1987 in Music - Deaths

Deaths

• January 6 – Jaidev, Bollywood composer, 67
• January 10 – Marion Hutton, singer and actress, 67
• January 15 – Ray Bolger, Wizard of Oz actor (cancer)
• January 30 – Harold Loeffelmacher, musician and bandleader (Six Fat Dutchmen), 81
• February 2
  • Spike Hughes, jazz musician, composer and journalist, 78
  • Alfred Lion, record executive and co-founder of Blue Note Records, 78
• February 4 – Liberace, US pianist
• February 8 – Tony Destra, drummer, 32 (car accident)
• February 18 – Dmitri Kabalevsky, composer
• February 23 – Zeca Afonso, folk musician
• February 24 – Jim Connors, radio DJ, 46 (car crash)
• March 3 – Danny Kaye, actor, singer, dancer and comedian
• March 6 – Eddie Durham, jazz musician, 80
• March 15 – Don Gant, singer/songwriter, record producer
• March 18 – Elizabeth Poston, composer, 82
• March 20 – Rita Streich, coloratura soprano, 66
• March 21
  • Dean Paul Martin, singer and actor, 35 (plane crash)
  • Robert Preston, actor and singer, 68
• March 28 – Maria von Trapp, subject of The Sound of Music, 82
• March 29 – Felix Prohaska, conductor
• April 2 – Buddy Rich, jazz drummer, 69 (brain tumor)
• April 7 – Carlton Barrett, reggae drummer (The Wailers), 36 (murdered)
• April 14 – Karl Höller, composer, 79
• May 2 – Larry Clinton, US bandleader and songwriter, 75
• May 3 – Dalida, singer, actress and Miss Egypt 1954, 54 (suicide)
• May 4 – Paul Butterfield, blues vocalist and harmonica player, 44 (drug overdose)
• May 13
  • Signe Amundsen, operatic soprano, 87
  • Ismael Rivera, salsa composer and singer, 55 (heart attack)
• May 14 – Rita Hayworth, dancer and film star, 68
• May 24 – Hermione Gingold, actress and singer
• May 26 – Robert Wilkins, blues guitarist and singer, 91
• May 29 – Phyllis Tate, avant-garde composer, 76
• June 3 – Andrés Segovia, guitar virtuoso, 94
• June 18 – Kid Thomas Valentine, jazz trumpeter & bandleader, 91
• June 21 – Abram Chasins, pianist and composer, 84
• June 22
  • Fred Astaire, dancer, actor and singer, 88
  • Frank Rehak, jazz trombonist
• June 25 – Boudleaux Bryant, Hall of Fame songwriter, 67
• June 26
  • Henk Badings, composer, 80
  • Gábor Rejtő, cellist, 70
• July 1 – Snakefinger, guitarist, 38 (heart attack)
• July 7
  • Tibor Frešo, composer, 69
  • Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, pianist, 85
• July 10 – John Hammond, producer and musician, 76
• July 15 – Pete King, drummer (After The Fire, BAP), 28 (testicular cancer)
• July 25 – Alex Sadkin, saxopohonist and record producer, 37 or 38 (motor accident)
• July 26 – Joe Liggins, R&B, jazz and blues pianist, 72
• August 2 – David Martin, bassist (Sam the Sham), 50 (heart attack)
• August 12 – Sally Long, former Ziegfeld Follies star, 85
• August 14 – Vincent Persichetti, composer, 72
• August 27
  • Bruce Holder, violinist, conductor and composer, 82
  • Scott La Rock, hip-hop DJ and producer, 25 (shot)
• September 3 – Morton Feldman, composer, 51 (pancreatic cancer)
• September 11 – Peter Tosh, reggae musician, 42 (shot and killed in a house invasion/robbery)
• September 21- Jaco Pastorius, jazz bassist, 35 (brain damage resulting from fight)
• September 23 – Bob Fosse, dancer, choreographer and director of musicals, 60 (heart attack)
• September 29 - Sebastian Peschko, pianist, 77
• October 3 – Hans Gál, composer, 97
• October 13 – Kishore Kumar, singer, actor, filmmaker, writer, musician and composer, 58
• October 14 – Rodolfo Halffter, composer, 86
• October 19 – Jacqueline du Pré, English cellist, 42 (multiple sclerosis)
• October 28 – Woody Herman, US bandleader
• November 12 – Cornelis Vreeswijk, Swedish singer-songwriter, 50 (liver cancer)
• November 16 – Zubir Said, composer, 80
• November 22 – Verna Arvey, librettist and pianist
• November 23 – Joseph Beer, composer, 79
• December 5 – Pappy Daily, country music entrepreneur and record producer, 85
• December 8 - Annelies Kupper, operatic soprano, 81
• December 10 – Jascha Heifetz, violinist
• December 12 – Clifton Chenier, zydeco singer and accordionist, 62
• December 18 – Conny Plank, record producer, 47
• December 21 – John Spence, ska musician, 18 (suicide)
• December 22 – Luca Prodan, rock musician, 34 (cirrhosis of the liver)
• date unknown
  • Emani Sankara Sastry, Veena player and composer
  • Allen Jones, record producer