No. 1 Hits 1980-1985 Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Police

The group featured bass guitarist and lead vocalist Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, better known by his stage name, "Sting", guitarist and backing vocalist Andy Summers, and drummer-percussionist, backing vocalist Steward Copeland.
The group produced 13 singles that reached the "Hot 100 Charts" in America, including their only number one blockbuster hit, "Every Breath You Take". The single, first released on the 1983 album "Synchronicity", was one of the biggest hits of that year, winning "Song of the Year", and "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocal" at the Grammy Awards in 1984.
The song, written by Sting, sounds like a sedate and seemingly harmonious love ballad. It was actually written during the collapse of Sting's marriage to Frances Tomelty. The lyric describes not a well meaning love but the motivations of a stalker, who is watching "every breath you take/every move you make".

Answer: Paul McCartney

Sir James Paul McCartney is the English singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who gained legendary fame with the musical mega group, The Beatles in the 1960's. McCartney was appointed a Member of the British Empire (MBE) in 1965, and was knighted in 1997. Following the Beatles, McCartney launched a solo career and formed the band, Wings. McCartney is listed in the "Guinness World Records" as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with 60 gold records, and sales of 100 million singles. During the time period covered by this quiz (1980 through and including 1985) McCartney performed on singles that reached the number one position on the charts for a total of 16 weeks.

These singles included three weeks on the charts in 1980 with "Coming Up (Live in Glasgow)" by Paul McCartney and Wings, "Ebony and Ivory" for seven weeks in 1982, by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, and "Say, Say, Say" by Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, which occupied the number one position for six weeks in 1983 and 1984.

Answer: Kenny Rogers

Rogers topped the chart for six weeks, starting on November 15th,
with his hit single, "Lady".
Born Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers in 1938, he become one of country music's most successful singers of all time. During his career, Rogers successful charted more than 70 hit singles across the various music genres, and topped the country and pop charts for more than 420 weeks in the U.S. alone. He has received hundreds of awards for his music and charity work. These include American Music Awards, Grammy Awards, American Country Music Awards, as well as lifetime achievement Awards for a career spanning six decades in 2003.

Answer: Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)

The hit was the theme song from the 1981 film "Arthur" starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli.
The writing of the song was a collaboration between Christopher Cross, composers Burt Bacharach, and Carole Bayer Sager. A fourth writing credit goes to Minnelli's ex-husband, Australian songwriter Peter Allen. The song won the 1981 Academy Award for "Best Original Song'.

Answer: I Just Called To Say I Love You

The song was written, produced, and performed by Stevie Wonder as part of the soundtrack to the 1984 film, "The Lady In Red". The ballad expresses how simply calling someone to tell them you love them can make even the most unremarkable day a magical day.
The song also became Wonder's first UK number one hit, remaining at the top of the charts for six weeks. The song also won a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award for "Best Original Song" in 1983.
Singer, songwriter, record producer, musician Stevie Wonder, (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950) blind since birth, has recorded more than 30 top ten hits, has won 21 Grammy Awards, and one Grammy for "Lifetime Achievement".
The song, "I Just Called To Say I Love You" won an Oscar Award for Best Song, and Wonder has been inducted into both the "Rock and Roll and Songwriters Hall of Fame".

Answer: Down Under

The new wave song of reggae flavor was written in 1982 by the Australian rock band Men At Work, and is from their album, "Business As Usual". The song is a favorite on Australian radio and television, and became well known outside of Australia after it was used as the theme song by the crew of "Australia II", in their successful bid to win the American Cup in 1983.

Answer: Harry Belafonte

Harry Belafonte did perform on the single as one of the contributing vocalist. It was Belafonte who initiated the idea of a fundraiser effort. His manager, Ken Kragen suggested the multi-artist approach, inspired by the success of the British super group, Band Aid, and their 1984 fund raising single "Do They Know It's Christmas?".
Following the American Music Awards ceremony on January 28, 1985, the performers gathered at the A&M Recording Studios in Hollywood, California to record this historic single. The events producer, Quincy Jones, advised the performers in a written invitation, "to check their egos at the door". In all, a total of 45 musicians attended the recording session. The lead vocals were rotated among 21 of the performers.
The single hit stores on Tuesday, March 3, 1985, and all 800,000 copies sold out before the end of that weekend. On April 5, (good Friday in that year), in a rare display of unity, more than 5,000 radio stations played the song simultaneously, at the same time.
The song went on to win the 1985 Grammy Award for, "Song of the Year", "Record of the Year", and "Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group". Ultimately, the single sold 7.5 million copies in the U.S.
Performers who rotated lead vocals were,(in order of performance) Lionel Ritchie, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Kenny Rogers, James Ingram, Tina Turner, Billy Joel, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, Willie Nelson, Al Jarreau, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins, Steve Perry, Daryl Hall, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Kim Carnes, Bob Dylan, and Ray Charles. The supporting vocalist were, Dan Aykroyd, Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Sheila E., Bob Geldorf, Jermaine Jackson, Jackie Jackson, LaToya Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Randy Jackson, Tito Jackson, Waylon Jennings, Bette Midler, The News (of Huey Lewis & the News), John Oates, Jeffrey Osborne, The Pointer Sisters, and Smokey Robinson.

