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2003 in British music

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This is a summary of 2003 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

  • 6 January – The annual Park Lane Group Young Artists festival of contemporary music opens with two concerts in the Purcell Room at the Southbank Centre, London. The first concert, given by the Gallimaufry Ensemble, included the premiere of a new wind quintet by 23-year-old Benjamin Wallfisch; the second concert featured solo bass clarinettist Sarah Watts, who premiered Marc Yeats' Vox for solo bass clarinet and Michael Smetanin's Ladder of Escape for bass clarinet with prerecorded ensemble of six bass and two contrabass clarinets.Richard Morrison, "PLG Young Artists", The Times (Wednesday 8 January 2003): 15.
  • 10 January – Following an investigation by The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and London detectives, police raids in the UK and the Netherlands recover 500 original Beatles studio tapes, recorded during the Let It Be sessions. Five people are arrested. The tapes have been used for bootleg releases for years.{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2646921.stm |title='Priceless' Beatles tapes discovered |date=10 January 2003 |publisher=BBC |access-date=24 February 2013}}
  • 13 January – The Who guitarist Pete Townshend is arrested on suspicion of possessing and making indecent images of children and of incitement to distribute them. Townshend claims in a statement that he did not download any such images and accessed Web sites advertising child pornography because he was researching material for his autobiography, which will include passages about his abusive childhood.{{cite web |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459501/townshend-child-porn-arrest.jhtml |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927104300/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1459501/townshend-child-porn-arrest.jhtml |url-status=dead |archive-date=27 September 2011 |title=Pete Townshend Arrested in Child Porn Investigation |last1=Wiederhorn |first1=Jon |last2=Vineyard |first2=Jennifer |date=13 January 2003 |publisher=MTV |access-date=23 February 2013}}
  • 18 January – A two-day festival of the music of Mark-Anthony Turnage is given at the Barbican Centre, London, with three world premieres and chamber concerts by the Nash Ensemble and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.Ivan Hewett, "Momentum: The Music of Mark-Anthony Turnage: Barbican, London EC2, 18-19 Jan", The Times (18 January 2003): 10; Richard Morrison, "Blood on the Floor", The Times (20 January 2003): 17.
  • 21 April – S Club announce live on stage at London's Docklands Arena that they are to split after five years together. Their final single, "Say Goodbye", enters the chart at #2 a month after the announcement. Rachel Stevens from the group launched her successful solo career shortly afterwards with the song "Sweet Dreams My LA Ex".
  • 2 May – Mansun confirm that they have split up, after months of speculation and after the departure of Stove King. The remaining members had until that point worked on an unfinished 4th studio album, which was eventually released a year later as "Kleptomania" due to fan demand.
  • 7 May – Pete Townshend is cleared of the charges stemming from his arrest in January on suspicion of possessing child pornography, but is formally cautioned and placed on the sex offenders register for five years.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/may/08/arts.ukcrime |title=Pete Townshend put on sex offenders register |last1=Wilson |first1=Jamie |date=8 May 2003 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=23 February 2013}}
  • 24 May
  • The Eurovision Song Contest is held in Riga, Latvia. "Cry Baby", performed by Jemini, receives no points in the voting, the worst-ever result for the UK until after 2021. Some blame the United Kingdom's involvement in the Iraq War, whilst others attribute the result to a bad performance.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/music/newsid_2936000/2936666.stm|title=Jemini's dressing room attacked at Eurovision|publisher=BBC|access-date=2009-01-13|date=2003-05-25}}
  • After a 40-year gap, former Beatle Paul McCartney performs in Russia, on the Red Square in Moscow.
  • 27–29 June – Glastonbury Festival, U.K., headline acts included David Gray, Primal Scream, Morcheeba, The Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Super Furry Animals, Lamb, Feeder, Manic Street Preachers, and Doves.
  • 7 September – Pete Doherty receives a 6-month prison sentence for stealing items from bandmate Carl Barat's flat. The sentence is reduced, and Doherty is released a month later.
  • 14 November – The legal incarnation of the band Pink Floyd reunites to perform at the funeral of their manager Steve O'Rourke.
  • 6 December – Elvis Costello and Diana Krall are married in a private ceremony at Elton John's estate.
  • 8 December – Ozzy Osbourne is rushed into emergency surgery after having a serious accident riding an all-terrain vehicle on the grounds of his English estate. Osbourne broke his collarbone, eight ribs and a vertebra in his neck.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3302405.stm Osbourne 'stable' after accident], BBC News, 9 December 2003.
  • 12 December – Mick Jagger is knighted for services to music by the Prince of Wales (now Charles III) at Buckingham Palace.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3312639.stm Stones frontman becomes Sir Mick], BBC News, 12 December 2003.
  • 18 December – John Rutter tells US television programme 60 Minutes that he is not a particularly religious man yet still deeply spiritual and inspired by the spirituality of sacred verses and prayers.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/spreading-good-cheer/ |title=Spreading Good Cheer |publisher=CBS News |date=11 February 2009 |author= Rebecca Leung |access-date=2011-07-22}}

Classical music

Both Andrew Glover and Peter Maxwell Davies produced several new orchestral/instrumental works. British film score composer Rachel Portman produced an opera, The Little Prince, commissioned by the Houston Opera and premièred in the USA.

Michael Nyman, during his period as Composer-in-Residence at Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, Germany, produced his Violin Concerto and an opera Man and Boy: Dada, with libretto by Michael Hastings.

It was premièred at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe in the following year.

