Latin album of the 1990s by a male artist. Four singles from the album were released; two of which reached #1 on the Top Latin Songs. It received a Grammy Award and a Billboard Latin Music Award.
September 6
José Cura wins the Operalia – International Plácido Domingo Opera Singer Competition.
Bad Religion release their eighth studio album (and proper major-label debut) Stranger than Fiction. This proved to be the last to feature founding guitarist/songwriter Brett Gurewitz for seven years, until his return. Gurewitz would be replaced by former Minor Threat / Dag Nasty / Junkyard guitarist Brian Baker, who turned down a touring job for R.E.M. at this time, and eventually becomes a permanent member of Bad Religion.
September 8 – Richard A. Morse, lead male vocalist of RAM, narrowly escapes a kidnapping by armed men during the band's live performance at the Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; the attempted kidnapping was provoked by the performance of "Fèy", a RAM single banned nationwide by the military authorities.
September 15 - A 1957 audio tape of John Lennon performing with The Quarrymen on the same night he met Paul McCartney fetches £78,500 at a Sotheby's auction in London.
October 11 - Korn, a nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, launches its self-titled debut album Korn, peaking at number 72 on the Billboard 200 and launching the nu metal sound.
October 12 - Jimmy Page and Robert Plant: No Quarter (Unledded) premieres on MTV. The "unplugged" concert special featuring the two former Led Zeppelin bandmates was filmed to accompany the release of the album of the same name.
November 20 - David Crosby undergoes a seven-hour liver transplant operation in Los Angeles.
November 30 - The Breeders guitarist Kelley Deal is arrested at her Ohio home after accepting a private-courier package containing four grams of heroin.
December 2 - Warner Music Group acquires a 49 percent share of Seattle record label Sub Pop in a deal believed to be worth over $30 million.
December 18 - Paul Oakenfold's legendary Goa Mix is first broadcast in the early hours of this day as a BBC Radio 1 Essential Mix.
December 19 - Aerosmith opens the 250-seat Mama Kin Music Hall in Boston, co-owned by the group, with a performance.
December 31 - The twenty-third annual New Year's Rockin' Eve special airs on ABC, with appearances by Melissa Etheridge, The O'Jays, Salt-n-Pepa, Hootie & the Blowfish and Jon Secada.
Christoph von Dohnányi becomes principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Josep Pons becomes principal conductor of the City of Granada Orchestra.
Christian Olde Wolbers replaces Andrew Shives in Fear Factory.
ALL part ways with their original home Cruz Records, and sign a recording contract with Interscope (though they shortly leave that label after releasing an album in the following year).
The Offspring frontman Dexter Holland and bassist Greg Kriesel form the label Nitro Records, an incubator for successful punk artists such as AFI. The label later releases albums from classic punk bands, including The Damned and T.S.O.L., and also reissues the first Offspring album.
Social Distortion manager Jim Guerinot forms the label Time Bomb Recordings in joint-venture agreement with Arista. The label actually exists mostly as an imprint for current releases from Social Distortion and solo albums by Mike Ness, along with the administration of the label's back catalog.
Summer - Tony Wilson attempts to revive Factory Records, in collaboration with London Records, as "Factory Too".
Former Wolfsbane lead singer Blaze Bayley auditions and is hired by Iron Maiden.
See Musical groups established in 1994
Bands disbanded
See Musical groups disestablished in 1994
Circle Jerks (hiatus since 1989)
King Crimson (since 1984)
The following songs achieved the highest chart positions. in the charts of 1994.
