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Overview of the events of 1978 in British music
List of years in British music
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This is a summary of 1978 in music in the United Kingdom.
14 January – The Sex Pistols play their final show (until a reunion in 1996) at Winterland, San Francisco.
24 January – Wings ' "Mull of Kintyre " is number one for a ninth and final week, becoming the biggest-selling single in UK history at that point.
25 January – Electric Light Orchestra kick off their Out of the Blue world tour in Honolulu , Hawaii.
11 March – Kate Bush became the first female solo artist to reach number one in the UK charts with a self-written song, "Wuthering Heights ".
30 April – The Clash , Tom Robinson Band , Steel Pulse , X-Ray Spex , the Ruts , Misty in Roots and Generation X all play live in Victoria Park , Hackney at the Anti-Nazi League /Rock Against Racism festival, following a march from Trafalgar Square .
25 May – The Who play their last show with Keith Moon .
15 July – The Picnic at Blackbushe Aerodrome , Camberley , Surrey, a concert featuring Bob Dylan , Eric Clapton and Joan Armatrading , attracts some 200,000 people.[ 1]
30 July – Thin Lizzy officially announce that Gary Moore has replaced Brian Robertson on guitar.
18 August – The Who release their eighth studio album Who Are You . It is the Who's last album with Keith Moon as the drummer; Moon dies twenty days after the release of the album.
September – Second anti-racism event staged in Brockwell Park , South London, featuring Elvis Costello , Stiff Little Fingers and Aswad , with 150,000 people in attendance.[citation needed ]
27 November – Def Leppard 's permanent drummer Rick Allen joins the band at the age of 15.
December – UB40 formed.
The Bee Gees ' Saturday Night Fever becomes the biggest-selling album of all time (until overtaken in 1983).
The first BBC Young Musician of the Year competition for classical players is won by trombonist Michael Hext .
Operatic contralto Helen Watts is appointed a CBE .
Multitone Records is founded by Pranil Gohil, specialising in bhangra music.
The tables below include sales between 31 December 1977 and 30 December 1978: the year-end charts reproduced in the issue of Music Week dated 23 December 1978 and played on Radio 1 on 31 December 1978 only include sales figures up until 16 December 1978.
Best-selling singles [ edit ]
[ 2]
Best-selling albums [ edit ]
[ 3]
Notes :
^ Reached number 1 in 1979
^ Reached number 4 in 1977
^ Reached number 5 in 1979
^ Reached number 1 in 1979
^ Reached number 9 in 1981
^ Reached number 1 in 1976
^ Reached number 1 in 1979
^ Reached number 3 in 1977
^ Reached number 1 in 1976
Classical music: new works [ edit ]
Film and Incidental music [ edit ]
1 January – Tarik O'Regan , composer
13 January – Shelley Nash, singer (Girls@Play )
15 January – Sandi Lee Hughes, singer (allSTARS* )
19 January – Wayne Williams, singer (Another Level )
13 February – Hamish Glencross , Scottish guitarist
14 February – Ryan Griffiths (The Vines )
22 February – Jenny Frost , singer (Atomic Kitten )
6 April – Myleene Klass , singer (Hear'Say ), radio and TV presenter
7 April – Duncan James , singer (Blue )
9 April – Rachel Stevens , singer (S Club 7 )
16 April – Terry Daly, Irish singer (Mytown )
23 April – Tom Lowe, singer and keyboardist (North and South)
25 April – Luke Bedford , composer
28 April – Lauren Laverne , singer, radio DJ and TV presenter
4 May – Matthew Rose , bass
22 May – Jordan , model and would-be singer
29 May – Adam Rickitt , singer
6 June – Sophie Solomon , violinist
16 June – Elisa Cariera, American-born singer (Solid HarmoniE )
4 July – Stephen McNally , English singer-songwriter (BBMak )
1 August – Jonathan Wilkes , singer and entertainer
3 September – Johnny Shentall , singer (Boom! )
15 September – David Sneddon , singer-songwriter
27 September – Jamie Benson, singer (Hepburn )
7 October – Alesha Dixon , singer (Mis-Teeq )
9 October
26 October – Rachael Carr, singer (Boom! )
27 October – Sabrina Washington , singer (Mis-Teeq)
29 October – Sam Chapman, singer and keyboardist (North and South)
1 November – Bobak Kianovsh, singer (Another Level)
7 November – Mark Read , singer (A1 )
27 November – Mike Skinner , rapper, musician and record producer
12 December – Paul Walker, Irish singer (Mytown)
18 December – Lindsay Armaou , Greek-born Irish-based singer (B*Witched )
date unknown – Oliver Weeks , composer, arranger and guitarist
11 January – William John Edwards , Cerdd Dant singer (b. 1898)
15 January – Jack Jackson , trumpeter, bandleader and radio disc jockey (b. 1906)
24 February – Mrs Mills , pianist (b. 1918)
9 March – L. Radley Flynn , singer and actor (b. 1902)
12 March – Tolchard Evans , songwriter, composer, pianist and bandleader (b. 1901)
3 April – Ray Noble , composer and bandleader (b. 1903)
21 April – Sandy Denny , singer (Fairport Convention ) (b. 1947) (cerebral haemorrhage)
14 August – Victor Silvester , dance band leader (b. 1900)
7 September
15 September – Robert Bruce Montgomery , composer (b. 1921)
13 November – W. S. Gwynn Williams , musician and composer (b. 1896)
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