- May 3 Milford Dolliole, American pioneer jazz drummer, dies at 90
- May 6 Haskell Sadler, American blues singer and guitarist, dies at 59
- May 11 Danny Overbea, American rock singer and guitarist ("Forty Cups of Coffee"), dies at 68
- May 11 Leonard Friedman, British-Lithuanian violinist (Scottish Baroque Ensemble), dies at 63
- May 15 Frederik von Pallandt, Danish-Dutch pop singer and guitarist (Nina & Frederik), murdered in the Philippines at 60
- May 15 Ronnie Potsdammer, Dutch singer, songwriter and programmer, dies at 71
- May 17 Keith Falkner, British bass-baritone singer (Director of the Royal College of Music), dies at 94
- May 23 Joe Pass [Passalaqua], American jazz guitarist ("The Trio" with Oscar Peterson; Ella Fitzgerald) and composer, dies from liver cancer at 65
- May 24 Sándor Lakatos, Hungarian violinist, bandleader, and actor (mostly as a gypsy violinist), dies at 69
- May 25 Eric Gale, American jazz, R&B, session and touring guitarist (Negril; Stuff; Paul Simon's One-Trick Pony; Bob James; Grover Washington, Jr.), dies of lung cancer at 55
- May 26 Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock, American jazz guitarist (Last Exit), dies of a heart attack at 53
- May 27 Red Rodney [Robert Chudnick], American jazz trumpeter (Charlie Parker Quintet), dies from lung cancer at 66
- May 29 Oliver "Bops Junior" Jackson, American jazz drummer, dies at 61
- May 31 Herva Nelli, Italian-born American soprano, dies at 85
- May 31 [Emmanuel] "Mannie" Klein, American swing jazz and session trumpeter (Frank Trumbauer; NBC Orchestra), dies at 86