1973 in British music explained

This is a summary of 1973 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year.

Events

4 January – At the short-lived Winter Proms season, the Berlin Philharmonic makes its Proms debut with performances of Beethoven’s Fourth and Fifth Symphonies conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
9 January – Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug conviction, putting an end to The Rolling Stones' plans to perform in Japan during their forthcoming tour.
18 January – The Rolling Stones' benefit concert for Nicaraguan earthquake victims raises over $350,000
14 February – David Bowie collapses from exhaustion after a performance at New York's Madison Square Garden.
1 March – Pink Floyd releases The Dark Side of the Moon, which goes on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.
8 March – Paul McCartney is fined $240 after pleading guilty to charges of growing marijuana outside his Scottish farm.
14 March – The singers Stephen Stills and Véronique Sanson are married near Guildford, England.
7 April – Cliff Richard takes part in the 18th Eurovision Song Contest. He finishes in 3rd place with the song "Power to All Our Friends".
4 May – 29 July – Led Zeppelin embarks on a tour of the United States, during which they set the record for highest attendance for a concert, 56,800, at the Tampa Stadium in Tampa, Florida. The record was previously held by The Beatles. Performances for the movie The Song Remains the Same are also filmed.
12 May – David Bowie is the first rock artist to perform at Earls Court Exhibition Centre.
25 May – Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells becomes the first release on Richard Branson's newly launched Virgin label.
May – Benjamin Britten has surgery to replace a failing heart valve.^[1]
4 June – Ronnie Lane plays his last show with Faces at the Edmonton Sundown in London. Lane had informed the band three weeks earlier that he was quitting.
16 June – Benjamin Britten's opera Death in Venice, receives its première at Snape Maltings.
30 June – Ian Gillan quits Deep Purple.
3 July – David Bowie 'retires' his stage persona Ziggy Stardust in front of a shocked audience at the Hammersmith Odeon at the end of his British tour.
4 July – Slade drummer Don Powell is critically injured in a car crash in Wolverhampton; his 20-year-old girlfriend is killed.
13 July – Queen release their debut album.
15 July – Ray Davies of The Kinks makes an emotional outburst during a performance at White City Stadium, announcing he is quitting the group. He later withdraws the statement.
20 August – The London Symphony Orchestra becomes the first British orchestra to take part in the Salzburg Festival.
20 October – Queen Elizabeth II opens Sydney Opera House.
November – Karl Jenkins is among the participants in a live-in-the-studio performance of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells for the BBC.^[2]
20 November – The Who open their Quadrophenia US tour with a concert at San Francisco's Cow Palace, but drummer Keith Moon passes out and has to be carried off the stage. Nineteen-year-old fan Scot Halpin is selected from the audience to finish the show; Halpin would later be awarded Rolling Stone magazine's "Pick-Up Player of the Year Award" for his historic performance.^[3]
date unknown
- The Royal Northern College of Music is established by the merger of the Northern School of Music (established 1920) and the Royal Manchester College of Music (established 1893)
- The Taverner Consort and Players are founded by Andrew Parrott.^[4]

Number-one records

Singles

Date^[5]	Single	Artist
6 January	"Long Haired Lover from Liverpool"	Little Jimmy Osmond
13 January
20 January
27 January	"Block Buster!"	Sweet
3 February
10 February
17 February
24 February
3 March	"Cum On Feel the Noize"	Slade
10 March
17 March
24 March
31 March	"The Twelfth of Never"	Donny Osmond
7 April	"Get Down"	Gilbert O'Sullivan
14 April
21 April	"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree"	Dawn
28 April
5 May
12 May
19 May	"See My Baby Jive"	Wizzard
26 May
2 June
9 June
16 June	"Can the Can"	Suzi Quatro
23 June	"Rubber Bullets"	10cc
30 June	"Skweeze Me Pleeze Me"	Slade
7 July
14 July
21 July	"Welcome Home"	Peters and Lee
28 July	"I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)"	Gary Glitter
4 August
11 August
18 August
25 August	"Young Love" / "A Million to One"	Donny Osmond
1 September
8 September
15 September
22 September	"Angel Fingers"	Wizzard
29 September	"Eye Level"	Simon Park Orchestra
6 October
13 October
20 October
27 October	"Daydreamer" / "The Puppy Song	David Cassidy
3 November
10 November
17 November	"I Love You Love Me Love"	Gary Glitter
24 November
1 December
8 December
15 December	"Merry Xmas Everybody"	Slade
22 December
29 December

^[6]

