- Oct 3 Nehemiah "Skip" James, American Delta blues singer, guitarist and piano player ("I'm So Glad"), dies at 67
- Oct 4 Natalino Otto [Natale Codognotto], Italianswing-jazz singer, dies at 56
- Oct 16 Leonard Chess [Lejzor Czyż], Polish-American blues and R&B record company executive (Chess Records), dies at 52
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969)
Oct 21 American novelist and poet of the Beat Generation (On the Road, Mexico Blues), dies of cirrhosis of the liver at 47
- Oct 21 Oscar "TV Slim" Wills, American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist ("Flatfoot Sam"), dies in a car wreck at 53
- Oct 23 Tommy Edwards, American R&B singer-songwriter ("It's All In The Game"), dies from complications of cirrhosis of the liver at 47
- Oct 24 Otto Jochum, German composer, dies at 71
- Oct 27 Jaime Pahissa, Spanish-born composer and musicologist, dies at 89
- Oct 30 George "Pops" Foster, American jazz double bassist, tuba player, and trumpeter (Louis Armstrong; Sidney Bechet; Earl Hines), dies at 77
- Oct 31 Hugo Pfister, Swiss classical and stage composer, dies at 55
Country Singers
Jazz Singers
Opera Singers
Pop Singers
Rappers
Rock Singers