Posthumous Releases Trivia

1. In 2010, a member of pop's royalty recorded an album that was not released at the time and disappeared on his death in 2016. Five years later, "Welcome 2 America" reemerged. Who was the musical genius behind it?

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Prince

No one is quite sure why "Welcome 2 America" was not released after its recording, some say the times, and Prince, had moved on. Prince was a prodigious recording artist, as 39 albums proved. "Welcome 2 America" came out in July 2021, an instalment perhaps from what was believed to be a huge catalogue of unreleased material. Previously, two other posthumous LPs had been released, including "Originals", a compilation of demos he had written for other artists.

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: Jim Croce

Jim Croce recorded music in the early 1970s. He is most famous for writing songs about big, evil men getting being brought to justice by seemingly little guys. His hits "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" and "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" explore this topic. His final album, which is in my opinion his best album, entitled "I Got a Name" was released in December of 1973. This album had hits such as the title track, "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song," and "Working at the Car Wash Blues," two of which charted in the top ten in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and one of which reached number 32 on that chart. Unfortunately, before anybody could tell him how amazing these songs are, he had died in a plane crash. Also, while "Time in a Bottle" was released before Croce died, the song didn't rise to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 until after he died.

From Quiz Just a Song Before...er...After I Go

Answer: Me and Bobby McGee

Both 'Bobby McGee' and the acapella 'Mercedes Benz' were taken from Joplin's final album 'Pearl', released after her death, with her band Full Tilt Boogie. 'Piece of My Heart', performed when Janis was with Big Brother and the Holding Company, only reached number 12 on the U.S. pop charts in 1968. 'Bobby McGee' was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Jeff Buckley

Jeff Buckley started working on the double album in 1996 and it was not completed by the time he died in May 1997. Eventually it reached number seven on the UK album charts, and number 64 on the Billboard 200. Buckley is thought to have written hundreds of songs, and the potential was there for other recordings. He toured widely and became noted for songs such as "Last Goodbye," "Lilac Wine,"and his cover of "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen.

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: Sublime

Sublime were a 1990s ska band. They had a few hits such as "Santeria," "Doin' Time," "What I Got," and the controversial "Wrong Way," all of which are on their self-titled final album. Unfortunately, the album and all these songs were released after Nowell died of heroin, so he never got to experience much of his fame.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: The Notorious BIG

Initially the album was to be called "Life After Death... Till Death Do Us Part". He recorded his parts while seated due to a leg injury sustained in a car crash in Brooklyn, New York. Big had already planned ahead to make his next album, which was to be entitled "Born Again". On March 9, 1997, Big was in a car in Los Angeles with fellow musician Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. Reports later suggested that Big was the victim of a hitman who had been hired to kill Combs. The hit was allegedly revenge for the killing of Tupac Shakur (aka 2Pac) who was shot four times in Las Vegas in September 1996 and died six days later.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Nirvana

Nirvana had become known for their hard playing grunge music, which was to be softened by the acoustic set for MTV in 1993. In 2017, "Rolling Stone" named the Nirvana gig as the best of 15 unplugged concerts in the MTV series. Frontman, Kurt Cobain, had insisted the set be dressed like a funeral and there was a dark edge to the performance. Cobain died by suicide on April 5, 1994. The album rose to the top of the charts in Canada, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and the USA. The wrong answers were bands that carried on after the death or departure of a member.

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: Janis Joplin

Janis Joplin was the first major female rock musician ever. She didn't write most of her songs, but people love her powerful singing voice. She became famous with her hit "Piece of My Heart." Most of her hits, though, were on her last and most popular album, "Pearl", which was released after Joplin died of a heroin overdose. This album reached number one on the Billboard top 200, was certified four times platinum, and had the hits "Cry Baby," "Me and Bobby McGee," and "Mercedes Benz," as well as the song "Move Over" which has been covered by the British glam band Slade and the American 80s glam band Cinderella. It's a shame she will never know how popular these songs are.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Juice Wrld

The death of Jarad Anthony Higgins at the age of 21 was said to be drugs-related. Higgins hailed from Chicago, Illinois, and started his public career posting songs to an social media site. The song "Lucid Dreams" from his first EP in 2017 became a huge hit. But within two years he had died. The "New York Tomes" regarded him as a performer whose star was on the rise, supplying "sharp, catchy songs, which were often freestyled in only a few takes, combined the melodic hip-hop instincts of Lil Yachty, Post Malone and XXXTentacion with the heavy-hearted angst and nasal hooks of emo and pop-punk bands like Fall Out Boy and Panic! at the Disco."