"21st Century (Digital Boy)" - Bad Religion
"100% Pure Love" – Crystal Waters
"About a Girl (Unplugged)" – Nirvana
"Absolutely Fabulous" - Pet Shop Boys
"Age Ain't Nothing but a Number" - Aaliyah
"All for Love" – Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting
"All I Have to Do Is Dream" - Cliff Richard & Phil Everly
"All I Wanna Do" – Sheryl Crow
"All I Want for Christmas Is You" - Mariah Carey
"All That She Wants" – Ace of Base
"Al Palo" - King África
"Always" – Bon Jovi
"Always" – Erasure
"Amazing" – Aerosmith
"Amor Prohibido" - Selena
"An Angel" - The Kelly Family
"Another Day - Whigfield
"Another Night" – M.C. Sar & the Real McCoy
"Any Time, Any Place" – Janet Jackson
"Anytime You Need a Friend" - Mariah Carey
"Around the World" - East 17
"(At Your Best) You Are Love" - Aaliyah
"Basket Case" – Green Day
"Baby, Come Back" - Pato Banton & UB40
"Baby, I Love Your Way" - Big Mountain
"Back & Forth" - Aaliyah
"Better Man" – Pearl Jam
"Bidi Bidi Bom Bom" - Selena
"Big Yellow Taxi" – Amy Grant
"Black Hole Sun" – Soundgarden
"Buddy Holly" – Weezer
"Bump n' Grind" - R. Kelly
"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" – Elton John
"Chains" - Tina Arena
"Cigarettes & Alcohol - Oasis
"Circle of Life" – Elton John
"Come On You Reds" - The Manchester United Football Squad
"Come Out and Play" – The Offspring
"Corduroy" – Pearl Jam
"Closer" – Nine Inch Nails
"Confide in Me" - Kylie Minogue
"Cotton-Eyed Joe - Rednex
"Crazy" – Aerosmith
"C.R.E.A.M." - Wu-Tang Clan
"Creep" – TLC
"Dedicated to the One I Love" - Bitty McLean
"Deuces Are Wild" – Aerosmith
"Dimension Divertida" - Paco Pil
"Disarm" - The Smashing Pumpkins
"Dromen zijn bedrog" - Marco Borsato
"Don't Follow" - Alice in Chains
"Don't Turn Around" – Ace of Base
"Donde Quiera Que Estés" - Barrio Boyzz & Selena
"Doop" - Doop
"Dreams" - The Cranberries
"Dreams (Will Come Alive)" - 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor
"Dry County" - Bon Jovi
"Eins, Zwei, Polizei" - Mo-Do
"Endless Love" - Luther Vandross & Mariah Carey
"Everyday" – Phil Collins
"Everybody" - DJ BoBo
"Everybody Gonfi-Gon" - 2 Cowboys
"Everything Changes" - Take That
"Fade into You" - Mazzy Star
"Fantastic Voyage" - Coolio
"Feel the Heat of the Night" - Masterboy
"Found Out About You" – Gin Blossoms
"Fotos y Recuerdos" - Selena
"Foule sentimentale" - Alain Souchon
"Funkdafied" – Da Brat
"Games People Play" - Inner Circle
"Gin & Juice" – Snoop Doggy Dogg
"Girls & Boys" – Blur
"Gotta Get Away" - The Offspring
"Happy Nation" - Ace of Base
"Here Comes the Hotstepper" - Ini Kamoze
"(Hey Now) Girls Just Want to Have Fun" - Cyndi Lauper
"Hyper Hyper" - Scooter
"I Alone" – Live
"I Got to Give It Up" - Masterboy
"I'll Make Love to You" – Boyz II Men
"I'll Remember" – Madonna
"I'll Stand by You" - The Pretenders
"I Like to Move It" – Reel 2 Real
"I Swear" – All-4-One
"Infected" – Bad Religion
"Inside (Stiltskin song)" - Stiltskin
"Inside Your Dreams" - U96
"Interstate Love Song" – Stone Temple Pilots
"In Your Room" - Depeche Mode
"I Show You Secrets" - Pharao
"I Stay Away" - Alice in Chains
"Is This the Love" - Masterboy
"It's Alright" – East 17
"It's a Rainy Day" - Ice MC
"It's Take Me Away" - Marusha
"I Wanna Be Down" – Brandy
"Je danse le Mia" – IAM
"Jessie" - Joshua Kadison
"Juicy" – Notorious B.I.G.
"La solitudine" - Laura Pausini
"(Lay Your Head On My) Pillow" – Tony! Toni! Tone!
