- Dec 2 Howard Tate, American soul singer and songwriter ("Ain't Nobody Home"; "Get It While You Can"), dies of complications of multiple myeloma and leukemia at 72
- Dec 3 Philip Burrell, influential Jamaican record producer, dies of a heart attack at 57
- Dec 4 Hubert Sumlin, American blues guitarist (Howlin' Wolf), dies at 80
- Dec 6 Dobie Gray [Lawrence Brown], American musician and singer (Drift Away), dies of cancer at 71
- Dec 8 Dick Sims, American Hammond B-3 organist (Bob Seger; Eric Clapton), dies of cancer at 60
- Dec 8 Minoru Miky, Japanese composer for traditional Japanese instruments, dies at 84
- Dec 9 Myra Taylor (née Render), American jazz singer ("Spider and the Fly"; Wild Women of Kansas City), songwriter, and actress, dies at 94
- Dec 12 John Gardner, English classical composer, dies at 94
- Dec 15 Bob Brookmeyer, American jazz and studio pianist, valve trombone player, arranger, and composer (Stan Getz; Jerry Mulligan), dies of congestive heart failure at 81
- Dec 16 Mark Kopytman, Russian-Israeli composer (Voices of Memory), musicologist, and pedagogue (Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, 1974-94). dies at 82
- Dec 17 Cesária Évora, Cape Verdean morna singer known as "the Barefoot Diva", dies from respiratory failure at 70
- Dec 18 Ralph MacDonald, American rock percussionist and songwriter ("Just the Two of Us"), dies of cancer at 67
- Dec 20 (Thomas) "Sean" Bonniwell, American rock guitarist and singer-songwriter (The Music Machine - "Talk, Talk"), dies of lung cancer at 71
- Dec 25 Israel Baker, American concert and session violinist (NBC Symphony; Paramount Studios Orchestra), dies at 92
- Dec 25 Jim "Motorhead" Sherwood [Euclid James Sherwood], American rock musician (Mothers Of Invention), dies at 69
- Dec 26 Sam Rivers, American jazz musician (exponent of free jazz), dies of pneumonia at 88
- Dec 29 Bobby Purify [Robert Lee Dickey], American soul singer (I'm Your Puppet), dies at 72
- Dec 31 Omus Hirshbein, classical music impresario and music director, dies at 77
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