1930 in British music

This is a summary of 1930 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

8 February â Singer Sam Browne makes his first recording with Bert Ambrose's band on Decca.^[1]
5 April â 25-year-old Michael Tippett gives a concert at Oxted consisting entirely of his own worksâa Concerto in D for flutes, oboe, horns and strings; settings for tenor of poems by Fry; Psalm in C for chorus and orchestra, again with a text by Fry; piano variations on the song "Jockey to the Fair"; and a string quartet.^[2]
7 June â The Daily Herald reports that Jack Hylton and his band sold nearly four million records in the previous year.^[3]
29 September â Roy Fox gives his first London performance.
22 October â The London-based BBC Symphony Orchestra gives its first concert in Queen's Hall, conducted by Adrian Boult.^[4]
date unknown
- The Joe Loss Orchestra is established.
- Gerald Walcan Bright adopts the name "Geraldo" to further his career as a bandleader.^[5]
- Songwriter Fred Godfrey and Irish tenor Tom Finglass form a short-lived variety act.
- The Dagenham Girl Pipers are established, under the direction of Rev. Joseph Waddington Graves, the minister of Osborne Hall Congregational church.^[6]

25 June â The Love Race opens at the Gaiety Theatre where it runs for 237 performances.
30 October â Nippy (music by Billy Mayerl; book and lyrics by Arthur Wimperis and Frank Eyton^[9]), starring Binnie Hale,^[10] opens at the Prince Edward Theatre and runs for 137 performances.

5 January â Saxa, Jamaican-born British saxophonist (died 2017)
17 February â Frank Wappat, singer and radio host (died 2014)
5 March â Isla Cameron, actress and folk singer (died 1980)
10 March â Jimmie Macgregor, folk singer
28 March â Elizabeth Bainbridge, operatic soprano
17 April â Chris Barber, jazz trombonist (died 2021)
4 May â Bill Eyden, jazz drummer (died 2004)
8 May â Heather Harper, operatic soprano (died 2019)
22 May â Kenny Ball, jazz trumpeter and bandleader (died 2013)
28 May â Julian Slade, composer (died 2006)
30 May â Gordon Langford, composer and arranger (died 2017)^[12]
1 June â Edward Woodward, actor and singer (died 2009)
10 July â Josephine Veasey, mezzo-soprano
20 July â Sally Ann Howes, actress and singer
27 July â Andy White, Scottish drummer (died 2015)
1 August â Lionel Bart, composer and lyricist (died 1999)
13 August â Bernard Manning, comedian and singer (died 2007)
12 October â Cyril Tawney, singer-songwriter (died 2005)
1 November â John Scott, conductor and composer
2 November â Peter Hope (also known as William Gardner), composer and arranger^[13]
1 December â Matt Monro, singer (died 1985)