Musicians we Lost in 2015 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Manfred Mann

Jack's bass playing can be heard on Manfred Mann's 1966 release "Pretty Flamingo". Although Jack had played upright bass for the Murray Campbell Big Band and The Graham Bond Quartet, he enjoyed his breakthrough commercial success playing with Manfred Mann. Scotland native John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce played in local jazz bands while attending The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where he studied song composition and the cello.

When he formed the The Graham Bond Quartet he met drummer Ginger Baker and switched from stand up bass to electric bass.

In 1966 Baker and Bruce formed Cream with Eric Clapton. Before Cream disbanded in 1970 Bruce released a solo album titled "Things We Like". He went on to collaborate with numerous artists after Cream.

His final solo album, "Silver Rails", was released in 2014.

Answer: Cilla Black

When "You're My World" reached Number 26 in the US in 1964 it would be Cilla Black's only Top Forty single on the US charts. She was born Priscilla Maria Veronica White in Liverpool. She worked as a cloakroom attendant at The Cavern Club where she became friends with The Beatles. Cilla became one of Brian Epstein's artists and hit the UK charts in 1963 with Lennon/McCartney's "Love of the Loved". Cilla appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and made some appearances in New York but did not tour or perform extensively in the US.
In the seventies she began hosting her own television show for a decade and in 2013 she was honored in a special broadcast honoring her 50 years in show business, titled "The One and Only Cilla Black".
Petula Clark had a big US 1964 hit with "Downtown". Marianne Faithful hit the US charts during the British Invasion with "As Tears Go By" and Dusty Springfield had hits including "I Only Want to Be With You" in 1963.

Answer: Bass

Chris' favorite instrument was his 1964 model RM1999 Rickenbacker bass guitar. He purchased the guitar while working in a music store in London. The guitar supported Chris' aggressive and dynamic manner.
In 1968 Squire was playing in a psychedelic band called Mabel Greer's Toyshop when he was introduced to singer Jon Anderson. They recruited more musicians and formed Yes. The following year the group released their eponymous debut album. Chris had writing credits on several of the tracks. He was the only founding member to play on all the band's albums until 2014.
He released a solo album titled "Fish Out of Water" in 1975 and another called "Chris Squire's Swiss Choir" (2007).
In May, 2015, Chris divulged he was fighting leukemia and passed the following month at his Phoenix, Arizona, home.

Answer: Down in the Boondocks

"Down in the Boondocks", from Billy Joe Royal's debut album of the same name, rose to Number Nine in the US when it was released in 1965. He followed up the same year with a Number 14 song from the same album titled "I Knew You When". In 1966 "I've Got to Be Somebody" broke the Top Forty at Number 38.
The Valdosta, Georgia, native was a friend of songwriter Joe South and recorded "Down in the Boondocks" as a demo for South. Columbia Records was impressed with the recording and offered Royal a contract.
Royal had minor success with other Joe South compositions but didn't chart another Top Forty single until "Cherry Hill Park" went to Number 15 in 1969.
In the seventies he began performing in Las Vegas and appeared in movies and on television programs. He released Country singles during the eighties and appeared on the Oldies circuit until passing on October 6, 2015.
"The Birds and the Bees" was a 1965 Top Ten by Jewel Akens. Bobby Goldsboro released "Little Things" in 1965 and "One Kiss for Old Times' Sake" was a Top Twenty 1965 by Ronnie Dove.

Answer: Louie Louie

Portland, Oregon, native Jack Ely was a proficient piano player while growing up but switched to the guitar after seeing Elvis appear on television. In 1959 Ely began playing with local musicians at private parties and formed a group, calling themselves The Kingsmen. The band landed a steady gig at The Pypo Club and heard "Louie Louie" by Rockin' Robin Roberts being played on the jukebox frequently. KISN Deejay Ken Chase hired the band to play in his club and staked The Kingsmen to a recording session of "Louie Louie" for Wand Records.
Ely was wearing braces resulting in the words becoming slurred when the song was recorded in one take. When there was some dispute regarding the lyrics the FBI actually investigated whether "Louie Louie" violated statutes prohibiting interstate transportation of obscene material. After a two month investigation no evidence supporting the allegation was found.
After the song was recorded Ely left the band after a dispute with the drummer and fronted a band called The Courtmen before being drafted.
Ely released a Gospel album titled "Love Is All Around You Now" in 2012 and passed in 2015 at age 71 in Terrebonne, Oregon.

