Musicians Who Died on May 19

  • 1601 Costanzo Porta, Italian composer
  • 1786 John Stanley, English blind composer and organist, dies at 74
  • 1888 Hermann Hirschboch, German composer and music critic, dies at 76
  • 1928 Henry F. Gilbert, American composer, and folk song collector, dies at 59
  • 1935 Charles Martin Tornow Loeffler, German-American violinist and composer, dies at 74

Charles Ives (1874-1954)

American composer (Unanswered Question), dies at 79

  • 1958 Bruno Stürmer, German conductor, composer and educator dies at 65
  • 1961 Joe Howard, American vaudeville, Broadway, and television singer (Gay Nineties Revue), and songwriter ("Hello Ma Baby"), dies at 91
  • 1967 Elmo Hope, American bebop jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, dies of heart failure at 43
  • 1969 Coleman Hawkins, American jazz musician who virtually created tenor saxophone for jazz, dies at 64
  • 1971 Bernard Wagenaar, Dutch-American composer (3 Songs for Chinese), dies at 76
  • 1986 Jimmy Lyons, American jazz saxophonist and composer (Cecil Taylor), dies of lung cancer at 54
  • 1992 Hans Vogt, German composer, dies at 81
  • 1996 Frank Carlson, American jazz and session drummer (Woody Herman, 1937-42 - "The Golden Wedding"), dies at 82
  • 1998 (Edwin) "Ted" Astley, British arranger, bandleader, and film and television composer (The Mouse That Roared; The Saint), dies at 76
  • 1998 Dorothy Donegan, American boogie-woogie, swing jazz, and classical pianist, and vocalist, dies of cancer at 76
  • 1999 James Blades, British classical percussionist, and educator, dies at 97
  • 2001 Mike Sammes, British arranger, session, pop and easy-listening vocalist (The Mike Sammes Singers; Disneyland; The Beatles - "I Am The Walrus", "Good Night"; Olivia Newton-John - "Let Me Be There"), dies at 73
  • 2001 Susannah McCorkle, American singer (b. 1946)
  • 2006 Freddie Garrity, English pop singer (Freddie and the Dreamers - "I'm Telling You Now"), dies at 69
  • 2009 Nicholas Maw, British composer, dies at 73
  • 2011 Kathy Kirby, English singer (Secret Love), dies at 72
  • 2019 Alfred Janson, Norwegian jazz and classical pianist and composer (Passacaglia Vendetta; Variations over Variations on a Norwegian Folk Tune), dies at 82
  • 2021 Alix Dobkin, American folk and feminist singer-songwriter (Lavender Jane Loves Women), dies of a brain aneurysm and stroke at 80
  • 2021 Joey Cathcart, American rock guitarist (Nelson - "Love & Affection"), dies of brain cancer at 53
  • 2023 Andy Rourke British rock bassist (The Smiths - "This Charming Man"; "Ask"), dies of pancreatic cancer at 59
  • 2023 Pete Brown, British musician and lyricist (Cream - "I Feel Free"; "White Room"; "Sunshine of Your Love"), dies at 82 [1]