- Jan 2 Alberto Zedda, Italian opera conductor and musicologist, born in Milan, Italy (d. 2017)
- Jan 2 Tiberiu Olah, Romanian-Hungarian composer, teacher, and musicologist, born in 1928, Batar, Romania (d. 2002)
- Jan 9 Domenico Modugno, Italian singer-songwriter, born in Polignano A Mare, Apulia (d. 1994)
- Jan 10 Wallace Berry, American-Canadian composer, educator, and music theorist, born in La Crosse, Wisconsin (d. 1991)
- Jan 12 Ruth Brown, American actress and singer sometimes known as the "Queen of R&B" ("So Long"; "Teardrops From My Eyes"), born in Portsmouth, Virginia (d. 2006)
- Jan 14 Gerald Arpino, American dancer and choreographer (co-founder of Joffrey Ballet), born in Staten Island, New York (d. 2008)
- Jan 16 Ezra Sims, American composer of microtonal music, born in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2015)
- Jan 16 Pilar Lorengar [Lorenza Pilar García], Aragones soprano, born in El Gancho, Zaragoza, Spain (d. 1996)
- Jan 17 Jean Barraqué, French composer, born in Hauts-de-Seine, France (d. 1973)
- Jan 17 Philip Jones, British classical trumpeter (Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, 1951-86), and educator, born in Bath, England (d. 2000)
- Jan 19 Gerard Schurmann, Dutch-British conductor, and composer of classical music (The Double Heart), and film scores, (The Bedford Incident), born in Java, Dutch East Indies (d. 2020)
- Jan 20 Robert Satanowski, Polish opera conductor and general, born in Łódź, Poland (d. 1997)
- Jan 23 Elayne Jones, American classical, timpanist and civil rights activist, born in Harlem, New York City (d. 2022) [1]
- Jan 23 Ken Errair, American pop-jazz singer (Four Freshmen, 1953-55 - "Graduation Day"), born in Detroit, Michigan (d. 1968)
- Jan 27 Jean-Michel Damase, French pianist and composer, born in Bordueax (d. 2013)
- Jan 27 Vaclovas Paketūras, Lithuanian composer (The Sun Is Setting; Polyphonic Pieces), born in Gruodiškiai, Lithuania (d. 2018)
- Jan 29 Bengt Hambraeus, Swedish Canadian composer and organist, born in Stockholm, Sweden (d. 2000)
- Jan 30 Harold Prince, American producer and director (West Side Story, Evita), born in Manhattan, New York (d. 2019)
- Jan 30 Mitch Leigh, American musical composer (Man of La Mancha), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2014)
- Jan 31 Chuck Willis, American rock vocalist ("C.C. Rider"), born in Atlanta, Georgia (d. 1958)
About January 1928
How Old? 96 years old
Generation: Silent Generation
Leap Year: Yes
Country Singers
Jazz Musicians
Opera Singers
Pop Stars
Rappers
Rockers