1973

**1973** (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar.

## Events

- January 1 – United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark enter the _European Economic Community_, now known as the European Union.
- January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, President of the United States Richard Nixon announces the suspension of offensive action in North Vietnam.
- January 17 – Ferdinand Marcos becomes President for Life of the Philippines.
- January 22 – Supreme Court of the United States rules on _Roe v. Wade_.
- January 22 – George Foreman defeats Joe Frazier for the heavyweight world boxing championship.
- January 23 – Eruption in Heimaey begins.
- January 23 – President Richard Nixon announces that a peace accord has been reached in Vietnam.
- January 27 – U.S. involvement in Vietnam War ends with the signing of peace pacts. See Paris Peace Accords.
- April 3 – The World Trade Center opens in New York City.
- September 11 – Augusto Pinochet takes power in Chile, in a coup, in which President Salvador Allende dies.
- September 15 – Ascension to the throne of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
- The rock group KISS form in New York City.
- Homosexuality is no longer considered a mental disorder.
- Japans first video game, Elepong is produced

## Births

- January 8 – Sean Paul, Jamaican reggae singer
- January 22 – Rogério Ceni, brazilian football player
- February 16 – Cathy Freeman, Australian Aborigine athlete
- March 22 – Elvis Stojko, Canadian figure skater
- April 6 – Donnie Edwards, former American football linebacker, philanthropist, television personality, actor, and executive producer
- April 8 – Emma Caulfield, American actress
- April 14 – Adrien Brody, American actor
- April 23 – John Cena, American professional wrestler
- May 24 – Ruslana, Ukrainian singer
- June 10 – Faith Evans, American singer
- June 26 – Gretchen Wilson, American singer
- July 15 – John Dolmayan, Armenian-American drummer (System of a Down)
- July 23 – Monica Lewinsky, White House member of staff under Bill Clinton
- July 30 – Markus Näslund, Swedish hockey player
- August 7 – Zane Lowe, New Zealand disc jockey and television presenter
- September 13 – Fabio Cannavaro, Italian footballer
- September 18 – Mark Shuttleworth, South African businessman
- October 22 – Ichiro Suzuki, Professional baseball player for the Seattle Mariners
- October 28 – Alvin Burke, Jr., American professional wrestler
- October 30 – Adam Copeland,  Canadian professional wrestler
- October 31 – Beverly Lynne, American actress
- November 6 – Sandy Robson, Canadian actor
- November 17 – Bernd Schneider, German footballer
- November 30 – Kate Fischer, Australian actress and model
- December 3 – Holly Marie Combs, American actress

### January

- January 20 – Amilcar Cabral, Guinea-Bissau politician (b. 1924)
- January 22 – Lyndon Johnson, 36th President of the United States (b. 1908)

### February

- February 11 – J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist (b. 1907)

### April

- April 8 – Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (b. 1881)
- April 21 – Arthur Fadden, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1894)
- April 25 – Frank Jack Fletcher, US Navy admiral during World War II (b. 1885)
- April 25 – Tanzan Ishibashi, Prime Minister of Japan (b. 1884)

### May

- May 6 – Ernest MacMillan, Canadian conductor (b. 1893)
- May 29 – P. Ramlee, Malaysian actor and singer (b. 1929)

### July

- July 2 – Betty Grable, American actress (b. 1916)
- July 7 - Max Horkheimer, German philosopher and sociologist (b. 1895)
- July 7 - Veronica Lake, American actress and singer (b. 1922)
- June 13 – Viriato Clemente da Cruz, Angolan poet and politician (b. 1928)
- July 20 – Bruce Lee, Chinese-American actor and martial artist (b. 1940)
- July 25 – Louis St. Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada (b. 1882)

### August

- August 1 – Walter Ulbricht, leader of East Germany (b. 1893)
- August 4 – Eddie Condon, American jazz guitarist (b. 1904)
- August 6 – Fulgencio Batista, President of Cuba (b. 1901)
- August 12  Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss physiologist (born 1881)
- August 12  Karl Ziegler, German chemist (born 1898)
- August 31 – John Ford, American movie director (b. 1894)

### September

- September 2 – J.R.R. Tolkien, English writer (b. 1892)
- September 11 – Salvador Allende, President of Chile (b. 1908)
- September 15 – Víctor Jara, Chilean singer (b. 1932)
- September 23 – Pablo Neruda, Chilean poet (b. 1904)
- September 26 – Anna Magnani, Italian actress (b. 1908)
- September 29 – W. H. Auden, English-American poet (b. 1907)

### October

- October 2 – Paavo Nurmi, Finnish athlete (b. 1897)
- October 25 – Abebe Bikila, Ethiopian athlete (b. 1932)
- October 25 - Robert Scholl, German politician (b. 1891)
- October 25 - Cleo Moore, American actress (b. 1928)

### December

- December 1 – David Ben-Gurion, Prime Minister of Israel (b. 1886)
- December 20 – Bobby Darin, American singer (b. 1936)
- December 25 – İsmet İnönü, 2nd President of Turkey (b. 1884)

## Movies released

- _American Graffiti_
- _Enter the Dragon_
- _Magnum Force_
- _Last Tango in Paris_
- _Papilon_
- _The Exorcist_
- _The Sting_

## Hit songs

- "Killing Me Softly with His Song" – Roberta Flack
- "Radar Love" – Golden Earring
- "Smoke on the Water" – Deep Purple
- "You're So Vain" – Carly Simon
- "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" – Jim Croce
- "Crocodile Rock" – Elton John
- "Delta Dawn" – Helen Reddy
- "D'yer Mak'er" – Led Zeppelin
- "Frankenstein" – The Edgar Winter Group
- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" – Elton John
- "Half Breed" – Cher
- "Higher Ground" – Stevie Wonder
- "Keep On Truckin' " – Eddie Kendricks
- "Kodachrome" – Paul Simon
- "Let's Get It On" – Marvin Gaye
- "Live and Let Die" – Paul McCartney and Wings
- "Love Isn't Easy (But It Sure Is Hard Enough)" – ABBA
- "Loves Me Like a Rock" – Paul Simon (with The Dixie Hummingbirds)
- "Me and Mrs. Jones" – Billy Paul
- "Midnight Train to Georgia" – Gladys Knight
- "Morning After"- Maureen McGovern
- "My Love" – Paul McCartney and Wings
- "The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia" – Vicki Lawrence
- "Over the Hills and Far Away" – Led Zeppelin
- "Photograph" – Ringo Starr
- "Ramblin' Man" – Allman Brothers Band
- "Ring Ring" – ABBA
- "Saturday Night's All Right for Fighting" – Elton John
- "Superstition" – Stevie Wonder
- "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" – Paul Simon
- "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin
- "Tie a Yellow Ribbon around the Old Oak Tree" – Tony Orlando & Dawn
- "Top of the World" – Carpenters
- "Touch Me in the Morning" – Diana Ross
- "Why Me" – Kris Kristofferson
- "Will It Go Around in Circles" – Billy Preston