- Oct 1 Scott Dunbar, American blues vocalist and guitarist, dies at 90
- Oct 2 Harriet (Hilliard) Nelson [Peggy Lou Snyder], American singer and actress (The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet; Follow the Fleet), dies of heart failure at 85 [1]
- Oct 3 Virginia Dale, American actress and dancer (Holiday Inn), dies at about 77
- Oct 4 Bill Challis, American jazz arranger and pianist, dies at 90
- Oct 4 Daniel Wood "Danny" Gatton, American guitarist (88 Elmira St.), commits suicide at 48
- Oct 4 Scoville "Toby" Browne, American jazz saxophone and clarinet player, dies at 84
- Oct 9 Joan Dickson, British cellist and teacher, dies at 72
- Oct 10 Nikolai Nikolayevich Karetnikov, Russian composer, dies at 64
- Oct 14 Gioconda de Vito, Italian-British violinist, dies at 87
- Oct 18 Lee Allen, American tenor sax player ("Walkin' With Mr Lee"), dies of cancer at 68
- Oct 20 Robert Medley, English artist and theater designer, dies at 88
- Oct 22 David Buchan, Scottish ethnomusicologist, dies at 55
- Oct 22 James "Jimmy" Miller, American record producer and musician (The Rolling Stones), dies of liver failure at 52
- Oct 26 Wilbert Harrison, American R&B singer ("Kansas City"), dies at 65
- Oct 27 Robert White, American guitarist (The Funk Brothers), dies of complications from open heart surgery at 57
- Oct 29 Evelyn Anderson, American dancer (Josephine Baker review), dies at 87 [1]
- Oct 29 Pearl Primus, Trinidad-born American dancer (poplularized African dance), dies at 74
- Oct 31 Lester Sill, American pioneer music publisher (Leiber and Stoller; Lee Hazlewood), and record label executive (Philles Records; Colpix; Colgems), dies at 76
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