2015 in British music

This is a summary of the year 2015 in British music.

Events

• 5 January – An official statement from Glyndebourne confirms that Danielle De Niese and her husband, Gus Christie, chairman of Glyndebourne Opera, are expecting their first child.^[1]
• 15 January – The nominations for the 2015 Brit Awards are announced, with Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and George Ezra dominating many of the categories.^[2]
• 22 January – It is announced that BBC Radio 1's annual Big Weekend event this year will be held at Earlham Park, Norwich.^[3]
• 8 February – Sam Smith is the big winner at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, winning Best New Artist, and Record and Song of the Year for "Stay with Me from the album In the Lonely Hour, which subsequently won Best Vocal Album.
• 25 February – Ed Sheeran and Paloma Faith win Best British Male and Female Solo Artist at this year's Brit Awards, with x winning Best Album and "Uptown Funk" winning Best Single. Notable moments of the night include Kanye West's controversial performance of "All Day" and Madonna falling off stage during her performance of "Living for Love".^[4]
• 1 March – Audio streaming became incorporated into the UK Albums Chart.
• 3 March – The London Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Sir Simon Rattle as its next music director, effective September 2017, with an initial contract of 5 years.^[5]
• 7 March – The BBC confirms that Electro Velvet's 1920s inspired song "Still in Love with You" has been chosen to represent the UK at this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
• 9 March – Sam Smith releases a special remake of his song "Lay Me Down", featuring John Legend, as this year's official Comic Relief single.
• 10 March – Sarah Brightman confirms she has been working on a song with Andrew Lloyd Webber that she can perform in space aboard the International Space Station in September.^[6] Brightman subsequently withdraws from the planned flight, citing family commitments.^[7]
• 11 March
  • The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra announces the appointment of Thomas Dausgaard as its 11th chief conductor, effective with the 2016–2017 season.^[8]
  • Simon Halsey is announced as the recipient of the Queen's Medal for Music 2014.^[9]
• 18 March – Julian Lloyd Webber is confirmed as the Principal of Birmingham Conservatoire.^[10]
• 20 May – Ye Yanchen's new work, Septet, to be premiered at St Illtud's Church, Llantwit Major, by soloists from China’s National Centre for the Performing Arts Orchestra.^[11]
• 23 May – The United Kingdom is represented at the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria, by Electro Velvet, with the song "Still in Love with You".^[12] They finish 24th out of 27 entries, scoring five points.
• 12 June – Musicians recognised in the 2015 Birthday Honours include conductor Sir Neville Marriner (Companion of Honour) composers Karl Jenkins and James MacMillan who receive knighthoods, and singers Michael Ball (OBE) and Van Morrison (knighthood)^[13]
• 21 June – Nadine Koutcher wins the 2015 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition.^[14]
• 2 October – "Writing's on the Wall" by Sam Smith, the theme for the upcoming James Bond movie Spectre, becomes the first ever Bond theme to reach number 1 in the UK.^[15]
• 23 October - "Hello", the lead single from Adele's third studio album 25, is released to intense global media attention. The album (released 20 November) becomes the fastest selling in UK chart history, ending the year on 2.5 million.

Television series

• 10 January
  • Launch of the fourth series of The Voice UK.
  • Return of Stars in Their Eyes after nearly ten years off air.
• 16 January – Sound of Song, presented by Neil Brand^[16]
• 26 January – Launch of new music based entertainment show, South Side Story.
• 14 February – Stars in Their Eyes is cancelled again after critical reviews of its revamped format.
• 7 March – Reginald D. Hunter's Songs of the South begins on BBC Two.^[17]
• 28 June – Pappano's Classical Voices begins on BBC Four.^[18]
• 29 August – Launch of the twelfth series of The X Factor.

Charts

Artists and groups reformed

• Bay City Rollers
• Black Grape
• The Bluetones
• Busted
• Faithless
• The King Blues
• Lush
• Simply Red
• Supertramp
• We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It

Groups on hiatus

• The Saturdays

Groups disbanded

• Heart In Hand
• Flesh for Lulu
• Kingsland Road
• Klaxons
• Motörhead
• Neon Jungle
• Noah and the Whale
• Ph.D
• Rise to Remain
• Stereo Kicks

Classical works

• Julian Anderson – In lieblicher Bläue (Violin Concerto)^[19]
• Sally Beamish – "Be still" (Introit)^[20]
• Peter Fribbins - Violin Concerto^[21]

Opera

• 21 May - UK premiere of Gaetano Donizetti's Poliuto at Glyndebourne.^[22]

