1957 in music

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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1957.

• 1957 in British music
• 1957 in Norwegian music

• 1957 in country music
• 1957 in jazz

• January 5 – Renato Carosone and his band start their American tour in Cuba.
• January 6 – Elvis Presley makes his final appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
• January 16 – The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool, England, as a jazz club.
• February 8 – Bo Diddley records his songs "Hey! Bo Diddley" and "Mona (I Need You Baby)".
• March – Chicago's Cardinal Stritch bans all rock and roll and rhythm and blues music from Catholic-run schools, saying that "its rhythms encourage young people to behave in a hedonistic manner."
• March 1 – The Everly Brothers record in Nashville their first single "Bye Bye Love" for Cadence Records.
• March 3 – The second annual Eurovision Song Contest is staged in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. The contest is won by Dutch singer Corry Brokken with the song Net als toen.
• March 19 – Elvis Presley purchases a mansion in Memphis, Tennessee, and calls it Graceland.
• March 26 – Ricky Nelson records his first three songs.
• March 27 – "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" from 1956's Alfred Hitchcock suspense film The Man Who Knew Too Much wins the Academy Award for Best Song. Sung by Doris Day in the film, it proves to be one of her biggest hit records as well.
• May 14 – In Paris, Heitor Villa-Lobos records his Bachiana Brasileira No. 4, with the Orchestre Nationale de la Radiodiffusion Française, for EMI. Through May 21 the recording sessions continue with Bachiana Brasileira No. 7 and Bachiana Brasileira No. 3 with Manoel Braune, piano.
• May 26 – Paul Robeson, blacklisted at this time from travelling outside the United States, performs a concert from New York City via the new transatlantic telephone line to an audience in St Pancras Town Hall in London; on October 5 he uses the same means to address the Miners' Eisteddfod at the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl in Wales.^[1]
• June 20 – Tōru Takemitsu's Requiem for Strings is first performed, by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.^[2]
• July 6 – John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles first meet at a garden fete at St. Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool, England, at which Lennon's skiffle group, The Quarrymen, is playing (and in the graveyard of which an Eleanor Rigby is buried).
• August 5 – American Bandstand begins its 30-year syndicated run on US network television.
• August 7 – The Quarrymen first play at The Cavern Club in Liverpool in an interlude spot between jazz bands; when John Lennon starts the group playing Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel", the club's owner at this time hands him a note reading "Cut out the bloody rock 'n roll".^[3] Paul McCartney is away from Liverpool at this time at a Boy Scout camp and a family holiday.^[4]
• September 19 – Dalida is the first artist to be awarded a gold record in France for 300,000 sales of "Bambino". This year, she is also the first female recording artist to have her own fan club.
• September 20 – Jean Sibelius dies aged 91 at Ainola, his home in Finland, having completed no significant compositions for thirty years; at the time of his death, a performance of his Symphony No. 5 is being given in Helsinki under the baton of Sir Malcolm Sargent.
• September 26 – Broadway première of the musical West Side Story at the Winter Garden Theatre (following tryouts in Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia beginning in August) with music by Leonard Bernstein (who a week later is appointed music director of the New York Philharmonic orchestra) and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, his Broadway debut. This year also Bernstein conducts the inaugural concert of the Mann Auditorium in Tel Aviv.
• November 25–27 – The first two Hollywood motion pictures starring Pat Boone, Bernadine and April Love, are released.
• Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel name themselves Tom and Jerry and begin their recording career, signing with Sid Prosen of Big Records. Their first single, "Hey, Schoolgirl", backed with "Dancin' Wild", hits #49 on the Billboard pop charts. Garfunkel is Tom Graph (so called because he like to write the pop charts out on graph paper) and Simon is Jerry Landis, a pseudonym he used during his early 1960s solo recordings. They tour for eighteen months before retiring to become college students and then reforming in 1963 as Simon & Garfunkel.
• The Casals Festival is founded in Puerto Rico.
• When Nat King Cole's television show is unable to get a sponsor, Frankie Laine becomes the first artist to cross TV's color line, becoming the first white artist to appear as a guest, foregoing his usual salary of $10,000. Other top performers follow suit, including Mel Tormé and Tony Bennett, but, despite an increase in ratings, the show still fails to pick up a national sponsor.
• Gorni Kramer makes his first appearance on Italian television, in Il Musichiere.
• Maria Callas is introduced to Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis.
• "Suíte do Pescador" is composed by Dorival Caymmi.
• Actress Debbie Reynolds earns a gold record for her song Tammy, which is the best-selling single by a female vocalist in 1957 in the United States. This song from the motion picture Tammy and the Bachelor is also nominated for an Academy Award.

