1957 in British music

1950s in music in the UK

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1957 in music By location

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Overview of the events of 1957 in British music

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This is a summary of 1957 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

## Events

[edit]

* 1 January – Benjamin Britten conducts the opening performance of his ballet The Prince of the Pagodas at Covent Garden.[1]
* 11 January – Tommy Steele reaches no 1 in the UK chart with his cover of "Singing the Blues", thus achieving chart-topping success before his American rival Elvis Presley.
* 16 January – The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool as a jazz club.
* 25 January – First performance of William Walton's Cello Concerto in Boston.[1]
* 3 March – Patricia Bredin represents the UK at the 2nd Eurovision Song Contest in Frankfurt, finishing in 7th place. It is the first time the UK has entered the competition.
* June – Kay Kendall, star of Les Girls, marries Rex Harrison, star of My Fair Lady.
* 6 July – John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles first meet at a garden fete at St. Peter's Church, Woolton, Liverpool, at which Lennon's skiffle group, The Quarrymen, is playing (and in the graveyard of which an Eleanor Rigby is buried).
* 7 August – 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".[2]

## Charts

[edit]

* See UK No.1 Hits of 1957

## Classical music: new works

[edit]

* Malcolm Arnold – The River Kwai March, Toy Symphony
* Arthur Bliss \- Discourse for orchestra
* Benjamin Britten – Songs from the Chinese Op. 58, for soprano or tenor and guitar
* Gordon Jacob – Piano Concerto No. 2
* Robin Orr \- Rhapsody for string orchestra
* Edmund Rubbra \- Symphony No 7
* Michael Tippett – Symphony No. 2
* William Walton – Partita for Orchestra
* Grace Williams \- Symphony No 2

## Opera

[edit]

* Benjamin Britten – Noye's Fludde (composition draft completed 18 December).[3]

## Film and Incidental music

[edit]

* Richard Addinsell – The Prince and the Showgirl directed by and starring Laurence Olivier, co-starring Marilyn Monroe.
* John Addison –
* The Entertainer – opening 10 April at the Royal Court Theatre, London.
* Lucky Jim directed by John Boulting, starring Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Hugh Griffith.
* Malcolm Arnold –
* Blue Murder at St Trinian's, starring Terry-Thomas, George Cole, Joyce Grenfell, Lionel Jeffries and Richard Wattis.
* The Bridge on the River Kwai directed by David Lean, starring William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Alec Guinness and Sessue Hayakawa.
* James Bernard –
* Across the Bridge, starring Rod Steiger and Bernard Lee.
* The Curse of Frankenstein directed by Terence Fisher, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.
* Stanley Black – The Naked Truth, starring Terry-Thomas, Peter Sellers and Dennis Price.
* Muir Mathieson – Campbell's Kingdom, starring Dirk Bogarde and Stanley Baker.
* Clifton Parker – Night of the Demon directed by Jacques Tourneur, starring Dana Andrews, Peggy Cummins and Niall MacGinnis.
* Humphrey Searle –
* The Abominable Snowman directed by Val Guest, starring Peter Cushing.
* The Passionate Stranger, starring Margaret Leighton and Ralph Richardson.

## Musical theatre

[edit]

* 11 April – Zuleika, with music by Peter Tranchell and book and lyrics by James Ferman receives its West End première at the Saville Theatre, starring Diane Cilento in the title role.

## Musical films

[edit]

* Let's Be Happy, starring Vera-Ellen
* The Tommy Steele Story
* These Dangerous Years, starring Frankie Vaughan

## Births

[edit]

* 20 January – Andy Sheppard, saxophonist and composer
* 27 January – Janick Gers, guitarist and songwriter
* 3 February – Steven Stapleton, singer-songwriter (Nurse with Wound and Current 93)
* 13 February – Tony Butler English bass player (Big Country and On the Air)
* 28 February – Phil Gould, drummer, singer and songwriter (Level 42)
* 21 March – John Whitfield, conductor
* 26 March – Paul Morley, music journalist
* 20 May – Sid Vicious, punk musician (died 1979)
* 27 May – Siouxsie Sioux, singer
* 29 May – Big George, composer, bandleader, and broadcaster (died 2011)
* 7 June – Paddy McAloon, English singer-songwriter (Prefab Sprout)
* 21 June – Mark Brzezicki, drummer (Big Country, The Cult, Ultravox, and Procol Harum)
* 24 June – Astro, rapper (UB40)
* 3 July – Poly Styrene, punk musician (died 2011)
* 11 July – Peter Murphy, singer-songwriter (Bauhaus and Dalis Car)
* 18 July – Keith Levene, English guitarist, songwriter, and producer (Public Image Ltd, The Flowers of Romance, and The Clash) (died 2022)
* 31 August – Glenn Tilbrook, singer, songwriter and guitarist (Squeeze)
* 11 September – Jon Moss, drummer
* 11 November – Tony 'Gad' Robinson, singer (Aswad)
* 20 December – Billy Bragg, singer-songwriter

## Deaths

[edit]

* 5 January – Gertie Gitana, music hall entertainer, 69[4]
* 21 January – Harry Gordon, entertainer, 63[5]
* 13 March – Lena Ashwell, entertainer, 84
* 12 May – Marie Rappold, operatic soprano, 83[6]
* 1 August – Cathal O'Byrne, singer and poet, 90
* 18 August – Louis Levy, film composer, 62
* 1 September – Dennis Brain, horn virtuoso, 36 (car accident)
* 20 October – Jack Buchanan, singer, dancer, actor and director, 66
* 21 December – Eric Coates, composer, 71
* date unknown
* William Henley, violinist, composer and arranger[7]
* Jack Robson, songwriter

## See also

[edit]

* 1957 in British television
* 1957 in the United Kingdom
* List of British films of 1957

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Kendall, Alan. The Chronicle of Classical Music. Thames & Hudson, 2000: p. 242
2. ^ Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Little Brown & Company. p. 65\. ISBN 978-0-316-80352-6.
3. ^ Reed, Philip & Cooke, Mervyn (eds). Letters From a Life: The Selected Letters of Benjamin Britten, Vol. 4 1952–1957. The Boydell Press (2008). p. 494
4. ^ John Parker (1967). Who's who in the Theatre. Pitman.
5. ^ THE SCOTS MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 1982. 1982.
6. ^ Oscar Thompson; Nicolas Slonimsky (1958). The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. Dodd, Mead.
7. ^ The Strad: A Monthly Journal for Professionals and Amateurs of All Stringed Instruments Played with the Bow. Lavendar Publications. 1985.

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