1979 in British music

This is a summary of 1979 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year. 1979 saw the beginning of a few trends in British music. The start of the New Romantic movement and synthesiser bands began to gather momentum (although both these trends had to wait for the eighties for real growth) and the first rap hit in the UK for the Sugar Hill Gang. The 2 Tone movement also emerged with early work from bands like The Specials and Madness.

Siouxsie & the Banshees members Morris and McKay quit the band, and were replaced on tour with Robert Smith of The Cure, who were supporting the Banshees on their tour, and also by Budgie (who Siouxsie would later marry... and divorce).

1979

# Village People - "Y.M.C.A."
#:January 6 for 3 weeks
# Ian Dury & The Blockheads - "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"
#:January 27 for 1 week
# Blondie - "Heart of Glass"
#:February 3 for 4 weeks
# Bee Gees - "Tragedy"
#:March 3 for 2 weeks
# Gloria Gaynor - "I Will Survive"
#:March 17 for 4 weeks
# Art Garfunkel - "Bright Eyes"
#:April 14 for 6 weeks
# Blondie (band)|Blondie - "Sunday Girl"
#:May 26 for 3 weeks
# Anita Ward - "Ring My Bell"
#:June 16 for 2 weeks
# Tubeway Army (Gary Numan) - "Are 'Friends' Electric"
#:June 30 for 4 weeks
# Boomtown Rats - "I Don't Like Mondays"
#:July 28 for 4 weeks
# Cliff Richard - "We Don't Talk Anymore"
#:August 25 for 4 weeks
# Gary Numan - "Cars"
#:September 22 for 1 week
# Police - "Message In A Bottle"
#:September 29 for 3 weeks
# Buggles - "Video Killed The Radio Star"
#:October 20 for 1 week
# Lena Martell - "One Day At A Time"
#:October 27 for 3 weeks
# Dr Hook - "When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman"
#:November 17 for 3 week
# The Police|Police - "Walking on the Moon"
#:December 8 for 1 week
# Pink Floyd - "Another Brick in the Wall, Part II"
#:December 15 for 5 weeks

Classical music

Events

*

Opera

*Peter Maxwell Davies - "The Lighthouse"

Musical theatre

*Andrew Lloyd Webber - "Tell Me on a Sunday"

Births

*March 8 - Tom Chaplin, singer (Keane)
*March 12 - Pete Doherty, singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Babyshambles)
*April 10 - Sophie Ellis-Bextor, singer
*April 29 - Jo O'Meara, S Club 7
*August 20 - Jamie Cullum, jazz pianist and singer

Deaths

*February 2 - Sid Vicious, punk rocker, 21 (drug overdose)
*July 16 - Alfred Deller, countertenor, 67
*August 25 - Stan Kenton, bandleader
*September 6 - Guy Bolton, librettist
*September 27 - Gracie Fields, actress and singer, 81
*October 13 - Rebecca Helferich Clarke, viola player and composer, 93
*November 30 - Joyce Grenfell, actress and musical performer
*"date unknown" - Nansi Richards, harpist, 91