Musicians Who Died on February 21

  • 1790 Johann Friedrich Klöffler, German composer, dies at 64
  • 1842 Wojciech Żywny, Polish pianist, composer and Chopin's first piano teacher, dies at 85
  • 1876 Henry John Gauntlett, English organist and composer, dies at 70
  • 1884 John Pike Hullah, English composer, dies at 71
  • 1919 Giovanni Bolzoni, Italian composer and violinist, dies at 77
  • 1924 Salvatore Auteri Manzocchi, Italian opera composer, dies at 78
  • 1925 Alfred Baldwin Sloan, American composer, dies at 52
  • 1938 Albert Huybrechts, Belgian composer, dies at 39
  • 1948 Frederick Lamond, Scottish pianist and composer, dies at 80
  • 1949 Ernest Walker, British composer, dies at 78
  • 1956 Edwin Franko Goldman, American march music composer (founder of American Bandmasters Association), dies at 78
  • 1971 Adolph Weiss, American bassoonist and composer, dies at 79
  • 1972 Bronislava Nijinska, Polish-Russian ballet dancer (Ballets Russes) and choreographer (1914-70), dies of a heart attack at 81
  • 1979 Ray Whitley, American country and western singer-songwriter ("Back in the Saddle Again") and actor (Tim Holt films), dies at 77
  • 1980 Janet Vogel, American doo-wop soprano (Skyliners - “Since I Don’t Have You”), takes her own life at 37
  • 1982 Murray the K [Kaufman], American disk jockey sometimes referred to as the 5th Beatle, dies of cancer at 60
  • 1989 Otar Vasilisdze Taktakishvili, Georgian composer, conductor, teacher, and musicologist, dies at 64
  • 1991 Margot Fonteyn, English ballerina considered the 1st lady of British Ballet (Giselle), dies at 71
  • 1992 Eva Jessye, American singer and choral director (Eva Jessye Choir - "Four Saints in Three Acts";"Porgy and Bess"), dies at 97
  • 1992 Jane Pickens, American stage (Regina) and pop-harmony, singer, dies of heart failure at 83

Morton Gould (1913-1996)

American pianist, conductor and theatrical, screen and concert composer (Pulitzer Prize, 1956 - Stringmusic), dies at 82

  • 2000 Violet Archer [Balestreri], Canadian percussionist, composer, teacher, and organist, dies at 86
  • 2001 Ronnie Hilton, British radio presenter and singer (Moonraker), dies at 75
  • 2004 Bart Howard [Howard Joseph Gustafson], American songwriter ("Fly Me to the Moon"), dies at 88
  • 2004 Les Gray, English vocalist (Mud - "Cat Crept In"), dies at 57
  • 2005 Ara Berberian, American opera bass singer (Metropolitan Opera, 1979-97), dies at 74
  • 2015 Clark Terry, American jazz trumpeter, dies at 94
  • 2016 Pascal Bentoiu, Romanian composer, dies at 88
  • 2017 Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Polish-American conductor (Minnesota Orchestra, 1960-79) and composer (Passacaglia Immaginaria), dies at 93
  • 2019 Peter Michael Braun, German composer, dies at 82
  • 2019 Peter Tork [Thorkelson], American rock and folk musician and actor (The Monkees), dies from complications of adenoid cystic carcinoma at 77