1968 in Music - Deaths

Deaths

• January 18 – Gribouille, French singer, 26 (alcohol and drug-related)
• February 5 – Luckey Roberts, ragtime composer and pianist, 80
• February 13
  • Ildebrando Pizzetti, composer, 87
  • Portia White, singer, 56
• February 15 – Little Walter, blues singer and harmonica player, 37
• February 28
  • Frankie Lymon, American singer, 25 (heroin overdose)
  • Doretta Morrow, dancer, 40 (cancer)
• March 6 – Iša Krejčí, composer and conductor, 63
• March 10 – Blind Joe Reynolds, singer-songwriter
• March 16 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, composer, 72
• April 15 – Borys Lyatoshynsky, composer, 73
• April 25 – Harald Kreutzberg, dancer and choreographer, 65
• May 15 - Florence Austral, operatic soprano, 76
• May 19 – Coleman Hawkins, jazz musician, 64
• May 24 – Bernard Rogers, composer, 75
• May 26 – Little Willie John, blues artist, 30 (heart attack)
• June 2 - André Mathieu, pianist and composer, 39
• June 8 – Bumble Bee Slim, blues musician, 63
• June 14 – Karl-Birger Blomdahl, composer and conductor, 51
• June 15 – Wes Montgomery, jazz guitarist, 45 (heart attack)
• June 26 – Ziggy Elman, US trumpet player, 54
• July 21 – Ruth St. Denis, dancer, 89
• July 27 – Lilian Harvey, actress and singer, 62
• July 28 - Carl Ravazza, US violinist, vocalist and bandleader, 58
• July 30 – Jón Leifs, composer, 69
• August 5 – Luther Perkins, guitarist of The Tennessee Two, 40 (burns and smoke inhalation following a house fire)
• August 18 – Arthur Marshall, ragtime composer, 86
• September 19 – Red Foley, country singer, 58
• October 8 – Frank Skinner, film composer, 70
• October 15 – Franz Reizenstein, pianist and composer, 57
• October 20 – Bud Flanagan, music hall star, 72
• October 30 – Pops Foster, jazz musician, 77
• November 8 – Kokomo Arnold, blues musician, 67
• November 9 – Jan Johansson, jazz pianist, 37 (car crash)
• November 11 – Jeanne Demessieux, organist, pianist and composer, 47 (embolism)
• December 1 – Nicolae Bretan, composer, 81
• December 9 – Percy Greenbank, lyricist, 90
• December 14 - Margarete Klose, operatic mezzo-soprano, 69
• December 19 – Tiberiu Brediceanu, composer
• December 31 – Sabin Drăgoi, composer, 91
• date unknown
  • Juan F. Acosta, composer and music teacher
  • Lucille Dompierre, pianist and arranger
  • Billy Pigg, bagpiper
  • Vincenzo Scaramuzza, pianist