Suicide

Edwin Pearce Christy, founder of popular American blackface minstrelsy group The Christy Minstrels commits suicide by throwing himself from a window of his house in New York City.

Composer and designer of string instruments Alfred Stelzner commits suicide at his home in Dresden, Germany, Europe. Although his inventions, the violotta and the cellone, were highly praised and endorsed by famous musicians, his company had gone brankrupt, leaving him faced with insurmountable financial problems.

Paul Whiteman And His Orchestra record their version of the song Gloomy Sunday, for Victor Records in the USA. Written in 1933, Gloomy Sunday would quickly acquire a reputation as The Suicide Song because many of those who sang it came to premature ends, and also because many people were said to have committed suicide while listening to it.

Boruch Alan Bermowitz is born in Brooklyn, New York City, USA. He will find international acclaim as Alan Vega, co-founder of pioneering electro-punk duo Suicide.

Suffering from depression and believing herself to be going insane, modernist novelist Virginia Woolf puts on her overcoat, fills its pockets with stones, walks into the River Ouse near her home in Rodmell, Sussex, England, UK, Europe, and drowns herself. The 2011 hit single What The Water Gave Me by Florence And The Machine is inspired by Woolf's suicide.

Unable to face his mounting debts, Benjamin Spector, the father of 60s record producer Phil Spector, commits suicide in New York City, USA, by sucking carbon monoxide through a hose in his car in broad daylight. A decade later, Phil will compose the song To Know Him Is To Love Him, inspired by the words carved into Benjamin's gravestone, which will become a No1 hit in 1958 for his group The Teddy Bears.

Revered British record producer Joe Meek scores his first hit as an independent producer when The Flee-Rekkers enter the UK Singles Chart with Green Jeans, a rocked-up version of the folk song Greensleeves, composed in the 16th century. It will peak at No23 and The Flee-Rekkers will flounder but Meek will go on to become a legend in British production circles, helming hits including Telstar by The Tornados, Johnny Remember Me by John Leyton and Have I The Right? by The Honeycombs, before committing suicide in 1967.

Elvis Presley is recalled to Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, to re-shoot the ending of Wild In The Country, because pre-release screening audiences did not like the original ending in which Hope Lange committed suicide.

Phil Everly heads the bill on a package tour at The ABC, Lincoln, UK. The show is supposed to star The Everly Brothers, but Don Everly collapsed after a suicide attempt in London's Savoy Hotel. Other acts on the bill include Frank Ifield, Ketty Lester and The Vernons Girls.

Phil Everly heads the bill on a package tour at City Hall, Newcastle, UK. The show is supposed to star The Everly Brothers, but Don Everly collapsed after a suicide attempt in London's Savoy Hotel. Other acts on the bill include Frank Ifield, Ketty Lester and The Vernons Girls.

Phil Everly heads the bill on a package tour at the ABC, Exeter, UK. The show is supposed to star The Everly Brothers, but Don Everly collapsed after a suicide attempt in London'sSavoy Hotel. Other acts on the bill include Frank Ifield, Ketty Lester and The Vernons Girls.

Phil Everly heads the bill on a package tour at The Gaumont, Cheltenham, UK. The show is supposed to star The Everly Brothers,but Don Everly collapsed after a suicide attempt in London's Savoy Hotel. Other acts on the bill include Frank Ifield, Ketty Lester and The Vernons Girls.

Phil Everly heads the bill on the final night of a package tour at The Empire, Liverpool, UK. The show is supposed to star The Everly Brothers, but Don Everly collapsed after a suicide attempt in London's Savoy Hotel. Other acts on the bill include Frank Ifield, Ketty Lester and The Vernons Girls.

The Toggery Five release a new single, I'm Gonna Jump, in the UK on Parlophone Records.

The Daily Mirror in the UK, runs a headline feature about the previous day's suicide of top music producer Joe Meek, who killed himself with a shotgun after murdering his landlady, Mrs Violet Shenton, with the same weapon.

Ben Pollack, the jazz bandleader known as 'The Father Of Swing', commits suicide by hanging himself in Palm Springs, California, USA.

Pete Ham, songwriter and guitarist with Badfinger, hangs himself in his garage in Woking, UK. He leaves a suicide note criticising the band's manager, Stan Polley as 'a soulless bastard.'

Terry Kath, guitarist/vocalist of the jazz-rock group Chicago, kills himself in Woodland Hills, California, USA, by accidentally discharging a pistol he is holding to his head in a mock game of Russian roulette.

