2016 in music

2016 in music
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By topic
List of albums released

List of years in music
(table)
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In radio 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
In television 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
In film 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
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This topic covers notable events and articles related to 2016 in music.

Popular music

Timeline of musical events
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List of popular music genres
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Specific genres

Albums released

Significant performances

March 25 – British rock and roll band, The Rolling Stones become the first foreign rock band to perform in Cuba,^[1] which was documented in their 2016 concert film, The Rolling Stones: Havana Moon.

Awards

58th Annual Grammy Awards
Record of the Year: "Uptown Funk" by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars • Album of the Year: 1989 by Taylor Swift • Song of the Year: "Thinking Out Loud" – Ed Sheeran • Best New Artist: Meghan Trainor
Billboard Music Awards
Artist of the Year: Adele • New Artist of the Year: Fetty Wap • Top Hot 100 Song: "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa • Top Billboard 200 Album: 25 by Adele
31st Golden Disc Awards
Song of the Year: "Cheer Up" by Twice • Album of the Year: Ex'Act by Exo • Rookie Artist of the Year: Blackpink, Bolbbalgan4, I.O.I, NCT 127
58th Japan Record Awards
Grand Prix: "Anata no Suki na Tokoro" (ja) by Kana Nishino • Best Singer: Masayuki Suzuki for "Melancholia" • Best New Artist: iKon • Best Song: several
Mnet Asian Music Awards
Artist of the Year: BTS • Album of the Year: Ex'Act by Exo • Song of the Year: "Cheer Up" by Twice • Best Music Video: "Whistle" by Blackpink
MTV Video Music Awards
Video of the Year: "Formation" by Beyoncé • Best Male Video: "This Is What You Came For" by Calvin Harris • Best Female Video: "Hold Up" by Beyoncé • New Artist: DNCE
MTV Europe Music Awards
Best Song: "Sorry" by Justin Bieber • Best Video: "Starboy" by the Weeknd • Best Female: Lady Gaga • Best Male: Shawn Mendes
The 4th V Chart Awards
Top Male Artist : Lu Han with Medals • Top Female Artist: Li Yuchun with "混蛋，我想你" (Idiot, I Miss You) • Top Group: TFBOYS with Adore • Top New Artist: Wang Qing & Feng Jianyu
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Inductees: Cheap Trick • Chicago • Deep Purple • N.W.A • Steve Miller
26th Seoul Music Awards
Grand Prize: Exo • Best Album: Wings by BTS • Best Song: "Cheer Up" by Twice • Best New Artist: NCT 127, I.O.I, Blackpink

Bands formed

Soloist debuts

Bands reformed

Bands on hiatus

Bands disbanded

Deaths

January

1
- Gilbert Kaplan, (74), American conductor and businessman, cancer.^[5]
- Mark B, (45), British hip-hop record producer.^[6]
- Gilberto Mendes, (93), Brazilian composer.^[7]
2 – Rino Salviati, (93), Italian singer, guitarist and actor.^[8]
3
- Paul Bley (83), Canadian jazz pianist.^[9]
- Jason Mackenroth (46), American rock drummer (Rollins Band, Mother Superior), prostate cancer.^[10]
4
- Long John Hunter, (84), American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter.^[11]
- Achim Mentzel, (69), German musician and television presenter.^[12]
5
- Pierre Boulez, (90), French composer and conductor.^[13]
- Nicholas Caldwell, (71), American R&B singer (The Whispers).^[14]
- Hanna-Marie Weydahl, (93), Norwegian pianist.^[15]
7
- Kitty Kallen, (94), American singer ("Little Things Mean a Lot").^[16]
- Troy Shondell, (76), American singer, complications from Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease.^[17]
8
- Otis Clay, (73), American R&B and soul singer ("Tryin' to Live My Life Without You", "The Only Way Is Up"), heart attack.^[18]
- Red Simpson, (81), American country singer-songwriter ("I'm a Truck"), complications from a heart attack.^[19]
- Brett Smiley, (60), American singer-songwriter.^[20]
10 – David Bowie, (69), English songwriter and artist.^[21]
14 – Jane Stuart Smith, (90), American operatic soprano, hymnologist, and author.^[22]
17
- Carina Jaarnek (53), Swedish singer and Dansband artist (cerebral haemorrhage).^[23]
- Dale Griffin (67), British rock drummer (Mott the Hoople, Mott, British Lions).
18 – Glenn Frey (67), American guitarist and vocalist (The Eagles).^[24]
25 – Leif Solberg (101), Norwegian composer and organist.^[25]
26
- T.J. Tindall (65), American guitarist (MFSB)^[26]
- Black (53), Pop/new wave singer-songwriter, Traffic accident
28
- Signe Toly Anderson (74), American vocalist (Jefferson Airplane).^[27]
- Paul Kantner (74), American guitarist and vocalist (Jefferson Airplane).^[28]