• United States Navy Steel Band

The following songs achieved the highest chart positions in the charts of 1957.^[6]

These singles reached the top of US Billboard's charts in 1957.

• Hugo Alfvén – Den förlorade sonen (The Prodigal Son), R214
• Malcolm Arnold – Symphony No. 3
• Luciano Berio – Serenata I
• Ernest Bloch
  • Suite No. 3 for Solo Cello
  • Piano Quintet No. 2
• Pierre Boulez – Le Marteau sans maître (1953–55/1957)
• John Cage – Winter Music
• Aaron Copland – Orchestral Variations
• Pierre Gabaye – Boutade
• Henryk Górecki –
  • Sonata for two violins, Op. 10
  • Concerto for Five Instruments and String Quartet, Op. 11
• Jørgen Jersild – 3 Madrigali
• Wojciech Kilar – Lullabies, solo cantatas for soprano and seven instruments
• Giselher Klebe – Concerto for cello and orchestra
• Jan Klusák – Concerto grosso
• László Lajtha – Symphony No. 7, Revolution (A tribute to the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 against the Soviet suppression)
• Bohuslav Martinů – Romance z pampelišek, H. 364
• Toshiro Mayuzumi – Phonologie Symphonique
• Ennio Morricone – Concerto, for orchestra
• Per Nørgård – Piano Sonata No. 2, Op. 20
• Walter Piston – Viola Concerto
• Allan Pettersson – Concerto for String Orchestra No. 3
• Francis Poulenc – Flute Sonata, FP 164
• Hilding Rosenberg – String Quartets nos. 8 – 12
• Edmund Rubbra – Seventh Symphony
• John Serry Sr. – Reeds in a Rush
• Roger Sessions – Symphony No. 3
• Alfred Schnittke – Symphony No. 0
• Dmitri Shostakovich
  • Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major
  • Symphony No. 11 in G minor, Op. 103 "The Year 1905"
• Elie Siegmeister – Symphony No. 3
• Karlheinz Stockhausen – Gruppen for three orchestras (1955–57)
• Tōru Takemitsu – Requiem for Strings
• Vladimir Ussachevsky – Metamorphosis
• Galina Ustvolskaya – Piano Sonata No. 4
• Ralph Vaughan Williams
  • Blake Songs (10)
  • Symphony No. 9
• Heitor Villa-Lobos
  • Piano Concerto No. 3
  • String Quartet No. 17
  • Symphony No. 12
• William Walton – Partita for Orchestra
• Mieczysław Weinberg – Symphony No. 4
• Malcolm Williamson
  • A Vision of Beasts and Gods, song cycle for high voice and piano
  • Santiago de Espada, overture for orchestra
  • Symphony No. 1 – Elevamini, for orchestra
• Iannis Xenakis – Achorripsis
• Bernd Alois Zimmermann
  • Canto di speranza
  • Die fromme Helene
  • Omnia tempus habent

• John Eaton – Ma Barker
• Bohuslav Martinů – The Greek Passion
• Douglas Moore – Gallantry
• Ildebrando Pizzetti – Assassinio nella Cattedrale
• Francis Poulenc – Dialogues of the Carmelites (Dialogues des Carmelites)
• Joan Trimble – Blind Raftery (for television)
• Heitor Villa-Lobos – Daughter of the Clouds

• Malcolm Arnold - The Bridge on the River Kwai (featuring the famous march by Kenneth J. Alford)
• George Duning - 3:10 to Yuma
• Gerald Fried - Paths of Glory
• Hugo Friedhofer - An Affair to Remember
• Erik Nordgren - The Seventh Seal
• Nino Rota - Nights of Cabiria
• Dimitri Tiomkin - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
• Franz Waxman - Peyton Place
• Franz Waxman - The Spirit of St. Louis

