1952 in music

Specific locations

• 1952 in British music
• 1952 in Norwegian music

  Specific genres

• 1952 in country music
• 1952 in jazz

  Events

• February 26 – Popular American singer Jo Stafford marries bandleader/arranger Paul Weston.
• March 1 – Sun Records records its first release in Memphis, Tennessee.
• March 21 – First reported rock and roll riot breaks out at Alan Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland, Ohio. Teenage excitement is blamed for the frenzy.
• August 29 – David Tudor gives the premiere of John Cage's 4′33″, during which the performer does not play, in Woodstock, New York.
• September – Bill Haley and His Saddlemen change their image to become Bill Haley & His Comets.
• October 7 – First edition of Bob Horn's Bandstand is broadcast as a local show from station WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is later renamed American Bandstand and syndicated.
• November 14 – First UK Singles Chart published by the New Musical Express, with Al Martino's "Here in My Heart" as number one.
• date unknown
• *Jazz singer Ernesto Bonino moves from Italy to the United States.
• *Accordionist John Serry, Sr. first performs in Broadway theatre with Shirley Booth in The Time of the Cuckoo.
• *Finnish composer Aarre Merikanto wins the Olympic hymn competition.

  Publications

• Pierre Schaeffer – A la recherche d'une musique concrète , an explanation of his experimental approach to composing.
• John Serry Sr. – The Syncopated Accordionist.

  Musical groups formed

• 76th Army Band
• 338th Army Band
• The Duke's Men of Yale

  Albums released

• Anthology of American Folk Music – Various Artists
• As You Desire Me – Jo Stafford
• Billie Holiday Sings – Billie Holiday
• Bird and Diz – Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie
• Christmas Day in the Morning – Burl Ives
• Christmas with Eddie Fisher – Eddie Fisher
• Eddie Fisher Sings – Eddie Fisher
• Favorite Spirituals – The Ames Brothers
• Harmony Encores – The Chordettes
• Home on the Range – The Ames Brothers
• Johnnie Ray – Johnnie Ray
• I'm in the Mood for Love – Eddie Fisher
• Mr. Rhythm Sings – Frankie Laine
• Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington – Oscar Peterson
• Penthouse Serenade – Nat King Cole
• Song Favorites By Frankie Laine – Frankie Laine

