My Hometown Trivia Quiz

Answer: Freehold Borough, NJ

It is fairly well known that Bruce Springsteen is a native son of New Jersey, but where in New Jersey is a bit less well known. While Bruce Springsteen was born in Long Branch, NJ at the Monmouth Medical Center, he was raised in Freehold Borough, NJ. His parents were working-class folks though his dad tended to drift from job to job. His mother worked as a secretary in an insurance office in the Freehold Borough area.
Reading through Bruce Springsteen's autobiography you can learn more about his time in Freehold Borough and his life there. While he doesn't currently have a residence in Freehold Borough, his primary residence in Jersey is in Colts Neck, a short drive from the town of Freehold Borough.
Fans of Springsteen may be confused by the potential answer of Asbury Park, NJ as Springsteen had an early album known as "Greetings from Asbury Park".

Answer: Linden, TX

Don Henley was born in Gilmer, TX but was raised in Linden, TX. Linden, TX and Gilmer, TX are closely located, and it seems that Henley's time in Gilmer was just long enough to be claimed as his birth place.
Don Henley actually owns much of his hometown of Linden, a one-stoplight town 150 miles east of Dallas, TX. Henley also helped raise the $7 million needed to restore Cass County's courthouse, which sits in the middle of the Linden town square and dates back to 1860.
Additional tidbit - Henley's hometown also boasts native sons Scott Joplin and Aaron "T-Bone" Walker.

Answer: Hoboken, NJ

Francis Albert (Frank) Sinatra was actually born in the town that would also serve as his hometown. That would be Hoboken, NJ. New York, NY and Chicago, IL are two towns that Sinatra famously sang about. Las Vegas, NV is the town that Sinatra and the rest of the Rat Pack famously took up residence in.

Answer: Tupelo, MS

Hopefully the warning helped you avoid taking the wrong answer here. Elvis Presley's mansion and place of his death would be in Memphis, TN (assuming you don't believe Elvis Presley is still alive).
His hometown, however, would have to be the place of his birth, Tupelo, MS.
Elvis Presley lived in Tupelo, MS from 1935 to 1948, leaving Tupelo, MS destined for Memphis, TN in search of a better life just before Elvis Presley's high school years.
Louisville, KY was included as a wrong answer for those that might think of the song "Kentucky Rain" when thinking about Elvis Presley. Nashville, TN is an area that Elvis Presley had influence in with a lot of country crossover appeal.

Answer: Oyster Bay, NY

William Martin Joel, better known to the world simply as Billy Joel, was born in the Bronx, NY but was raised in a part of Levittown, NY known as the town of Oyster Bay. Some might also point to Long Island, NY as Billy Joel's hometown, but that isn't one of the answers provided to select from here, and isn't the answer to the question. (Residents of New York, and especially the Long Island area, might argue a bit about this as Long Island includes the town of Oyster Bay).
Billy Joel actually mentions his hometown in the lyrics of a song you may have heard...
"From a town known as Oyster Bay Long Island
Rode a boy with a six pack in his hand"
(from "The Ballad of Billy the Kid")

Answer: Wynnewood, PA

Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) was born and raised (until she later moved to Rockville, MD) in the town of Wynnewood, PA. She moved to Rockville, MD in 1967. According to some sources, she was born on September 22, 1960. Either way, she was at least 7 years old before moving to MD. She moved to the Long Island, NY area later in her life and in fact was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame in 2006. Joan Jett actually moved to Long Beach, NY (near Long Island, NY) in 1979.

Other areas that were obviously central to Jett's life included major cities and areas in California where she had the opportunity to pursue her career in music.

Answer: Lindenhurst, NY

Pat Benatar, born Patricia Mae Andrzejewski (January 10, 1953) was born in Greenpoint a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City. She was actually raised in Lindenhurst, NY, in a small village known as Babylon. Technically, her hometown may be considered Babylon, but Babylon is just a small part of the town known as Lindenhurst. For more information on Pat Benatar's time in Lindenhurst, you may want to search for information about her induction in the Long Island Music Hall of Fame. (Lindenhurst itself might be considered part of Long Island, NY making this answer a geography lesson that weaves an even more tangled web of towns within New York.)

Answer: Dallas, TX

Meat Loaf (Marvin Lee Aday) was born and raised in Dallas, TX. He went to school for a while in Lubbock, TX (Lubbock Christian College) and later transferred to North Texas State University (now referred to as University of North Texas). After his mother passed away he grieved for a while in his apartment in Dallas, TX until he bought an airplane ticket and wound up in Los Angeles, CA. Washington, DC is an area related to Meat Loaf's career as he was in a tour of gospel musical "Rainbow in New York" in that city.

Answer: Greenville, FL

Ray Charles Robinson (Ray Charles) was born on September 23, 1930, in Albany, GA. His father, a mechanic, and his mother, an orphan who was a sharecropper, moved the family to Greenville, FL when he was an infant, thus making his hometown Greenville, FL, at least until he wound up losing his sight (at approximately age 7) when he was sent to the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, FL. Fans of Ray Charles may instantly think the answer must be one of the selections from GA, but Red Wing, GA is a fictitious town (name included in memory of one of Wylie Pitman's Red Wing Café.

It was Wylie Pitman who is credited for teaching young Ray Charles how to play piano).

Answer: Pittsburgh, PA

George Benson is a Pittsburgh, PA native, actually from a small area there known as Hill District. Most people probably wouldn't recognize Hill District, so for purposes of this quiz question, the answer Pittsburgh, PA is the correct answer (and to the knowledge of the quiz author, there is no town of District Hill which was simply a rearrangement of the Hill District name). Benson has been a resident of Englewood, NJ, but that isn't his home town. Benson, MN was tossed in as a wrong answer as a tempting choice for anyone that may have assumed that George Benson may have taken his name from the town name.