2016 in music

This topic covers notable events and articles related to 2016 in music.

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v t e

• March 25 – British rock and roll band, The Rolling Stones become the first foreign rock band to perform in Cuba,^[1] which was documented in their 2016 concert film, The Rolling Stones: Havana Moon.

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• Camera Obscura
• Chiodos
• Coal Chamber
• Man Overboard
• Middle Class Rut
• One Direction
• We Are the In Crowd
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs

• 1
  • Gilbert Kaplan, (74), American conductor and businessman, cancer.^[5]
  • Mark B, (45), British hip-hop record producer.^[6]
  • Gilberto Mendes, (93), Brazilian composer.^[7]
• 2 – Rino Salviati, (93), Italian singer, guitarist and actor.^[8]
• 3
  • Paul Bley (83), Canadian jazz pianist.^[9]
  • Jason Mackenroth (46), American rock drummer (Rollins Band, Mother Superior), prostate cancer.^[10]
• 4
  • Long John Hunter, (84), American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.^[11]
  • Achim Mentzel, (69), German musician and television presenter.^[12]
• 5
  • Pierre Boulez, (90), French composer and conductor.^[13]
  • Nicholas Caldwell, (71), American R&B singer (The Whispers).^[14]
  • Hanna-Marie Weydahl, (93), Norwegian pianist.^[15]
• 7
  • Kitty Kallen, (94), American singer ("Little Things Mean a Lot").^[16]
  • Troy Shondell, (76), American singer, complications from Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.^[17]
• 8
  • Otis Clay, (73), American R&B and soul singer ("Tryin' to Live My Life Without You", "The Only Way Is Up"), heart attack.^[18]
  • Red Simpson, (81), American country singer-songwriter ("I'm a Truck"), complications from a heart attack.^[19]
  • Brett Smiley, (60), American singer-songwriter.^[20]
• 10 – David Bowie, (69), English songwriter and artist.^[21]
• 17
  • Carina Jaarnek (53), Swedish singer and Dansband artist (cerebral haemorrhage).^[22]
  • Dale Griffin (67), British rock drummer (Mott the Hoople, Mott, British Lions).
• 18 – Glenn Frey (67), American guitarist and vocalist (The Eagles).^[23]
• 25 – Leif Solberg (101), Norwegian composer and organist.^[24]
• 26
  • T.J. Tindall (65), American guitarist (MFSB)^[25]
  • Black (53), Pop/new wave singer-songwriter, Traffic accident
• 28
  • Signe Toly Anderson (74), American vocalist (Jefferson Airplane).^[26]
  • Paul Kantner (74), American guitarist and vocalist (Jefferson Airplane).^[27]

• 3 – Maurice White (74), founder of Earth, Wind and Fire.^[28]
• 4
  • Bobby Caldwell (68), American rock keyboardist (Terry Knight and the Pack)
  • Ulf Söderblom (85), Finnish conductor.^[29]
• 13
  • Viola Beach, English indie rock band, car accident.
  • Kristian "Kris" Leonard (20), Guitar and vocals.
  • River Reeves (19), Guitar.
  • Tomas Lowe (27), Bass.
  • Jack Dakin (19), Drums.
  • Craig Tarry (32), Band manager.
• 15 – Joyce Paul (78), American country music singer
• 19 – Harald Devold (51), Norwegian saxophonist (cancer).^[30]
• 20 – Ove Verner Hansen (85), Danish actor and opera singer (cardiac arrest).^[31]
• 22 – Sonny James (87), American country music singer-songwriter.^[32]
• 24 – Lennie Baker (69), American rock and roll saxophonist and singer (Sha Na Na)
• 29 – Josefin Nilsson (46), Swedish singer.^[33]

