- Apr 1 Chepín [Electo Rosell], Cuban violinist, bandleader, and composer (Orquesta Chepín-Chovén), dies at 76
Marvin Gaye (1939-1984)
Apr 1 American soul singer-songwriter ("It Takes Two"; What's Going On"; "Let's Get It On"), shot to death by his father Marvin Gay, Sr., during a domestic dispute in Los Angeles at 44
- Apr 3 Antanas Račiūnas, Lithuanian composer and pedagogue, dies at 78
- Apr 4 Johnny Arnold, English cricket batsman (1 Test, HS 34; Hampshire CCC) and soccer winger (1 cap; Oxford City, Southampton, Fulham), dies at 76
- Apr 4 Oleg Antonov, Soviet airplane engineer (b. 1906)
- Apr 5 Arthur Harris, British RAF Commanding Chief known as "Bomber/Butcher Harris" for commanding the bombing campaign against Nazi Germany, dies at 91
- Apr 5 Arthur Travors Harris, marshal of British RAF, dies
- Apr 5 Robert Adams, English sculptor and designer, dies at 67
- Apr 5 Theo Koomen, Dutch sportscaster, dies in auto-accident at 54
- Apr 6 Jimmy Kennedy, Irish singer-songwriter ("Teddy Bears' Picnic"; "My Prayer"), dies at 81
- Apr 6 Ral Donner, singer/narrator, dies at 41
- Apr 7 Frank Church, American lawyer and politician (United States Senator from Idaho), dies at 59
- Apr 7 Samuel C Engel, poet, dies of heart failure at 79
- Apr 8 Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist (Nobel 1978), dies at 89
- Apr 9 Basil Henry Blackwell, British publisher, dies
- Apr 10 Ray Middleton, American actor (1776;, Hurricane Smith), dies at 75
- Apr 11 Fred Robinson, American jazz trombonist (Louis Armstong's Hot Five; Fats Waller; Cab Calloway), dies at 83
- Apr 12 Ruth Taylor, actress (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes), dies at 76
- Apr 13 Christopher Wilder, Australian serial killer, dies at 39
- Apr 13 Dionyssis Papayannopoulos, Greek actor, dies at 71
- Apr 13 George Fierstone, British jazz and session drummer, (The Skyrockets), dies at 67
- Apr 13 Ralph Kirkpatrick, American musician, musicologist and harpsichordist (Domenico Scarlatti), dies at 72
- Apr 13 Richard Hurndall, British actor (Doctor Who, The Inheritors, It's Murder But Is It Art), dies from a heart attack at 73
- Apr 14 Dioniysis Papagiannopoulos, Greek stage and screen actor, dies of a stroke at 71
- Apr 15 Alexander Trocchi, Scottish writer, dies at 58
- Apr 15 Machito [Francisco "Frank" Grillo], Latin jazz musician and creator of Cu-bop and salsa music (Afro-Cubans), dies following a stroke at 76
- Apr 15 Tommy Cooper, British comedian and magician, collapses and dies on stage at 61
- Apr 15 William Empson, English poet and critic (Milton's God), dies at 77
- Apr 16 Charles G. Finney, American fantasy author (Circus of Dr Lao), dies at 78
- Apr 17 Claude Provost, French Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1933)
- Apr 17 Mark W. Clark, American general, dies at 87
- Apr 18 Arvi Kivimaa, Finnish writer (Groenende Cross), dies at 79
- Apr 18 Francis De Wolff, British character actor (A Christmas Carol, From Russia With Love), dies at 71
- Apr 18 John Lee Mahin, American screenwriter, dies of emphysema at 81
- Apr 20 Hristo Prodanov, Bulgarian mountaineer (b. 1943)
- Apr 20 Mabel Mercer, British jazz and cabaret singer whose style and phrasing influenced Frank Sinatra ("Fly Me to the Moon"), dies at 84
Ansel Adams (1902-1984)
Apr 22 American landscape photographer and environmentalist (Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980), dies at 82
- Apr 23 (William) "Red" Garland, American jazz pianist (Miles Davis Quintet), dies of a heart attack at 60
- Apr 23 Guus Oster, Dutch stage and screen actor and director (Voorbij, Voorbij; Kiss Me Kate), dies at 68
- Apr 23 Juan Tizol, Puerto Rican jazz trombonist (Duke Ellington), and composer ("Caravan"; "Perdido"), dies at 84
- Apr 25 Richard Benedict, actor (Okinawa), dies at 64 of a heart attack
Count Basie (1904-1984)
Apr 26 Jazz pianist, organist, and bandleader ("One O'Clock Jump"; "April In Paris"), dies of pancreatic cancer at 79
- Apr 26 Barry Gray [John Livesey Eccles], British pianist, ondist, Hammond organ player, film and television composer (Thunderbirds; Space:1999), dies at 75
- Apr 26 Henry Rowland, American actor (Rogue's Regiment), dies at 70
- Apr 26 May McAvoy, American actress (Ben Hur), dies at 82 after a heart attack
- Apr 28 Glen H. Taylor, American senator, dies at 80
- Apr 28 Moses "Whispering" Smith, American blues harmonica player and singer ("A Thousand Miles From Nowhere"; "Hound Dog Twist"), dies at 52
- Apr 28 Piet Kraak, Dutch soccer goalkeeper (33 caps; Stormvogels, Elinkwijk), dies from a stroke at 55
- Apr 28 Silvia Ashton-Warner, New Zealand writer, dies at 76
Assassination
Drug Overdose
Gunshot Wound
Murder
Plane Crash
Suicide