Very Important

Agustín Cipriano Irusta is born in Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina, South America. He will achieve success as singer, actor, composer and lyricist Agustín Irusta.

Frank Proffitt is born in Laurel Bloomery, Tennessee, USA. He will become an acclaimed Appalachian old time banjoist, and an inspiration to many younger players. He will be widely credited as the man who, in 1938, first popularised the song Tom Dooley, later to provide a huge hit for The Kingston Trio.

Orville Gibson dies in Ogdensburg, New York State, USA. A musical instrument maker, Gibson formed the Gibson Mandolin Manufacturing Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan, in 1902. After his death the company will increasingly make guitars, the pinnacle of which is generally considered to be the Gibson Les Paul, first manufactured in 1952.

Grammy Award-winning country music singer-songwriter Guy Clark, is born in Monahans, Texas, USA.

In the Mobile Post, critic Jake Bodine reviews the new Dusty Carr album C'mon Everybody, Get Happy! With the words, "about as inspiring as attending a mass burial. Get happy? Are you kidding? This collection of fourteen dirge-like songs should be named Music To Slit Your Wrists By. Let's look at a few song titles: I Cut My Lips On Your Love. Growing Fatigue. Valley Of Death. A Sudden Movement From The Shadows. Point made. Carr needs a few years of intense therapy, not a recording contract."

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

The Platters' musical director and pianist, Rupert Branker, is beaten to death in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Medgar Evers is buried with full military honours in Arlington National Cemetary, Arlington, Virginia, USA. Evers, a committed anti-segregation campaigner, had been shot in the back just days earlier in Jackson, Mississippi, by a white racist gunman. Evers' death will be the spark for the Bob Dylan song Only A Pawn In Their Game.

After a thorough search by several parties (including Ernest Tubb and Marty Robbins) the body of the singer Jim Reeves is found in the wreckage of his crashed plane near Brentwood, Tennessee, USA. At 1:00 p.m. local time, radio stations across the United States begin to announce Reeves' death formally.

Lyricist Fred Wise dies aged 50 in New York City, USA, the city of his birth. He is perhaps best-remembered as co-writer of the lyrics to the 1948 song "A — You're Adorable" with Buddy Kaye and Sid Lippman. He subsequently wrote many of the songs sung by Elvis Presley in his movies.

The morning after a disastrous performance at The O'Keefe Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Johnny Cash's manager Saul Holiff finds the singer overdosed and close to death in his Winnebago.

Having consumed some seconals and alcohol, Beat Generation icon Neal Cassady, an associate of The Grateful Dead, sets off from San Miguel de Allende in Mexico to walk fifteen miles to Celaya, along the railroad tracks in driving rain. He will be found in a coma the next morning, and will die the following day. His life and death will inspire several songs including Jack And Neal (1977) by Tom Waits, Styrofoam Plates (2001) by Death Cab For Cutie, Neal Cassady Drops Dead (2014) by Morrissey, Neal Cassady (1989) by The Washington Squares.

Phluph have a recording session for Verve Records in New York City, USA, during which they record Girl In Tears, Elliptical Machine, Lovely Lady, Death Of A Nation, Love Eyes and the Bob Dylan composition, It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry.

Don Drummond, saxophonist with influential ska/reggae band The Skatalites, dies in Bellevue Hospital, Jamaica, Caribbean, aged 37. He had been committed to the hospital as insane, and his death (controversially) will be listed as a suicide.

With the Paul Is Dead conspiracy theory at its height, Dr. Oscar Tosi, assistant professor of audiology at Michigan State University, compares voice recordings of Paul McCartney of The Beatles from before and after his alleged 1966 death date. The results prove conclusively that both voice prints are identical and, therefore, McCartney is not dead.

Jackson Browne begins recording sessions for his fourth album, The Pretender, with producer Jon Landau. The sessions will, however, be abandoned on the 25th when Browne's wife Phyllis Major commits suicide.

The investigation into the causes of Elvis Presley's death is re-opened in the wake of allegations, in the tv show 20/20 in the USA, of malpractice by Presley’s doctor.

Elvis Costello and Squeeze play at a benefit show in the Top Rank, Swansea, Wales, UK, Europe, for the family of Johnny Owen, a UK boxer whose injuries in a recent fight led to his death.

