1975 in British music

Events

• 13 February – The film Slade in Flame, starring the members of Slade, premieres at the Metropole Theatre in London.
• 2 March – Los Angeles Police make a routine traffic stop that turns out to be Paul McCartney and his wife Linda. Linda is arrested for having 170 to 225 grams of marijuana in her pocketbook.
• 22 March – The Shadows represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden. They come second.
• 26 March – The film version of the Who's Tommy premieres in London.
• 7 April – Ritchie Blackmore plays his final show with Deep Purple in Paris before quitting to form his own group, Rainbow.
• 24 April – Pete Ham, founder of the group Badfinger, is found hanged in his garage at home in Woking, Surrey. His death is ruled a suicide.
• 1 May – The Rolling Stones announce their forthcoming North American tour by performing "Brown Sugar" from a flatbed truck on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The occasion was guitarist Ronnie Wood's debut with the band.
• 4 August – Robert Plant and his wife Maureen are seriously injured in a car accident while vacationing on the Greek island of Rhodes. The immediate future of Led Zeppelin is cast into doubt, as Plant will not recover for quite some time.
• 23 August – Peter Gabriel leaves progressive rock group Genesis.
• 3 October – The Who release their seventh studio album The Who By Numbers.
• 7 October – John Lennon finally wins his battle to stay in the United States after the New York Court of Appeals overturns Lennon's 1972 deportation order.
• 9 October – John Lennon and Yoko Ono become parents of Sean Ono Lennon at 2:00 AM. The birth heralds the beginning of John's temporary retirement from the music business as he vows to devote himself to family for the next five years.
• 31 October – Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" is released. It goes to number one for nine weeks, and as of 2015 is the biggest-selling non-charity single in UK history.
• 6 November – The Sex Pistols play their first concert at St. Martin's School of Art in London.
• 18 December – The official break-up of the Faces is announced at a London press conference. Rod Stewart continues his solo career while Ronnie Wood joins the Rolling Stones.
• 25 December – Iron Maiden is formed in Leyton, east London, by bassist Steve Harris.

Year-end charts

Best-selling singles

Best-selling albums

Classical music: new works

• Benjamin Britten –
• *Phaedra
• *String Quartet No. 3

Film and incidental music

• Stanley Myers – Conduct Unbecoming, starring Michael York, Richard Attenborough and Trevor Howard

Musical films

• The Who – ''Tommy''

Births

• 3 January – Rebecca Onslow, singer
• 6 January – Gabriel Prokofiev, Russian-British composer
• 7 January – Neil Watts, singer
• 9 January – Glen Clarke, Irish singer
• 13 January – Jason King, radio DJ
• 15 January – Edith Bowman, radio DJ
• 19 January – Kule T, singer
• 24 January
• *Isobel Cooper, soprano
• *Paul Marazzi, singer
• 28 January – Lee Latchford-Evans, singer
• 12 March – Kéllé Bryan, singer
• 17 March – Justin Hawkins, vocalist
• 25 March – Melanie Blatt, singer
• 1 April – Suzy Klein, music writer and presenter
• 23 May – Darren Styles, record producer
• 29 May – Melanie Brown, singer
• 4 June – Russell Brand, radio DJ
• 18 June – Jem, Welsh singer-songwriter and producer
• 23 June – KT Tunstall, singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 9 July – Shona Fraser, British-born music journalist
• 18 July – M.I.A., rapper and producer
• 15 August – Phillip Rodell, singer
• 4 September – Mark Ronson, DJ and music producer
• 8 September – Richard Hughes, drummer
• 23 September – Chris Hawkins, radio DJ
• 9 October – Sean Ono Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono
• 14 October – Shaznay Lewis, singer
• 25 October – Melissa Graham, singer
• 5 November – Lisa Scott-Lee, singer
• 14 November – Faye Tozer, singer
• 25 November – Paul Mealor, composer
• 29 November – Alan Fitzsimons, Irish singer
• 12 December – Michael Harwood, guitarist

Deaths

• 8 February – Martyn Green, actor and singer, 75
• 13 February – Eric Thiman, composer, 74
• 13 March – Jeannie Robertson, folk singer, 66/67
• 27 March – Sir Arthur Bliss, Master of the Queen's Musick, 83
• 14 April – Michael Flanders, lyricist, actor, humorist and singer, 53
• 15 April – John D. H. Greenwood, film composer, 75
• 21 April – Sir Jack Westrup, musicologist, writer, teacher and occasional conductor and composer, 70
• 24 April – Pete Ham, singer and songwriter, 27
• 26 April – Godfrey Winham, English-born US music theorist and composer of contemporary classical music, 40
• 2 August – Muir Mathieson, conductor and composer, 64
• 13 November – Lambert Williamson, composer and conductor, 68