1973 in music
See also: 1972 in music, other events of 1973, 1974 in music, 1970s in music and the list of 'years in music'
Table of contents |
Events
January-February
- January 9 – Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug bust, putting an abrupt end to The Rolling Stones' plans to tour the Orient.
- January 14 – Elvis Presley's Aloha From Hawaii television special is seen around the world by more than 1 billion viewers
- January 14 – Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh is arrested for drug possession in California.
- January 18 – The Rolling Stones benefit concert for Nicaraguan earthquake victims raises over $350,000. (Mick Jagger adds $150,000 of his own money to the total in May). On December 22, 1972, an earthquake destroyed Managua, the capital of Nicaragua.
- January 30 – KISS performs their first concert, at the Coventary Club in Queens.
- February 14 – David Bowie collapses from exhaustion after a performance at New York's Madison Square Garden
March-April
- March 1 – The New York Joffrey Ballet's Deuce Coupe Ballet opens. The ballet is set entirely around music by The Beach Boys.
- March 5 – Jimi Hendrix's personal manager, Michael Jeffrey, is killed in a plane crash. Jeffrey was travelling from Majorca to England. All passengers on board the plane were killed.
- March 6 – The New York Office of the US Immigration Department cancels John Lennon's visa extension, after it having been granted five days earlier.
- March 7 – The director of talent acquisition at Columbia Records, John Hammond suffers a non-fatal heart attack following a performance by one of his most recent finds, Bruce Springsteen.
- March 8 – Paul McCartney is fined $240 after pleading guilty to charges of growing marijuana outside his Scottish farm.
- March 24 – Lou Reed is bitten by a fan during a concert in Buffalo, New York.
- April 3 – Capitol Records releases two greatest hits collections, The Beatles /1962–1966 and The Beatles 1967–1970, commonly referred to as the Red and Blue albums.
- April 16 – Paul McCartney's first television special, James Paul McCartney airs. The special includes performances by McCartney and Wings.
- Opening of CBGB's
May-July
- May 9 – Mick Jagger adds $150,000 of his own money to the $350,000 raised by the Rolling Stones' January 18th benefit concert for the victims of the Nicaraguan earthquake.
- May 25 – Mike Oldfield releases Tubular Bells, the first release on Richard Branson's newly launched Virgin label.
- film The Sting revives interest in the ragtime music of Scott Joplin
- July 28 – Watkins Glen, New York concert attended by 600,000 to see The Band, The Allman Brothers Band, and the Grateful Dead.
unknown dates
- Television forms
- Journey forms
- KISS forms
- AC/DC forms
- U.F.O. signs a contract with Chrysalis Records
- The Ronettes break up, and Ronnie Bennett begins a solo career
- The London Symphony Orchestra becomes the first British Orchestra to be invited to take part in the Salzburg Festival.
- The Open Mind disbands
Albums released
- Ring Ring – ABBA
- Band on the Run – Paul McCartney & Wings
- Brothers and Sisters – The Allman Brothers Band
- Life in a Tin Can – The Bee Gees
- Sabbath Bloody Sabbath – Black Sabbath
- Aladdin Sane – David Bowie
- Pin Ups – David Bowie
- Never Turn Your Back on a Friend – Budgie
- Paris 1919 – John Cale
- Now and Then – Carpenters
- Billion Dollar Babies – Alice Cooper
- Muscle of Love – Alice Cooper
- Sings In Italian For You – Dalida
- Julien – Dalida
- Made in Japan – Deep Purple
- Who Do We Think We Are – Deep Purple
- Cosmic Wheels – Donovan
- Live in Japan: Spring Tour 1973 – Donovan
- Essence to Essence – Donovan
- Desperado – The Eagles
