FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about Signature Songs of Singers or GroupsPart 13
Quiz about Signature Songs of Singers or GroupsPart 13

"Signature Songs" of Singers or Groups-Part 13 Quiz


This is a follow up to my "Signature Songs"-Part 12 quiz. Many singers have recorded one special tune with which they will long be associated. I'll give you the titles of ten songs. See if you can name the singer or group best known for singing it.

A multiple-choice quiz by paulmallon. Estimated time: 6 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Music Trivia
  6. »
  7. Name the Artist
  8. »
  9. Signature Songs

Author
paulmallon
Time
6 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
361,620
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
695
Awards
Top 35% Quiz
Last 3 plays: Guest 108 (10/10), Guest 99 (10/10), Guest 90 (10/10).
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Do you remember these lines from the beautiful, "Killing Me Softly with His Song"?:
"Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song"

"Killing Me Softly with His Song" won three Grammy Awards in 1973. It was selected as Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and the artist who sang it won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Female Performer.
Can you remember the singer who took it to Number One on the "Billboard" chart?
Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. What's a good music quiz without at least one novelty song, right? In 1958 we heard a tune about an extra-terrestrial creature who wanted to come to Earth and become a rock and roll star. The name of the ditty was "The Purple People Eater". Who was the singer-songwriter-actor who created the creature and also sung about it? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. "Seasons in the Sun" became a "Billboard" Hot 100, Number one hit in 1974. It is one of only a few dozen singles to have sold in excess of ten million copies.
It's the poignant tale of a man about to face death reflecting back on his life. He sings: "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun, but the hills we could climb were just seasons out of time".
"Seasons in the Sun" spent three weeks atop the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in 1974; can you name the artist who took it there?
Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. "Funkytown" was a Number One "Billboard" Hot 100 chart topper in 1980. The group who rode it to the top were led by singer Cynthia Johnson, and the disco band she headed was founded in Minnesota in 1979. Can you recall the name of the group who recorded this international best seller, which reached number one status in over half a dozen countries? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. "He rocks in the tree tops all day long
Hoppin' and a-boppin' and a-singing his song
All the little birds on Jaybird Street
Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet

Rockin' robin (Tweet x 3)
Rockin' robin (Tweet, tweedle-lee-dee)
Go rockin' robin
'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight"
The bouncy "Rockin Robin" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, got to number one on the Rhythm & Blues chart, and sold over a million copies. Can you name the "one-hit wonder" singer-songwriter, who had a smash song about the cool bird in the late 1950s?
Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Talk about a heart-felt apology, 1959's, "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home") is the tale of a person who has gotten on the wrong side of someone special and wants to get back on the right side. It was recorded in 1959 by a quartet of doo-woppers who had formed their band in Brooklyn just a year earlier. Do you know the name of the group who took "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home") to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 list? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. Talk about a gracious loser. A guy has just found out that the girl he's crazy about is about to get hitched to another guy. In the end, he figures if she's happy, then he's happy for her, as for himself, not so much. Little did the band who released "The Worst that Could Happen" (1968) as their very first single and see it peak at number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, realize they would never have another recording make it into the Top 40. Who were these saddened singers? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. In 1969, "Smile a Little Smile for Me", was a top ten hit for a British group that had almost as many name changes as Elizabeth Taylor. Formed in the mid-1960s, they were known at various times as Pinketons Assorted Colours, Pinkertons Colours, Pinkertons and The Liberators. They made their last alteration in 1969. What were they named when they recorded "Smile a Little Smile For Me"? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. You know how it is when you get a song in your head and can't get rid of it?
A lot of folks felt like that when they heard this opening to a popular song in 1975:
"If only you believe like I believe, baby
We'd get by.
If only you believe in miracles, baby
So would I.
If only you believe like I believe, baby
We'd get by.
If only you believe in miracles, baby
So would I.
"Miracles" was the first song by a certain rock band to climb as high as number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It first appeared as track two, side one on the band's second album, "Red Octopus". The album reached made it to Number One on the "Billboard" 200. Can you remember the moniker of the makers of "Miracles"?
Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. "MacArthur Park" (1968) is a seven minute plus metaphor for a broken love affair. It was track ten on the album "A Tramp Shining", which won a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist. Written by the prolific Jimmy Webb, here is how it comes to a close:
"MacArthur Park is melting in the dark
All the sweet, green icing flowing down
Someone left the cake out in the rain