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: Nirvana

Nirvana's "MTV Unplugged" performance was recorded in 1993. The album was released one year later. By the time that album came out, Cobain had died. The cause of his death has been disputed, but the most popular belief is that he committed suicide. He probably didn't expect this "MTV Unplugged" performance to be so popular, and he may not have even wanted it. This performance features very few of Nirvana's most popular songs and almost half of the songs are cover songs. However, the album was certified five times platinum and won a Grammy in 1996.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Viola Beach

In February 2016, the four members of the band and their manager died when the car they were in plunged off a bridge. Singles by the band began club the charts and in August of 2016 the self-titled debut album reached the top of the UK albums charts. The band had been together for just three years. As Barry Nicolson noted for "NME", "...this band were barely even getting started. 'Viola Beach' is not the debut album they would have made, but it's the only legacy they'll leave; you're glad that it exists but, at the same time, you wish it didn't have to." The wrong answers were bands that carried on after the death of a member.

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: Tupac Shakur

This album was released in 1996, peaked at number one on the U.S. Billboard top 200 albums chart, and was certified four times platinum in 1999. Unfortunately, by the time all of this happened, Tupac Shakur had been murdered.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was suffering from a range of medical conditions when he went into the studios. He was also mourning the death of his wife, June Carter Cash, a few months before. Still, he completed "American V: A Hundred Highways", which was to be his first number one album in almost 40 years. It was probably the recording that kept Cash going after the death of his wife in May 2003. She had insisted he keep on working and he went back into the studio. He also performed a limited number of events at the Carter Family Fold on the July 5, 2003. He died on September 12 of that year. Writing for "BBC Music", Chris Long said: "'American V' would have been a fitting end to Cash's career even if he hadn't died three years ago. It is an album of weary hope and of gentle regret, mixing jet-black humour about his waning health and coming death with beautifully tender moments of love and loss."

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: The Notorious B.I.G.

The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered just months after Tupac was. Perhaps equally sadly, his murder is just as mysterious and unsolved as Tupac's is, unless some miracle happened some time after this quiz was made. An album of his called "Born Again" was released afterwards. It debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard top 200 albums chart and has been certified double platinum.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Joey Ramone

Joey Ramone (born Jeffrey Ross Hyman) was the lead singer and co-founder of The Ramones in 1974. They went on to release 14 studio albums to modest success. In 1995. Joey was diagnosed with lymphoma, an illness that was not revealed until six years later. He died on April 15, 2001 at the age of 49. At his death, the surviving members said they would never perform together again. The album was released in February 2002.

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: Queen

Queen are one of the most popular rock and roll bands of all time. Their singer, Freddie Mercury, developed AIDS. The band recorded some of its final album, "Made in Heaven" with him. He died before the album was finished, so they finished it without him and released it after he died. The album became the band's best-selling studio album worldwide. It has sold over 19 million copies around the world and it charted at number one in at least ten different countries.

From Quiz Just a Song Before...er...After I Go

Answer: George Harrison

The re-release of the former Beatle's 1971 hit 'My Sweet Lord' came following Harrison's death from cancer on November 29, 2001. This marked the first time the British pop charts had two back-to-back posthumous songs at the top of the charts. Thornton (of the group La Bouche), Schildiner (founder of the metal group Death) and Adamson (of the group Big Country) also died in the latter part of 2001, but had no posthumous hits.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Leonard Cohen

"Thanks for the Dance" was made up of songs that Cohen had partially recorded during the sessions for "You Want It Darker", the last album of his lifetime. His son Adam completed the recordings. Adam had also written or cowritten seven of the nine tracks. It topped the Canadian charts and was a number seven in the UK. Giving the album a five-star review, Dave Simpson wrote in the "Guardian" it was a "beautiful posthumous collection". He added: "...the sparse, sublime instrumentation never takes the focus away from Cohen's inimitable voice, which is lush, deadpan, warm and poetic, with a hint of frailty adding to the sense of a final statement." Cohen died in 2016 at the the of 82.

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: Joy Division

Joy Division released two albums in their career, "Unknown Pleasure" and "Closer." The latter was released after Ian Curtis hanged himself. "Rolling Stone" magazine ranked this album at #number 157 on their list of 500 greatest albums of all time.

From Quiz Music From Beyond The Grave

Answer: Harry Chapin

Chapin started to think of a new musical treatment in 1978, knowing that it would be 1981 before he would start to put those thoughts into words and music. He was still working on them when he died in a road crash in July 1981. At the time of his death, Chapin had 17 or 18 songs that were beginning to take shape in the studio. In 1988, a new album containing 11 of the most advanced was released.

From Quiz Posthumous Releases

Answer: Selena Quintanilla

Selena Quintanilla is the most popular singer of Latin pop music in history. She was murdered at the age of 23 by Yolanda Saldivar, who was in charge of Selena's fan club and clothing line, the former of which Saldivar created. After her murder, the album "Dreaming of You" was released. RIAA certified this album 59 times platinum, making it the highest selling Latin American pop album ever.

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Last Updated Dec 21 2024 5:54 AM

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