  US No. 1 hit singles

Biggest hit singles

Top hits on record

Published popular music

• "Blue Tango" w. Mitchell Parish m. Leroy Anderson
• "Comes A-Long A-Love" w.m. Al Sherman
• "Delicado" w. Jack Lawrence m. Waldyr Azevedo
• " That Doggie in the Window?" w.m. Bob Merrill
• "Don't Laugh at Me " w.m. Norman Wisdom & June Tremayne
• "Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" w.m. Barbara Trammel, Cactus Pryor & Slim Whitman
• "Faith Can Move Mountains" w. Ben Raleigh m. Guy Wood
• "Feet Up" w.m. Bob Merrill
• "A Fool Such As I" w.m. Bill Trader
• "Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now" w.m. Milton Kellem
• "A Guy Is A Guy" w.m. Oscar Brand
• "Hambone" w.m. Leon Washington & Red Saunders
• " He Treats Your Daughter Mean" w.m. Charles Singleton & J. H. Wallace
• "Here in My Heart" w.m. Pat Genaro, Lou Levinson & Bill Borrelli
• "High Noon" w. Ned Washington m. Dimitri Tiomkin
• "Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" w. Helen Deutsch m. Bronislau Kaper
• "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" w.m. Harry Noble
• "Hound Dog" w.m. Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller
• "I Know a Place" w. Sammy Cahn m. Vernon Duke Introduced by Doris Day & Ray Bolger in the film April in Paris
• "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" w.m. Tommie Connor
• "I Went To Your Wedding" w.m. Jessie Mae Robinson
• "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive" w.m. Hank Williams & Fred Rose
• "I'm Hans Christian Andersen" w.m. Frank Loesser
• "Inchworm" w.m. Frank Loesser
• "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" w.m. J. D. Miller
• "It's In The Book" w.m. Johnny Standley & Art Thorsen
• "Jambalaya" w.m. Hank Williams
• "Kaw-Liga" w.m. Hank Williams & Fred Rose
• "Keep It A Secret" w.m. Jessie Mae Robinson
• "The King's New Clothes" w.m. Frank Loesser
• "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" w.m. Lloyd Price
• "Lean Baby" w. Roy Alfred m. Billy May
• "Lullaby of Birdland" w. B. Y. Forster m. George Shearing
• "Luna Rossa" w. Kermit Goell V. de Crescenzo m. A. Vian
• "Mister Taptoe" w.m. Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr & Frank Miller
• "Never Smile at a Crocodile" F. Churchill, J. Lawrence
• "Oh Happy Day" w.m. Donald Howard Koplow & Nancy Binns Reed
• "The Ol' Spring Fever" w. Leo Robin m. Harry Warren from the film Just For You
• "One Mint Julep" w.m. Rudy Toombs
• "Outside of Heaven" w. Sammy Gallop m. Chester Conn
• "Petite Fleur" m. Sidney Bechet
• "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" w.m. Bob Merrill
• "Pretend" w.m. Lew Douglas, Cliff Parman & Frank Levere
• "Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susie" Kay Twomey, Fred Wise & Ben Weisman
• "Raminay " w.m. J. Lawrence, Sammy Fain
• "She Wears Red Feathers" w.m. Bob Merrill
• "Sugar Bush" w.m. Josef Marais
• "Take These Chains from My Heart" w.m. Fred Rose & Hy Heath
• "Takes Two to Tango" w.m. Al Hoffman & Dick Manning
• "That's All" w. Alan Brandt m. Bob Haymes
• "That's Entertainment!" w. Howard Dietz m. Arthur Schwartz
• "Till I Waltz Again With You" w.m. Sidney Prosen
• "The Ugly Duckling" w.m. Frank Loesser
• "To Know You " w. Allan Roberts m. Robert Allen
• "Walkin' To Missouri" w.m. Bob Merrill
• "Wheel Of Fortune" w.m. Bennie Benjamin & George David Weiss
• "When I Fall in Love" w. Edward Heyman m. Victor Young
• "Why Don't You Believe Me?" w.m. Lew Douglas, King Laney & Roy Rodde
• "Wish You Were Here" w.m. Harold Rome
• "You Belong to Me" w.m. Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart & Chilton Price
• "Your Cheatin' Heart" w.m. Hank Williams
• "Zing A Little Zong" w. Leo Robin m. Harry Warren

  Top R&B and country hits on record

• "5-10-15 Hours" – Ruth Brown
• "Daddy Daddy" – Ruth Brown
• "Hound Dog" – Big Mama Thornton
• "Jambalaya " – Hank Williams
• "Juke" – Little Walter
• "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" – Lloyd Price
• "Midnight Special" – The Weavers
• "Night Train" – Jimmy Forrest
• "Wimoweh" – The Weavers
• "Worry, Worry, Worry" – Joe Houston
• "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" – Kitty Wells

  Classical music

Premieres

• ¹ The ensemble Bruno Maderna conducted comprised both faculty and students of the Ferienkurse and members of the Landestheater Orchestra Darmstadt.
• ² Only the first half of Spiel was performed at Donaueschingen in 1952. The complete score was only first performed in a radio recording made in July 1973 with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden, conducted by the composer. The first public performance of the complete composition was given by the Berlin Philharmonic on 14 September 1975, also under the composer's baton.

  Compositions

• Jean Barraqué
• *Piano Sonata
• Benjamin Britten – Canticle II: Abraham and Isaac, Op. 51
• John Cage
• *4′33″
• Carlos Chávez
• *Sinfonía romántica
• George Crumb
• *String Trio
• *Three Pastoral Pieces
• Luigi Dallapiccola
• *Quaderno musicale di Annalibera, solo piano
• Alberto Ginastera
• *Piano Sonata No. 1
• Carlos Guastavino
• *Suite argentina, ballet
• Dmitry Kabalevsky
• *Piano Concerto No. 3
• Wojciech Kilar
• *Conjured for baritone and seven instruments
• *Quintet for woodwind instruments
• *Suite No. 2 for piano
• *Sonata No. 1 for piano
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold
• *Symphony
• Otto Luening
• *Fantasy in Space for flute and tape
• *Invention in Twelve Notes for flute and tape
• *Low Speed for flute and tape
• Frank Martin
• *Harpsichord Concerto
• Bohuslav Martinů
• *Rhapsody-Concerto for Viola and Orchestra
• Olivier Messiaen
• *Le Merle noir
• Wilhelm Peterson-Berger
• *Canzone for Violin and Piano
• Prokofiev, Sergei
• *Symphony No. 7
• Joaquín Rodrigo
• *Concierto Serenata for Harp and Orchestra
• Edmund Rubbra
• *Viola Concerto
• Dmitri Shostakovich
• *String Quartet No. 5
• Karlheinz Stockhausen
• *Klavierstücke I–IV
• *Punkte
• *Schlagquartett
• *Spiel
• Igor Stravinsky
• *Cantata
• Vaughan Williams, Ralph
• *Sinfonia antartica
• Heitor Villa-Lobos
• * Piano Concerto No. 4
• * Symphony No. 9