I don't think that I can take it
'Cause it took so long to bake it
And I'll never have that recipe again
Oh no, oh no, no, no, oh no"
Who was the singing-acting star of stage and screen who took "MacArthur Park" to number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart?
Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Most Recent Scores
Oct 03 2024 : Guest 108: 10/10
Sep 28 2024 : Guest 99: 10/10
Sep 28 2024 : Guest 90: 10/10
Sep 16 2024 : Ron04: 9/10

Score Distribution

quiz
Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Do you remember these lines from the beautiful, "Killing Me Softly with His Song"?: "Strumming my pain with his fingers Singing my life with his words Killing me softly with his song Killing me softly with his song Telling my whole life with his words Killing me softly with his song" "Killing Me Softly with His Song" won three Grammy Awards in 1973. It was selected as Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and the artist who sang it won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Female Performer. Can you remember the singer who took it to Number One on the "Billboard" chart?

Answer: Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack first performed the song in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, while opening for Marvin Gaye in 1972. Recorded on the Atlantic Record label, it was released in January, 1973, and two months later it reached the Number One spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, a position it would occupy for five weeks. "Killing Me Softly with His Song" was also numero uno in Canada, and it reached the runner-up spot on the "Billboard" Rhythm & Blues chart as well.
Beginning her career in 1969, Roberta Flack has released over 20 albums and more than 45 singles. She had another song which won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, which she also took to the "Billboard" Hot 100 top spot in 1972.
If you'd like to get a little more nostalgic, here's some more of Roberta Flack's signature song:
"I felt all flushed with fever
Embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he found my letters
And read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish
But he just kept right on

Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song"
2. What's a good music quiz without at least one novelty song, right? In 1958 we heard a tune about an extra-terrestrial creature who wanted to come to Earth and become a rock and roll star. The name of the ditty was "The Purple People Eater". Who was the singer-songwriter-actor who created the creature and also sung about it?

Answer: Sheb Wooley

"The Purple People Eater" wasn't purple; he just enjoyed munching on people who happened to be purple, despite the common misconception of the creature itself having that hue. It was just Sheb Wooley's second single (after "Are You Satisfied?" in 1955). Music lovers of all colors embraced it to the point that it reached Number One on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart on June 9, 1958 and no one could move the monster from the top spot for six weeks. This was Wooley's only song to make it onto the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, but in 1962 he had a song, "That's My Pa" reach number one on the "Billboard" Hot Country chart.

Interesting fact: The Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League, (which wore purple jerseys), used the sobriquet of The Purple Gang, for their fearsome defensive line. Carl Eller, Alan Page and Jim Marshall were three of its stalwarts.
3. "Seasons in the Sun" became a "Billboard" Hot 100, Number one hit in 1974. It is one of only a few dozen singles to have sold in excess of ten million copies. It's the poignant tale of a man about to face death reflecting back on his life. He sings: "We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun, but the hills we could climb were just seasons out of time". "Seasons in the Sun" spent three weeks atop the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in 1974; can you name the artist who took it there?

