1952 in music

The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with the United States and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.

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.
• The Duke's Men of Yale a cappella singing group is formed.

Bands formed

• 76th Army Band
• 338th Army Band (reactivated)

Albums released

• Anthology of American Folk Music - Various Artists
• As You Desire Me - Jo Stafford
• The Astaire Story – Fred Astaire
• Billie Holiday Sings – Billie Holiday
• 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
• Oscar Peterson Plays Duke Ellington - Oscar Peterson
• Penthouse Serenade - Nat King Cole
• Song Favorites By Frankie Laine - Frankie Laine

US No. 1 hit singles

These singles reached the top of US Billboard magazine's charts in 1952.

Biggest hit singles

The following singles achieved the highest chart positions in the limited set of charts available for 1952.

#	Artist	Title	Year	Country	Chart Entries
1	Percy Faith	Delicado	1952		US 1940s 1 - Apr 1952, US 1 for 1 weeks Jul 1952, Peel list 1 of 1951, US BB 18 of 1952, POP 18 of 1952, Italy 26 of 1952, RYM 127 of 1952
2	Jo Stafford	You Belong to Me	1952		UK 1 - Nov 1952, US 1940s 1 - Aug 1952, US 1 for 5 weeks Sep 1952, US BB 4 of 1952, POP 4 of 1952, RYM 145 of 1952
3	Al Martino	Here in My Heart	1952		UK 1 - Nov 1952, US 1940s 1 - May 1952, US 1 for 2 weeks Jun 1952, US BB 20 of 1952, POP 20 of 1952, RYM 22 of 1952
4	Kay Starr	Wheel of Fortune	1952		US 1940s 1 - Feb 1952, US 1 for 9 weeks Mar 1952, Peel list 3 of 1952, US BB 8 of 1952, POP 8 of 1952, DDD 35 of 1952, Acclaimed 2343
5	Frankie Laine	High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)	1952		Oscar in 1952, US BB 3 of 1952, POP 3 of 1952, US 1940s 5 - Jul 1952, UK 7 - Nov 1952, RYM 34 of 1952, Italy 48 of 1952

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
• "Faith Can Move Mountains" - Nat King Cole
• "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
• "Juke" - Little Walter
• "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 17 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, Japanese musician & composer
• 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 15 - Howard Devoto, Buzzcocks, Magazine, Luxuria, ShelleyDevoto
• 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
• October 21 - Miroslav Žbirka
• November 2
  • Maxine Nightingale
  • Alan Winstanley, producer
• November 11 - Paul Cowsill, The Cowsills
• November 20 - Semyon Bychkov, conductor
• 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