• 3 – Gavin Christopher, 66, American R&B singer-songwriter and producer^[34]
• 5 – Jimmy Henderson, 61, American guitarist (Black Oak Arkansas)
• 8 – George Martin, (90), English producer.^[35]
• 9
  • Ray Griff (75), Canadian country singer-songwriter, (aspiration pneumonia).^[36]
  • Naná Vasconcelos (71), Brazilian percussionist.^[37]
• 10
  • Keith Emerson (71), English pianist and keyboardist (Emerson, Lake & Palmer).^[38]
  • Ernestine Anderson (87), American jazz and blues singer
• 12
  • Tommy Brown (84), American R&B singer
  • Jimmie Snell, 69, American soul and pop singer (Limmie & Family Cookin')
• 13 – Sidney Mear, (97), American trumpeter.^[39]
• 14 – Peter Maxwell Davies, (81), English composer and conductor
• 18 – Ned Miller (90), American singer-songwriter
• 22 – Phife Dawg, (45), American rap musician (A Tribe Called Quest), complications from diabetes.^[40]
• 23 – James Jamerson, Jr., 58, American bass player (Chanson)
• 24 – Peter Anders, 74, American singer-songwriter (The Trade Winds) and record producer
• 26 – David Baker, 84, American symphonic jazz composer

• 2 – Gato Barbieri, (83), Argentine jazz saxophonist, pneumonia.^[41]
• 3 – Bill Henderson, (90), American jazz vocalist and actor (Clue, City Slickers, White Men Can't Jump), cancer.^[42]
• 6 – Merle Haggard, (79), American singer-songwriter ("Okie from Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", "Carolyn"), Grammy winner (1984, 1998, 1999), complications from pneumonia.^[43]
• 13 – Mariano Mores, (98), Argentine tango composer and pianist.^[44]
• 21
  • Prince, (57), American musician.^[45]
  • Lonnie Mack, (74), American rock, blues, and country singer-songwriter guitarist, natural causes.^[46]
• 24
  • Billy Paul, (81), American soul singer.
  • Papa Wemba, (66), Congolese singer and musician.
  • Jan Henrik Kayser, (81), Norwegian pianist.

• 1 – Sydney Onayemi (78), Nigerian-born Swedish DJ.^[47]
• 4 – Olle Ljungström (54), Swedish singer and guitarist.^[48]
• 6 – Candye Kane, (54), American blues singer and entertainer
• 9
  • Jim Manolides (76), American rock and roll bassist (The Frantics)
  • Riki Sorsa (63), Finnish singer.^[49]
• 14 – Lasse Mårtenson (81), Finnish singer^[50]
• 16 – Fredrik Norén (75), Swedish jazz drummer^[51] (death announced on this date)
• 17 – Guy Clark, (74), American folk and country music singer-songwriter
• 19 – John Berry, (52), American guitarist (Beastie Boys)
• 21 – Nick Menza, (51), American instrumentalist, former drummer for the band Megadeth^[52]
• 30 – Thomas Fekete, (27), American guitarist (Surfer Blood)

• 2 – Freddie Wadling (64), Swedish singer and songwriter.^[53]
• 3 – Dave Swarbrick, (75), British folk musician and singer-songwriter (Fairport Convention), emphysema.^[54]
• 4 – Bobby Curtola, (73), Canadian singer.^[55]
• 5 – Phyllis Curtin, (94), American soprano.^[56]
• 6 – Rolf Schweizer, (80), German composer.^[57]
• 8
  • Vladislav Yankovsky, (64), Russian musician (Novosibirsk Youth Symphony Orchestra).^[58]
  • Terje Fjærn (73), Norwegian orchestra conductor ("La det swinge").^[59]
• 9 – J. Reilly Lewis, (71), American choral conductor and Baroque music specialist, heart attack.^[60]
• 10
  • Habib, (63), Iranian singer, heart attack.^[61]
  • Christina Grimmie, (22), American singer-songwriter (Find Me) and talent show participant (The Voice), gunshot wound.^[62]
• 13 – Chips Moman, (79), American producer, songwriter, guitarist.^[63]
• 17 – Attrell Cordes, (46), American musician, producer and rapper, co-founder of P.M. Dawn.^[64]
• 18 – Alejandro Jano Fuentes (45), Mexican singer and talent show participant (La Voz... México), gunshot wound.
• 21 – Wayne Jackson (74), American soul and R&B musician (The Mar-Keys), congestive heart failure.
• 22
  • Amjad Sabri (39), Pakistani Qawwali singer, gunshot wound.^[65]
  • Jim Boyd (60), Native American singer-songwriter and actor
• 24 – Bernie Worrell, (72), American keyboardist and composer (Parliament-Funkadelic).
• 27 – Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (83), Danish composer.^[66]
• 28 – Scotty Moore (84), American guitarist (Elvis Presley).
• 29 – Rob Wasserman (64), American composer and bass player (RatDog, Lou Reed).

