1958 in music

This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1958.

Events[edit] February - 45,000 people in one week watch performances of "rokabirī" music by Japanese singers at the first Nichigeki Western Carnival. February 14 – The Iranian government bans rock & roll, claiming that this form of music is against the concepts of Islam and is a health hazard. Iranian doctors warn of the risk of injuries to the hips from the "extreme gyrations" of rock & roll dances. March 12 Billie Holiday is given a year's probation by a Philadelphia court following her arrest and guilty plea on narcotics possession charges in 1956. In Hilversum, Netherlands, "Dors, mon amour" sung by André Claveau (music by Pierre Delanoë, text by Hubert Giraud) wins the third annual Eurovision Song Contest for France. Domenico Modugno places third for Italy with "Nel blu, dipinto di blu" which, retitled "Volare", will reach No. 1 in the US Billboard Hot 100, and will win two Grammy Awards next year for Record of the Year and Song of the Year for 1958.

April 10 - Cleo Laine marries John Dankworth. March 24 – Elvis Presley enters the U.S. Army. May 30 – Béla Bartók's Violin Concerto No. 1 is premiered in Basel, 50 years after it was composed August 4 – Billboard magazine launches its "Hot 100" singles chart, with Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" as the #1 record. September 24 – Italian singers Natalino Otto and Flo Sandon's scout the young, talented Mina The Festival dei Due Mondi is founded by Gian Carlo Menotti. Marvin Gaye begins recording with his first group. Otis Williams & the Distants begin their musical career. They will later join with The Primes and become The Temptations. Phil Spector begins his recording career. Dalida receives the Music Hall "Bravos" along with Yves Montand. RCA introduces its first stereo LPs. The major record labels begin to cease production of 78 rpm records. Kenny Rogers signs his first recording contract with a major record label and makes his first national TV performance on American Bandstand. Fred Foster opens Monument Records in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Ernesto Bonino leaves the USA and returns to Italy. Bob Bogle and Don Wilson founds the surf instrumental group The Ventures. The Country Music Association (CMA) is founded as the first trade association dedicated to a single music genre.

Albums released

 * 1) Blue Train John Coltrane
 * 2) Somethin' Else Cannonball Adderley

Biggest hit singles
The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1958.

Published popular music
"16 Candles" w.m. Luther Dixon & Allyson R. Khent "All I Have to Do is Dream" w.m. Felice and Boudleaux Bryant "Am I That Easy to Forget" w.m. Carl Belew, W. S. Stevenson & Shelby Singleton "Any Way The Wind Blows" w.m. William Dunham, Joseph Hooven & Marilyn Hooven "Are You Really Mine?" w.m. Al Hoffman, Dick Manning & Mark Markwell "A Big Hunk O' Love" w.m. Aaron Schroeder & Sid Wyche "Bird Dog" w.m. Felice and Boudleaux Bryant "Broken Hearted Melody" w. Hal David m. Sherman Edwards "A Certain Smile" w. Paul Francis Webster m. Sammy Fain "Chantilly Lace" w.m. Jiles Perry Richardson "C'mon Everybody" w.m. Eddie Cochran & Jerry Capeheart "Devoted to You" w.m. Felice and Boudleaux Bryant "Do You Want To Dance?" w.m. Bobby Freeman "Donna" w.m. Ritchie Valens "Don't" w.m. Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller "Enchanted Island" w. Al Stillman m. Robert Allen "Everybody Loves a Lover" w. Richard Adler m. Robert Allen "French Foreign Legion" w. Aaron Schroeder m. Guy Wood "Hoots Mon" Harry Robertson "If I Had A Hammer" w.m. Pete Seeger & Lee Hays "It's Only Make Believe" w.m. Conway Twitty & Jack Nance "Johnny B. Goode" w.m. Chuck Berry "Kewpie Doll" w.m. Sid Tepper & Roy C. Bennett "Kumbayah" recorded by Joe Hickerson and by Pete Seeger "Left Right Out Of Your Heart" w. Earl Shuman m. Mort Garson "The Little Serenade" w.m. Antonio Amurri, Paolo Esposito, Geoffrey C. Parsons & James J. T. Phillips "Little Star" w.m. Vito Picone & Arthur Venosa "Make Me A Miracle" Al Hoffman, Dick Manning, Mark Markwell "Maybe Baby" w.m. Norman Petty & Charles Hardin "Moon Talk" w.m. Al Hoffman & Dick Manning "My True Love" w.m. Jack Scott "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling In Love Again" w.m. Al Hoffman, Dick Manning & Mark Markwell "Once Upon A Summertime" (Original title "La Valse des Lilas") Eddie Barclay, Michel Legrand, Eddy Marnay, Johnny Mercer "Only The Lonely" Sammy Cahn, James Van Heusen "Padre" w. (Eng) Paul Francis Webster (Fr) Marcel Algeron & Jacques Larue m. Alain C. Romans "Patricia" w. Bob Marcus m. Perez Prado "Peter Gunn" m. Henry Mancini "Poor Little Fool" w.m. Shari Sheeley "The Purple People Eater" w.m. Sheb Wooley "Raining In My Heart" w.m. Felice and Boudleaux Bryant "Rave On!" w.m. Norman Petty, Bill Tilghman & Sunny West "Rawhide" w. Ned Washington m. Dimitri Tiomkin. Title tune of the TV series performed by Frankie Laine. "Secretly" w.m. Al Hoffman, Dick Manning & Mark Markwell "Splish Splash" w.m. Bobby Darin & Jean Murray "Stupid Cupid" w. Howard Greenfield m. Neil Sedaka "Sugartime" w.m. Charlie Phillips & Odis Echols "Summertime Blues" Eddie Cochran, J. Capehart "Sweet Little Sixteen" w.m. Chuck Berry "Tears On My Pillow" w.m. Sylvester Bradford & Al Lewis "Tequila" w.m. Chuck Rio "There's Only One Of You" w. Al Stillman m. Robert Allen "Tom Dooley" trad arr. Dave Guard "Volare" w. (Eng) Mitchell Parish (Ital) Domenico Modugno & Franco Migliacci m. Domenico Modugno "We Belong Together", S. Weiss, Robert Carr, Johnny Mitchell "When" w.m. Jack Reardon & Paul Evans "Witch Doctor" w.m. Ross Bagdasarian "Yakety Yak" w.m. Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller "You Are My Destiny" w.m. Paul Anka "Young and Warm and Wonderful" w. Hy Zaret m. Lou Singer