Musical theatre

• Bend It Like Beckham the Musical, with music by Howard Goodall, lyrics by Charles Hart, and book by Gurinder Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges
• School of Rock, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book by Julian Fellowes
• The Mirror Never Lies, music by Juan Iglesias, book and lyrics by Joe Giuffre, based on a novel by Barbara Pym^[23]

Musical films

• Kill Your Friends, starring Nicholas Hoult and Georgia King.^[24]
• London Road, starring Olivia Colman and Anita Dobson^[25]

Film scores and incidental music

Film

• Craig Armstrong - Far from the Madding Crowd
• George Fenton - Absolutely Anything
• Henry Jackman - Kingsman: The Secret Service

Television

• Anne Dudley - Poldark
• Debbie Wiseman - Wolf Hall^[26]

British music awards

• Brit Awards - see 2015 Brit Awards

Deaths

• 1 January – Matthew Cogley, musician and songwriter (Failsafe), 30^[27]
• 6 January – Lance Percival, actor and singer, 81^[28]
• 22 January – Joan Hinde, trumpet player, 81
• 27 January – Margot Moir, Scottish-born Australian singer (The Moir Sisters), 55^[29]
• 29 January – Danny McCulloch, 69, bassist (Eric Burdon & The Animals)
• 12 February – Steve Strange, singer (Visage), 55 (heart attack)^[30]
• 13 February – John McCabe, British composer and pianist, 75^[31]
• 16 February – Gavin Clark, British songwriter and singer with the bands Sunhouse, Clayhill and U.N.K.L.E, 46^[32]
• 22 February – Chris Rainbow, rock singer and musician (The Alan Parsons Project), 68^[33]
• 16 March – Andy Fraser, composer and bassist (Free), 62^[34]
• 21 March – Jackie Trent, singer-songwriter and actress, 74^[35]
• 23 March
  • Roy Douglas, composer, 107^[36]
  • Lil Chris, singer-songwriter, musician, 24
• 26 March – John Renbourn, guitarist and songwriter (Pentangle), 70
• 28 March
  • Josie Jones, singer (The Mighty Wah!)^[37] (death announced on this date)
  • Ronald Stevenson, composer and pianist, 87^[38]
• 1 April – Dave Ball, musician (Procol Harum), 65^[39]
• 3 April – Andrew Porter, organist, music critic, and opera director, 86^[40]
• 10 April – Ronald Hambleton, English-born Canadian broadcaster and music critic (Toronto Star), 97^[41]
• 17 April – Brian Couzens, music industry executive (Chandos Records), 86^[42]
• 6 May – Errol Brown, Jamaican-born British singer (Hot Chocolate), 71^[43]
• 15 May – Ross Dawson, English drummer (Late of the Pier) ^[44]
• 16 May – Flora MacNeil, Scottish Gaelic singer, 86^[45]
• 21 May – Twinkle, British singer-songwriter, 66 (cancer)^[46]
• 4 June – Allan Fryer, Scottish-born Australian musician (Heaven), 60 (cancer)^[47]
• 5 June – Nick Marsh, singer and musician (Flesh for Lulu), 53 (cancer)^[48]
• 12 June – Ernest Tomlinson, composer, 90^[49]
• 27 June – Chris Squire, Yes bassist, 67 (acute erythroid leukemia)^[50]
• 1 July
  • Val Doonican, Irish-born singer, 88
  • Edward Greenfield, music critic and broadcaster, 86^[51]
• 13 July – Eric Wrixon (Them, Thin Lizzy), 68^[52]
• 1 August - Cilla Black, singer and presenter, 72
• 12 August - John Scott, organist and choirmaster, 59^[53]
• 14 August - Jazz Summers, music manager (Scissor Sisters, The Verve, Snow Patrol), 71 (lung cancer)^[54]
• 8 October - Jim Diamond, Scottish singer, songwriter, 64
• 11 October - Carey Lander, keyboardist, singer, (Camera Obscura), 33
• 13 October - Duncan Druce, English composer and musicologist, 76^[55]
• 28 October - Diane Charlemagne, singer, vocalist, (52nd Street, Urban Cookie Collective) 51 (cancer)
• 9 November - Andy White, Scottish musician, drummer, 85
• 11 November - Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor, drummer (Motorhead), 61
• 28 November - Wayne Bickerton, songwriter, record producer, and music executive, 74^[56]
• 28 December
  • John Bradbury, drummer (The Specials), 62^[57]
  • Guru Josh, techno producer, musician, 53 (suicide)^[58]
  • Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, singer, songwriter, musician (Motorhead), (Hawkwind), 70 (cancer)

References

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