1973 in music

See also:

Events

January-February

• January 9 - Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug bust, putting an abrupt end to The Rolling Stones' plans to tour the Orient.
• January 14 - Elvis Presley's Aloha From Hawaii television special is seen around the world by more than 1 billion viewers
• January 14 - Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh is arrested for drug possession in California.
• January 18 - The Rolling Stones benefit concert for Nicaraguan earthquake victims raises over $350,000. (Mick Jagger adds $150,000 of his own money to the total in May). On December 22, 1972, an earthquake destroyed Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.
• January 30 - KISS performs their first concert, at the Coventary Club in Queens.
• February 14 - David Bowie collapses from exhaustion after a performance at New York's Madison Square Garden

March-April

• March 1 - The New York Joffrey Ballet's Deuce Coupe Ballet opens. The ballet is set entirely around music by The Beach Boys.
• March 5 - The late Jimi Hendrix's former personal manager, Michael Jeffrey, is killed in a plane crash. Jeffrey was travelling from Majorca to England. All passengers on board the plane were killed.
• March 6 - The New York Office of the US Immigration Department cancels John Lennon's visa extension, after it having been granted five days earlier.
• March 7 - The director of talent acquisition at Columbia Records, John Hammond suffers a non-fatal heart attack following a performance by one of his most recent finds, Bruce Springsteen.
• March 8 - Paul McCartney is fined $240 after pleading guilty to charges of growing marijuana outside his Scottish farm.
• March 24 - Lou Reed is bitten by a fan during a concert in Buffalo, New York.
• April 3 - Capitol Records releases two greatest hits collections, The Beatles /1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970, commonly referred to as the Red and Blue albums.
• April 16 - Paul McCartney's first television special, James Paul McCartney airs. The special includes performances by McCartney and Wings.
• Opening of CBGB's

May-July

• May 9 - Mick Jagger adds $150,000 of his own money to the $350,000 raised by the Rolling Stones' January 18th benefit concert for the victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.
• May 25 - Mike Oldfield releases Tubular Bells, the first release on Richard Branson's newly launched Virgin label.
• film The Sting revives interest in the ragtime music of Scott Joplin
• July 3 - David Bowie 'retires' his stage persona 'Ziggy Stardust' in front of a shocked audience at the Hammersmith Odeon at the end of his British tour.
• July 28 - Watkins Glen, New York concert attended by 600,000 to see The Band, The Allman Brothers Band, and the Grateful Dead.

unknown dates

• Television forms
• Journey forms
• KISS forms
• AC/DC forms
• U.F.O. signs a contract with Chrysalis Records
• The Ronettes break up, and Ronnie Bennett begins a solo career
• The London Symphony Orchestra becomes the first British Orchestra to be invited to take part in the Salzburg Festival.
• The Open Mind disbands