• 1 – Jimmy Arthur Ordge (80), Canadian country music singer
• 16
  • Alan Vega (78), American vocalist and visual artist (Suicide).
  • Bonnie Brown (77) American country music singer, member of The Browns.
• 18 – Karina Jensen, Danish singer (Cartoons) (cancer).^[67]
• 19 – Tamás Somló (73), Hungarian musician, singer, artist and composer (Locomotiv GT), cancer.
• 26
  • Sandy Pearlman (72), American producer (Blue Öyster Cult, The Clash), songwriter, educator, complications from cerebral hemorrhage.^[68]
  • Roye Albrighton (67), German musician (Nektar), unspecified illness.^[69]
• 27
  • Pat Upton (75), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Spiral Starecase).^[70]
  • Einojuhani Rautavaara (87), Finnish composer.^[71]
• 31 – Mike Mohede (32), Indonesian singer and talent show participant (Indonesian Idol), heart attack.

• 3 – Ricci Martin (62), American musician.^[72]
• 4
  • Patrice Munsel (91), American coloratura soprano.^[73]
  • Snaffu Rigor (69), Filipino singer and songwriter, lung cancer.^[74]
• 5
  • Richard Fagan (69), American songwriter and musician, liver cancer.^[75]
  • Vander Lee (50), Brazilian singer-songwriter.^[76]
• 6 – Guillermo Anderson (54), Honduran singer, thyroid cancer.^[77]
• 7
  • B. E. Taylor (65), American musician ("Vitamin L"), brain cancer.^[78]
  • Dolores Vargas (80), Spanish singer, complications of leukemia.^[79]
  • Ruby Winters (74), American soul singer ("Make Love to Me", "I Will").^[80]
• 9
  • Pádraig Duggan (67), Irish musician (Clannad, The Duggans).
  • Jimmy Levine (61/62), American R&B musician and record producer.^[81]
• 11 – Glenn Yarbrough (86), American folk singer ("Baby the Rain Must Fall", "It's Gonna Be Fine", "San Francisco Bay Blues").^[82]
• 12 – Ruby Wilson (68), American blues, soul and gospel singer, heart attack.^[83]
• 13 – Connie Crothers (75), American jazz pianist, cancer.^[84]
• 14 – James Woolley (49), American keyboard and synthesizer player (Nine Inch Nails, 2wo).
• 15 – Bobby Hutcherson (75), Jazz vibraphonist, emphysema.
• 19 – Horacio Salgán (100), Argentine tango musician.
• 20
  • Matt Roberts (38), American rock guitarist (3 Doors Down), drug overdose.^[85]
  • Tom Searle (28), British rock guitarist (Architects), cancer.^[86]
• 22
  • Toots Thielemans (94), Belgian jazz musician.^[87]
  • Gilli Smyth (83), English musician (Gong).
• 28 – Juan Gabriel (66), Mexican singer and songwriter, heart attack.