Albums

Date^[7]	Album	Artist
6 January	20 All Time Hits of the 50s	Various Artists
13 January	Slayed?	Slade
20 January	Back to Front	Gilbert O'Sullivan
27 January	Slayed?	Slade
3 February
10 February	Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player	Elton John
17 February
24 February
3 March
10 March
17 March
24 March	Billion Dollar Babies	Alice Cooper
31 March	20 Flashback Greats of the Sixties	Various Artists
7 April
14 April	Houses of the Holy	Led Zeppelin
21 April
28 April	Ooh La La	The Faces
5 May	Aladdin Sane	David Bowie
12 May
19 May
26 May
2 June
9 June	Pure Gold	Various Artists
16 June
23 June
30 June	That'll Be the Day	Soundtrack
7 July
14 July
21 July
28 July
4 August
11 August
18 August	We Can Make It	Peters and Lee
25 August
1 September	Sing It Again Rod	Rod Stewart
8 September
15 September
22 September	Goat's Head Soup	The Rolling Stones
29 September
6 October	Sladest	Slade
13 October
20 October
27 October	Hello!	Status Quo
3 November	Pin Ups	David Bowie
10 November
17 November
24 November
1 December
8 December	Stranded	Roxy Music
15 December	Dreams Are Nuthin' More Than Wishes	David Cassidy
22 December	Goodbye Yellow Brick Road	Elton John
29 December

^[8]

Year-end charts

Between 2 January and 6 December 1973.

Best-selling singles

^[9]

scope=col		scope=col	Title	scope=col	Artist	scope=col	Peak position
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	Top	"Merry Xmas Everybody"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1	"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree"	Dawn featuring Tony Orlando	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2	"Eye Level"	Simon Park Orchestra	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	3	"Welcome Home"	Peters and Lee	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	4	"Block Buster!"	Sweet	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	5	"Cum On Feel the Noize"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	6	"See My Baby Jive"	Wizzard	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	7	"I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	8	"I Love You Love Me Love"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	9	"The Twelfth of Never"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	10	"Spanish Eyes"		5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	11	"Daydreamer"/"The Puppy Song"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	12	"Long Haired Lover from Liverpool"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	13	"Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me"	Slade	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	14	"And I Love You So"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	15	"Hello, Hello, I'm Back Again"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	16	"Get Down"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	17	"The Ballroom Blitz"	Sweet	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	18	"Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah!)"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	19	"Young Love"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	20	"Rubber Bullets"	10cc	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	21	"Monster Mash"	and the Crypt Kickers	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	22	"For the Good Times"		7
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	23	"Dancin' (On a Saturday Night)"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	24	"Part of the Union"	Strawbs	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	25	"Angel Fingers (A Teen Ballad)"	Wizzard	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	26	"Life on Mars?"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	27	"Hell Raiser"	Sweet	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	28	"Yesterday Once More"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	29	"Can the Can"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	30	"My Friend Stan"	Slade	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	31	"You're So Vain"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	32	"Albatross"	Fleetwood Mac	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	33	"Rock On"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	34	"Nutbush City Limits"		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	35	"Alright, Alright, Alright"	Mungo Jerry	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	36	"Sorrow"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	37	"One and One Is One"	Medicine Head	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	38	"You Can Do Magic"	Limmie & the Family Cooking	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	39	"Let Me In"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	40	"The Jean Genie"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	41	"Caroline"	Status Quo	5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	42	"The Laughing Gnome"		6
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	43	"Feel the Need in Me"		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	44	"My Coo Ca Choo"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	45	"Power to All Our Friends"		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	46	"Never Never Never (Grande Grande Grande)"		8
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	47	"20th Century Boy"	T. Rex	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	48	"Snoopy vs. the Red Baron"		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	49	"I Am a Clown"/"Some Kind of Summer"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	50	"Paper Roses"		2

Notes:

Best-selling albums

The list of the top fifty best-selling albums of 1973 were published in Record Mirror at the end of the year, and later reproduced in the first edition of the BPI Year Book in 1976. However, in 2007 the Official Charts Company published album chart histories for each year from 1956 to 1977, researched by historian Sharon Mawer, and included an updated list of the top ten best-selling albums for each year based on the new research. The updated top ten for 1973 is shown in the table below.^[10] The most significant changes from the original BMRB chart were that the album previously thought to be the year's best-seller, the soundtrack to the film That'll Be the Day, fell to tenth position, and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Playerby Elton John moved up from number four to become the new best-selling album of 1973.

scope=col		scope=col	Title	scope=col	Artist	scope=col	Peak position
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1	Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2	Aladdin Sane		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	3	Greatest Hits	Simon & Garfunkel	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	4	The Dark Side of the Moon	Pink Floyd	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	5	We Can Make It	Peters and Lee	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	6	1967–1970		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	7	1962–1966		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	8	And I Love You So		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	9	Back to Front		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	10	That'll Be the Day	Original Soundtrack	1

Notes:

Classical music: new works

Malcolm Arnold – Symphony No. 7
Jeffrey Lewis – Aurora
William Mathias – Missa Brevis
Nicholas Maw – Life Studies
Patric Standford – Christus Requiem
Michael Tippett – Piano Sonata No. 3^[11]
Grace Williams – Ave Maris Stella

Opera

Benjamin Britten – Death in Venice

Film and incidental music

John Barry – A Doll's House, starring Claire Bloom, Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Richardson and Denholm Elliott.
Richard Rodney Bennett – Lady Caroline Lamb directed by Robert Bolt, starring Sarah Miles.
Albert Elms – Love Thy Neighbour.
Paul Ferris – The Creeping Flesh directed by Freddie Francis, starring Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

Musical theatre

13 May – Cyrano, with book and lyrics by Anthony Burgess and music by Michael J. Lewis, opens at the Palace Theatre, London, starring Christopher Plummer; it runs for 49 performances.

