This is a summary of1959 in music in theUnited Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

• January –Ealing Jazz Club opens in London.
• 21 April – BallerinaMargot Fonteyn is jailed for 24 hours inPanama on suspicion of involvement in planning a coup against the government of presidentErnesto de la Guardia.^[1]
• 1 June – The first edition ofJuke Box Jury, presented byDavid Jacobs, is broadcast onBBC television. The first panel consists ofPete Murray,Alma Cogan,Gary Miller andSusan Stranks.
• 10 June – On the opening day of a 'Pageant of Magna Carta',Benjamin Britten'sFanfare for St Edmundsbury is given its first performance in the precincts ofSt Edmundsbury Cathedral in Bury St Edmunds.^[2]
• 30 October –Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club opens in theSoho district of London.
• Bert Weedon becomes the first British guitarist in theUK Singles Chart with his solo "Guitar Boogie Shuffle".^[3]

• SeeList of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1950s

• William Alwyn – Symphony No. 4^[4]
• Malcolm Arnold –Sweeney Todd (ballet)^[5]
• Arthur Bliss –Birthday Song for a Royal Child (composed to celebrate the birth ofPrince Andrew^[6]
• Benjamin Britten –Missa Brevis
• Iain Hamilton – Sinfonia, for two orchestras^[7]
• Francis Jackson –Diversion for Mixtures
• Elizabeth Maconchy – "A Hymn to God the Father", for tenor and piano
• Thea Musgrave –Scottish Dance Suite, for orchestra
• Grace Williams –All Seasons Shall Be Sweet

• William Alwyn –Killers of Kilimanjaro, starringAnthony Newley
• Richard Rodney Bennett –The Man Who Could Cheat Death directed byTerence Fisher, starringAnton Diffring.
• James Bernard –The Hound of the Baskervilles directed byTerence Fisher, starringPeter Cushing.
• Stanley Black –Violent Moment, starringLyndon Brook
• Laurie Johnson
  • No Trees in the Street, starringSylvia Syms
  • Tiger Bay, starringJohn Mills andHayley Mills

• Wolf Mankowitz,David Heneker andMonty Norman –Make Me an Offer^[8]
• Sandy Wilson –Pieces of Eight

• Expresso Bongo, starringLaurence Harvey andCliff Richard
• Follow a Star, starringNorman Wisdom andJune Laverick
• The Lady Is a Square, starringAnna Neagle andFrankie Vaughan
• Tommy the Toreador, starringTommy Steele

• 14 January –Chas Smash (Madness)
• 15 January –Pete Trewavas, bass player and songwriter^[9]
• 28 January –Dave Sharp (The Alarm)
• 3 February –Lol Tolhurst, drummer (The Cure,Presence,Easy Cure, andLevinhurst)
• 25 February –Mike Peters, singer/songwriter (The Alarm)
• 17 March –Mike Lindup, singer/keyboard player (Level 42)
• 10 April –Brian Setzer, singer/guitarist (The Stray Cats)
• 21 April –Robert Smith, singer (The Cure)
• 27 April –Sheena Easton, singer
• 5 May –Ian McCulloch, singer (Echo & the Bunnymen)
• 22 May –Morrissey, singer (The Smiths, solo)
• 28 May –Steve Strange, singer (died 2015)
• 29 May –Mel Gaynor, drummer (Simple Minds)
• 5 June –Robert Lloyd, English singer
• 19 June – Dennis Fuller, Jamaican-born singer (London Boys) (d. 1996)
• 24 June –Andy McCluskey (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark)
• 28 June –Clint Boon, singer and keyboard player (Inspiral Carpets andThe Clint Boon Experience)
• 30 June –Brendan Perry, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Dead Can Dance andThe Scavengers)
• 1 July – Edem Ephraim, singer (London Boys) (d. 1996)
• 9 July –Jim Kerr, singer (Simple Minds)
• 16 July –James MacMillan, composer
• 18 July –Jonathan Dove, composer
• 5 August –Pete Burns, singer (Dead or Alive) (d.2016)^[10]
• 6 August –Donna Lewis, singer
• 29 August –Eddi Reader, singer
• 24 September –Drummie Zeb, singer (Aswad) (d. 2022)
• 4 October –Chris Lowe, keyboard player (Pet Shop Boys)
• 10 October
  • Kirsty MacColl, singer/songwriter (d. 2000)
  • Steve Martland, composer, curatorFactory Classical (d. 2013)
• 7 November –Richard Barrett, composer
• 27 November –Charlie Burchill, guitarist (Simple Minds)
• 1 December –Billy Childish, artist and musician
• 30 December –Tracey Ullman, actress and singer
• date unknown
  • Paul Coletti, Scottish viola soloist and chamber musician
  • John Palmer, composer, pianist and musicologist.
  • Andi Spicer, electroacoustic composer (d.2020)

• 11 March –Haydn Wood, violinist and composer (born 1882)
• 25 March –Billy Mayerl, pianist and composer (born 1902)
• 9 June –Sonnie Hale, actor and singer (born 1902)
• 6 September –Kay Kendall, musical comedy actress (born 1926) (leukaemia)
• 11 September –Ann Drummond-Grant, operatic contralto (born 1905)
• 21 September –Agnes Nicholls, operatic soprano (born 1877)
• 28 September –Gerard Hoffnung, German-born artist, musician and humorist (born 1925) (cerebral haemorrhage)
• 19 October –Stanley Bate, pianist and composer (born 1911) (suicide)
• 26 November –Albert Ketèlbey, pianist, conductor and composer (born 1875)
• 29 December –Robin Milford, composer (born 1903)
• 30 December –G. W. Briggs, hymn-writer (born 1875)

• 1959 in British television
• 1959 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1959

• 1959 in British music
• 1959 in music
• British music by year

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata