1959 in British music

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

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 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.
• 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

• Arnold Bax - Symphony No. 4
• Francis Jackson - Diversion for Mixtures
• Grace Williams - All Seasons shall be Sweet

Musical theatre

• 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)
• 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)
• 24 June - Andy McCluskey (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark)
• 4 October - Chris Lowe, keyboard player (Pet Shop Boys)
• 10 October - Kirsty MacColl, singer/songwriter (d. 2000)
• 27 November - Charlie Burchill (Simple Minds)
• 1 December - Billy Childish
• 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)