1952 in music

Events

Pierre Schaeffer publishes his A la recherche d'une musique concrète (The Search for a Concrete Music), an explanation of his experimental approach to composing.
Joni James begins her recording career at MGM
Jo Stafford marries bandleader/arranger Paul Weston
March 21 - First reported Rock and roll riot breaks out at Alan Freed's Moondog Coronation Ball in Cleveland, Ohio. Teenage excitement is blamed for the frenzy
March 27 - Sun Records begins operations
August 29 - David Tudor gives the premiere of John Cage's 4' 33" in Woodstock, New York
September - Bill Haley and His Saddlemen change their image to become Bill Haley & His Comets
October 7 - First edition of Bob Horn's Bandstand is broadcast as a local show from station WFIL-TV in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is later renamed American Bandstand and syndicated
November 14 - first UK singles chart published by NME.
Hank Ballard's musical career begins
Johnny Ace's musical career begins
Ernesto Bonino moves from Italy to the USA.

Albums released

As You Desire Me - Jo Stafford
Christmas With Eddie Fisher - Eddie Fisher
Eddie Fisher Sings - Eddie Fisher
Favorite Spirituals - The Ames Brothers
Home On The Range - The Ames Brothers
Johnnie Ray - Johnnie Ray
Mr. Rhythm Sings - Frankie Laine
Song Favorites By Frankie Laine - Frankie Laine

No. 1 hit singles

These singles reached the top of Billboard magazine's charts in 1952.

First week	Number of weeks	Title	Artist
March 15, 1952	9	"Wheel of Fortune"	Kay Starr
May 17, 1952	5	"Blue Tango"	Leroy Anderson
June 21, 1952	2	"Here in My Heart"	Al Martino
July 5, 1952	1	"Delicado"	Percy Faith & his Orchestra
July 12, 1952	9	"Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart"	Vera Lynn
September 13, 1952	5	"You Belong to Me"	Jo Stafford
October 18, 1952	5	"I Went To Your Wedding"	Patti Page
November 22, 1952	1	"It's In The Book"	Johnny Standley
November 29, 1952	4	"Why Don't You Believe Me"	Joni James
December 27, 1952	2	"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus"	Jimmy Boyd

Top hits on record

"All Of Me" - Johnnie Ray
"Anytime" - Eddie Fisher
"Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" - Vera Lynn
"Be My Life's Companion" - The Mills Brothers
"Botch-A-Me (Ba-Ba-Baciami Piccina)" - Rosemary Clooney
"Christmas Roses" - Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford
"Day Of Jubilo" - Guy Mitchell
"Delicado" - Percy Faith & his Orchestra
"The Glow-Worm" - The Mills Brothers
"A Guy Is A Guy" - Doris Day
"Half As Much" - Rosemary Clooney
"Heart And Soul" - The Four Aces featuring Al Alberts
"Here In My Heart" - Al Martino
"High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)" - Frankie Laine
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" - Karen Chandler
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" - Jimmy Boyd
"I Went To Your Wedding" - Patti Page
"I'll Walk Alone" - Don Cornell
"I'm Confessin'" - Les Paul and Mary Ford
"I'm Just A Poor Bachelor" - Frankie Laine
"I'm Yours" - Eddie Fisher
"Kiss Of Fire" - Georgia Gibbs
"A Kiss To Build A Dream On" - Louis Armstrong
"Lady Of Spain" - Eddie Fisher
"Lover" - Peggy Lee
"Maybe" - Perry Como & Eddie Fisher
"My Favorite Song" - Georgia Gibbs
"Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" - Guy Mitchell
"Please, Mr. Sun" - Johnnie Ray & The Four Lads
"Ramblin' Man" - Frankie Laine
"Rock Of Gibraltar" - Frankie Laine
"Settin' The Woods On Fire" - Frankie Laine & Jo Stafford
"A Sinner Am I" - Johnnie Ray
"Slow Poke" - Arthur Godfrey
"So Madly In Love" - Georgia Gibbs
"Somewhere Along The Way" - Nat King Cole
"Sugarbush" - Doris Day & Frankie Laine
"Tell Me Why" - Eddie Fisher
"Temptation" - Mario Lanza
"Tenderly" - Rosemary Clooney
"Tiger Rag" - Les Paul and Mary Ford
"Till I Waltz Again With You" - Teresa Brewer
"Tonight You Belong To Me" - Frankie Laine
"Unforgettable" - Nat King Cole
"Walkin' My Baby Back Home" - Johnnie Ray
"Wheel Of Fortune" - Kay Starr
"When I Fall In Love" - Doris Day
"When You're In Love" - Frankie Laine
"Why Don't You Believe Me" - Joni James
"Winter Wonderland" - Perry Como
"Wish You Were Here" - Eddie Fisher
"You Belong to Me" - Jo Stafford
"You'll Never Be Mine" - Guy Mitchell

