Editing 1972 in music (section)

==Deaths==
*[[January 1]] – [[Maurice Chevalier]], 83, French singer and actor
*[[January 16]] – [[David Seville (entertainer)|David Seville]], 52, voice of [[the Chipmunks]]
*[[January 19]] – [[Michael Rabin]], 35, violinist (fell downstairs)
*[[January 20]] – [[Jean Casadesus]], 44, French pianist (car accident)
*[[January 23]] – [[Big Maybelle]], 47, singer and pianist
*[[January 24]] – [[Gene Austin]], 69, singer-songwriter
*[[January 27]] – [[Mahalia Jackson]], 61, gospel singer
*[[January 29]] – [[Margherita Grandi]], 77, operatic soprano
*[[February 8]] – [[Markos Vamvakaris]], 66, Greek composer
*[[February 11]] – [[Rudi Gfaller]], Austrian operetta singer and composer (b. 1882)
*[[February 19]] – [[Lee Morgan]], 33, hard bop trumpeter
*[[February 21]] – [[Marie Dubas]], 77, French music-hall singer
*[[March 2]] – [[Erna Sack]], 74, coloratura soprano (cancer)
*[[March 17]] – [[Linda Jones]], 27, soul singer (diabetic coma)
*[[March 27]] – [[Sharkey Bonano]], 67, jazz musician and bandleader
*[[April 3]] – [[Ferde Grofé]], 80, composer, arranger, and pianist
*[[April 4]] – [[Stefan Wolpe]], 69, composer
*[[May 2]] – [[Leslie Harvey|Les Harvey]], 27, guitarist ([[Stone the Crows]]) (electrocuted on stage)
*[[May 5]] – [[Reverend Gary Davis]], 76, blues and gospel singer and guitarist
*[[May 12]] – [[David Hughes (tenor)|David Hughes]], 43, operatic tenor (heart failure)
*[[June 8]] – [[Jimmy Rushing]], 70, blues and jazz singer
*[[June 13]] – [[Clyde McPhatter]], 39, R&B singer
*[[July 3]] – "Mississippi" [[Fred McDowell]], 68, blues musician
*[[July 9]] – [[Robert Weede]], 69, operatic baritone
*[[July 10]] – [[Lovie Austin]], 84, American pianist, composer, and bandleader 
*[[July 15]] –[[Francisco González Gamarra]], 82, composer and painter<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |author=Enrique Iturriaga|date=2001|entry=González Gamarra, Francisco|encyclopedia=Grove Music Online|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.45211}}</ref>
*[[July 24]] – Bobby Ramirez, drummer (Edgar Winter's White Trash)
*[[July 28]] – [[Helen Traubel]], 73, operatic soprano
*[[August 2]]
**[[Brian Cole (bass guitarist)|Brian Cole]], 29, bass player in [[The Association]] (drug overdose)
**[[Rudolph Ganz]], 95, Swiss pianist, conductor and composer
*[[August 14]] – [[Oscar Levant]], 65, pianist and composer
*[[August 21]] – [[Yvonne Gall]], 87, operatic soprano
*[[August 29]] – [[Lale Andersen]], 67, Danish singer
*[[August 31]] – [[Dalva de Oliveira]], 55, Brazilian singer (internal bleeding)
*[[September 19]] – [[Robert Casadesus]], French pianist and composer, 73
*[[September 24]] – [[Alfred Kalmus]], music publisher, 93
*[[September 28]] – [[Rory Storm]], 33, English singer (appendicitis)
*[[September 30]] – [[Grigore Cugler]], 69,  Romanian riter, artist, composer and violinist
*[[October 3]] – [[Kari Marie Aarvold Glaser]], 71, Norwegian pianist and music teacher
*[[October 24]] – [[Thelma Votipka]], 67, operatic mezzo-soprano
*[[November 3]] – [[Harry Richman]], 77, US singer, actor and composer
*[[November 6]] – [[Billy Murcia]], 21, drummer of [[New York Dolls]] (suffocation)
*[[November 11]] – [[Berry Oakley]], 24, bass player ([[The Allman Brothers Band]]) (motorcycle accident)
*[[November 12]] – [[Rudolf Friml]], 92, ''[[Rose-Marie]]'' composer
*[[November 18]] – [[Danny Whitten]], 29, guitarist ([[Crazy Horse (band)|Crazy Horse]]) (drug overdose)
*[[November 28]] – [[Havergal Brian]], 96, English classical composer
*[[November 30]] – [[Hans Erich Apostel]], 71, Austrian composer
*[[December 3]] – [[William Manuel Johnson|Bill Johnson]], 100, African American Dixieland jazz double-bassist