February

3 – Maurice White (74), founder of Earth, Wind and Fire.^[29]
4
- Bobby Caldwell (68), American rock keyboardist (Terry Knight and the Pack)
- Ulf Söderblom (85), Finnish conductor.^[30]
13
- Viola Beach, English indie rock band, car accident.
- Kristian "Kris" Leonard (20), Guitar and vocals.
- River Reeves (19), Guitar.
- Tomas Lowe (27), Bass.
- Jack Dakin (19), Drums.
- Craig Tarry (32), Band manager.
15 – Joyce Paul (78), American country music singer
19 – Harald Devold (51), Norwegian saxophonist (cancer).^[31]
20 – Ove Verner Hansen (85), Danish actor and opera singer (cardiac arrest).^[32]
22 – Sonny James (87), American country music singer-songwriter.^[33]
24 – Lennie Baker (69), American rock and roll saxophonist and singer (Sha Na Na)
29 – Josefin Nilsson (46), Swedish singer.^[34]

March

3 – Gavin Christopher, 66, American R&B singer-songwriter and producer^[35]
5 – Jimmy Henderson, 61, American guitarist (Black Oak Arkansas)
8 – George Martin, (90), English producer.^[36]
9
- Ray Griff (75), Canadian country singer-songwriter, (aspiration pneumonia).^[37]
- Naná Vasconcelos (71), Brazilian percussionist.^[38]
10
- Keith Emerson (71), English pianist and keyboardist (Emerson, Lake & Palmer).^[39]
- Ernestine Anderson (87), American jazz and blues singer
12
- Tommy Brown (84), American R&B singer
- Jimmie Snell, 69, American soul and pop singer (Limmie & Family Cookin')
13 – Sidney Mear, (97), American trumpeter.^[40]
14 – Peter Maxwell Davies, (81), English composer and conductor
18 – Ned Miller (90), American singer-songwriter
22 – Phife Dawg, (45), American rap musician (A Tribe Called Quest), complications from diabetes.^[41]
23 – James Jamerson, Jr., 58, American bass player (Chanson)
24 – Peter Anders, 74, American singer-songwriter (The Trade Winds) and record producer
26 – David Baker, 84, American symphonic jazz composer

April

2 – Gato Barbieri, (83), Argentine jazz saxophonist, pneumonia.^[42]
3 – Bill Henderson, (90), American jazz vocalist and actor (Clue, City Slickers, White Men Can't Jump), cancer.^[43]
6 – Merle Haggard, (79), American singer-songwriter ("Okie from Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", "Carolyn"), Grammy winner (1984, 1998, 1999), complications from pneumonia.^[44]
13 – Mariano Mores, (98), Argentine tango composer and pianist.^[45]
21
- Prince, (57), American musician.^[46]
- Lonnie Mack, (74), American rock, blues, and country singer-songwriter guitarist, natural causes.^[47]
24
- Billy Paul, (81), American soul singer.
- Papa Wemba, (66), Congolese singer and musician.
- Jan Henrik Kayser, (81), Norwegian pianist.