During their On Parole tour, The Clash play the last of four nights at The Music Machine, Camden Town, London, England, UK, Europe, supported by Suicide and The Specials.

Lynne Taylor, who had found success as the lead vocalist of The Rooftop Singers, dies at the age of 43 from a self inflicted gunshot wound in the family's backyard in Canoga Park, California, USA.

Janet Vogel of hit-making 60s vocal group The Skyliners commits suicide in her car in her garage at home in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.

Darby Crash, leader of seminal Los Angeles, California, USA, punk band The Germs, dies of a heroin overdose in a suicide pact.

World Boxing Association lightweight champion Ray 'Boom Boom' Mancini defends his title against South Korean challenger Duk Koo Kim at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. During the fight, Kim suffers brain injuries that will lead to his death four days later. Kim's mother will commit suicide four months later, and referee Richard Green will kill himself in July 1983. Grief-stricken, Mancini will quit boxing in 1985. The 1987 Warren Zevon song Boom Boom Mancini examines Mancini's career in the light of the after-effects of Duk Koo Kim's tragic but accidental death.

Robert Budd Dwyer, while serving as the 30th Treasurer of Pennsylvania, shoots himself dead with a .357 Magnum Smith and Wesson model 27 during a televised press conference in his office in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He had been convicted of taking bribes while in office. The 1995 song Hey, Man, Nice Shot by Filter is about Dwyer's suicide.

English-born soul / neo-soul and R'n'B singer and songwriter Ephraim Lewis dies dies after having apparently jumped from a fourth floor balcony in Los Angeles, California, USA. His death will be ruled as suicide, but some reports say that LAPD officers stunned him with a Taser after a hyperactive exchange, perhaps connected to his use of methamphetamine.

Veteran British pop star Cliff Richard goes to Buckingham Palace, London, to collect a knighthood. On the same day, Hole singer Courtney Love and former Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic are sued by a German promoter over Nirvana's failure to perform concerts after Kurt Cobain's suicide in April of the previous year.

Jim Ellison, frontman of Chicago-based 90s alternative rock band Material Issue, commits suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in his car in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The reasons for his suicide are not made public.

One third of the ashes of Michael Hutchence of INXS are scattered in Rose Bay, Sydney Harbour, Australia, Oceania. The ashes had been split three ways, between his father, his miother and Paula Yates.

Fans, estimated at around 50,000 in number, flood into central Tokyo, Japan, to attend the funeral of Hideto Matsumoto [aka Hide], guitarist of the group X Japan. The centre of the city is brought to a standstill as ambulances carry away dozens overcome by emotion and the 82-degree [28c] heat.

Singer and guitarist Steve Sanders commits suicide by shooting himself in the head at his home in Cape Coral, Florida, USA. He had found success as vocalist and guitarist with country and gospel music group The Oak Ridge Boys but quit in 1995 because of personal problems.

Kevin Wilkinson, an acclaimed drummer who had worked with The Waterboys, China Crisis, Squeeze and many others, commits suicide by hanging himself at his home in Baydon, near Swindon, Wiltshire, UK.

Jon Lee, drummer in Feeder, is found in his home in Miami, Florida, having committed suicide by hanging. He was 33.

Folk Singer Judy Collins publishes her memoir, Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival, and Strength, via Tarcher Books in the USA.

Paramedics are called to the Nashville home of country singer Mindy McCReady after an apparent suicide attempt. They transport her to a hospital after finding wounds on her wrists.

Robbie Williams' hairdresser Aaron Vickers is found dead, hanging in woodland near Williams' $8.5m mansion in Compton Bassett, Wiltshire, England, UK, Europe.

The Los Angeles Coroner's Office announces that the recent death of Keith Emerson, keyboardist with The Nice and Emerson, Lake And Palmer, was suicide. Emerson was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Santa Monica, California, USA. He suffered for many years with a painful nerve condition, and was thought to have become depressed.

Minus The Bear release their sixth LP, Voids, on Suicide Squeeze Records.

Police discover the body of Frightened Rabbit singer and songwriter Scott Hutchison at Port Edgar, near South Queensferry, Scotland, UK, Europe. Hutchison had addressed mental health difficulties in his songwriting and was thought to be in a 'fragile' state of mind in the days before his death. He had talked about having suicidal thoughts in what is believed to be his final interview.