Published popular music

"Blue Tango" w. Mitchell Parish m. Leroy Anderson
"Delicado" w. Jack Lawrence m. Waldyr Azevedo
"The Doggie In The Window" w.m. Bob Merrill
"Don't Laugh At Me ('Cause I'm A Fool)" w.m. Norman Wisdom & June Tremayne
"Don't Let The Stars Get In Your Eyes" w.m. Barbara Trammel, Cactus Pryor & Slim Whitman
"Faith Can Move Mountains" w. Ben Raleigh m. Guy Wood
"Feet Up" w.m. Bob Merrill
"A Fool Such As I" w.m. Bill Trader
"Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now" w.m. Milton Kellem
"A Guy Is A Guy" w.m. Oscar Brand
"Hambone" w.m. Leon Washington & Red Saunders
"(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" w.m. Charles Singleton & J. H. Wallace
"Here In My Heart" w.m. Pat Genaro, Lou Levinson & Bill Borrelli
"High Noon" w. Ned Washington m. Dimitri Tiomkin
"Hi-Lili, Hi-Lo" w. Helen Deutsch m. Bronislau Kaper
"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" w.m. Harry Noble
"Hound Dog" w.m. Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller
"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" w.m. Tommie Connor
"I Went To Your Wedding" w.m. Jessie Mae Robinson
"I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive" w.m. Hank Williams & Fred Rose
"I'm Hans Christian Anderson" w.m. Frank Loesser
"Inchworm" w.m. Frank Loesser
"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" w.m. J. D. Miller
"It's In The Book" w.m. Johnny Standley & Art Thorsen
"Jambalaya" w.m. Hank Williams
"Kaw-Liga" w.m. Hank Williams & Fred Rose
"Keep It A Secret" w.m. Jessie Mae Robinson
"The King's New Clothes" w.m. Frank Loesser
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" w.m. Lloyd Price
"Lean Baby" w. Roy Alfred m. Billy May
"Lullaby of Birdland" w. B. Y. Forster m. George Shearing
"Luna Rossa" w. (Eng) Kermit Goell (Ital) V. de Crescenzo m. A. Vian
"Mister Taptoe" w.m. Terry Gilkyson, Richard Dehr & Frank Miller
"Never Smile At A Crocodile" F. Churchill, J. Lawrence
"Oh, Happy Day" w.m. Donald Howard Koplow & Nancy Binns Reed
"The Ol' Spring Fever" w. Leo Robin m. Harry Warren from the film Just For You
"One Mint Julep" w.m. Rudolph Toombs
"Petite Fleur" m. Sidney Bechet
"Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania" w.m. Bob Merrill
"Pretend" w.m. Lew Douglas, Cliff Parman & Frank Levere
"Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susie" Kay Twomey, Fred Wise & Ben Weisman
"Raminay (The New Orleans Chimney Sweep)" w.m. J. Lawrence, Sammy Fain
"She Wears Red Feathers" w.m. Bob Merrill
"Somewhere Along The Way" w. Sammy Gallop m. Kurt Adams
"Sugar Bush" w.m. Josef Marais
"Take These Chains From My Heart" w.m. Fred Rose & Hy Heath
"Takes Two To Tango" w.m. Al Hoffman & Dick Manning
"That's All" w. Alan Brandt m. Bob Haymes
"That's Entertainment!" w. Howard Dietz m. Arthur Schwartz
"Till I Waltz Again With You w.m. Sidney Prosen
"The Ugly Duckling" w.m. Frank Loesser
"To Know You (Is to Love You)" w. Allan Roberts m. Robert Allen
"Walkin' To Missouri" w.m. Bob Merrill
"Wheel Of Fortune" w.m. Bennie Benjamin & George David Weiss
"When I Fall In Love" w. Edward Heyman m. Victor Young
"Why Don't You Believe Me?" w.m. Lew Douglas, King Laney & Roy Rodde
"Wish You Were Here" w.m. Harold Rome
"You Belong to Me" w.m. Pee Wee King, Redd Stewart & Chilton Price
"Your Cheatin' Heart" w.m. Hank Williams
"Zing A Little Zong" w. Leo Robin m. Harry Warren

Top R&B and Country hits on record

"Hound Dog" - Big Mama Thornton
"Jambalaya (On The Bayou)" - Hank Williams
"Lawdy Miss Clawdy" - Lloyd Price
"Midnight Special" - Weavers
"Night Train" - Jimmy Forrest
"Wimoweh" - Weavers
"Worry, Worry, Worry" - Joe Houston
"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" - Kitty Wells

Classical music

Jean Barraqué - Piano Sonata
George Crumb
- String Trio
- Three Pastoral Pieces for oboe and piano
Alberto Ginastera - Sonata for Piano No. 1
Carlos Guastavino - Suite Argentina
Bohuslav Martinů - Rhapsody-concerto for viola and orchestra
Wilhelm Peterson-Berger - Canzone for Violin and Piano
Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartet No.5 in B flat major, Op.92