- Brain Salad Surgery – Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- Killing Me Softly – Roberta Flack
- Angel Clare – Art Garfunkel
- Let's Get It On – Marvin Gaye
- Selling England by the Pound – Genesis
- Flying Teapot – Gong
- Call Me – Al Green
- A Passion Play – Jethro Tull
- Piano Man – Billy Joel
- Don't Shoot I'm Only the Piano Player – Elton John
- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Elton John
- Raw Power – Iggy & the Stooges
- Larks Tongues in Aspic – King Crimson
- Houses of the Holy – Led Zeppelin
- (pronounced leh-nerd skin-nerd) – Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Smokes – Lynyrd Skynyrd
- African Herbsman – Bob Marley and the Wailers
- Burnin' – Bob Marley and the Wailers
- Red Rose Speedway – Paul McCartney & Wings
- Birds of Fire – Mahavishnu Orchestra
- Tubular Bells – Mike Oldfield
- The Harder They Come – Original Soundtrack
- Aloha from Hawaii Via Satellite – Elvis Presley
- New York Dolls – New York Dolls
- Tubular Bells – Mike Oldfield
- GP and Grievous Angel – Gram Parsons
- The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
- Queen – Queen (debut)
- Ragas – Ravi Shankar
- Long Hard Climb – Helen Reddy
- Berlin – Lou Reed
- For Your Pleasure – Roxy Music
- There Goes Rhymin' Simon – Paul Simon
- Goats Head Soup – Rolling Stones
- Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. – Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band (debut)
- The Wild, the Innocent & the E-Street Shuffle – Bruce Springsteen & the E-Street Band
- Countdown to Ecstasy – Steely Dan
- Fresh – Sly & the Family Stone
- Raw Power – The Stooges
- Closing Time – Tom Waits
- Dueling Banjos – Eric Weissberg and Steve Mandel
- Quadrophenia – The Who
- Innervisions – Stevie Wonder
- Tales From Topographic Oceans – Yes
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII – Rick Wakeman
Top hits on record
- "Ring Ring" – ABBA
- "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)" – ABBA
- "Loves Me Like a Rock" – Paul Simon (with The Dixie Hummingbirds)
- "Kodachrome" – Paul Simon
- "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" – Paul Simon
- "Crocodile Rock" – Elton John
- "Paroles... Paroles..." – Dalida & Alain Delon
- "Pour ne pas vivre seul" – Dalida
- "Vado Via" – Dalida
- "Je suis malade" – Dalida
- "Il venait d'avoir 18 ans" – Dalida
- "Playground in My Mine" – Clint Holmes
- "Superstition" – Stevie Wonder
- "Do It Again" – Steely Dan
- "Me and Mrs. Jones" – Billy Paul
- "Will It Go Around in Circles" – Billy Preston
- "Photograph" – Ringo Starr
- "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" – Jim Croce
- "Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting" – Elton John
- "Crocodile Rock" – Elton John
- "Live and Let Die" – Paul McCartney and Wings
- "Touch Me in the Morning" – Diana Ross
- "Midnight Train to Georgia" – Gladys Knight
- "Ramblin' Man" – Allman Brothers Band
- "Smoke on the Water" – Deep Purple
- "Radar Love" – Golden Earring
- "Keep On Truckin' " – Eddie Kendricks
- "Delta Dawn" – Helen Reddy
- "Killing Me Softly with His Song" – Roberta Flack
- "Higher Ground" – Stevie Wonder
- "You're So Vain" – Carly Simon
- "My Love" – Paul McCartney & Wings
- "Why Me" – Kris Kristofferson
- "Let's Get It On" – Marvin Gaye
- "Tie a Yellow Ribbon around the Old Oak Tree" – Tony Orlando & Dawn
- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" – Elton John
- "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin
- "Over the Hills and Far Away" – Led Zeppelin
- "D'yer Mak'er" – Led Zeppelin
- "Top of the World" – Carpenters
Published popular music
- "And I Love You So" w.m. Don McLean
- "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song" w.m. Jim Croce
- "I've Got To Use My Imagination" w.m. Gerry Goffin & Barry Goldberg