Other notable songs
"The Bells of Rhymney" by Pete Seeger and Idris Davies !Devojko mala" w. B. Timotijević m. D. Kraljić, sung by Vlastimir "Đuza" Stojiljković in the film Ljubav i moda "Mera naam Chin Chin Chu" w. Qamar Jalalabadi m. O.P. Nayyar, sung by Geeta Dutt in the film Howrah Bridge "Pod sjajem zvezda" w. Mirjana Savić m. Predrag Ivanović "Majulah Singapura" by Zubir Said (national anthem of Singapore)

Births

 * January 1 – Grandmaster Flash
 * January 8 – Steve Garvey, bass guitarist (Buzzcocks, The Teardrops and Bok Bok
 * January 9 – Hillevi Martinpelto, operatic soprano
 * January 11 – Vicki Peterson (The Bangles and Psycho Sisters
 * January 21 – Frank Ticheli, American composer and academic
 * January 24 – Jools Holland, R&B pianist and singer, TV music presenter
 * February 12 – Grant McLennan, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Go-Betweens and Jack Frost) (d. 2006)
 * February 16 – Ice-T rapper
 * February 21
 * Jake Burns (Stiff Little Fingers)
 * Mary Chapin Carpenter, singer-songwriter
 * February 25 – Eva Johansson, operatic soprano
 * March 5 – Andy Gibb, singer (d. 1988)
 * March 8 – Gary Numan, singer
 * March 9 – Martin Fry, vocalist of ABC
 * April 11 – Stuart Adamson (Big Country) (d. 2001)
 * April 12 – Will Sergeant (Echo & the Bunnymen)
 * April 14 – Aprile Millo, operatic soprano
 * April 18 – Les Pattinson (Echo & the Bunnymen)
 * April 21 – Andranik Madadian, Armenian/Iranian singer-songwriter
 * April 25 – Fish, Scottish singer (Marillion)
 * May 2 – Mayumi Horikawa, Japanese singer-songwriter and model
 * May 10 – Vlada Divljan, Serbian singer-songwriter and guitarist (Idoli and Apartchiks) (d. 2015)
 * May 18 – Toyah Willcox, singer and actress
 * May 21 – Mike Barson (Madness)
 * May 25 – Paul Weller, singer-songwriter The Jam, Style Council
 * May 27 – Neil Finn, singer-songwriter
 * May 30 – Marie Fredriksson (Roxette)
 * June 2 – Karl Gottfried Brunotte, composer and music philosopher
 * June 3 – Roger Redgate, composer-conductor
 * June 7 – Prince, singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
 * June 17 – Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys)
 * June 21
 * Jennifer Larmore, operatic mezzo-soprano
 * Steve Lieberman punk musician (Gangsta Rabbi)
 * June 24 – Kathy Troccoli, American singer and author
 * June 27
 * Lisa Germano, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (OP8 and Eels)
 * Brian Helicopter, English bass player (The Shapes, HellsBelles, and Rogue Male)
 * Magnus Lindberg, Finnish pianist and composer
 * Jeffrey Lee Pierce, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Gun Club) (d. 1996)
 * June 29
 * Jeff Coopwood, American actor and singer
 * Mark Radcliffe, English singer and radio host (Shirehorses and The Family Mahone)
 * June 30 – Esa-Pekka Salonen, composer-conductor
 * July 5 – Paul Daniel, conductor
 * July 7 – Michala Petri, recorder virtuoso
 * July 18 – Bent Sørensen, composer
 * July 25 – Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth)
 * July 30 – Kate Bush, singer-songwriter and dancer
 * July 31
 * Bill Berry (R.E.M.)
 * Deborah Riedel, operatic soprano (d. 2009)
 * August 3 – Robert Buck (10,000 Maniacs)
 * August 6 – Randy DeBarge, soul singer and guitarist
 * August 7 – Bruce Dickinson, singer (Iron Maiden)
 * August 16 – Madonna, singer
 * August 17 – Belinda Carlisle, singer
 * August 22
 * Ian Mitchell (Bay City Rollers)
 * Vernon Reid (Living Colour)
 * August 29 – Michael Jackson, singer and songwriter (d. 2009)
 * September 6 – Buster Bloodvessel, vocalist (Bad Manners)
 * September 10 – Siobhan Fahey, singer
 * September 19 – Lita Ford, singer
 * September 22
 * Andrea Bocelli, operatic tenor
 * Joan Jett, rock musician
 * October 9 – Al Jourgensen (Ministry)
 * October 10 – Tanya Tucker, country singer
 * October 13 – Derri Daugherty (The Choir, The Lost Dogs)
 * October 14 – Thomas Dolby, English rock musician
 * October 20
 * Mark King, bassist and singer (Level 42)
 * Ricky Byrd (Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)
 * October 27 – Simon Le Bon, vocalist (Duran Duran)
 * November 10 – Frank Maudsley (A Flock of Seagulls)
 * November 22 – Jason Ringenberg (Jason & the Scorchers)
 * November 27 – Tetsuya Komuro, Japanese songwriter and music producer
 * December 7 – Timothy Butler (The Psychedelic Furs)
 * December 9 – Nick Seymour, bassist (Crowded House)
 * December 11 – Nikki Sixx (Mötley Crüe)
 * December 12 – Dag Ingebrigtsen, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Kids and TNT)
 * December 14
 * Mike Scott (The Waterboys)
 * Spider Stacy, folk musician (The Pogues)
 * December 17 – Mike Mills (R.E.M.)
 * December 23 – Victoria Williams, singer-songwriter

