1957 in British music explained

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

Events

• 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

• See UK No.1 Hits of 1957

Classical music: new works

• 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

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

Film and Incidental music

• 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

• 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

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

Births

• 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

• 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

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

References

1. Kendall, Alan. The Chronicle of Classical Music. Thames & Hudson, 2000: p. 242
2. Book: Spitz, Bob. Bob Spitz

   . Bob Spitz. 2005. . Little Brown & Company. 978-0-316-80352-6. 65.

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. Book: John Parker. Who's who in the Theatre. 1967. Pitman.
5. Book: THE SCOTS MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 1982. 1982.
6. Book: Oscar Thompson. Nicolas Slonimsky. The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians. 1958. Dodd, Mead.
7. Book: The Strad: A Monthly Journal for Professionals and Amateurs of All Stringed Instruments Played with the Bow. 1985. Lavendar Publications.