1959 in British music

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Last updated March 01, 2023

This is a summary of 1959 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

Events

January – Ealing Jazz Club opens in London.
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

See List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1950s

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)
15 January – Pete Trewavas, bass player and songwriter^[8]
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)
29 May - Mel Gaynor, drummer (Simple Minds)
5 June – Robert Lloyd, English singer
19 June - Dennis Fuller, Jamaican-born singer (London Boys) (d. 1996)
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)
1 July - Edem Ephraim, singer (London Boys) (d. 1996)
9 July – Jim Kerr, singer (Simple Minds)
5 August – Pete Burns, singer (Dead or Alive) (d. 2016)^[9]
29 August – Eddi Reader, singer
24 September – Drummie Zeb, singer (Aswad) (d. 2022)
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, guitarist (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)

Related Research Articles

The cultural year was dominated by the Festival of Britain and the opening of The Royal Festival Hall, the first dedicated concert hall of its size to be built in London since 1893: located on the south bank of the Thames, this was to host concerts by major orchestras from Britain and abroad. The Festival itself was a celebration of music, art and theatre. It notably provided an opportunity for the staging of many events seen during the first Folk music Festival held in Edinburgh, organised with the help of such talents as the American Alan Lomax, the Irish traditional musician Seamus Ennis and the political theatre director Ewan MacColl, who would go on to form the Ballad and Blues Club.

This is a summary of 1963 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

This is a summary of 1960 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

This is a summary of 1958 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

This is a summary of 1964 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

This is a summary of 1956 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

This is a summary of 1955 in music of all genres in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1954 in music of all genres in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1962 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

This is a summary of 1950 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1949 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1948 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1947 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1946 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1945 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1944 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1942 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1941 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1940 in music in the United Kingdom.

This is a summary of 1939 in music in the United Kingdom.

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
↑ "Marillion Official Website" . Retrieved 14 May 2012.
↑ Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (24 October 2016). "Pete Burns, frontman of Dead or Alive, dies aged 57". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Ltd. Retrieved 24 October 2016.

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[1] ""1959: Dame Margot Fonteyn released from jail", BBC On This Day". BBC News. 1959-04-22. Retrieved 2009-07-02.

[2] 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

[3] Adrian Wright (2008). The Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn. Boydell & Brewer Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84383-412-0.

[4] Bland A. The Royal Ballet – the first 50 years. Threshold Books, London, 1981.

[5] "Arthur Bliss – Birthday Song for a Royal Child (1959)". Music Sales Classical. Retrieved 21 August 2017.

[6] 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.

[7] The Guide to Musical Theatre. Accessed 20 June 2014

[8] "Marillion Official Website" . Retrieved 14 May 2012.

[9] Ellis-Petersen, Hannah (24 October 2016). "Pete Burns, frontman of Dead or Alive, dies aged 57". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media Ltd. Retrieved 24 October 2016.

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