Answer: Michael Jackson

Songs featuring Jackson could be heard for 20 weeks on five number one singles. Those hit singles included, "Rock With You" for four weeks, "Billie Jean" for seven weeks, "Beat It" for three weeks, "Say, Say, Say" with Paul McCartney for six Weeks, and his solo performance on "We Are The World" for four weeks. A close second was Lionel Ritchie, whose golden voice could be heard on number one hit singles for 19 weeks. Ritchie could be heard for nine weeks on "Endless Love", a duet with Diana Ross, two weeks with his single "Truly", two weeks on his hit "Hello", two weeks on "Say You, Say Me, and four weeks for his solo performance on "We Are The World".

Answer: The Captain and Tennille

This duo is a husband and wife team consisting of "The Captain" (Daryl Dragon) and Tennille (Toni Tennille).
Both are products of musical families. Tennille's father was Clark Randall, who performed under the name of Frank Tennille, as a member of the band, Bob Crosby's Bobcats. Her mother was a TV talk show hostess in Montgomery, Alabama.
Dragon's father was the legendary Los Angeles Symphony conductor, Carmen Dragon. Dragon performed for several years as a keyboardist for The Beach Boys. Dragon helped Tennille land a job as a touring keyboardist with The Beach Boys. Daryl was given the nickname "Captain of the Keyboards" by Beach Boys lead vocalist, Mike Love, because Daryl always wore a naval captain's cap on stage. Soon, Dragon and Tennille discovered they made a great team on their own and began performing on a regular basis, billed as The Dragon's. Soon afterwords, they naturally became "The Captain and Tennille".
Before "Do That To Me One More Time", the duo scored a number one hit with their song, "Love Will Keep Us Together" in 1975, which earned them a Grammy Award for Record of the Year.
The duo re-recorded their entire first album in Spanish and again released "Love Will Keep Us Together" as a single. That single charted on August 16, 1975, while the English version was still on the charts. This became the only occasion when two versions of a number one single were on the Billboard Hot 100 in different languages by the same artist.

Answer: 10

Those artist (and singles) were: Madonna with "Crazy For You", Simple Minds with "Don't You (Forget About Me)", Phil Collins with "Sussudio", Paul Young with "Every Time You Go Away", Ready for the World with "Oh Sheila". A-Ha with "Take Me On", Whitney Houston with "Saving All My Love For You", Stevie Wonder with "Part Time Lover", Jan Hammer with "Miami Vice Theme", and Phil Collins' duet with Marilyn Martin with "Separate Lives".

Answer: Miami Vice Theme

Composer, musician Jan Hammer was born on April 17, 1948, in Prague, Czechoslovakia. After a childhood filled with music, he entered the highly prestigious Prague Academy of Musical Arts. In 1968, he moved to the United States after receiving a scholarship at the Berklee Collage of Music in Boston.

In 1984, the producers of the upcoming series "Miami Vice" ask Hammer to take on the task of scoring the music for each episode of the program. Jan accepted the task. The series was noted for its innovative use of music, particularly the countless pop and rock hits of the 1980's, and the distinctive synthesized instrumental music of Jan Hammer.

In all, Jan Hammer has composed and produced at least 14 original movie soundtracks and the music for 90 episodes of "Miami Vice".

Answer: Against All Odds

The song was originally released on the soundtrack for the 1984 film, "Against All Odds". The song earned Phil Collins a Grammy Award for "Best Pop Vocal Performance" in 1985. The song was also nominated that year for the Academy Award for "Best Song". Collins was the only nominee in the category not invited to sing his song on stage, and sat in the audience as Ann Reinking performed it.

The song is a ballad in which its protagonist implores his/her ex-lover to "take a look at me now", knowing that reconciliation is "against all odds", but worth a try.

The song was one of about a dozen written by Collins for his first wife, who left him.

Answer: Caribbean Queen

The song was also known as "African Queen" and "European Queen" with altered lyric to match the particular region.
The song was one of three number one hits for Billy Ocean. Ocean also topped the charts in 1986 with his single, "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" and then again in 1988 with, "Get Outta My Dreams (And Into My Car)".
Billy Ocean (Leslie Sebastian Charles) was born on January 21, 1950, in Fyzabad, Trinidad, West Indies. The UK based popular performer has had 16 other singles chart in the US, four number one hits on the R&B Charts, and 22 singles that charted in the UK.

Answer: Please Don't Go

The song is on the 1979 album "Do You Wanna Party", by KC and the Sunshine Band. The song was the band's first love ballad, in which the subject pleads obviously for a second chance. Ironically, shortly after the song's one week in the number one position on the charts, the group broke up and KC went solo.

The song was the fifth, and final number one hit for the group. The group, which was founded in 1973, was known for their style, which included Funk, R&B, and Disco in their catalog. The group was originally formed by Richard Finch, and Harry Wayne Casey ("KC"), a record store employee and part timer at TK Records in Miami, Florida.

Answer: Michael Jackson and Olivia Newton-John

Both Olivia Newton-John and Michael Jackson had hits that remained in the number one position in the charts for 14 weeks.
Michael Jackson's hit single, "Rock With You", occupied the top position for 4 weeks in early 1980, "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" topped the charts in 1983.
Olivia Newton-John's hit "Magic" remained on top of the charts for 4 weeks in mid 1980, and her single "physical" spent the last six weeks of 1981, and the first three weeks of 1982 as the number record record on the charts.