Answer: Terry Jacks

Terry Jacks got "Seasons in the Sun" to the Number One spot on March 2, 1974. It became the only recording of his to crack the top 40 in the U.S. The Canadian-born singer had two other songs make it into the top ten in Canada, "I'm Gonna Love You Too" (1973) and "Christina" (1975). Here's a little bit more "seasoning" for you:
"Goodbye Papa, please pray for me
I was the black sheep of the family
You tried to show me right from wrong
But too much wine and too much song
Wonder how I got along

Goodbye Papa, it's hard to die
When all the bird's are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
Little kids are everywhere
Think of me and I'll be there

We had joy, we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song
Like the seasons have all gone.
We had joy, we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the hills we could climb
Were just seasons out of time."
The Canadian Music Industry awarded Terry Jacks the Juno Award for his recording of "Seasons in the Sun".
4. "Funkytown" was a Number One "Billboard" Hot 100 chart topper in 1980. The group who rode it to the top were led by singer Cynthia Johnson, and the disco band she headed was founded in Minnesota in 1979. Can you recall the name of the group who recorded this international best seller, which reached number one status in over half a dozen countries?

Answer: Lipps, Inc.

"Funkytown" was track one, side one from Lipps, Inc. initial album, "Mouth to Mouth". The group had a short run, from 1979-1985, and during that time "Funkytown" would be their only top 40 hit. "Funkytown" was also a number one hit in Australia, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. Just one other song, "Rock It" ever charted for them on the "Billboard" Hot 100 list, peaking at number 64, in 1979
Lipps, Inc. disbanded in 1985, having recorded just 15 singles.
5. "He rocks in the tree tops all day long Hoppin' and a-boppin' and a-singing his song All the little birds on Jaybird Street Love to hear the robin go tweet tweet tweet Rockin' robin (Tweet x 3) Rockin' robin (Tweet, tweedle-lee-dee) Go rockin' robin 'Cause we're really gonna rock tonight" The bouncy "Rockin Robin" peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100, got to number one on the Rhythm & Blues chart, and sold over a million copies. Can you name the "one-hit wonder" singer-songwriter, who had a smash song about the cool bird in the late 1950s?

Answer: Bobby Day

Born Robert James Byrd, Bobby Day's one hit was really big, as it was designated gold in 1958. His first experience with rock & roll bands came when he was part of The Hollywood Flames at the age of 15. He didn't record a great many songs, but he sure wrote a bunch, including "Over and Over", which became a number one Billboard Hot 100 hit for The Dave Clark Five (1965). Thurston Harris took another composition of his, "Little Bitty Pretty One" to number six in 1957, when it also went gold. Michael Jackson included "Rockin' Robin" as track six on his 1972 album, "Got to Be There", and The Hollies had it as track eight on their "Stay with the Hollies" album in 1964.

As a singer, "Rockin' Robin" was Bobby Day's only song to crack the top 40 on the "Billboard" charts.
6. Talk about a heart-felt apology, 1959's, "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home") is the tale of a person who has gotten on the wrong side of someone special and wants to get back on the right side. It was recorded in 1959 by a quartet of doo-woppers who had formed their band in Brooklyn just a year earlier. Do you know the name of the group who took "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home") to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 list?

Answer: The Impalas

The Impalas' fame was fleeting. After taking the million selling "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home") to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 list, number 14 on the R&B charts, and to overseas success when it hit number 28 in the U.K, they would last only until 1961, when the group disbanded. Famed rock & roll disc jockey Alan Freed had been instrumental in landing them a contract with CUB records (a subsidiary of MGM Records) in 1959. Beside their one big hit, they would record just a handful more and one album.

The Impalas lead singer, "Speedo" Frazier, managed to get the group back together in 1980, and they began playing again, this time as a touring band.
7. Talk about a gracious loser. A guy has just found out that the girl he's crazy about is about to get hitched to another guy. In the end, he figures if she's happy, then he's happy for her, as for himself, not so much. Little did the band who released "The Worst that Could Happen" (1968) as their very first single and see it peak at number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, realize they would never have another recording make it into the Top 40. Who were these saddened singers?

Answer: Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge (sometimes called Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge, after their lead singer), enjoyed sales of over one and a quarter million copies of "The Worst that Could Happen". The song was written by Jimmy Webb who won a Grammy for Song of the Year, "Up, Up, and Away", for the Fifth Dimension (1967). Johnny Maestro (born John Mastrangelo), was the first lead singer for The Crests ("16 Candles", 1959). The Brooklyn Bridge sold over ten million records and was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2005.

