- Aug 3 Arthur Lee, American psychedelic rock musician (Love; National Recording Company), dies of leukemia at 61
- Aug 3 Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Austro-British soprano (Der Rosenkavalier), dies at 90
- Aug 4 John Locke, American rock keyboardist (Spirit -"I Got A Line On You"), dies of cancer at 62
- Aug 5 Ed Thrasher, American Grammy Award-winning art director (Warner Brothers Records, 1964-79), and photographer (album art for Frank Sinatra; Jimi Hendrix, Grateful Dead), dies of cancer at 74
- Aug 8 Irving "Duke" Jordan, American jazz pianist (Charlie Parker, Stan Getz, Sonny Stitt), dies at 84
- Aug 8 Michael Hurd, British composer and musicologist known for his choral music (Jonah-Man Jazz), dies at 77
Mike Douglas (1920-2006)
Aug 11 American big band singer (Kay Kyser), and TV talk show host (The Mike Douglas Show, 1961-81), dies on his 86th birthday
- Aug 16 Jon Nödtveidt, Swedish musician (Dissection), dies at 31
- Aug 18 Fernand Gignac, Canadian singer and actor (b. 1934)
- Aug 20 Claude Blanchard, French Canadian singer, comedian and actor, dies at 74
- Aug 21 Bismillah Khan [Qamaruddin Khan], Hindustani classical shehnai (a reeded woodwind instrument) player, dies of a heart attack at 90
- Aug 22 Bruce Gary, American rock drummer (The Knack - "My Sharona"'), dies of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 55
- Aug 23 Jacques Wildberger, Swiss composer (In My End is My Beginning), dies at 84
- Aug 23 Maynard Ferguson, Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader, dies at 78
- Aug 24 James Carl Tenney, American composer, dies at 72
- Aug 24 Léopold Simoneau, French Canadian tenor, dies at 90
- Aug 26 Josef Hadar, Israeli violinist and composer (Evening of Roses), dies at 79
- Aug 27 Jesse Pintado, Mexican-American guitarist (Napalm Death), dies of liver failure at 37
Kendrick Lamar
Eminem
XXXTentacion
Tupac Shakur
Nicki Minaj
Coolio