May

1 – Sydney Onayemi (78), Nigerian-born Swedish DJ.^[48]
4 – Olle Ljungström (54), Swedish singer and guitarist.^[49]
6 – Candye Kane, (54), American blues singer and entertainer
9
- Jim Manolides (76), American rock and roll bassist (The Frantics)
- Riki Sorsa (63), Finnish singer.^[50]
14 – Lasse Mårtenson (81), Finnish singer^[51]
16 – Fredrik Norén (75), Swedish jazz drummer^[52] (death announced on this date)
17 – Guy Clark, (74), American folk and country music singer-songwriter
19 – John Berry, (52), American guitarist (Beastie Boys)
21 – Nick Menza, (51), American instrumentalist, former drummer for the band Megadeth^[53]
30 – Thomas Fekete, (27), American guitarist (Surfer Blood)

June

2 – Freddie Wadling (64), Swedish singer and songwriter.^[54]
3 – Dave Swarbrick, (75), British folk musician and singer-songwriter (Fairport Convention), emphysema.^[55]
4 – Bobby Curtola, (73), Canadian singer.^[56]
5 – Phyllis Curtin, (94), American soprano.^[57]
6 – Rolf Schweizer, (80), German composer.^[58]
8
- Vladislav Yankovsky, (64), Russian musician (Novosibirsk Youth Symphony Orchestra).^[59]
- Terje Fjærn (73), Norwegian orchestra conductor ("La det swinge").^[60]
9 – J. Reilly Lewis, (71), American choral conductor and Baroque music specialist, heart attack.^[61]
10
- Habib, (63), Iranian singer, heart attack.^[62]
- Christina Grimmie, (22), American singer-songwriter (Find Me) and talent show participant (The Voice), gunshot wound.^[63]
13 – Chips Moman, (79), American producer, songwriter, guitarist.^[64]
17 – Attrell Cordes, (46), American musician, producer and rapper, co-founder of P.M. Dawn.^[65]
18 – Alejandro Jano Fuentes (45), Mexican singer and talent show participant (La Voz... México), gunshot wound.
21 – Wayne Jackson (74), American soul and R&B musician (The Mar-Keys), congestive heart failure.
22
- Amjad Sabri (39), Pakistani Qawwali singer, gunshot wound.^[66]
- Jim Boyd (60), Native American singer-songwriter and actor
24 – Bernie Worrell, (72), American keyboardist and composer (Parliament-Funkadelic).
27 – Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen (83), Danish composer.^[67]
28 – Scotty Moore (84), American guitarist (Elvis Presley).
29 – Rob Wasserman (64), American composer and bass player (RatDog, Lou Reed).

July

1 – Jimmy Arthur Ordge (80), Canadian country music singer
16
- Alan Vega (78), American vocalist and visual artist (Suicide).
- Bonnie Brown (77) American country music singer, member of The Browns.
18 – Karina Jensen, Danish singer (Cartoons) (cancer).^[68]
19 – Tamás Somló (73), Hungarian musician, singer, artist and composer (Locomotiv GT), cancer.
26
- Sandy Pearlman (72), American producer (Blue Öyster Cult, The Clash), songwriter, educator, complications from cerebral hemorrhage.^[69]
- Roye Albrighton (67), German musician (Nektar), unspecified illness.^[70]
27
- Pat Upton (75), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Spiral Starecase).^[71]
- Einojuhani Rautavaara (87), Finnish composer.^[72]
31 – Mike Mohede (32), Indonesian singer and talent show participant (Indonesian Idol), heart attack.

August

3 – Ricci Martin (62), American musician.^[73]
4
- Patrice Munsel (91), American coloratura soprano.^[74]
- Snaffu Rigor (69), Filipino singer and songwriter, lung cancer.^[75]
5
- Richard Fagan (69), American songwriter and musician, liver cancer.^[76]
- Vander Lee (50), Brazilian singer-songwriter.^[77]
6 – Guillermo Anderson (54), Honduran singer, thyroid cancer.^[78]
7
- B. E. Taylor (65), American musician ("Vitamin L"), brain cancer.^[79]
- Dolores Vargas (80), Spanish singer, complications of leukemia.^[80]
- Ruby Winters (74), American soul singer ("Make Love to Me", "I Will").^[81]
9
- Pádraig Duggan (67), Irish musician (Clannad, The Duggans).
- Jimmy Levine (61/62), American R&B musician and record producer.^[82]
11 – Glenn Yarbrough (86), American folk singer ("Baby the Rain Must Fall", "It's Gonna Be Fine", "San Francisco Bay Blues").^[83]
12 – Ruby Wilson (68), American blues, soul and gospel singer, heart attack.^[84]
13 – Connie Crothers (75), American jazz pianist, cancer.^[85]
14 – James Woolley (49), American keyboard and synthesizer player (Nine Inch Nails, 2wo).
15 – Bobby Hutcherson (75), Jazz vibraphonist, emphysema.
19 – Horacio Salgán (100), Argentine tango musician.
20
- Matt Roberts (38), American rock guitarist (3 Doors Down), drug overdose.^[86]
- Tom Searle (28), British rock guitarist (Architects), cancer.^[87]
22
- Toots Thielemans (94), Belgian jazz musician.^[88]
- Gilli Smyth (83), English musician (Gong).
28 – Juan Gabriel (66), Mexican singer and songwriter, heart attack.