Opera

Franco Alfano - Sakùntala (revision of La leggenda di Sakùntala)
Leonard Bernstein - Trouble in Tahiti
Sergei Prokofiev - War and Peace

Musical theater

Curtain Going Up Broadway production
Globe Revue London production
Love From Judy London production
New Faces of 1952 Broadway production
Pal Joey (Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart) - Broadway revival
The Time of the Cuckoo - comedy/play - 263 performances at The Empire Theatre on Broadway featuring Shirley Booth (1953 Tony Award winner Best Actress in a Play).
Two's Company Broadway production
Wish You Were Here Broadway production

Musical films

Affair in Trinidad starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford
April in Paris
Because You're Mine
Hans Christian Andersen
Just For You
The Las Vegas Story
Lovely To Look At
Meet Danny Wilson
The Merry Widow
Road to Bali
Singin' in the Rain
Skirts Ahoy! starring Esther Williams, Joan Evans, Vivian Blaine and Keefe Brasselle, and featuring Billy Eckstine, The DeMarco Sisters, Debbie Reynolds and Bobby Van.

Births

January 15 - Melvyn Gale, Electric Light Orchestra
January 20 - Paul Stanley, Kiss
January 20 - Ian Hill, Judas Priest
January 22 - Teddy Gentry, Alabama
January 23 - Robin Zander, Cheap Trick
January 29 - Tommy Ramone, The Ramones
January 30 - Steve Bartek, Oingo Boingo
February 4 - Jerry Shirley, Humble Pie
February 12 - Michael McDonald, The Doobie Brothers
February 13 - Edward John Gagliardi, Foreigner
February 17 - James Ingram
February 18 - Juice Newton
February 23 - Brad Whitford, Aerosmith
March 19 - Derek Longmuir, Bay City Rollers
April 2 - Leon Wilkerson, Lynyrd Skynyrd
April 4 - Dave Hill, Slade
April 4 - Gary Moore, Skid Row, Thin Lizzy
May 11 - Renaud Séchan, composer
May 13 - Mary Cleere Haran, US singer
May 14 - David Byrne, Talking Heads
May 19 - Barbara Joyce Lomas, B.T. Express
May 19 - Joey Ramone, The Ramones
June 5 - Nicko McBrain, Iron Maiden
June 12 - Junior Brown
June 14 - Jim Lea, Slade
June 16 - Gino Vannelli
June 25 - Tim Finn, Split Enz, Crowded House
June 28 - David Miner, The Great Society, Musician & Record producer
July 1 - Dan Aykroyd, The Blues Brothers
July 2 - Johnny Colla, Huey Lewis & The News
July 16 - Stewart Copeland, The Police
July 17 - Phoebe Snow
July 17 - Nicolette Larson
August 6 - Pat McDonald, Timbuk 3
August 20 - John Hiatt
August 26 - Billy Rush, Asbury Jukes
August 27 - Laurie Wisefield, guitarist for Wishbone Ash
September 4 - Martin Chambers, The Pretenders
September 9 - Dave Stewart, Eurythmics
September 12 - Neil Peart, Rush
September 12 - Gerry Beckley, America
September 13 - Randy Jones, The Village People
September 18 - Dee Dee Ramone, The Ramones
September 19 - Nile Rogers, The Honeydrippers
September 30 - John Lombardo, 10,000 Maniacs
October 17 - Jim Strecker, Good Ol'e Boys
October 18 - Keith Knudsen, The Doobie Brothers, Southern Pacific
November 2 - Maxine Nightingale
November 11 - Paul Cowsill, The Cowsills
December 27 - David Knopfler, Dire Straits
Burleigh Drummond - Ambrosia, The Lost Dogs

Deaths

January 20 - Arthur Farwell, composer and conductor
February 13 - Alfred Einstein, musicologist
March 17 - Percy Wenrich, ragtime composer
March 22 - Uncle Dave Macon, musician
April 23 - Elisabeth Schumann, operatic soprano
May 15 - Italo Montemezzi, composer
June 9 - Adolf Busch, violinist and composer
June 13 - Emma Eames, operatic soprano
September 6 - Gertrude Lawrence, English actress, singer, dancer
September 16 - Vesta Tilley, music hall entertainer
September 18 - Frances Alda, operatic soprano
September 19 - Nat Ayer, composer
October 25 - Sergei Bortkiewicz, pianist and composer
October 26 - Hattie McDaniel
November 1 - Dixie Lee, singer, dancer and actress, wife of Bing Crosby
November 4 - Max Adler, violinist
November 17 - Charles Penrose, music hall performer
December 26 - Paul Breisach, conductor
December 28 - Fletcher Henderson, jazz musician
December 30
- Willie Brown, blues musician
- Nakayama Shimpei, songwriter
date unknown - Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller, singer
date unknown - Georgette Harvey, actress and singer
date unknown - Luke Jordan, blues musician
date unknown - René Voisin, trumpeter

External Charts

Pop Culture Madness 1952 Pop Music Chart