"Let the Dream Come True" – DJ BoBo
"Let the Beat Control Your Body" - 2 Unlimited
"Live Forever" – Oasis
"Living in Danger" - Ace of Base
"Longview" – Green Day
"Look Who's Talking" - Dr Alban
"Loser" – Beck (released in 1993)
"Lost in America" – Alice Cooper
"Love Ain't Here Anymore" - Take That
"Love Is All Around" - Wet Wet Wet
"Love Is Strong" – Rolling Stones
"Love Religion" - U96
"Love Song" - Mark 'Oh
"Lucky One" – Amy Grant
"Mädchen" - Lucilectric
"Mamá Yo Quiero" - King África
"Mary Jane's Last Dance" – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
"Max Don't Have Sex With Your Ex" - E-Rotic
"(Meet) The Flintstones" - The B-52's
"Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" - Crash Test Dummies
"Move on Baby" - Cappella
"Mr. Jones" – Counting Crows (released in 1993)
"Mass Appeal" – Gangstarr
"Never Lie" – Immature
"No Excuses" – Alice in Chains
"No Good (Start the Dance)" - The Prodigy
"No More (I Can't Stand It)" - Maxx
"No Me Queda Mas" - Selena
"No One" - 2 Unlimited
"No One to Run With" – The Allman Brothers Band
"Now and Forever" - Richard Marx
"Nutshell" - Alice in Chains
"Omen III" - Magic Affair
"On Bended Knee" - Boyz II Men
"Only One Road" - Celine Dion
"Over You" - Anne Murray
"Penso Positivo" - Jovanotti
"Player's Ball" – Outkast
"Regulate" – Warren G featuring Nate Dogg
"Return to Innocence" – Enigma
"The Rhythm is Magic" - Belinda Carlisle
"Right Beside You" - Sophie B. Hawkins
"Rock My Heart" - Haddaway
"Run Away - Real McCoy
"Sabotage" – Beastie Boys
"Saturday Night" - Whigfield
"Say You'll Be Mine" – Amy Grant
"Secret" – Madonna
"Seether" – Veruca Salt
"Self Esteem" – The Offspring
"Sensualité" – Axelle Red
"Set the World on Fire" - E-Type
"Seven Seconds" – Neneh Cherry & Youssou N'dour
"Shine" - Aswad
"Shine" - Collective Soul
"Short Dick Man" - 20 Fingers & Gillette
"Sleeping in My Car" – Roxette
"Slow Wine" – Tony! Toni! Tone!
"Somewhere Over the Rainbow" - Marusha
"Spin the Black Circle" - Pearl Jam
"Spoonman" - Soundgarden
"Si Una Vez" - Selena
"Stay (I Missed You) – Lisa Loeb
"Stay Another Day" - East 17
"Stay Together" - Suede
"Strani amori" - Laura Pausini
"Streets of Philadelphia" - Bruce Springsteen
"Strong Enough" - Sheryl Crow
"The Sign" – Ace of Base
"Sukiyaki" - 4 P.M.
"Summer in the City" - Joe Cocker
"Supersonic" – Oasis
"Sure" - Take That
"Swamp Thing" - The Grid
"Sweet Dreams" - La Bouche
"Sweets for My Sweet" - C.J. Lewis
"Take a Bow" – Madonna
"Take Control" - DJ BoBo
"Tears Don't Lie" - Mark 'Oh
"Techno Cumbia" - Selena
"Tell Me When" - Rick Astley
"There is a Star" - Pharao
"The Most Beautiful Girl in the World" - Prince
"The Real Thing - 2 Unlimited
"The Real Thing" - Tony Di Bart
"Things Can Only Get Better" - D:Ream
"Think About the Way" - Ice MC
"Think Twice" - Celine Dion
"This D.J." - Warren G
"This Is the Way" - E-Type
"Thuggish Ruggish Bone" – Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
"Tootsee Roll" – 69 Boyz
"Trouble " – Shampoo
"Turn the Beat Around" - Gloria Estefan
"Twist and Shout" - Chaka Demus & Pliers
"U Send Me Swingin'" – Mint Condition
"Undone - The Sweater Song" – Weezer
"United" - Prince Ital Joe & Marky Mark
"Until I Fall Away" – Gin Blossoms
"What's My Name"- Snoop Doggy Dogg
"Welcome to Paradise" – Green Day
"Welcome to Tomorrow (Are You Ready?)" - Snap!
