1959 in music

See also:

Deaths

• February 2 - rock and roll performers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper, in a plane crash outside Mason City, Iowa. The news isn't widely known until the next day - The Day The Music Died.
• February 7 - Eddie Guitar Slim Jones, blues guitarist
• February 14 - Baby Dodds, jazz musician
• May 14 - Sidney Bechet, jazz musician
• June 9 - Sonnie Hale, English actor and singer
• July 15 - Billie Holiday, jazz and blues singer.
• August 15 - Blind Willie McTell, blues singer.
• August 16 - Wanda Landowska, harpsichordist
• August 28 - Bohuslav Martinu, composer
• September 17 - Omer Simeon, jazz musician
• November 17 - Heitor Villa-Lobos, composer.
• November 22 - Sam M. Lewis, US lyricist