• 1
  • Fred Hellerman, (89), American folk singer (The Weavers), guitarist, producer and songwriter.^[88]
  • Kacey Jones, (66), American singer-songwriter ("I'm the One Mama Warned You About"), producer and humorist, cancer.^[89]
• 2
  • Jerry Heller, (75), American music manager (N.W.A.).^[90]
  • Gary D., (52), German trance producer and DJ, pulmonary embolism.^[91]
• 3
  • Fred McFarlane, (55), American songwriter ("Show Me Love", "Don't Wanna Go Home"), record producer and musician.^[92]
  • Johnny Rebel, (77), American country singer.^[93]
• 7
  • Clifford Curry, (79), American beach music and R&B singer ("She Shot a Hole in My Soul").^[94]
  • Farhang Sharif, (85), Iranian musician and tar player.^{[citation needed]}
  • Graham Wiggins, (53), American musician.^[95]
• 8 – Prince Buster, (78), Jamaican ska musician ("One Step Beyond", "Al Capone").^[96]
• 10 – Chris Stone, (81), American recording studio owner (Record Plant) and entrepreneur, heart attack and stroke.^[97]
• 12 – Hidayat Inayat Khan, (99), English-French composer and conductor.^[98]
• 16
  • Jerry Corbetta, (68), American musician (Sugarloaf), Pick's disease.^[99]
  • Trisco Pearson, (53), American R&B singer (Force MDs), cancer.^[100]
  • Qiao Renliang, (28), Chinese singer and actor, suicide.^[101]
• 19 – Bobby Breen, (88), Canadian-born American actor and singer, natural causes.^[102]
• 20 – Micki Marlo, (88), American singer and model.^[103]
• 21
  • Shawty Lo, (40), American hip-hop musician (D4L), traffic collision.^[104]
  • John D. Loudermilk, (82), American singer and songwriter ("Tobacco Road", "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", "Indian Reservation"), bone cancer.^[105]
• 24 – Buckwheat Zydeco, (68), American accordionist and zydeco musician
• 25
  • Kashif, (59), American musician (B.T. Express) and record producer.^[106]
  • Hagen Liebing, (55), German musician (Die Ärzte).^[107]
  • Jean Shepard, (82), American honky tonk singer-songwriter ("A Dear John Letter", "Slippin' Away"), Parkinson's disease.^[108]
• 26
  • Joe Clay, (78), American rockabilly musician.^[109]
  • Ioan Gyuri Pascu, (55), Romanian singer, producer, actor and comedian, heart attack.^[110]
• 27
  • Aurelian Preda [ro], (46), Romanian folk singer, cancer.^[111]
  • Märta Schéle [sv], (80), Swedish singer.^[112]
• 29
  • Lecresia Campbell (53), American gospel singer, pulmonary embolism.^[113]
  • Nora Dean (72), Jamaican singer.^[114]
  • Royal Torrence (82), American soul music singer (Little Royal and The Swingmasters).^[115]
• 30
  • Oscar Brand (96), Canadian-born American folk singer-songwriter, author and radio broadcaster (WNYC).^[116]
  • Michael Casswell (53), English guitarist.^[117]
  • Lilleba Lund Kvandal (76), Norwegian opera singer.^[118]