"Whatta Man" - Salt-n-Pepa & En Vogue
"What Would You Say" – Dave Matthews Band
"When I Come Around" – Green Day
"Wild Night" - John Mellencamp & Me'shell Ndegeocello
"Without You" – Mariah Carey
"You Want This" – Janet Jackson
"Zombie" - The Cranberries
All albums have been named albums of the year for their hits in the charts.
- Jeff Buckley - Grace
- Oasis - Definitely Maybe
- Weezer - Weezer
- Portishead - Dummy
- Nirvana - MTV Unplugged In New York
- Green Day - Dookie
- Nas - Illmatic
- Blur - Parklife
- Soundgarden - Superunknown
- Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral
Thomas Beveridge – Yizkor Requiem
George Crumb – Quest for guitar, soprano saxophone, harp, double bass, and percussion (two players)
Richard Danielpour – Cello Concerto
Mario Davidovsky – Festino for guitar, viola, violoncello, contrabass
David Diamond – Trio for violin, clarinet and piano
Lorenzo Ferrero
Paesaggio con figura for small orchestra
Portrait for string quartet
Osvaldo Golijov - The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind
Vagn Holmboe – Symphony No. 13, M.362 (begun 1993)
Guus Janssen – Klotz, for violin, hi-hat and small ensemble
Karl Jenkins – Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary
Oliver Knussen – Horn Concerto
György Kurtág – Stele
Frederik Magle – Concerto for organ and orchestra The Infinite Second
Tristan Murail – L'esprit des dunes
Michael Nyman – Concerto for Trombone
Einojuhani Rautavaara – Symphony No. 7 Angel of Light
Steve Reich
City Life
Bagoya Marimbas
Robert Simpson – String Quintet No. 2 (1991–94)
Karlheinz Stockhausen – Weltraum (electronic music from Freitag aus Licht)
Boris Tishchenko – Symphony No. 7
Charles Wuorinen
Lightenings VIII, for soprano and piano
Piano Quintet
Christes Crosse, for soprano and piano
Percussion Quartet
Guitar Variations
Windfall, for wind ensemble
Peter Maxwell Davies - The Doctor of Myddfai
Vivian Fine – Memoirs of Uliana Rooney
Adam Guettel – Floyd Collins
Nicholas Lens – The Accacha Chronicles Trilogy: Flamma Flamma – The Fire Requiem
Tobias Picker - Emmeline, libretto by JD McClatchy
Alice Shields - Apocalypse
Karlheinz Stockhausen – Freitag aus Licht (completed; not staged until 1996)
Beauty and the Beast – Broadway production opened at the Palace Theatre and ran for 5461 performances
Carousel (Rodgers & Hammerstein) – Broadway revival
Damn Yankees (Richard Adler and Jerry Ross) – Broadway revival
Grease – Broadway revival
Show Boat (Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II) – Broadway revival
Sunset Boulevard (Andrew Lloyd Webber) – Broadway production opened at the Minskoff Theatre and ran for 977 performances
Airheads
Backbeat
Fear of a Black Hat
Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies
The Lion King – animated feature film with songs by Elton John and Tim Rice
That's Entertainment! III
February 1
Skylar Laine, American singer-songwriter
Harry Styles, British singer of the band One Direction
February 8 – Nikki Yanofsky, Canadian singer
February 14 – Paul Butcher, American actor and singer
February 17 – Angie Miller, American singer-songwriter and pianist
February 24 - Earl Sweatshirt, American rapper
March 1 – Justin Bieber, Canadian singer
March 12 - Christina Grimmie, American singer (d. 2016)
April 4 – Risako Sugaya, Japanese singer
April 12 – Airi Suzuki, Japanese singer
July 7 - Ashton Irwin, Australian drummer and singer of the band 5 seconds of summer
August 18 - Bobby Andonov, Australian singer-songwriter and actor
September 1 – Bianca Ryan, American singer
September 17
Taylor Ware, American singer and yodeler
Chen Yihan, Chinese pianist and composer
January 6 – Harold Sumberg, violinist, 88
