1973 in British music

Events

• 4 January – At the short-lived Winter Proms season, the Berlin Philharmonic makes its Proms debut with performances of Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
• 9 January – Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug conviction, putting an end to The Rolling Stones' plans to perform in Japan during their forthcoming tour.
• 18 January – The Rolling Stones' benefit concert for Nicaraguan earthquake victims raises over $350,000
• 14 February – David Bowie collapses from exhaustion after a performance at New York's Madison Square Garden.
• 1 March – Pink Floyd releases The Dark Side of the Moon, which goes on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.
• 8 March – Paul McCartney is fined $240 after pleading guilty to charges of growing marijuana outside his Scottish farm.
• 14 March – The singers Stephen Stills and Véronique Sanson are married near Guildford, England.
• 7 April – Cliff Richard takes part in the 18th Eurovision Song Contest. He finishes in 3rd place with the song "Power to All Our Friends".
• 4 May – 29 July – Led Zeppelin embarks on a tour of the United States, during which they set the record for highest attendance for a concert, 56,800, at the Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The record was previously held by The Beatles. Performances for the movie The Song Remains the Same are also filmed.
• 12 May – David Bowie is the first rock artist to perform at Earls Court Exhibition Centre.
• 25 May – Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells becomes the first release on Richard Branson's newly launched Virgin label.
• May – Benjamin Britten has surgery to replace a failing heart valve.
• 4 June – Ronnie Lane plays his last show with Faces at the Edmonton Sundown in London. Lane had informed the band three weeks earlier that he was quitting.
• 16 June – Benjamin Britten's opera Death in Venice, receives its première at Snape Maltings.
• 30 June – Ian Gillan quits Deep Purple.
• 3 July – David Bowie 'retires' his stage persona Ziggy Stardust in front of a shocked audience at the Hammersmith Odeon at the end of his British tour.
• 4 July – Slade drummer Don Powell is critically injured in a car crash in Wolverhampton; his 20-year-old girlfriend is killed.
• 13 July – Queen release their debut album.
• 15 July – Ray Davies of The Kinks makes an emotional outburst during a performance at White City Stadium, announcing he is quitting the group. He later withdraws the statement.
• 20 August – The London Symphony Orchestra becomes the first British orchestra to take part in the Salzburg Festival.
• 20 October – Queen Elizabeth II opens Sydney Opera House.
• November – Karl Jenkins is among the participants in a live-in-the-studio performance of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells for the BBC.
• 20 November – The Who open their Quadrophenia US tour with a concert at San Francisco's Cow Palace, but drummer Keith Moon passes out and has to be carried off the stage. Nineteen-year-old fan Scot Halpin is selected from the audience to finish the show; Halpin would later be awarded Rolling Stone magazine's "Pick-Up Player of the Year Award" for his historic performance.
• date unknown
• *The Royal Northern College of Music is established by the merger of the Northern School of Music and the Royal Manchester College of Music
• *The Taverner Consort and Players are founded by Andrew Parrott.

Year-end charts

Best-selling singles

Best-selling albums

Classical music: new works

• Malcolm Arnold – Symphony No. 7
• Jeffrey Lewis – Aurora
• William Mathias – Missa Brevis
• Nicholas Maw – Life Studies
• Patric Standford – Christus Requiem
• Michael Tippett – Piano Sonata No. 3
• Grace Williams – ''Ave Maris Stella''

Opera

• Benjamin Britten – ''Death in Venice''

Film and incidental music

• John Barry – A Doll's House, starring Claire Bloom, Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Richardson and Denholm Elliott.
• Richard Rodney Bennett – Lady Caroline Lamb directed by Robert Bolt, starring Sarah Miles.
• Albert Elms – Love Thy Neighbour.
• Paul Ferris – The Creeping Flesh directed by Freddie Francis, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

Musical theatre

• 13 May – Cyrano, with book and lyrics by Anthony Burgess and music by Michael J. Lewis, opens at the Palace Theatre, London, starring Christopher Plummer; it runs for 49 performances.

Musical films

• Jesus Christ Superstar, a film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera, directed by Norman Jewison

Births

• 11 January – Tom Gladwin, bassist
• 25 January – Chris Wilkie, guitarist
• 3 March – Matthew Marsden, actor and singer
• 13 March – Eloy de Jong, Dutch-born singer
• 22 March – Beverley Knight, soul singer
• 14 May
• *Sinéad O'Carroll, Irish singer
• *Natalie Appleton, Canadian-born singer
• 21 May – Noel Fielding, comedian and musician
• 23 May – Nikki Yeoh, jazz pianist
• 29 May – Tansy Davies, composer
• 6 July – Paul Banks, guitarist
• 16 July – Schelim Hannan, singer
• 19 July – Martin Powell, keyboard player and songwriter
• 22 July – Daniel Jones, English-Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
• 23 July – Fran Healy, singer-songwriter
• 10 August – Jon O'Mahony, drummer
• 21 August – Ally Begg, singer
• 30 August – Leon Caffrey, drummer
• 17 September – Amy Black, operatic mezzo-soprano
• 27 September – Lee Brennan, singer
• 29 September – Alfie Boe, operatic tenor
• 9 October – Cal Cooper, singer
• 10 October – Scott Morriss, bassist
• 10 November – Jacqui Abbott, vocalist
• 4 December – Naima Belkhiati, singer
• date unknown – Andrew March, composer

Deaths

• 3 February – Edward Lockspeiser, musicologist, composer and radio broadcaster, 67
• 26 March – Noël Coward, composer and dramatist, 73
• 18 April – Ronald Center, composer, 60
• 24 May – Sid Phillips, jazz clarinetist, bandleader, and arranger, 65
• 8 June – Tubby Hayes, jazz musician, 38
• 9 August – Donald Peers, singer, 66
• 16 August – Astra Desmond, contralto, 80
• 6 September – Sir William Henry Harris, composer, 90
• 22 October – David Franklin, opera singer and broadcaster, 65
• 27 October – Norman Allin, operatic bass, 88
• 26 November – John Rostill, bassist and composer, 31
• 6 December – Frederic Curzon, composer and conductor, 74
• 17 December – Patrick Hadley, composer, 74
• date unknown – Harry Dexter, music critic and composer of light music, 63