Timeline of UK LGBT Music

This is a Timeline of UK LGBT Music, created in connection with the theme of Music being adopted for LGBT History Month 2013.

Musicians born 1500–1599

• Mark Smeaton (c. 1512–1536) – young court musician executed for alleged adultery with Queen Anne Boleyn.

Musicians born 1600–1699

• Arabella Hunt (1662–1705) – musician whose "husband" turned out to be a woman.

• George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) – said by Beethoven to be "the greatest composer that ever lived".

Musicians born 1800–1899

• Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944) – composer and suffragette.

• Clement Harris (1871–1897) – composer, lover of Siegfried Wagner.

• Roger Quilter (1877–1953) – composer of songs and light music.

• John Ireland (1879–1962) – composer of chamber music.

• Lord Berners (1883–1950) – eccentric composer, painter and novelist.

• Fred Barnes (1885–1938) – music hall performer.

• Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji (1892–1988) – reclusive composer of piano works.

• Ivor Novello (1893–1951) – singer, songwriter, composer of musical comedies.

• Douglas Byng (1893–1987) – music hall artist and pantomime dame.

• Sir Noël Coward (1899–1973) – actor, singer, playwright, composer.

Musicians born 1900–1959

• Leslie Hutchinson – "Hutch" (1900–1969) – cabaret star.

• Richard Addinsell (1904–1977) – composer of the Warsaw Concerto.

• Sir Michael Tippett (1905–1998) – composer of A Child of Our Time.

• Sir Peter Pears (1910–1986) – singer, life partner of Benjamin Britten.

• Stanley Bate (1911–1959) – composer of symphonies and other works.

• Benjamin Britten, Lord Britten, (1913-1976) – composer of Peter Grimes and many other works, founder of the Aldeburgh Festival.

• Sir John Pritchard (1921–1989) – conductor, Musical Director of the Glyndebourne opera.

• Noel Mewton-Wood (1922–1953) – concert pianist.

• John Lanchbery (1923–2003) – composer and arranger of ballet music.

• Angela Morley (1924–2009)

• James Bernard (1925–2001)

• Johnny Brandon (born 1925)

• George Melly (1926–2007)

• Michael Hurd (1928–2006)

• Joe Meek (1929–1967)

• Lionel Bart (1930–1999)

• Malcolm Williamson (1931–2003)

• Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (born 1934) – composer, Master of the Queen's Music

• Sir Richard Rodney Bennett (1936–2012)

• Kathy Kirby (1938–2011)

• Dusty Springfield (1939–1999)

• Long John Baldry (1941-2005)

• Labi Siffre (born 1945)

• Freddie Mercury (1946-1991)

• Sir Elton John (born 1947)

• David Bowie (born 1947)

• Dave Davies (born 1947)

• Mark Bunyan (born 1949)

• Graham Johnson (born 1950)

• Tom Robinson (born 1950)

• Rob Halford (born 1951)

• Andy Fraser (born 1952)

• Billy Lyall (1953-1989)

• Richard Fairbrass (born 1963)

• Neil Tennant (born 1954)

• Bobby Crush (born 1954)

• Annie Whitehead (born 1955)

• Les McKeown (born 1955)

• Douglas P (born 1956)

• Hazell Dean (born 1956)

• Tony De Vit (1957–1998)

• Jimmy McShane (1957–1995)

• Stephen Bicknell (1957–2007)

• Marc Almond (born 1957)

• Peter Christopherson (1955–2010)

• Horse McDonald (born 1958)

• Limahl (born 1958)

• Paul Rutherford (born 1959)

• Pete Burns (born 1959)

• Steve Strange (born 1959)

Musicians born 1960 onwards

• Holly Johnson (born 1960)

• Jimmy Somerville (born 1961)

• John Foster (born 1961)

• Boy George (born 1961)

• Rev Richard Coles (born 1962)

• Marilyn (born 1962)

• John Balance (1962–2004)

• George Michael (born 1963)

• Andy Bell (born 1964)

• Richard Thonas (born 1964)

• Simon Fowler (born 1965)

• Brian Kennedy (born 1966)

• Samantha Fox (born 1966)

• David McAlmont (born 1967)

• Philippe Honoré (born 1967)

• Skin (born 1967)

• Matt Goss (born 1968)

• Thomas Adès (born 1971)

• Billie Myers (born 1971)

• Darren Hayes (born 1972)

• Beverley Knight (born 1973)

• Clare Teal (born 1973)

• Ross Anthony (born 1974)

• Ian "H" Watkins (born 1976)

• Samantha Ronson (born 1977)

• Dan Gillespie Sells (born 1978)

• QBoy (born 1978)

• Duncan James (born 1978)

• Jill Jackson (born 1979)

• Will Young (born 1979)

• Kele Okereke (born 1981)

• Jon Lee (born 1982)

• Mika (born 1983)

• Patrick Wolf (born 1983)

• Kevin McDaid (born 1984)

• Lady Sovereign (born 1985)

• Jessie J (born 1988)

• Marcus Collins (born 1988)

• Rylan Clark (born 1988)

• Joe McElderry (born 1991)

• Lucy Spraggan (born 1991)

Other key dates

• 1972: CHE Music Group founded (now the Allegro Music Group).
• 1983: Pink Singers founded.
• 1991: London Gay Men's Chorus founded.
• 1992: Diversity Choir founded.
• 1996: London Gay Symphony Orchestra founded.
• 1997: Gay Abandon choir founded in Leeds.
• 2008: Birmingham Gay Symphony Orchestra founded.
• 2013: London Alternative Choir founded.

See also

• Timeline of UK LGBT History