Editing 1986 in music (section)

==Deaths==
*[[January 4]] – [[Phil Lynott]], bassist/singer and co-founder of Thin Lizzy, 36 (heart failure & pneumonia)
*[[January 6]] – [[Joe Farrell]], jazz saxophonist, 48 (bone cancer)
*[[January 8]] – [[Pierre Fournier]], cellist, 79
*[[February 2]] – [[Francisco Mignone]], composer, 88
*[[February 14]] – [[Edmund Rubbra]], composer, 84
*[[February 15]] – [[Galliano Masini]], operatic tenor, 90
*[[March 4]]
**<!--March 4-->[[Richard Manuel]] ([[The Band]]), 42 (suicide)
**<!--March 4-->[[Howard Greenfield]], songwriter, 49 (AIDS)
*[[March 11]] – [[Sonny Terry]], blues musician, 74
*[[March 21]] – [[Raymond Burke (clarinetist)|Raymond Burke]], jazz clarinetist, 81
*[[March 22]] – [[Mark Dinning]], US singer, 52 (heart attack)
*[[March 30]] – [[James Cagney]], US actor, singer and dancer, 86
*[[March 31]] – [[O'Kelly Isley]] of [[the Isley Brothers]], 48 (heart attack)
*[[April 1]] – [[Donald Grobe]], operatic tenor, 56
*[[April 3]] – [[Peter Pears]], opera singer and partner of [[Benjamin Britten]], 75
*[[April 6]] – [[Boris Gutnikov]], violinist, 54
*[[April 8]] – [[Yukiko Okada]], singer, 18 (suicide)
*[[April 13]] – [[Dorothy Ashby]], jazz harpist and composer, 53 (cancer)
*[[April 19]]
**<!--April 19-->[[Dag Wirén]], composer, 80
**<!--April 19-->[[Estelle Yancey]], blues singer, 90
*[[June 3]] – [[Anna Neagle]], actress, singer and dancer, 81
*[[June 13]] – [[Benny Goodman]], bandleader, 77
*[[June 14]] – [[Alan Jay Lerner]], lyricist, 67
*[[June 16]] – [[Maurice Duruflé]], composer, 84
*[[June 17]] – [[Kate Smith]], singer, 79
*[[June 29]] – [[Dusolina Giannini]], operatic soprano, 83
*[[July 3]] – [[Rudy Vallee]], American singer, 84
*[[July 18]] – [[Don Wilkerson]], American saxophonist
*[[July 23]] – [[Kazimierz Sikorski]], Polish composer, 91
*[[July 31]] – [[Teddy Wilson]], American jazz pianist, 73
*[[September 27]] – [[Cliff Burton]] ([[Metallica]]), 24 (tour bus accident)
*[[September 28]] – [[Robert Helpmann]], dancer and choreographer, 77
*[[October 16]] – [[Arthur Grumiaux]], violinist, 65
*[[October 22]] – [[Thorgeir Stubø]], Norwegian jazz guitarist, 42
*[[October 29]] – [[Abel Meeropol]] ('Lewis Allan'), American lyricist, 83
*[[November 1]] – [[Sippie Wallace]], blues singer, 88
*[[November 3]] – [[Eddie Davis (saxophonist)|Eddie Davis]], saxophonist, 64
*[[November 6]] – [[Elisabeth Grümmer]], operatic soprano, 75
*[[November 7]] – [[Tracy Pew]], bass guitarist, 28 (brain hemorrhage)
*[[November 13]] – [[Rudolf Schock]], operatic tenor, 71
*[[November 18]] – [[Lajos Bárdos]], composer and conductor, 87
*[[November 22]] – [[Scatman Crothers]], singer, dancer and musician, 76
*[[December 1]] – [[Horace Heidt]], pianist and bandleader, 85
*[[December 10]] – [[Kate Wolf]], folk singer and songwriter, 44 (leukemia)
*[[December 30]] – [[Charles Magnante]], accordionist, composer, arranger, author, and educator, 81