Here's some nostalgia from several decades back:

"Girl, I heard, you're getting married
This time you're really sure and this is the end,
They say, you really mean it
This guy's the one that makes you feel,
So safe, so sane and so secure

And baby, if he loves you more than me,
Maybe it's the best thing,
Maybe it's the best thing for you,
But it's the worst that could happen to me"
:-(
8. In 1969, "Smile a Little Smile for Me", was a top ten hit for a British group that had almost as many name changes as Elizabeth Taylor. Formed in the mid-1960s, they were known at various times as Pinketons Assorted Colours, Pinkertons Colours, Pinkertons and The Liberators. They made their last alteration in 1969. What were they named when they recorded "Smile a Little Smile For Me"?

Answer: The Flying Machine

The Flying Machine also had more names than they had hit songs. They only recorded about a dozen tunes and just one other, "Baby Make It Soon" (1969), ever charted, and none cracked the top 40. "Smile a Little Smile for Me" which sold over a million copies, peaked at number five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 list on October 18, 1969, but surprisingly failed to chart back home across the pond. They disbanded in 1971, after their final song, "The Devil Has Possession of Your Mind", proved unsuccessful. "Smile a Little Smile For Me" sure was a popular late 1960s hit...here are a few verses:
"Oh, c'mon smile a little smile for me, Rosemarie
What's the use in cryin' ?

In a little while you'll see, Rosemarie
You must keep on tryin'.

I know that he hurt you bad,
I know, darling, don't be sad, and
Smile a little smile for me, Rosemarie, Rosemarie"
9. You know how it is when you get a song in your head and can't get rid of it? A lot of folks felt like that when they heard this opening to a popular song in 1975: "If only you believe like I believe, baby We'd get by. If only you believe in miracles, baby So would I. If only you believe like I believe, baby We'd get by. If only you believe in miracles, baby So would I. "Miracles" was the first song by a certain rock band to climb as high as number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It first appeared as track two, side one on the band's second album, "Red Octopus". The album reached made it to Number One on the "Billboard" 200. Can you remember the moniker of the makers of "Miracles"?

Answer: Jefferson Starship

Jefferson Starship has had a run spanning four decades. During that time three of their albums have made it into the top five, the previously mentioned "Red Octopus" was number one in 1975, "Spitfire" made it to third place in 1976, and "Earth" sat at number five in 1978. Three singles topped the "Billboard Hot 100 chart: "We Built This City" (1985), "Sara" (1985), and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (1987).
Rock singer Grace Slick was an on again, off again member of Jefferson Starship.
10. "MacArthur Park" (1968) is a seven minute plus metaphor for a broken love affair. It was track ten on the album "A Tramp Shining", which won a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist. Written by the prolific Jimmy Webb, here is how it comes to a close: "MacArthur Park is melting in the dark All the sweet, green icing flowing down Someone left the cake out in the rain I don't think that I can take it 'Cause it took so long to bake it And I'll never have that recipe again Oh no, oh no, no, no, oh no" Who was the singing-acting star of stage and screen who took "MacArthur Park" to number two on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart?

Answer: Richard Harris

Probably best known for the more than 60 films he made over five decades, Irish born Richard Harris also recorded about a dozen albums and singles. "A Tramp Shining" was his initial album and it received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The single of "MacArthur Park" reached number four in the U.K., peaked at the runner-up spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, and claimed Number One down under in Australia.

Some of Harris' better known movies include "The Guns of Navarone" (1961), "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962), "Camelot" (1967), "A Man Called Horse" (1970), and "Gladiator" (2000). Donna Summer gave "MacArthur Park" the disco treatment in 1978, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman jazzed it up, and other artists who covered it include Sammy Davis, Jr., Andy Williams, The Fifth Dimension and Frank Sinatra.
Source: Author paulmallon

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
10/31/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us