  Opera

• Franco Alfano – Sakùntala
• Leonard Bernstein – Trouble in Tahiti
• Raymond Chevreuille – Atta Troll
• Mozart Camargo Guarnieri – Pedro Malazarte

  [Jazz]

[Musical theatre]

• Bet Your Life London production opened at the Hippodrome on February 18 and ran for 362 performances
• Curtain Going Up Broadway production
• The Globe Revue London revue opened on July 10 at the Globe Theatre
• Love From Judy London production opened at the Saville Theatre on September 25 and ran for 594 performances
• New Faces of 1952 Broadway production
• Pal Joey – Broadway revival of original 1940 production
• Ring Out the Bells London revue opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre on November 12
• Three Wishes for Jamie Broadway production opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on March 21 and moved to the Plymouth Theatre on May 27 for a total run of 92 performances
• Two's Company Broadway production
• Wish You Were Here Broadway production

  [Musical film]s

• Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick starring Alan Young, Dinah Shore, Robert Merrill and Adele Jergens. Directed by Claude Binyon.
• Affair in Trinidad starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford
• April in Paris starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger
• Because You're Mine starring Mario Lanza and Doretta Morrow
• Bloodhounds of Broadway starring Mitzi Gaynor, Scott Brady and Mitzi Green
• Everything I Have Is Yours starring Marge Champion, Gower Champion and Monica Lewis
• Hans Christian Andersen starring Danny Kaye and Jane Wyman
• Just for You starring Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman
• The Las Vegas Story starring Jane Russell, Victor Mature and Hoagy Carmichael
• Lovely to Look At starring Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Marge Champion, Gower Champion and Ann Miller
• Meet Danny Wilson starring Frank Sinatra and Shelley Winters
• The Merry Widow starring Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas and Una Merkel
• Road to Bali starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour
• She's Working Her Way Through College starring Virginia Mayo and Ronald Reagan
• Singin' in the Rain starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds
• Skirts Ahoy! starring Esther Williams, Joan Evans, Vivian Blaine and Keefe Brasselle, and featuring Billy Eckstine, The DeMarco Sisters, Debbie Reynolds and Bobby Van.
• Son of Paleface starring Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Roy Rogers and Trigger
• Where's Charley? starring Ray Bolger and Allyn Ann McLerie
• With A Song In My Heart starring Susan Hayward and Rory Calhoun