Other classical works

  • Howard Goodall – "O Lord God of Time and Eternity"
  • Alun Hoddinott – Lizard: Concerto for orchestra
  • John Tavener – The Veil of the Temple (2003; soprano, SATB choir, boys' choir, ensemble){{cite news|title=Music Obituary: Sir John Tavener |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/10444987/Sir-John-Tavener-obituary.html|work=The Daily Telegraph| date=12 November 2013 |access-date=14 November 2013}}
  • Graham Waterhouse – Bassoon Quintet

{{cite book

| title = Graham Waterhouse Kammerkonzert

| publisher = Gasteig

| date = 5 October 2003

}}

Opera

Film and incidental music

Musical films

Deaths

  • 2 January – Eric Jupp, composer, arranger and conductor, 80{{cite book|author=Harris M. Lentz III|title=Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2003: Film, Television, Radio, Theatre, Dance, Music, Cartoons and Pop Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sXrGCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA215|date=24 October 2008|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5208-8|pages=215}}{{Better source needed|reason=Lentz uses user-generated content as sources|date=May 2025}}
  • 5 January
  • Doreen Carwithen, composer, widow of William Alwyn, 80{{cite book|author=Adrian Wright|title=The Innumerable Dance: The Life and Work of William Alwyn|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hg8WAxFjyrAC&pg=PA276|year=2008|publisher=Boydell & Brewer Ltd|isbn=978-1-84383-412-0|pages=276}}
  • Daphne Oram, electronic musician and composer, 77{{cite book|author=Professor Simon Emmerson|title=Living Electronic Music|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zNShAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA89|date=28 January 2013|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|isbn=978-1-4094-9371-6|pages=89}}
  • 8 January – Ron Goodwin, composer, 77{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jan/18/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Mickey Finn|author=Alexander Gleason|date=11 January 2003|website=The Guardian|access-date=22 February 2019}}
  • 11 January – Mickey Finn, bongo player and T.Rex sideman, 55 (liver failure){{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jan/11/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Ron Goodwin|author=Dave Laing|date=18 January 2003|website=The Guardian|access-date=22 February 2019}}
  • 12 January – Maurice Gibb, musician and singer-songwriter, 53 (heart attack).{{cite news|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2003-01-16/entertainment/gibb.autopsy_1_maurice-gibb-autopsy-cardiac-arrest?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ |title=Gibb autopsy cites twisted intestine |last=CandiottI |first=Susan |date=16 January 2003 |publisher=CNN|access-date=22 December 2010 |url-status = dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120405172137/http://articles.cnn.com/2003-01-16/entertainment/gibb.autopsy_1_maurice-gibb-autopsy-cardiac-arrest?_s=PM%3ASHOWBIZ |archive-date=5 April 2012 }}
  • 19 January – Remo Lauricella, violinist and composer, 90{{cite web|url=http://www.vodokanal.spb.ru/en/presscentr/news/stradivari_violin_stayed_at_water_museum/|title=Stradivari Violin stayed at Water Museum|date=21 October 2014|website=vodokanal.spb.ru|access-date=22 February 2019}}
  • 30 January – Mary Ellis, musical comedy star, 105
  • 8 March – Adam Faith, singer and actor, 62 (heart attack){{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/mar/10/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Adam Faith|author=Dave Laing|date=10 March 2003|website=The Guardian|access-date=22 February 2019}}
  • 13 March – Ian Samwell, musician and singer-songwriter, 66
  • 4 May – Arthur Oldham, composer and choirmaster, 76
  • 30 May – Mickie Most, record producer, 64 (mesothelioma){{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/jun/02/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Mickie Most|author=Garth Cartwright|date=2 June 2003|website=The Guardian|access-date=22 February 2019}}
  • 6 June – Dave Rowberry, singer-songwriter and pianist (The Animals), 62
  • 2 August – Don Estelle, actor and singer, 70
  • 18 August – Tony Jackson, English singer and bass player, 63
  • 9 September – Reginald Smith Brindle, composer and writer, 86
  • 25 September – Matthew Jay, singer-songwriter, 24 (fell from window){{cite web|title= Matthew Jay plunges from window|work=Virgin Megamagazine|date=2003-10-01|url=http://www.virginmegamagazine.com/default.asp?aid=B08|access-date=2007-06-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928105546/http://www.virginmegamagazine.com/default.asp?aid=B08|archive-date=2007-09-28|url-status = dead}}
  • 26 September – Robert Palmer, singer, 54 (heart attack)[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/3142710.stm Singer Robert Palmer dies] BBC. Retrieved 19 April 2012
  • 4 October – Freddie Phillips, guitarist and composer of children's TV themes (age unknown)
  • 13 October – Anne Ziegler, soprano, 93
  • 27 November – Dai Francis, singer, 73
  • 11 December – Malcolm Clarke, composer, 60

Music awards

=BRIT Awards=

The 2003 BRIT Awards winners were:

=Ivor Novello Awards=

The winners of the Ivor Novello Awards were:

=Mercury Music Prize=

The 2003 Mercury Music Prize was awarded to Dizzee Rascal – Boy in Da Corner.

=Popjustice £20 Music Prize=

The 2003 Popjustice £20 Music Prize was awarded to Girls Aloud for their song No Good Advice from the album Sound of the Underground.

=The Record of the Year=

The Record of the Year was awarded to "Mandy" by Westlife.

See also

References

{{reflist}}

{{Music of the United Kingdom}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2003 in British Music}}

Category:British music by year