September

1
- Fred Hellerman, (89), American folk singer (The Weavers), guitarist, producer and songwriter.^[89]
- Kacey Jones, (66), American singer-songwriter ("I'm the One Mama Warned You About"), producer and humorist, cancer.^[90]
2
- Jerry Heller, (75), American music manager (N.W.A.).^[91]
- Gary D., (52), German trance producer and DJ, pulmonary embolism.^[92]
3
- Fred McFarlane, (55), American songwriter ("Show Me Love", "Don't Wanna Go Home"), record producer and musician.^[93]
- Johnny Rebel, (77), American country singer.^[94]
7
- Clifford Curry, (79), American beach music and R&B singer ("She Shot a Hole in My Soul").^[95]
- Farhang Sharif, (85), Iranian musician and tar player.^{[citation needed]}
- Graham Wiggins, (53), American musician.^[96]
8 – Prince Buster, (78), Jamaican ska musician ("One Step Beyond", "Al Capone").^[97]
10 – Chris Stone, (81), American recording studio owner (Record Plant) and entrepreneur, heart attack and stroke.^[98]
12 – Hidayat Inayat Khan, (99), English-French composer and conductor.^[99]
16
- Jerry Corbetta, (68), American musician (Sugarloaf), Pick's disease.^[100]
- Trisco Pearson, (53), American R&B singer (Force MDs), cancer.^[101]
- Qiao Renliang, (28), Chinese singer and actor, suicide.^[102]
19 – Bobby Breen, (88), Canadian-born American actor and singer, natural causes.^[103]
20 – Micki Marlo, (88), American singer and model.^[104]
21
- Shawty Lo, (40), American hip-hop musician (D4L), traffic collision.^[105]
- John D. Loudermilk, (82), American singer and songwriter ("Tobacco Road", "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye", "Indian Reservation"), bone cancer.^[106]
24 – Buckwheat Zydeco, (68), American accordionist and zydeco musician
25
- Kashif, (59), American musician (B.T. Express) and record producer.^[107]
- Hagen Liebing, (55), German musician (Die Ärzte).^[108]
- Jean Shepard, (82), American honky tonk singer-songwriter ("A Dear John Letter", "Slippin' Away"), Parkinson's disease.^[109]
26
- Joe Clay, (78), American rockabilly musician.^[110]
- Ioan Gyuri Pascu, (55), Romanian singer, producer, actor and comedian, heart attack.^[111]
27
- Aurelian Preda [ro], (46), Romanian folk singer, cancer.^[112]
- Märta Schéle [sv], (80), Swedish singer.^[113]
29
- Lecresia Campbell (53), American gospel singer, pulmonary embolism.^[114]
- Nora Dean (72), Jamaican singer.^[115]
- Royal Torrence (82), American soul music singer (Little Royal and The Swingmasters).^[116]
30
- Oscar Brand (96), Canadian-born American folk singer-songwriter, author and radio broadcaster (WNYC).^[117]
- Michael Casswell (53), English guitarist.^[118]
- Lilleba Lund Kvandal (76), Norwegian opera singer.^[119]

