Musicians Who Died in 1963

Mar 5 Lloyd "Cowboy" Copas, American country singer ("Candy Kisses"; "Alabam"), dies in a plane crash at 49

Patsy Cline (1932-1963)

Mar 5 American country singer ("Crazy"; "I Fall To Pieces"; "Walkin' After Midnight"), dies in a plane crash at 30

Mar 10 Irving Aaronson, American jazz pianist and big band lbandeader, dies of a heart attack at 68
Mar 17 Lizzie Miles [Elizabeth Landreaux], Creole-American jazz, blues and gospel singer ("Man O'War"), dies of a heart attack at 68
Mar 17 William Henry Squire, British composer and cellist, dies at 91
Mar 28 Alec Templeton, Welsh pianist and composer (Concertino Lirico), dies at 52
Mar 30 Alexander Gauk, Russian-Soviet composer, dies at 69
Apr 5 Julius Harrison, English composer, dies at 78
Apr 9 Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist, dies at 71
Apr 12 Herbie Nichols, American jazz pianist and composer ("Lady Sings the Blues"), dies of leukemia at 43
May 2 Tomás Vačkář, Czech composer, dies at 17
May 5 Heinrich Gebhard, German-born American composer, dies at 84
May 6 Ted Weems [Wemyes], American jazz trombonist, violin player and big band bandleader (Somebody Stole My Girl; Heartache), dies of emphysema at 61
May 12 Stanisław Wiechowicz, Polish composer, dies at 69
May 24 Elmore James, American blues slide guitarist, dies of a heart attack at 45
May 28 Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin, Soviet composer, dies at 60
Jun 9 Vasyl Barvinsky, Ukrainian pianist, composer, conductor, musicologist ("Béla Bartók in Lviv"), and teacher (Lysenko Higher Institute of Music, 1915-48), dies at 75
Jun 22 Maria Tănase, Romanian singer of traditional and popular music (b. 1913)
Jul 4 Fritz Reutter, German composer, dies at 66
Jul 5 Daniel Ruyneman, Dutch composer and pianist, dies at 76
Jul 29 Dorian Le Gallienne, Australian composer, dies at 48
Aug 5 Salvador Bacarisse, Spanish composer, dies at 64
Aug 8 Sándor Jemnitz, Hungarian composer, dies at 72
Aug 14 Clyde Hurley, American session and big band jazz trumpeter (Glenn Miller - "Tuxedo Junction"; "In The Mood"), dies of heart failure at 46
Aug 15 John Powell, American composer, dies at 80
Aug 19 Kathleen Parlow, Canadian violinist, and educator, dies at 72
Aug 23 Glen Gray [Knoblauch], American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (Casa Loma Orchestra), dies of lymphoma, at 63
Aug 24 Jack Pettis, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader, dies of cirrhosis of the liver at 61
Aug 30 Axel Stordahl, American arranger (Tommy Dorsey; Frank Sinatra), orchestra leader (Eddie Fisher), and composer (McHales's Navy theme), dies of cancer at 50
Sep 3 Frico Kafenda, Slovak composer, dies at 79
Sep 30 Arnold Foster, English composer, dies at 66
Oct 9 Thurlow Lieurance, American composer (By the Waters of Minnetonka; Sad Moon on Falling Leaf), ethnomusicologist (Indigenous peoples), and educator, dies at 85

Edith Piaf (1915-1963)

Oct 10 French singer (No, I Don't Regret Anything; Le Vie En Rose), dies of liver failure at 47

Oct 18 Cláudio Carneyro, Portuguese violinist, composer, and educator, dies at 68
Oct 25 Abu-Bakr Khairat, Egyptian composer, dies at 53
Oct 28 Mart Saar, Estonian composer, dies at 81
Oct 29 Michael Holliday [Norman Milne], British pop singer ("The Story of My Life"), dies of a suspected drug overdose at 38
Nov 8 Simon Jurovsky, Slovak composer and conductor, dies at 51
Nov 15 (Frederick) "Fritz" Reiner, Hungarian-American conductor (Cincinnati Symphony, 1922-31; Pittsburgh Symphony, 1938-48; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1953-63), and educator (Curtis Institute), dies of pneumonia at 74 [1]
Nov 19 Carmen Amaya, Spanish flamenco dancer, dies at about 50
Nov 21 Artur Lemba, Estonian concert pianist, composer (Sabina), and piano teacher (St. Petersburg Conservatory, 1908-20), dies at 67
Nov 26 Amelita Galli-Curci, Italian-American operatic soprano (Cave of the Winds), dies at 81
Dec 5 Karl Amadeus Hartmann, German composer, dies at 58
Dec 13 Stan Jones, American singer-songwriter ("Ghost Riders in the Sky"), and actor (Rio Grande; Ten Who Dared), dies of cancer at 49
Dec 14 Dinah Washington [Ruth Lee Jones], American jazz, blues, pop, and R&B singer ("What a Diff'rence a Day Makes": "September In The Rain"), dies of sleeping pill overdose at 39
Dec 18 Winfried Zillig, German opera composer, and conductor (Fantasia Irica), dies at 58
Dec 20 Paul Constantinescu, Romanian composer (Ballad of the Outlaw for cello and orchestra), and pedagogue, dies at 54