Musical films

Jesus Christ Superstar, a film adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera, directed by Norman Jewison

Births

11 January – Tom Gladwin, bassist (Shed Seven)
25 January – Chris Wilkie, guitarist (Dubstar)
3 March – Matthew Marsden, actor and singer
13 March – Eloy de Jong, Dutch-born singer (Caught in the Act)
22 March – Beverley Knight, soul singer
- - 14 May Sinéad O'Carroll, Irish singer (B*Witched)
- Natalie Appleton, Canadian-born singer (All Saints)
21 May – Noel Fielding, comedian and musician
23 May – Nikki Yeoh, jazz pianist
29 May – Tansy Davies, composer
6 July – Paul Banks, guitarist (Shed Seven)
16 July – Schelim Hannan, singer (Worlds Apart)
19 July – Martin Powell, keyboard player and songwriter (Cradle of Filth, My Dying Bride, Cryptal Darkness, and Anathema)
22 July – Daniel Jones, English-Australian guitarist, songwriter, and producer
23 July – Fran Healy, singer-songwriter (Travis)
6 August – Donna Lewis, singer
10 August – Jon O'Mahony, drummer (Ultra)
21 August – Ally Begg, singer (Bad Boys Inc)
30 August – Leon Caffrey, drummer (Space)
17 September – Amy Black, operatic mezzo-soprano (died 2009)
27 September – Lee Brennan, singer (911)
29 September – Alfie Boe, operatic tenor
9 October – Cal Cooper, singer (Worlds Apart)
10 October – Scott Morriss, bassist (The Bluetones)
10 November – Jacqui Abbott, vocalist (The Beautiful South)
4 December – Naima Belkhiati, singer (Honeyz)
date unknown – Andrew March, composer

Deaths

3 February – Edward Lockspeiser, musicologist, composer and radio broadcaster, 67
26 March – Noël Coward, composer and dramatist, 73
18 April – Ronald Center, composer, 60
24 May – Sid Phillips, jazz clarinetist, bandleader, and arranger, 65
8 June – Tubby Hayes, jazz musician, 38 (during heart surgery)^[12]
9 August – Donald Peers, singer, 66
16 August – Astra Desmond, contralto, 80
6 September – Sir William Henry Harris, composer, 90
22 October – David Franklin, opera singer and broadcaster, 65
27 October – Norman Allin, operatic bass, 88
26 November – John Rostill, bassist and composer, 31 (electrocuted by faulty guitar equipment)^[13]
6 December – Frederic Curzon, composer and conductor, 74
17 December – Patrick Hadley, composer, 74
date unknown – Harry Dexter, music critic and composer of light music, 63

Notes and References

Brett, Philip, et al. "Britten, Benjamin", Grove Music Online, Oxford Music Online, Oxford University Press, accessed 12 May 2013
Web site: SECOND HOUSE: TUBULAR BELLS – MIKE OLDFIELD. Memorable TV. 2011-04-24.
Web site: Private Memorial . Making Everlasting Memories, worldwide memorialization, establish a living family history . Mem.com . 2013-08-14.
http://www.taverner.org/ Taverner Consort official website
http://www.officialcharts.com/all-the-number-ones-singles-list/_/1970 Official Charts Company - Number One singles(Link redirected to OCC website)
http://www.officialcharts.com/all-the-number-ones-singles-list/_/1970 Official Charts Company Number One singles(Link redirected to OCC website)
http://www.officialcharts.com/all-the-number-one-albums-list/_/1970 Official Charts Company - Number One albums (link redirected to OCC website)
http://www.officialcharts.com/all-the-number-one-albums-list/_/1970 Official Charts Company - Number One Albums(Link redirected to OCC website)
Top Selling Singles for 1973 . . Spotlight Publications . London, England . 4 . 5 January 1974.
Web site: Sharon . Mawer . Album Chart History: 1973 . . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071217020432/http://www.theofficialcharts.com/album_chart_history_1973.php . 17 December 2007.
Book: Tippett, Michael . Bowen . Meirion. Tippett on Music. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 1995. 0-19-816542-0. p 122
GRO Register of Deaths: JUN 1973 5b 1627 HAMMERSMITH, DoB = 30 Jan 1935
Book: Tobler , John . 1992. NME Rock 'N' Roll Years. 1st. Reed International Books Ltd. London. 256. CN 5585.