Answer: Riley B. King

Riley B. King was the son of a sharecropper and was raised by his grandparents. A Pentecostal minister taught him his first guitar chords. In the early forties King would listen to "King Biscuit Time" on the radio and eventually landed a gig at a Greenwood, Mississippi, radio station. He gravitated to Memphis where he became a disc jockey and was dubbed Beale Street Blues Boy, later shortened to B.B. King.
In 1949 King recorded his first single for RPM Records titled "Miss Martha King". Before long he was touring in support of his recordings and by the early fifties he had released a string of Blues recordings.
He continued to record and tour with major artists through the ensuing decades and opened B.B. King's Blues Club in Memphis in 1991. After battling diabetes he passed in May, 2015, four months before his 90th birthday.
McKinley Morganfield assumed the stage name Muddy Waters. Bo Diddley was born Ellas Otha Bates and Edward Lewis Davis Milton took the stage name Eddie King.

Answer: Fame

Lesley Sue Goldstein was born in New York and raised in New Jersey. She was 16 years old when she recorded "It's My Party" as Lesley Gore. The song became a hit selling over 1,000,000 records. She was offered the song "A Groovy Kind of Love" but her label wouldn't let her record it. In 1964 "You Don't Own Me" was kept at the Number Two position for weeks behind "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles. She also recorded early Marvin Hamlisch compositions including "California Nights" and "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows".
Her career also included appearances in films and television.
She collaborated with her brother Michael, writing songs for the soundtrack of "Fame" including "Out Here on My Own". In 2004 she became the host of a PBS series titled "In the Life".
Lesley succumbed to lung cancer in her native new York in 2015.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" and "Top Gun" were 1986 releases. "Footloose" came out in 1984.

Answer: Top of the World

Grand Forks, North Dakota, native Lynn Rene Anderson got her start appearing on a local television show as a teen. In the sixties she relocated to Sacramento and worked as a secretary for a local radio station where she was discovered by a representative of Chart Records. In 1965 "If I Kiss You (Will You Go Away)" reached the Country Top Ten. In 1967 she appeared regularly on "The Lawrence Welk Show" and signed with Columbia Records in 1970.
"(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden" was produced by her husband at the time, Glenn Sutton, and Columbia decided to release it as her lead single. The song was a crossover hit and she had two more Number One Country hits in 1971. In 1973 Anderson released her "Top of the World" album releasing the title song as the lead single. Her Country version reached Number Two while The Carpenters had a Number One US Pop hit with the song.
Lynn appeared on many television programs and hosted her own special during the seventies.
She passed from a heart attack in Nashville at age 67 in 2015.
"I'm Never Gonna Be Alone Anymore" was a 1973 Top Forty from Cornelius Brothers and Sister Rose. Olivia Newton-John took "Let Me Be There" to Number Six and "Satin Sheets" was a 1973 Number 28 crossover hit by Jeanne Pruett.

Answer: The Drifters

Benjamin Earl King was born in Henderson, North Carolina, where he began singing is church before forming a Doo-Wop group in high school. In 1958 he joined The Five Crowns and later that year the group replaced the members of The Drifters. The following year King co-wrote the first hit with the new lineup called "There Goes My Baby". He went on to sing lead on 11 of the group's hits including "This Magic Moment" and "Save the Last Dance For Me".
In 1960 King left The Drifters and the following year he changed his name to Ben E. King and charted his first solo hit, "Spanish Harlem". Later in 1961 he collaborated with songwriters Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to compose "Stand By Me". The song became a 1961 US Top Ten hit and enjoyed a resurgence in 1986 when a film of the same name was released.
King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Drifters. In May, 2015, King passed from coronary problems at age 76.

Answer: False

Alabama native Percy Sledge worked the fields and later became a hospital orderly. Through the early sixties he performed on weekends with The Esquires Combo. He landed a recording contract after an audition with Quin Ivy and released "When a Man Loves a Woman" in 1966. Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright, who were backing members of his band, are credited as composers of the song. "When a Man Loves a Woman" topped the US Billboard charts. Sledge followed with songs including "It Tears Me Up" and "Warm and Tender Love" but he did not have another Number One US single.
In 1991 Michael Bolton released "When a Man Loves a Woman" as a single from his "Time, Love, and Tenderness" LP and the song topped the US charts again.
Percy Sledge was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. His last album was the 2013 "The Gospel of Percy Sledge". He passed from liver cancer in April, 2015, at age 74.