October

1 – Toni Williams (77), Cook Islands-born New Zealand singer.^[120]
2
- Steve Byrd (61), English guitarist (Gillan, Kim Wilde), heart attack.^[121]
- Sir Neville Marriner (92), English conductor and violinist
- Thomas Round (100), British opera singer.^[122]
3
- Ljupka Dimitrovska, (70), Macedonian-born Croatian singer.^[123]
- K. David van Hoesen (90), American bassoonist.^[124]
- Joan Marie Johnson (72), American singer (The Dixie Cups), heart failure.^[125]
4 – Caroline Crawley (53), British singer and musician (Shelleyan Orphan, This Mortal Coil).^[126]
5 – Pompeiu Hărășteanu (81), Romanian opera singer.^[127]
7 – Anne Pashley (80), British athlete and opera singer, Olympic silver medalist (1956).^[128]
8 – Don Ciccone (70), American singer-songwriter and musician (The Critters, The Four Seasons, Tommy James and the Shondells).^[129]
9
- Bored Nothing (26), Australian musician, suicide.^[130]
- Michiyuki Kawashima (47), Japanese musician (Boom Boom Satellites), brain tumor.^[131]
- Quique Lucca (103), Puerto Rican musician, founder of La Sonora Ponceña.^[132]
- Guy Nadon [fr], (82), Canadian jazz drummer.^[133]
- Marin Petrache Pechea [ro] (71), Romanian jazz musician, cancer.^[134]
10 – Issa Bagayogo,= (54), Malian musician.^[135]
11 – Peter Reynolds, (58), Welsh composer.^[136]
12
- Robert Bateman, (80), American songwriter and record producer ("Please Mr. Postman"), heart attack.^[137]
- Sonny Sanders (77), American songwriter, arranger and record producer.^[138]
15
- Danny Champagne (65), Jamaican music producer, complications from stroke.^[139]
- Robert Edwards (74), American singer (The Intruders), heart attack.^[140]
20
- Achieng Abura, Kenyan musician.^[141]
- Brian Edwards (72), Canadian rock bassist and singer (Mashmakhan)
- Mieke Telkamp (82), Dutch singer.^[142]
23 – Pete Burns, (57), British singer (Dead or Alive)^[143]
24 – Bobby Vee (73) American pop singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s
30 – Curly Putman, (85), American singer-songwriter. D-I-V-O-R-C-E, Green, Green Grass of Home and the subject of Paul McCartney & Wings song Junior's Farm.

November

1
- Nico Carstens (90), South African accordionist and songwriter^[144]
- Pocho La Pantera (65), Argentine cumbia singer
3
Kay Starr (94), American pop and jazz singer, complications of Alzheimer's disease.
W.D. Amaradeva (88), Sinhala light music pioneer, old age.
4
- Eddie Harsch, 59, Canadian keyboardist (The Black Crowes)
- Jean-Jacques Perrey, 87, French electronic music producer
7 – Leonard Cohen (82), Canadian singer-songwriter^[145]
11
- Victor Bailey (56), American jazz bass guitarist
- Esma Redžepova-Teodosievska, (73), Macedonian vocalist, songwriter, and humanitarian of Romani ethnicity.
12 – Jacques Werup (71), Swedish musician and writer.^[146]
13 – Leon Russell (74), American musician and songwriter
15
- Holly Dunn (59), American country singer-songwriter
- Mose Allison (89), American pianist and singer.^[147]
18 – Sharon Jones (60), American soul and funk singer
24
- Colonel Abrams (67), American musician and singer-songwriter
- Pauline Oliveros (84), American composer
29 – Allan Zavod (71), Australian keyboardist and composer
30 – Ivar Thomassen (62), Norwegian folk singer, songwriter, and jazz pianist.^[148]

December

2
- Cash Askew (22), guitarist (Them Are Us Too)
- Mark Gray (64), American singer-songwriter (Exile)
4 – Ralph Johnson (67), American singer (The Impressions)
7 – Brian Bennett (65), American garage-rock keyboardist (The Cherry Slush)
8
- Greg Lake (69), English progressive-rock vocalist and multi-instrumentalist (Emerson, Lake & Palmer)^[149]
- Junaid Jamshed (52), Pakistani singer-songwriter (Vital Signs), flight collision^[150]
11 – Joe Ligon (80), American gospel singer (Mighty Clouds of Joy)
24 – Rick Parfitt (68), English musician and songwriter (Status Quo)^[151]
25
- George Michael (53), English singer-songwriter (Wham!) ^[152]
- 64 members of Alexandrov Ensemble (Red Army Choir), 2016 Russian Defence Ministry Tupolev Tu-154 crash^[153]

Specific genres

Albums released

Significant performances

Awards

Bands formed

Soloist debuts

Bands reformed

Bands on hiatus

Bands disbanded

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Musical films

See also

References

Related Articles

Timelines

Top Qs

Fact Checks

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