• 1 – Toni Williams (77), Cook Islands-born New Zealand singer.^[119]
• 2
  • Steve Byrd (61), English guitarist (Gillan, Kim Wilde), heart attack.^[120]
  • Sir Neville Marriner (92), English conductor and violinist
  • Thomas Round (100), British opera singer.^[121]
• 3
  • Ljupka Dimitrovska, (70), Macedonian-born Croatian singer.^[122]
  • K. David van Hoesen (90), American bassoonist.^[123]
  • Joan Marie Johnson (72), American singer (The Dixie Cups), heart failure.^[124]
• 4 – Caroline Crawley (53), British singer and musician (Shelleyan Orphan, This Mortal Coil).^[125]
• 5 – Pompeiu Hărășteanu (81), Romanian opera singer.^[126]
• 7 – Anne Pashley (80), British athlete and opera singer, Olympic silver medalist (1956).^[127]
• 8 – Don Ciccone (70), American singer-songwriter and musician (The Critters, The Four Seasons, Tommy James and the Shondells).^[128]
• 9
  • Bored Nothing (26), Australian musician, suicide.^[129]
  • Michiyuki Kawashima (47), Japanese musician (Boom Boom Satellites), brain tumor.^[130]
  • Quique Lucca (103), Puerto Rican musician, founder of La Sonora Ponceña.^[131]
  • Guy Nadon [fr], (82), Canadian jazz drummer.^[132]
  • Marin Petrache Pechea [ro] (71), Romanian jazz musician, cancer.^[133]
• 10 – Issa Bagayogo,= (54), Malian musician.^[134]
• 11 – Peter Reynolds, (58), Welsh composer.^[135]
• 12
  • Robert Bateman, (80), American songwriter and record producer ("Please Mr. Postman"), heart attack.^[136]
  • Sonny Sanders (77), American songwriter, arranger and record producer.^[137]
• 15
  • Danny Champagne (65), Jamaican music producer, complications from stroke.^[138]
  • Robert Edwards (74), American singer (The Intruders), heart attack.^[139]
• 20
  • Achieng Abura, Kenyan musician.^[140]
  • Brian Edwards (72), Canadian rock bassist and singer (Mashmakhan)
  • Mieke Telkamp (82), Dutch singer.^[141]
• 23 – Pete Burns, (57), British singer (Dead or Alive)^[142]
• 24 – Bobby Vee (73) American pop singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s
• 30 – Curly Putman, (85), American singer-songwriter. D-I-V-O-R-C-E, Green, Green Grass of Home and the subject of Paul McCartney & Wings song Junior's Farm.

• 1
  • Nico Carstens (90), South African accordionist and songwriter^[143]
  • Pocho La Pantera (65), Argentine cumbia singer
• 3 – Kay Starr (94), American pop and jazz singer, complications of Alzheimer's disease.
• 4
  • Eddie Harsch, 59, Canadian keyboardist (The Black Crowes)
  • Jean-Jacques Perrey, 87, French electronic music producer
• 7 – Leonard Cohen (82), Canadian singer-songwriter^[144]
• 11
  • Victor Bailey (56), American jazz bass guitarist
  • Esma Redžepova-Teodosievska, (73), Macedonian vocalist, songwriter, and humanitarian of Romani ethnicity.
• 12 – Jacques Werup (71), Swedish musician and writer.^[145]
• 13 – Leon Russell (74), American musician and songwriter
• 15
  • Holly Dunn (59), American country singer-songwriter
  • Mose Allison (89), American pianist and singer.^[146]
• 18 – Sharon Jones (60), American soul and funk singer
• 24
  • Colonel Abrams (67), American musician and singer-songwriter
  • Pauline Oliveros (84), American composer
• 29 – Allan Zavod (71), Australian keyboardist and composer
• 30 – Ivar Thomassen (62), Norwegian folk singer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.^[147]

• 2
  • Cash Askew (22), guitarist (Them Are Us Too)
  • Mark Gray (64), American singer-songwriter (Exile)
• 4 – Ralph Johnson (67), American singer (The Impressions)
• 7 – Brian Bennett (65), American garage-rock keyboardist (The Cherry Slush)
• 8
  • Greg Lake (69), English progressive-rock vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)^[148]
  • Junaid Jamshed (52), Pakistani singer-songwriter (Vital Signs), flight collision^[149]
• 11 – Joe Ligon (80), American gospel singer (Mighty Clouds of Joy)
• 24 – Rick Parfitt (68), English musician and songwriter (Status Quo)^[150]
• 25 – George Michael (53), English singer-songwriter (Wham!) ^[151]

• Florence Foster Jenkins
• La La Land
• Oasis: Supersonic
• Sing Street
• The Beatles: Eight Days a Week

• Timeline of musical events
• Women in music