• Brigadoon (Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe) — Broadway revival
• Damn Yankees (Richard Adler and Jerry Ross) — London production
• Katharina Knie opened at the Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich on January 20
• The Music Man (Meredith Willson) opened at the Majestic Theatre on Broadway on December 19, 1957, and ran for 1375 performances.
• New Girl in Town (George Abbott and Bob Merrill) Broadway production, opened at the 46th St. Theatre and ran for 431 performances
• West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein) — Broadway production, opened at the Winter Garden Theatre and ran for 732 performances
• Zuleika — London production, Saville Theatre

• Funny Face starring Fred Astaire and Audrey Hepburn
• Jailhouse Rock starring Elvis Presley
• Les Girls starring Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor and Kay Kendall
• Loving You released July 9 starring Elvis Presley.
• Mayabazar starring Savithri
• The Pajama Game starring Doris Day and John Raitt
• Pal Joey starring Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak
• Pardesi, with music by Anil Biswas
• Silk Stockings, featuring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse

• January 3 – Dave Dobbyn, New Zealand singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
• January 4
  • Brian Roy Goble, Canadian singer-songwriter (Subhumans and The Skulls) (died 2014)
  • Patty Loveless, country singer
• January 23 – Earl Falconer, reggae bass guitarist and singer (UB40)
• January 27 – Janick Gers, heavy metal guitarist (Iron Maiden)
• February 2 – Tony Butler, rock bass guitarist (Big Country)
• February 19 – Falco, classical and rock musician (died 1998)
• February 27 – Adrian Smith, musician (Iron Maiden and Urchin)
• February 28
  • Phil Gould, drummer (Level 42)
  • Cindy Wilson, new wave singer (The B-52's)
• March 5 – Mark E. Smith, post-punk singer-songwriter (The Fall) (died 2018)
• March 12 – Marlon Jackson, vocalist (The Jackson 5)
• March 21 – John Whitfield, conductor
• March 26 – Paul Morley, music journalist
• April 2 – Mark Alburger, composer, conductor, music journalist
• April 12 – Vince Gill
• May 2 – Markus Stockhausen, trumpeter and composer
• May 10 – Sid Vicious, punk musician (Sex Pistols) (died 1979)
• May 18 – Michael Cretu, musician
• May 27 – Siouxsie Sioux, singer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
• June 11 – Jamaaladeen Tacuma, free jazz bass guitarist
• June 14 – Maxi Jazz, singer-songwriter and rapper (Faithless) (died 2022)
• June 15 – Brad Gillis, American guitarist
• June 17
  • Phil Chevron, Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Pogues)
  • Martin Dillon, American tenor and educator (died 2005)
• June 22 – Garry Gary Beers, new wave rock bass guitarist (INXS)
• June 24 – Astro (Terence Wilson), reggae singer-songwriter (UB40) (died 2021)
• June 26 – Patty Smyth, American singer-songwriter (Scandal)
• July 3
  • Peter Breiner, composer
  • Poly Styrene, punk musician
• July 30 – Christopher Miller, known as Rat Scabies, drummer
• August 2
  • Mojo Nixon, American singer-songwriter
  • Butch Vig, American drummer, songwriter and producer (Garbage and Spooner)
• August 18 – Ron Strykert, Men at Work
• August 21 – Budgie, drummer (Siouxsie and the Banshees)
• August 22 – Holly Dunn, country singer/songwriter (died 2016)
• August 31
  • Gina Schock, The Go-Go's
  • Glenn Tilbrook, vocalist (Squeeze)
• September 1
  • Gloria Estefan, singer (Miami Sound Machine)
  • Jon Moss, drummer (Culture Club)
• September 12 – Hans Zimmer, film score composer and music producer
• September 22
  • Nick Cave, singer-songwriter
  • Johnette Napolitano, Concrete Blonde
• October 3 – Tim Westwood, DJ
• October 5 – Lee Jay Thompson (Madness)
• October 7 – Michael W. Smith, contemporary Christian singer
• October 19 – Karl Wallinger, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist (World Party) (died 2024)
• October 20 – Anouar Brahem, oud player and composer
• October 21
  • Julian Cope, post-punk singer-songwriter and antiquarian
  • Steve Lukather, rock guitarist (Toto)
• October 16 – Kelly Marie, disco singer
• October 28 – Stephen Morris (New Order)
• November 1 – Lyle Lovett, country musician
• November 5 – Mike Score (A Flock of Seagulls)
• November 8 – Porl Thompson (The Cure)
• November 20 – Hendrik Hofmeyr, composer
• November 24 – Chris Hayes, pop rock musician (Huey Lewis and the News)
• December 6 – Adrian Borland, post-punk musician The Sound (died 1999)
• December 6
  • Bob Drake, avant-garde musician
  • Jack Lee, bagpiper
• December 9
  • Donny Osmond, singer (Osmonds)
  • Steve Taylor, singer, record producer
• December 10 – Paul Hardcastle, composer and musician
• December 12 – Sheila E., singer-songwriter and percussionist
• December 20
  • Anita Baker, R&B singer-songwriter
  • Billy Bragg, singer-songwriter
  • Anna Vissi, singer
• December 22 – Tsai Chin, singer
• December 25 – Shane MacGowan, Celtic punk singer-songwriter (The Pogues) (died 2023)
• December 27 – Jerry Gaskill, American drummer
• date unknown
  • Annette A. Aguilar, Latin jazz percussionist
  • Charles Roland Berry, composer
  • Kartik Seshadri, sitarist and composer