Deaths

 * January 20 – Ataúlfo Argenta, conductor, 44 (carbon monoxide poisoning)
 * February 5 – Lew Brown, lyricist, 64
 * March 24 – John Harvey Gahan, violinist, songwriter and actor, 69
 * March 25
 * Tom Brown, jazz trombonist, 69
 * Emerson Whithorne, composer and historian, 73
 * March 28 – W. C. Handy, blues composer, 84
 * April 1
 * Břetislav Bakala, pianist, conductor and composer, 61
 * Alfred Bryan, songwriter, 86
 * April 2 – Tudor Davies, operatic tenor, 65
 * April 10 – Chuck Willis, singer, 30 (during surgery for stomach ulcer)
 * April 16 – Margaret Burke Sheridan, operatic soprano, 68
 * May 20 – Irma Baltuttis, singer, 37 (suspected murder)
 * June 1 – Henri Pensis, violinist, conductor and composer
 * June 3
 * Georges Boulanger, violinist, 65
 * Maude Nugent, songwriter, 81
 * June 15 – José Pablo Moncayo, Mexican percussionist and composer, 45
 * June 20 – Elfriede Trötschel, operatic soprano, 44
 * June 21 – Eduard Erdmann, pianist and composer, 62
 * June 23 – Armas Järnefelt, composer, 88
 * June 27 – Marie Sundelius, operatic soprano, 74
 * July 10 – Karl Erb, operatic tenor and lieder singer, 81
 * July 31 – Eugène Goossens, fils, violinist and conductor, 91
 * August 5 – Joseph Holbrooke, composer, 80
 * August 14 – Gladys Presley, mother of Elvis Presley
 * August 15 – Big Bill Broonzy, blues musician and composer, 60
 * August 17 – Florent Schmitt, composer, 87
 * August 21 – Stevan Hristić, composer, 73
 * August 26 – Ralph Vaughan Williams, composer, 85
 * September 20 – Yvonne Arnaud, pianist, singer and actress, 65
 * October 24 - Martin Shaw, composer, 83
 * October 25 – Artie Matthews, ragtime composer and songwriter, 69
 * October 27 – John Wooldridge, film composer, 39 (car accident)
 * October 29 – Vassili Nebolsin, conductor, 60
 * November 3 – Harry Revel, composer of musicals, 52
 * November 26 – Tiny Bradshaw, jazz and blues musician, 53 (stroke)
 * November 27 – Artur Rodziński, conductor, 66
 * December 1 – Boots Mallory, dancer, 45 (chronic throat disease)
 * December 8 – Julia Lee, blues singer, 56 (heart attack)
 * December 11 – Paul Bazelaire, cellist, 72
 * December 20 – Éva Gauthier, operatic soprano, 73
 * December 29 – Doris Humphrey, dancer and choreographer, 63
 * date unknown
 * Samuel Antek, violinist and conductor
 * John Strachan, ballad singer

Eurovision Song Contest

 * Eurovision Song Contest 1958

Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition

 * Van Cliburn