2001 in British music

Events

• 13 February – Peter Frampton receives the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award.
• 17 February – Manic Street Preachers become the first western rock band to play in Cuba. They did not tour, meaning that an unsigned British rock band, Sandstone Veterans, remain the only band from the western world to tour Cuba.
• 8 March – Melanie Chisholm announces she does not intend to do any more work with the Spice Girls. Although the group denies it is splitting, it would not be active again until 2007.
• 26 March – Damon Albarn's project Gorillaz releases a first studio album Gorillaz, which would sell over seven million copies worldwide by 2007, earning them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band.
• 28 March - Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2 replaces Max Bruch's violin concerto at #1 in the Classic FM Hall of Fame.
• 4 April – Original Zombies lead singer Colin Blunstone and keyboardist Rod Argent reunite for a two-part performance at London's Jazz Cafe, the first time the two had performed together in over 30 years.
• 16 June – Romanian tenor Marius Brenciu becomes the first performer to win both the main prize and the song prize in the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.
• 2 July – Liverpool Airport is rechristened Liverpool John Lennon Airport in an official ceremony.
• 21 September - Welsh band Catatonia split up amicably, and after Cerys Matthews' treatment in rehab for alcohol and smoking problems.
• 1 November - The governing body of the UK Singles Chart, Chart Information Network Ltd., changes its name to The Official UK Charts Company.

  Classical music

Summary

Works

• Robat Arwyn – Atgof o'r Sêr
• Peter Maxwell Davies - Symphony No. 8
• Howard Goodall – In Memoriam Anne Frank
• Christopher Gunning - Piano Concerto
• John McCabe - Woman by the Sea
• Stuart Mitchell – Seven Wonders Suite for Choir & Orchestra
• Hilary Tann – The Grey Tide and the Green

  Opera

• Julian Wagstaff - John Paul Jones

  Albums

• Karl Jenkins -
• Julian Lloyd Webber - Celebration
• Russell Watson - The Voice

  Musical films

• Strictly Sinatra, directed by Peter Capaldi, starring Ian Hart

  Film scores and incidental music

• John Barry - Enigma
• Patrick Doyle
• *Bridget Jones's Diary
• *Gosford Park
• John Powell
• *Evolution
• *Rat Race
• *I Am Sam
• Stephen Warbeck
• *Captain Corelli's Mandolin
• *Charlotte Gray''

  Music awards

BRIT Awards

• Best soundtrack: "American Beauty"
• British album: Coldplay – "Parachutes"
• British breakthrough act: a1
• British dance act: Fatboy Slim
• British female solo artist: Sonique
• British group: Coldplay
• British male solo artist: Robbie Williams
• British single: Robbie Williams – "Rock DJ"
• British video: Robbie Williams – "Rock DJ"
• International breakthrough act: Kelis
• International female: Madonna
• International group: U2
• International male: Eminem
• Outstanding contribution: U2
• Pop act: Westlife

  Mercury Music Prize

Record of the Year

Deaths

• 4 January - Lawrence Leonard, cellist, conductor and composer, 77
• 21 February - Ronnie Hilton, singer, 75
• 9 April - Ken Rattenbury, jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer, 80
• 11 April - Sir Harry Secombe, entertainer, 79
• 29 April - Rita Hunter, operatic soprano, 67
• 6 May - Mike Hazlewood, singer, composer and songwriter, 59
• 21 May - Tony Ashton, keyboardist, singer and composer, 55
• 25 May - Delme Bryn-Jones, operatic baritone, 67
• 12 June - Thomas Wilson, composer, 83
• 3 July - Delia Derbyshire, electronic musician and composer, 64
• 12 July – James Bernard, film composer, 75
• 22 July - Emmanuel Fisher, conductor and composer, 79
• 16 November - Rosemary Brown, composer, pianist and spiritualist, 85
• 28 November - Norman Lumsden, opera singer and actor, 95
• 29 November - George Harrison, singer, musician, music and film producer, 58
• 16 December – Stuart Adamson, guitarist with Big Country, 43