Deaths
- January 3 – Lucien Cailliet, clarinetist, conductor, arranger and composer, 87
- January 4 – Lovro von Matačić, Croatian conductor, 85
- January 10 – Anton Karas, Austrian zither player and composer, 78
- January 25 – Paul J. Smith, composer, 78
- February 7 – Matt Monro, English singer, 54 (liver cancer)
- February 11 – Heinz Eric Roemheld, American composer, 83
- February 12 – Leslie Sarony, English singer, comedian and songwriter, 87
- February 18
- Willy Alberti, Dutch singer, 58 (liver cancer)
- Gábor Darvas, composer and musicologist, 74
- February 22 – Efrem Zimbalist, violinist, 94
- February 28 – David Byron, vocalist of Uriah Heep, 38 (alcohol-related)
- March 1 – Eugene List, American classical pianist, 66
- March 16 – Roger Sessions, American composer, 88
- March 23 – Zoot Sims, jazz saxophonist, 59
- March 31 – Jeanine Deckers, known as The Singing Nun, 51 (suicide)
- May 2 – Bridget D'Oyly Carte, opera impresario, 77
- May 8 – Karl Marx, composer and conductor, 87
- May 19 – Hilding Rosenberg, composer, 92
- June – Leonard Falcone, baritone/eupohonium virtuosos and director of bands at Michigan State, 86
- July 23 – Kay Kyser, US bandleader, 80
- July 30 – Peter Knight, conductor, arranger and composer, 68
- August 11 – Nick Ceroli, jazz drummer, 45
- August 24 – Paul Creston, American composer, 78
- September 6 – Little Brother Montgomery, jazz and blues pianist and singer, 79
- September 8 – Frederick May, Irish composer, 74
- September 11 – William Alwyn, English composer, 79
- September 18 – Ed Lewis, jazz trumpeter, 76
- October 6 – Nelson Riddle, US conductor, composer and arranger
- October 11 – Tex Williams, US country singer, 68
- October 12 - Ricky Wilson, guitarist (The B-52's), 32
- October 14 – Emil Gilels, pianist, 68
- October 18 – Stefan Askenase, pianist, 94
- October 20 – Boris Lisanevich, dancer, 80
- October 22 – Viorica Ursuleac, operatic soprano, 91
- November 15 – Seán Ryan, Irish fiddler and whistler
- November 24 - Big Joe Turner, blues singer, 74
- December 12 – Ian Stewart (The Rolling Stones), 42 (heart attack)
- December 22 – D. Boon, lead singer of Minutemen, 27 (car accident)
- December 31 – Ricky Nelson, singer, former teen idol, 45 (plane crash)
- date unknown – Rodolfo Arizaga, Argentinian composer
Read more about this topic: 1985 In Music
Famous quotes containing the word deaths:
“This is the 184th Demonstration.
...
What we do is not beautiful
hurts no one makes no one desperate
we do not break the panes of safety glass
stretching between people on the street
and the deaths they hire.”
—Marge Piercy (b. 1936)
“Death is too much for men to bear, whereas women, who are practiced in bearing the deaths of men before their own and who are also practiced in bearing life, take death almost in stride. They go to meet deaththat is, they attempt suicidetwice as often as men, though men are more successful because they use surer weapons, like guns.”
—Roger Rosenblatt (b. 1940)
“I sang of death but had I known
The many deaths one must have died
Before he came to meet his own!”
—Robert Frost (18741963)