List of notable events in music that took place in the year 1971.
Specific locations
1971 in British music
1971 in Norwegian music
Specific genres
1971 in country music
1971 in heavy metal music
1971 in jazz
Events
February 1 – After months of feuding in the press, Ginger Baker and Elvin Jones hold a "drum battle" at The Lyceum. February 3 – Davy Jones announces he is leaving the Monkees. February 8 – Bob Dylan's hour-long documentary film, Eat the Document, is premièred at New York's Academy of Music. The film includes footage from Dylan's 1966 UK tour. February 16 – Alan Passaro of the Hells Angels, who was acquitted on January 19 of the stabbing death of Meredith Hunter at the Altamont Speedway in 1969, files a lawsuit against The Rolling Stones for invasion of privacy because the documentary film Gimme Shelter showed the stabbing. February 19 – Queen performs their first public concert in London March 1 – The line-up for Queen is completed when bassist John Deacon joins the band. March 4 – The Rolling Stones open their UK tour in Newcastle upon Tyne, intended as a "farewell" to the UK prior to the band's relocation to France as "tax exiles". March 5 – Ulster Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland, sees the first live performance of Led Zeppelin's iconic song "Stairway to Heaven". March 6 – The Soul to Soul concert takes place in Accra, Ghana, headlined by Wilson Pickett. March 12–13 – The Allman Brothers Band records its live album, At Fillmore East. March 16 – The 13th Grammy Awards, honoring musical accomplishments of 1970, are presented. The ceremonies are broadcast on live television for the first time. Simon & Garfunkel win Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year for their final album Bridge over Troubled Water and its title track. The Carpenters win Best New Artist. April 3 – The 16th Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Gaiety Theatre, Dublin, is won by Monaco with the song "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" sung by Séverine. April 6 – The Rolling Stones hold a party in Cannes to officially announce their new contract with Atlantic and the launch of Rolling Stones Records. April 8 – A bomb explodes at a CBC band gig in Saigon killing 2. April 19 – Gil Scott Heron records the first rap song, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised in RCA Studioe in New York. May 1 – Bill Withers releases seminal first album Just As I Am. May 12 – Mick Jagger marries Bianca de Macías in Saint-Tropez, France, in a Roman Catholic ceremony. Among the wedding guests are the remaining Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Stephen Stills. June – Rafael Kubelík becomes music director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York, at the invitation of Göran Gentele, the new general manager. June 1 – Elvis Presley's birthplace, a two-room shack in Tupelo, Mississippi, is opened to the public as a tourist attraction. June 6 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono join Frank Zappa on stage at the Fillmore East for an encore jam. The performance would be released the following year on the Some Time in New York City album. June 8 – Carole King gives her first live concert, at Carnegie Hall. June 20-24 – The first Glastonbury Festival to take place at the summer solstice is held in South West England. Performers include David Bowie, Traffic, Fairport Convention, Quintessence and Hawkwind. June 21 - The Celebration of Life Festival finally gets underway- three and a half days late- at Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana. Pink Floyd, The Beach Boys, Miles Davis and BB King are among the performers. June 24 - The Celebration of Life Festival is closed down by authorities after promoters Stephen Kapelow and Ken Lind fail to provide enough supplies of food, medical and sanitary facilities. Only nine of twenty-seven advertised performers showed up, and about 150 festival-goers were arrested. June 27 – Promoter Bill Graham closes the Fillmore East in New York City with a final concert featuring The Allman Brothers Band, The Beach Boys and Mountain. Patrons are given commemorative posters at the door and find red roses on their seats. July 3 – Jim Morrison is found dead in a bath tub in Paris, France, aged 27. Alain Ronay would claim, years later, that he assisted Morrison's lover, Pamela Courson, in covering up the circumstances. July 4 – The Fillmore West is closed in San Francisco with a final show featuring Santana, Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Grateful Dead. July 9 – Grand Funk Railroad becomes only the second band (after The Beatles) to perform a sold-out concert at Shea Stadium breaking The Beatles record of selling out the venue.