  Births

• January 2 – Graeme Strachan, Australian singer-songwriter
• January 15 – Melvyn Gale, cellist
• January 17 – Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician and composer
• January 20
• *Ian Hill, heavy metal bass guitarist
• *Paul Stanley, rock guitarist and singer
• January 21 – Cyril and Libbye Hellier, American operatic sopranos
• January 22 – Teddy Gentry
• January 25 – Timothy White, American rock journalist
• January 29 – Tommy Ramone
• January 30 – Steve Bartek
• February 4 – Jerry Shirley
• February 12 – Michael McDonald
• February 16 – James Ingram, American R&B singer, songwriter and producer
• February 13 – Edward John Gagliardi
• February 18 – Juice Newton, pop and country singer, songwriter and guitarist
• February 20
• *Halvor Haug, Norwegian composer
• *Matti Rantanen, Finnish accordionist
• February 21 – Jean-Jacques Burnel
• February 23 – Brad Whitford
• March 11 – Vince Giordano, bass saxophonist and band leader for the Nighthawks Orchestra
• March 13 – Wolfgang Rihm, composer
• March 15 – Howard Devoto, punk rock singer-songwriter
• March 22 – Jay Dee Daugherty
• April 2 – Leon Wilkeson
• April 4 – Gary Moore, blues guitarist and singer
• April 13 – Rosa Passos, Brazilian Bossa Nova singer
• April 17 – Jerry Knight, vocalist, bassist, songwriter and producer
• May 11 – Renaud, composer
• May 14 – David Byrne, singer-songwriter
• May 18 – George Strait, country singer, actor and music producer
• May 19 – Barbara Joyce Lomas
• May 23 – Dillie Keane, cabaret performer
• May 30 – Zoltan Kocsis, composer and pianist
• June 5 – Nicko McBrain
• June 7 – Royce Campbell, American guitarist, composer and producer
• June 11 – Donnie Van Zant rock guitarist and vocalist
• June 12
• *Junior Brown, country guitarist and singer
• *Oliver Knussen, composer
• June 16 – Gino Vannelli, Canadian singer, songwriter, musician and composer
• June 25 – Tim Finn, New Zealand singer-songwriter
• July 1
• *Dan Aykroyd, actor
• *Timothy J. Tobias, American pianist and composer
• July 2 – Johnny Colla
• July 3 – Laura Branigan American singer and actress
• July 12 – Philip Taylor Kramer, American bass player
• July 14 – Bob Casale, American guitarist, keyboard player and producer
• July 15 – David Pack, frontman, vocalist and guitarist with rock group Ambrosia
• July 16 – Stewart Copeland, drummer
• July 17
• *Nicolette Larson, singer
• *Phoebe Snow, singer-songwriter
• July 19 – Allen Collins, American guitarist and songwriter
• July 22
• *John Rutsey, Canadian drummer
• *Janis Siegel, American singer
• July 28 – Glenn A. Baker, Australian music journalist
• July 31 – Reinhard Goebel, German early music conductor and violinist
• August 4 – Moya Brennan, Irish folk harpist and singer
• August 6 – Pat MacDonald, American new wave musician
• August 16 – Gianna Rolandi, American soprano
• August 20 – John Hiatt, guitarist, pianist and singer
• August 21 – Joe Strummer, singer and songwriter
• August 26 – Billy Rush, Asbury Jukes
• August 27 – Laurie Wisefield, guitarist for Wishbone Ash
• September 4 – Martin Chambers, The Pretenders
• September 9 – Dave Stewart, English musician, songwriter and record producer, Eurythmics
• September 12
• *Gerry Beckley, rock singer-songwriter
• *Neil Peart, rock drummer & songwriter
• September 13 – Randy Jones, singer
• September 18 – Dee Dee Ramone, bassist
• September 19 – Nile Rodgers, American record producer, songwriter, musician, composer, arranger and guitarist
• September 22 – Oliver Mtukudzi, Zimbabwean Afro jazz singer-guitarist
• September 30 – John Lombardo, American musician
• October 21 – Miroslav Žbirka, Slovak singer-songwriter
• November 2
• *Maxine Nightingale, singer
• *Alan Winstanley, producer
• November 11 – Paul Cowsill
• November 14 – Johnny A., guitarist and songwriter
• November 20 – Semyon Bychkov, conductor
• November 27 – Bappi Lahiri, Indian film composer
• December 3 – Don Barnes
• December 23 – Hans Abrahamsen, Danish composer
• December 27 – David Knopfler

  Deaths

• January 9 – Midge Williams, singer
• January 14 – Artur Kapp, Estonian composer
• January 16 – René Voisin, trumpeter
• January 20 – Arthur Farwell, composer and conductor
• February 13 – Alfred Einstein, musicologist
• March 17 – Percy Wenrich, ragtime composer
• March 22 – Uncle Dave Macon, musician
• April 23 – Elisabeth Schumann, operatic soprano
• May 23 – Georg Schumann, German composer
• May 15 – Italo Montemezzi, composer
• June 9 – Adolf Busch, violinist and composer
• June 13 – Emma Eames, operatic soprano
• June 14 – John Kirby, jazz musician
• June 25 – Luke Jordan, blues musician
• July 2 – Henriëtte Hilda Bosmans, Dutch composer and pianist
• July 10 – Rued Langgaard, Danish composer and organist
• September 6 – Gertrude Lawrence, English actress, singer, dancer
• September 16 – Vesta Tilley, music hall entertainer
• September 18 – Frances Alda, operatic soprano
• September 19 – Nat Ayer, composer
• October 25 – Sergei Bortkiewicz, pianist and composer
• October 26 – Hattie McDaniel
• November 1 – Dixie Lee, singer, dancer and actress, wife of Bing Crosby
• November 4 – Max Adler, violinist
• November 17 – Charles Penrose, music hall performer
• December 25 – Bernardino Molinari, arranger and conductor
• December 26 – Paul Breisach, conductor
• December 28 – Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician
• December 30
• *Willie Brown, blues musician
• *Nakayama Shimpei, songwriter
• date unknown
• *Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller, singer
• *Georgette Harvey, actress and singer