European singing star Dalida, plagued by depression and a chaotic love life, commits suicide in Paris, France, Europe, with an overdose of barbiturates, leaving a note which reads, "Forgive me, life has become unbearable for me...". She had first found success in 1954 with her international hit single Bambina, and eventually sold over 85m records worldwide.

A California appeals court upholds the decision to dismiss the lawsuit brought against Ozzy Osbourne by the parents of Jack McCollum, a young man who had killed himself while listening to Ozzy's song Suicide Solution.

Darren Burn is found dead, aged 30, on the bathroom floor of his flat in London, England, UK, Europe. Unable to cope with the failure of his teenybop pop idol career, he had taken an overdose of his Dotheipin anti-depressant tablets.

The United States Supreme Court upholds rulings that the first amendment protects Ozzy Osbourne against lawsuits alleging that his music encouraged suicide. This decision relates back to the lawsuit brought against Ozzy Osbourne by the parents of 19-year old John McCollum, a young man who had committed suicide after listening to Ozzy's song Suicide Solution.

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.

Kurt Cobain of Nirvana commits suicide in Seattle, Washington, USA. His body will not be discovered until three days later.

Country guitar virtuoso Danny Gatton, nicknamed The Humbler, locks himself in his garage and commits suicide by shooting himself, aged 49, at his home in Newburg, Maryland, USA. No specific reason for his suicide ever emerges, although friends and relatives were of the opinion that he had suffered from depression for many years.

Pop, rock and country singer Nicolette Larson dies aged 45 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Her death came as a result of complications arising from cerebral edema triggered by liver failure. She had been showing symptoms of depression, and her fatal seizure was thought to be related to her chronic use of Valium and Tylenol PM.

Iron Maiden release a new live DVD, Death On The Road, in the UK.

Wealthy Maryland landowner William Zantzinger, the subject of Bob Dylan's 1963 protest song The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll, dies, aged 69. In 1963, a 24-year-old Zantzinger struck and killed Hattie Carroll - a 51-year-old black barmaid - at a Baltimore hotel.

Rumours hit the internet claiming that 80s pop singer Rick Astley, made famous by his hit Never Gonna Give You Up, has been found dead in his hotel room in Berlin, Germany, Europe. Since the death of Michael Jackson, similar rumours have claimed the deaths of Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears.

Actor Mark Lester, a close friend of Michael Jackson, claims in a News Of The World interview that he was the sperm-donor responsible for the birth of Jackson's daughter Paris.

Charles Haddon, 22 year old lead singer of pop band Ou Est Le Swimming Pool jumps to his death from a telecommunications mast behind the main stage onto a parking area after playing at the Pukkelpop music festival in Belgium, Europe. Local police treat the death as suicide.

During the Earth Is On Hell tour, Anthrax, Death Angel and Testament play at Piere's Entertainment Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA.

Los Angeles Superior Court approves a search wa rrant for police to investigate the identity of an individual going by the name of @Gunn2urhead who has been sending death threats via Twitter to Shirley Manson, the singer with Garbage.

A statistical report by data analytics engineer Jason Crease confirms that, as widely believed, 2016 included an unusually high number of celebrity deaths. According to Crease's figures the number of celebrity deaths in 2016 is likely to occur only once in every 200 years.

Guitarist Deke Leonard, who played with Man and Iceberg, dies aged 72. No cause of death is given.

Shane MacGowan celebrates his 60th birthday with a concert at The National Concert Hall, Dublin, Ireland, Europe. Johnny Depp, Bono, Nick Cave, Sinead O'Connor, former Catatonia frontwoman Cerys Matthews, Primal Scream singer Bobby Gillespie, Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols, Blondie's Clem Burke and Carl Barat of The Libertines perform at the event. A somewhat frail-looking MacGowan is wheeled onto the stage by his partner Victoria Mary Clarke, and performs before the audience sings an impromptu version of Happy Birthday.

Incognito, a rapper in the drill music scene in London, England, UK, Europe, is stabbed to death. It is later learned that he had been cleared at the Old Bailey in January of murdering Abdirahman Mohamed. Incognito is the second member of drill music group Moscow17 to have been killed on Warham Street, Camberwell, in three months.

Johnny Rogan, among the most prolific and well-regarded music biographers of his generation, dies unexpectedly aged 67 in London, England, UK, Europe. His body will not be found until several days later in his London flat.