1959 in British music
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 involvement in 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.
- 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 in Bury St Edmunds.
- 30 October – Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club opens in the Soho district of London.
- Bert Weedon becomes the first British guitarist in the UK Singles Chart with his solo "Guitar Boogie Shuffle".
Charts
The Official UK Singles Chart
Classical music: new works
- William Alwyn – Symphony No. 4
- Malcolm Arnold – Sweeney Todd
- Arthur Bliss – Birthday Song for a Royal Child (composed to celebrate the birth of Prince Andrew
- Benjamin Britten – Missa Brevis
- Iain Hamilton – Sinfonia, for two orchestras
- 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
- 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
- 15 January – Pete Trewavas, bass player and songwriter
- 28 January – Dave Sharp
- 3 February – Lol Tolhurst, drummer
- 25 February – Mike Peters, singer/songwriter
- 17 March – Mike Lindup, singer/keyboard player
- 10 April – Brian Setzer, singer/guitarist
- 21 April – Robert Smith, singer
- 27 April – Sheena Easton, singer
- 5 May – Ian McCulloch, singer
- 22 May – Morrissey, singer
- 28 May – Steve Strange, singer
- 29 May – Mel Gaynor, drummer
- 5 June – Robert Lloyd, English singer
- 19 June – Dennis Fuller, Jamaican-born singer
- 24 June – Andy McCluskey
- 28 June – Clint Boon, singer and keyboard player
- 30 June – Brendan Perry, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
- 1 July – Edem Ephraim, singer
- 9 July – Jim Kerr, singer
- 16 July – James MacMillan, composer
- 18 July – Jonathan Dove, composer
- 5 August – Pete Burns, singer
- 6 August – Donna Lewis, singer
- 29 August – Eddi Reader, singer
- 24 September – Drummie Zeb, singer
- 4 October – Chris Lowe, keyboard player
- 10 October
- *Kirsty MacColl, singer/songwriter
- *Steve Martland, composer, curator Factory Classical
- 7 November – Richard Barrett, composer
- 27 November – Charlie Burchill, guitarist
- 1 December – Billy Childish, artist and musician
- 30 December – Tracey Ullman, actress and singer
- date unknown
- *Paul Coletti, Scottish viola soloist and chamber musician
- *John Palmer, composer, pianist and musicologist.
- *Andi Spicer, electroacoustic composer
Deaths
- 11 March – Haydn Wood, violinist and composer
- 25 March – Billy Mayerl, pianist and composer
- 9 June – Sonnie Hale, actor and singer
- 6 September – Kay Kendall, musical comedy actress
- 11 September – Ann Drummond-Grant, operatic contralto
- 21 September – Agnes Nicholls, operatic soprano
- 28 September – Gerard Hoffnung, German-born artist, musician and humorist
- 19 October – Stanley Bate, pianist and composer
- 26 November – Albert Ketèlbey, pianist, conductor and composer
- 29 December – Robin Milford, composer
- 30 December – G. W. Briggs, hymn-writer