• January – Gertie Gitana, English music hall entertainer, 69
• January 16 – Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor, 89
• January 18 – George Girard, American jazz trumpeter, 26 (cancer)
• February 7 – Rudolph Réti, Serbian pianist, composer and musicologist, 71
• February 16 – Josef Hofmann, Polish pianist and composer, 81
• February 21
  • "Klondike" Kate Rockwell, American vaudeville performer, 83
  • Marguerite Sylva, Belgian operatic mezzo-soprano, 81
• March 8 – Othmar Schoeck, Swiss composer, 70
• March 13 – Lena Ashwell, British Forces entertainer, 84
• March 24 – Carson Robison, American country music singer and songwriter, 66
• April 15 – Pedro Infante, Mexican actor and singer, 39 (air crash)
• May 2 – Tadeusz Kassern, Polish composer, 53 (cancer)^[35]
• May 9 – Ezio Pinza, Italian singer and actor, 64
• May 12 – Marie Rappold, German operatic soprano, 83
• June 5 – Frances Densmore, American ethnomusicologist, 90
• June 6 – Kulyash Baiseitova, Soviet opera singer, 52
• June 12 – Jimmy Dorsey, American jazz musician and big band leader, 53 (cancer)
• July 7 – Hiski Salomaa, Finnish folk singer and songwriter, 66
• July 9 – Alexander Goedicke, Soviet pianist and composer, 80
• July 16 – Serge Chaloff, American saxophonist, 33 (cancer)
• August 4 – Ivan Zorman, Slovene poet and composer, 72
• August 28 – Erik Tuxen, Danish conductor, composer and arranger, 55
• September 1 – Dennis Brain, British horn virtuoso, 36 (car accident)
• September 11 – Petar Stojanović, Serbian violinist and composer, 80
• September 20 – Jean Sibelius, Finnish composer, 91
• September 28 – Luis Cluzeau Mortet, Uruguayan composer and musician, 68
• October 14 – Natanael Berg, Swedish composer, 78
• October 20 – Jack Buchanan, Scottish singer, dancer, actor and director, 66
• October 23 – Abe Lyman, American bandleader, composer and drummer, 60
• November 4 – Joseph Canteloube, French composer, 78
• November 29 – Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Austrian composer, 60
• November 30 – Beniamino Gigli, Italian operatic tenor, 67
• December 19 – Abolhasan Saba, Iranian instrumentalist, 55
• December 20 – Walter Page, American jazz musician, 57
• December 21 – Eric Coates, English composer, 71
• Undated – Ustad Qasim, Afghan musician, 78–79

• Eurovision Song Contest 1957