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.
• John Serry, Sr. first performs in the Broadway Theatre.

Albums released

• Anthology of American Folk Music - Various Artists
• As You Desire Me - Jo Stafford
• Christmas Day in the Morning (Burl Ives album)Christmas Day in the Morning - Burl Ives
• Christmas with Eddie Fisher - Eddie Fisher
• The Early Show - Art Pepper
• Eddie Fisher Sings - Eddie Fisher
• Favorite Spirituals - The Ames Brothers
• Harmony Encores - The Chordettes
• Home On The Range - The Ames Brothers
• Johnnie Ray - Johnnie Ray
• I'm in the Mood for Love - Eddie Fisher
• Mr. Rhythm Sings - Frankie Laine
• Penthouse Serenade - Nat King Cole
• Song Favorites By Frankie Laine - Frankie Laine

US No. 1 hit singles

Biggest hit singles

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
• "Comes A-Long A-Love" - Kay Starr
• "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
• "Comes A-Long A-Love"   w.m. Al Sherman
• "Delicado"   w. Jack Lawrence m. Waldyr Azevedo
• "(How Much Is) That 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. Rudy Toombs
• "Outside of Heaven" w. Sammy Gallop m. Chester Conn
• "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
• "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

• "5-10-15 Hours" - Ruth Brown
• "Daddy Daddy" - Ruth Brown
• "Hound Dog" - Big Mama Thornton
• "Jambalaya (On The Bayou)" - Hank Williams
• "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" - Lloyd Price
• "Midnight Special" - The Weavers
• "Night Train" - Jimmy Forrest
• "Wimoweh" - The 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
• Raymond Chevreuille - Atta Troll
• Mozart Camargo Guarnieri - Pedro Malazarte (comic opera in one act, libretto by Mario de Andrade, premiered in May at the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro)
• Sergei Prokofiev - War and Peace

Musical theater

• Bet Your Life London production opened at the Hippodrome on February 18 and ran for 362 performances
• Curtain Going Up Broadway production
• The Globe Revue London revue opened on July 10 at the Globe Theatre
• Love From Judy London production opened at the Saville Theatre on September 25 and ran for 594 performances
• New Faces of 1952 Broadway production
• Pal Joey (Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart) - Broadway revival
• Ring Out the Bells London revue opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre on November 12
• Three Wishes for Jamie Broadway production opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on March 21 and moved to the Plymouth Theatre on May 27 for a total run of 92 performances
• Two's Company Broadway production
• Wish You Were Here Broadway production

Musical films

• Aaron Slick from Punkin Crick starring Alan Young, Dinah Shore, Robert Merrill and Adele Jergens. Directed by Claude Binyon.
• Affair in Trinidad starring Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford
• April in Paris starring Doris Day and Ray Bolger
• Because You're Mine starring Mario Lanza and Doretta Morrow
• Bloodhounds of Broadway starring Mitzi Gaynor, Scott Brady and Mitzi Green
• Everything I Have Is Yours starring Marge Champion, Gower Champion and Monica Lewis
• Hans Christian Andersen starring Danny Kaye and Jane Wyman
• Just For You starring Bing Crosby and Jane Wyman
• The Las Vegas Story starring Jane Russell, Victor Mature and Hoagy Carmichael
• Lovely To Look At starring Kathryn Grayson, Red Skelton, Howard Keel, Marge Champion, Gower Champion and Ann Miller
• Meet Danny Wilson starring Frank Sinatra and Shelley Winters
• The Merry Widow starring Lana Turner, Fernando Lamas and Una Merkel
• Road to Bali starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour
• She's Working Her Way Through College starring Virginia Mayo and Ronald Reagan
• Singin' in the Rain starring Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor and Debbie Reynolds
• Skirts Ahoy! starring Esther Williams, Joan Evans, Vivian Blaine and Keefe Brasselle, and featuring Billy Eckstine, The DeMarco Sisters, Debbie Reynolds and Bobby Van.
• Son of Paleface starring Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Roy Rogers and Trigger
• Where's Charley? starring Ray Bolger and Allyn Ann McLerie
• With A Song In My Heart starring Susan Hayward and Rory Calhoun

Births

• January 15 - Melvyn Gale, Electric Light Orchestra
• January 20
• Paul Stanley, Kiss
• 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 18 - Juice Newton
• February 20 - Halvor Haug, Norwegian composer
• February 23 - Brad Whitford, Aerosmith
• March 19 - Derek Longmuir, Bay City Rollers
• March 22 - Jay Dee Daugherty, Patti Smith Group
• April 2 - Leon Wilkeson, Lynyrd Skynyrd
• Gary Moore, Skid Row, Thin Lizzy
• May 11 - Renaud Séchan, composer
• May 14 - David Byrne, Talking Heads
• May 19
• Barbara Joyce Lomas, B.T. Express
• June 5 - Nicko McBrain, Iron Maiden
• June 11 - Donnie Van Zant, 38 Special
• June 12 - Junior Brown
• June 16 - Gino Vannelli
• June 25 - Tim Finn, Split Enz, Crowded House
• 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
• Nicolette Larson
• August 6 - Pat McDonald, Timbuk 3
• August 20 - John Hiatt
• August 21 - Joe Strummer, The Clash
• 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
• 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
• November 2
• Maxine Nightingale
• Alan Winstanley, producer
• November 11 - Paul Cowsill, The Cowsills
• December 3 - Don Barnes, 38 Special
• December 27 - David Knopfler, Dire Straits

Deaths

• January 9 - Midge Williams, singer
• January 14 - Artur Kapp, Estonian composer (b. 1878)
• 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 23 - Georg Schumann, German composer (b. 1866)
• May 15 - Italo Montemezzi, composer
• June 9 - Adolf Busch, violinist and composer
• June 13 - Emma Eames, operatic soprano
• June 14 - John Kirby, jazz musician
• July 2 - Henriëtte Hilda Bosmans, Dutch composer and pianist (b. 1895)
• July 10 - Rued Langgaard, Danish composer and organist (b. 1893)
• 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
• Georgette Harvey, actress and singer
• Luke Jordan, blues musician
• René Voisin, trumpeter