January 15 – Harry Nilsson, singer, songwriter, 52 (heart attack)
January 17 – Georges Cziffra, pianist, 72
January 30 - Rudolf Schwarz, conductor, 88
February 5 - Tiana Lemnitz, operatic soprano, 96
February 7 – Witold Lutosławski, composer, 81
February 8 - Raymond Scott, composer and bandleader, 85
February 22 - Papa John Creach, blues violinist, 76
February 24 – Dinah Shore, singer, actress, 77
March 6 – Yvonne Fair, African-American singer, 51
March 13 – Danny Barker, jazz musician and composer, 85
March 16 – Nicolas Flagello, composer, 66
March 18 - Ephraim Lewis, soul and R&B singer, 26
March 22 – Dan Hartman, singer, 42 (brain tumour)
March 23 – Donald Swann, pianist, composer and entertainer (Flanders and Swann), 70
April 5
Rowland Greenberg, Norwegian jazz trumpeter, 73
Kurt Cobain, singer & guitarist (Nirvana), 27 (self-inflicted shotgun wound)
April 7 - Lee Brilleaux, British R&B singer (Dr Feelgood), 41 (cancer)
April 19 - Larry Davis, blues singer and guitarist, 57
May 23 - Joe Pass, jazz guitarist, 65 (liver cancer)
May 25 - Eric Gale, jazz guitarist, 55 (lung cancer)
May 26 - Sonny Sharrock, jazz guitarist, 53
May 27 - Red Rodney, bop trumpeter, 66
May 29 - Oliver Jackson, jazz drummer, 61
May 31 - Herva Nelli, operatic soprano, 85
June 4 - Earle Warren, saxophonist, 79
June 11 – Robert Beadell, composer, 68
June 14 – Henry Mancini, composer, 70
June 15 – Manos Hadjidakis, composer, 68
June 16 – Kristen Pfaff, bass guitarist (Hole), 27 (heroin overdose)
June 25
Kin Vassy, songwriter, performer, co-lead singer and guitarist of The First Edition 1969–72 (lung cancer), 50
DJ Train, producer (smoke inhalation)
June 29 – Kurt Eichhorn, conductor, 85
July 2 - Marion Williams, gospel singer, 66
July 31 – Anne Shelton, British singer, 70
August 6 – Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter, 66
September 2 – Roy Castle, musician and all-round entertainer, 62 (lung cancer)
September 3 - Major Lance, R&B singer, 55
September 6
Nicky Hopkins, session musician, keyboardist, 50 (complications from intestinal surgery)
Max Kaminsky, jazz trumpeter and bandleader, 85
September 7 - Eric Crozier, librettist, 79
September 13 – John Stevens, jazz musician
September 20 – Jule Styne, songwriter, 88
September 24 – Urmas Alender, singer, 40 (drowned in MS Estonia sinking)
September 29 – Cheb Hasni, Algerian Raj musician, 26 (murdered)
October 4 - Danny Gatton, guitarist, 49
October 19 – Martha Raye, singer and comedian, 88
October 22
Jimmy Miller, record producer, 52
Shlomo Carlebach, Jewish songwriter
October 26 - Wilbert Harrison, R&B singer, pianist, guitarist and harmonica player, 65
October 27 - Robert White, Motown session guitarist, 57
October 31 - Lester Sill, record executive, 76
November 4 – Fred "Sonic" Smith, MC5 guitarist, 45 (heart attack)
November 7 – Shorty Rogers, jazz trumpeter, 70
November 11 – Elizabeth Maconchy, composer, 87
November 18 – Cab Calloway, jazz and scat singer, 86
November 28 – Vic Legley, Belgian violist and composer of French birth, 79
December 8 – Antônio Carlos Jobim, bossa nova composer and songwriter, 67
December 10 – Garnett Silk, reggae singer, 28 (house fire)
The following artists are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: John Lennon, Elton John, Grateful Dead, The Band, Bob Marley, Duane Eddy, Rod Stewart, and The Animals
Inductees of the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame include Tennessee Ernie Ford
Kumar Sanu – Filmfare Best Male Playback Award
Filmfare Best Music Director Awards – Rahul Dev Burman
Grammy Awards of 1994
Eurovision Song Contest 1994
Elegant Slumming – M People wins.
Rascalz – Juno Award Best rap album
KROQ Top 106.7 Countdown of 1994
Triple J Hottest 100, 1994
