1930 in British music

This is a summary of 1930 in music in the United Kingdom.

Events

 * 8 February – Singer Sam Browne makes his first recording with Bert Ambrose's band on Decca.
 * 5 April – 25-year-old Michael Tippett gives a concert at Oxted consisting entirely of his own works—a Concerto in D for flutes, oboe, horns and strings; settings for tenor of poems by Fry; Psalm in C for chorus and orchestra, again with a text by Fry; piano variations on the song "Jockey to the Fair"; and a string quartet.
 * 7 June - The Daily Herald reports that Jack Hylton and his band sold nearly four million records in the previous year.
 * 29 September – Roy Fox gives his first London performance.
 * 22 October – The London-based BBC Symphony Orchestra gives its first concert in Queen's Hall, conducted by Adrian Boult.
 * date unknown
 * The Joe Loss Orchestra is established.
 * Gerald Walcan Bright adopts the name "Geraldo" to further his career as a bandleader.
 * Songwriter Fred Godfrey and Irish tenor Tom Finglass form a short-lived variety act.
 * The Dagenham Girl Pipers are established, under the direction of Rev. Joseph Waddington Graves, the minister of Osborne Hall Congregational church.

Popular music

 * "By the Sleepy Lagoon", by Eric Coates
 * "It isnae me", w. Sally Holmes, m. Edward Elgar
 * "Someday I'll Find You", by Noël Coward
 * "The White Dove" w. Clifford Grey m. Franz Lehár

Classical music: new works

 * Kenneth J. Alford – The Standard of St. George
 * William Alwyn – Piano Concerto No. 1
 * Arnold Bax – Winter Legends
 * Arthur Bliss – Morning Heroes (oratorio)
 * Edward Elgar – Pomp and Circumstance March No. 5 in C
 * Gustav Holst – A Choral Fantasia
 * John Ireland
 * Legend for piano and orchestra
 * Piano Concerto in E flat
 * Peter Warlock – Carillon Carilla

Film and Incidental music

 * Ernest Irving – Birds of Prey

Musical theatre

 * 25 June – The Love Race opens at the Gaiety Theatre where it runs for 237 performances.
 * 30 October – Nippy (music by Billy Mayerl; book and lyrics by Arthur Wimperis and Frank Eyton ), starring Binnie Hale, opens at the Prince Edward Theatre and runs for 137 performances.

Musical films

 * Elstree Calling, starring Teddy Brown
 * Harmony Heaven, starring Polly Ward
 * Just for a Song, starring Lillian Hall-Davis, Roy Royston and Constance Carpenter.
 * The Nipper, starring Betty Balfour

Births

 * 5 January – Saxa, Jamaican-born British saxophonist (died 2017)
 * 17 February – Frank Wappat, singer and radio host (died 2014)
 * 5 March – Isla Cameron, actress and folk singer (died 1980)
 * 10 March – Jimmie Macgregor, folk singer
 * 28 March – Elizabeth Bainbridge, operatic soprano
 * 17 April – Chris Barber, jazz trombonist (died 2021)
 * 4 May – Bill Eyden, jazz drummer (died 2004)
 * 8 May – Heather Harper, operatic soprano (died 2019)
 * 22 May – Kenny Ball, jazz trumpeter and bandleader (died 2013)
 * 28 May – Julian Slade, composer (died 2006)
 * 30 May – Gordon Langford, composer and arranger (died 2017)
 * 1 June – Edward Woodward, actor and singer (died 2009)
 * 10 July – Josephine Veasey, mezzo-soprano
 * 20 July – Sally Ann Howes, actress and singer
 * 27 July – Andy White, Scottish drummer (died 2015)
 * 1 August – Lionel Bart, composer and lyricist (died 1999)
 * 13 August – Bernard Manning, comedian and singer (died 2007)
 * 12 October – Cyril Tawney, singer-songwriter (died 2005)
 * 1 November – John Scott, conductor and composer
 * 2 November – Peter Hope (also known as William Gardner), composer and arranger
 * 1 December – Matt Monro, singer (died 1985)

Deaths

 * 17 February – Louise Kirkby Lunn, operatic contralto, 56
 * 22 June – Mary Davies, singer, 75
 * 13 November – Thomas Bulch, British-born Australian composer, 67
 * 17 December – Peter Warlock, composer, 36