- Jan 3 Amos Milburn, American R&B singer and pianist, dies at 52
- Jan 6 Georgeanna Tillman, American singer (The Marvelettes - "Please Mr. Postman"), dies from lupus and sickle cell anemia at 37
- Jan 7 Carl White, American vocalist, dies at 47
- Jan 7 Larry Williams, American R&B singer-songwriter ("Dizzy, Miss Lizzie"; "Slow Down"), dies of a gunshot wound to the head at 44
- Jan 13 Andre Kostelanetz, Russian-American orchestral-pop music conductor (Lincoln Portrarit), dies of pneumonia at 78
- Jan 19 Richard Franko Goldman, American educator and composer, dies at 69
- Jan 23 Babs Gonzales [Lee Brown], American be-bop jazz vocalist, poet, and songwriter ("Oop-Pop-A-Da"), dies of cancer at 60
- Jan 25 Queenie Watts [Mary Spenton], British singer and actress (Up the Junction, Holiday on the Buses), dies at 56
- Jan 28 Franco Evangelisti, Italian avant-garde classical and electroacoustic composer, and sound theorist (From Silence to a New Sonorous World), dies at 74
- Jan 29 Antonio Molina, Filipino composer, conductor and music administrator (Ana Maria, Hatinggabi), dies at 85
Jimmy Durante (1893-1980)
Jan 29 American actor, comedian and singer known as "the schnozzola" (The Durante-Moore Show, Jimmy Durante Show), dies of pneumonia at 86
- Jan 30 Professor Longhair [Henry Roeland Byrd], American boogie-woogie, New Orleans R&B, and mambo pianist and singer ("Tipitina": "Go To The Mardis Gras"), dies from a heart attack at 61
Country Singers
Jazz Musicians
Opera Singers
Pop Stars
Rappers
Rockers