- Jan 1 Werner Heider, German, pianist, conductore, and composer, born in Fürth, Bavaria, Germany
- Jan 2 Julius La Rosa, American singer (fired by Arthur Godfrey on the air), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2016)
- Jan 5 Frederick Charles Tillis, American composer (In the Spirt and the Flesh; Secrets of the African Baobob), jazz saxophonist, music educator (University of Massachusetts, 1970-97), and poet, born in Galveston, Texas (d. 2020)
- Jan 5 Richard Hayes, American actor and singer (Name That Tune), born in Passaic, New Jersey (d. 2014)
- Jan 10 Byron "Wild Child" Gipson, American blues singer, born in Burlington, Iowa (d. 1994)
- Jan 10 Lyle Ritz, American jazz ukulele and session bassist, born in Cleveland, Ohio (d. 2017)
- Jan 11 Lula Mae Hardaway, American songwriter ("I Was Made to Love Her"; "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours"), and mother of singer Stevie Wonder, born in Eufaula, Alabama (d. 2006)
- Jan 12 Glenn Yarborough, American folk singer and guitarist (Limeliters-Honey & Wine, Jubilee), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (d. 2016)
- Jan 13 Liz Anderson, American country music singer-songwriter (Mama Spank, The Game of Triangles), born in Roseau, Minnesota (d. 2011)
- Jan 14 Edgar Hovhannisyan, Armenian composer, born in Yerevan, Armenia (d. 1998)
- Jan 14 Johnny Grande, American accordion and piano player (The Saddlemen; Bill Haley's Comets), and songwriter ("Birth of the Boogie"), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2006)
- Jan 15 Earl Hooker, American blues slide guitar player ("Blue Guitar"), born in Quitman County, Mississippi (d. 1970)
- Jan 15 Michel Chapuis, French classical organist and pedagogue, born in Dole, France (d. 2017)
- Jan 17 Robert Ceely, American classical and electro-acoustic composer (The Automobile Graveyard), and educator (New England Conservatory, 1966-2003), born in Torrington, Connecticut (d. 2015)
- Jan 26 Wim Statius Muller, Curaçaoa conductor, pianist, and composer, born in Curaçao (d. 2019)
- Jan 27 Bobby "Blue" Bland, American blues an soul singer ("Call on the Drummer"), born in Rosemark, Tennessee (d. 2013)
- Jan 28 Luis de Pablo, Spanish composer, and musicologist, born in Bilbao, Spain (d. 2021)
- Jan 29 Derek Bailey, British avant-garde jazz guitar virtuoso, born in Sheffield, England (d. 2005)
- Jan 31 Al De Lory, American session pianist, arranger, and record producer (Glen Campbell), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 2012)
About January 1930
How Old? 94 years old
Generation: Silent Generation
Leap Year: No
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