- Aug 1 "Wild Bill" Moore, American R&B and jazz tenor saxophone player ("We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll": Marvin Gaye's "Mercy, Mercy Me"), dies at 65
- Aug 2 James Jamerson, American session bass guitarist (Motown Records' "Funk Brothers"), dies of alcohol-related complications at 47
- Aug 6 Klaus Nomi [Sperber], German new wave singer, and performance artist, dies of AIDS at 39
Ira Gershwin (1896-1983)
Aug 17 American lyricist ("Embraceable You"; "I Got Rhythm"; "They Can't Take That Away From Me"), dies in Beverly Hills at 86
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