1959 in British music
This is a summary of 1959 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.
| 1950s in music in the UK |
| Events |
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| By location |
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| By genre |
| By topic |
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Summary
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]
- 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.[2]
- 30 October – Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club opens in the Soho district of London.
Charts
The Official UK Singles Chart
Classical music: new works
- William Alwyn – Symphony No. 4[3]
- Malcolm Arnold – Sweeney Todd (ballet)[4]
- Arthur Bliss – Birthday Song for a Royal Child (composed to celebrate the birth of Prince Andrew[5]
- Benjamin Britten – Missa Brevis
- Iain Hamilton – Sinfonia, for two orchestras[6]
- Francis Jackson – Diversion for Mixtures
- Elizabeth Maconchy – "A Hymn to God the Father", for tenor and piano
- Thea Musgrave – Scottish Dance Suite, for orchestra
- Grace Williams – All Seasons Shall Be Sweet
Film and Incidental music
- William Alwyn – Killers of Kilimanjaro, starring Anthony Newley
- 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.
- Stanley Black – Violent Moment, starring Lyndon Brook
- Laurie Johnson
- No Trees in the Street, starring Sylvia Syms
- Tiger Bay, starring John Mills and Hayley Mills
Musical theatre
- Wolf Mankowitz, David Heneker and Monty Norman – Make Me an Offer[7]
- 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, 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 (died 2015)
- 5 June – Robert Lloyd, English 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, artist and musician
- 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: Dame Margot Fonteyn released from jail", BBC On This Day". BBC News. 1959-04-22. Retrieved 2009-07-02.
- Reed, Philip; Cooke, Mervyn (2010). Letters From A Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Vol. 5 1958–1965. Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-591-2., p. 85
- Adrian Wright (2008). The Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84383-412-0.
- Bland A. The Royal Ballet – the first 50 years. Threshold Books, London, 1981.
- "Arthur Bliss – Birthday Song for a Royal Child (1959)". Music Sales Classical. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- Philip Rupprecht; Philip Ernst Rupprecht (9 July 2015). British Musical Modernism: The Manchester Group and their Contemporaries. Cambridge University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-521-84448-2.
- The Guide to Musical Theatre. Accessed 20 June 2014
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