- "Liaisons" w.m. Stephen Sondheim from the musical A Little Night Music
- "Midnight Train To Georgia" w.m. Jim Weatherly
- "(Say Has Anybody Seen) My Sweet Gypsy Rose" w.m. Irwin Levine & L. Russell Brown
- "Piano Man" w.m. Billy Joel
- "Send In The Clowns" w.m. Stephen Sondheim from the musical A Little Night Music
- "Stuck In The Middle With You" w.m. Joe Egan & Gerry Rafferty
- "There Used To Be A Ballpark" w.m. Joe Raposo
- "The Way We Were" w. Alan Bergman & Marilyn Bergman m. Marvin Hamlisch from the film The Way We Were
Classical music
- William Alwyn – Fantasy Sonata for flute and harp
- Gloria Coates – Music on Open Strings (Symphony no. 1)
- Lou Harrison – Organ Concerto with Percussion
- Anthony Iannaccone – Rituals
- Frank Martin – Requiem
- Luigi Nono – Canto per il Vietnam
- Carl Orff – De Temporum Fine Comoedia
Opera
- de la Figo – Bronski eu Lot
Musical theater
- Gigi (Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe) – Broadway production
- Grease London production
- Gypsy (Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim) – London production
- Hard to be a Jew Broadway production
- Irene Broadway revival
- Here Comes the Groom Broadway production
- The King and I (Rodgers & Hammerstein) – London revival
- A Little Night Music (Stephen Sondheim) – Broadway production
- No, No, Nanette (Irving Caesar, Otto Harbach, Vincent Youmans) – London revival
- The Pajama Game (Richard Adler and Jerry Ross) – Broadway revival
- Pinocchio Broadway production
- Pippin London production
- Raisin Broadway production
- The Rocky Horror Show (Richard O'Brien) – London production
- Seesaw Broadway production opened at the Uris Theatre on March 18 and ran for 296 performances
- Two Gentlemen from Verona London production
Musical films
- Godspell
- Jesus Christ Superstar
- Robin Hood animated feature released November 8
- Tom Sawyer
Births
- January 1 – DJ Shadow, DJ
- January 10 – Aerle Taree, Arrested Development
- March 17 – Caroline Corr, drummer
- April 4 – Kelly Price
- April 29 – Mike Hogan, The Cranberries
- May 2 – Justin Burnett, film score composer
- May 5 – Casino Versus Japan, electronic musician
- May 14 – Natalie Appleton, singer
- May 14 – Shanice, singer
- June 9 – Wes Scantlin, Puddle Of Mudd
- June 10 – Faith Evans
- June 23 – Marie N, Eurovision-winning singer
- July 5 – Bengt Lagerberg, The Cardigans
- July 25 – Ladybug, Digable Planets
- July 29 – Wanya Morris, Boyz II Men
- September 17 – Anastacia, singer
- September 23 – Jermaine Dupri, record producer
- December 11 – Mos Def, rapper
Deaths
- January 16 – Clara Ward, gospel singer
- January 23 – Kid Ory
- February 19 – Joseph Szigeti, violinist
- March 5 – Michael Jeffrey, Jimi Hendrix's personal manager
- March 8 – Ron Pigpen McKernan, Grateful Dead, stomach hemorrhage
- March 26 – Noel Coward, composer
- April 18 – Willie 'The Lion' Smith, US jazz pianist
- May 21 – Vaughn Monroe, US singer and bandleader
- July 3 – Betty Grable, US actress and singer
- July 3 – Karel Ancerl, conductor
- July 6 – Otto Klemperer, conductor
- July 14 – Clarence White, guitarist The Byrds
- August 17 – Jean BarraquĆ©, French classical composer
- September 6 – William Henry Harris, organist and composer
- September 17 – Hugo Winterhalter, US conductor and arranger
- September 19 – Gram Parsons, guitarist/vocalist
- September 20 – Jim Croce, singer
- October 16 – Gene Krupa, drummer
- October 22 – Pablo Casals, cellist
- November 11 – David "Stringbean" Akeman, US country musician
- November 27 – Frank Christian
- December 20 – Bobby Darin, singer
- December 31 – Emile Christian
Awards
Grammy Awards
Country Music Association Awards
Eurovision Song Contest
Categories: 1973 in music