Pop and Rock Music Celebrities Quiz

Answer: Don Henley

The Eagles were one of the most successful musical groups of the 1970s. The band formed in 1971 after Linda Ronstadt had played with a group of musicians in her band. She encouraged them to break out on their own, so members Glenn Frey (guitars, vocals), Don Henley (drums, vocals), Bernie Leadon (guitars, vocals), and Randy Meisner (bass guitar, vocals) came together and produced a number of very successful albums. Don Henley was the drummer and co-lead vocalist for the band from 1971 until they broke up in 1980, then again for their numerous reunions since.

After the Eagles initially broke up in 1980, Henley pursued a solo career that was quite successful. Solo songs such as "Leather and Lace" (duet with Stevie Nicks), "Dirty Laundry", "The Boys of Summer" and "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" reached the top ten on the charts. Henley's musicianship has been rewarded with a number of Grammy Awards (both with the Eagles and as a solo artist), and the 2007 MusiCares Person of the Year award.

Answer: US Army

Elvis turned 21 in 1956. This made him eligible to be drafted into the armed forces. He went for his initial physical in January, 1957. He was declared fit to serve and was drafted in December of that year. As a celebrity, he was given a few options that were not typically available to enlistees. The Navy offered him the chance to have his own group of musicians that would play in Las Vegas. The Army offered him the chance to travel to Army bases to perform in order to boost morale and to encourage others to enlist. The Pentagon that oversees all branches of the Armed Forces in the US also offered Presley a position in the Special Services where he wouldn't have to train as a regular soldier, but would wear a uniform while entertaining the troops. Elvis turned down all of these options and decided to enlist in the regular forces.

Presley was set to be inducted into the US Army, but production for his movie "King Creole" had started. He wrote to the draft board requesting an extension because he was concerned about the money that had already been spent on the movie, as well as the other actors and crew members who would lose their jobs if production were shut down. He was granted a two-month extension, and was inducted into the US Army in March, 1958.

Presley was posted to Germany for the duration of his time as a soldier. He reached the rank of sergeant before he received an honourable discharge in March 1960. Upon his return to the US, Elvis re-launched a successful career in music and movies.

Answer: True

Paul Simon (b. 1941) has been a music celebrity since the 1960s when he teamed up with Art Garfunkel to form the musical group Simon and Garfunkel. Those two stayed together for five studio albums and four live albums before going their separate ways. Paul Simon then started a very successful solo career, with over fifteen solo studio albums.

He has also crossed over as an actor with a number of television and movie roles including the movies "Annie Hall" and "The Great Buck Howard", as well as episodes in television shows such as "Millennium" and "Portlandia". Paul Simon has also appeared as host or musical guest on "Saturday Night Live" over ten times.

Answer: The Blues Brothers

The Blues Brothers were a musical group that was started as a sketch on "Saturday Night Live" in 1978. John Belushi and Dan Akroyd played the leads in the group as Jake and Elwood Blues. They both actually sang and Akroyd played harmonica. The sketch was very popular, so they opened for The Grateful Dead later that year. They also released their first album "Briefcase Full of Blues" in 1978. In 1980, the pair teamed up in a movie simply called "The Blues Brothers".

Of the other options, brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen were in the group Van Halen, John and Tom Fogerty were in Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Duane and Gregg Allman were in the Allman Brothers Band.

Answer: Pop

Madonna was born in Michigan 1958 and moved to New York City in 1978 with the hopes of becoming a professional dancer. Her music career began in 1979 when she started singing backup, as well as dabbling in her own musical groups. In 1981, she created a demo disc of her solo music. She traveled to nightclubs, asking DJs to play the record. Seymour Stein, an executive affiliated with Warner Bros. Records, heard her demo and provided a contract for Madonna to produce three singles with the option for an album to be produced.

Madonna's first single was called "Everybody". It was released in October, 1982, and she performed it live on television on "Dancin' On Air" in January 1983. This first single was a success, as were the following two singles. As a result, Warner Bros. extended her contract and she created her first album. This self-titled album was released in July 1983. She went on to create over ten more albums, each of which was successful. In fact, by 2021, she had become the most successful solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, the most successful dance club artist, the artist with the most songs at number one on any single Billboard chart, and the most successful female artist in history as measured by the number of top-ten singles. It seems she has earned the moniker "Queen of Pop" with all of this hard work.

Answer: The Isle of Man

Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb made up the pop group that was known as the Bee Gees. The brothers were born in the late 1940s on the Isle of Mann, but moved to Redcliffe, Queensland, Australia, with their family in 1958. They had started to sing together before this time, but they began again in Australia in an attempt to raise some pocket money. They were hired by Bill Goode to entertain the crowd at his speedway in 1960. It was there that they met radio DJ Bill Gates. Gates gave the group the name The BGs, named after the initials of Good, Gates, and Barry Gibb. This name evolved to The Bee Gees later in the 1960s.

After spending years developing their style, The Bee Gees split up by the end of 1969, but decided to get back together in 1970. They put out their ninth album at that point, which allowed them to release the single "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart". That song earned them their first Grammy award nomination later that year.

In 1975, The Bee Gees recorded their first disco album, "Main Course". It contains the hits "Jive Talkin'" and "Nights on Broadway". The group was then hired to create the soundtrack for the movie "Saturday Night Fever". That disco album was released on November 15, 1977 and went on to define what many think of when The Bee Gees music is discussed.

Answer: False

Peter Frampton (b. 1950) developed an interest in music from a very young age. He taught himself to play a number of instruments, including the guitar and the piano at a very early age. He started taking classical music lessons when he was eight years old. As he grew, he continued to develop a love of music. When he was twelve years old, he played in a band called The Little Ravens. Then, when he was eighteen years old, he joined forces with Steve Marriott to form the band that they called Humble Pie.

While he was in Humble Pie, Frampton met many other musicians. It was during this time that he first found out about the talkbox, a machine that re-directs sound from a guitar via a plastic tube attached to the microphone into the musician's mouth. The sound from the instrument is then changed when the musician changes the shape of his/her mouth. The talkbox became one of Frampton's signature sounds later in his career when he left Humble Pie to embark on a solo career.

Frampton released over twenty solo albums during his career. In 2019, he announced that he was planning a farewell tour. He stated that he has been diagnosed with inclusion body myositis (IBM), which is a progressive muscle disorder that involves muscle weakness and wasting away of the muscles, making it difficult for him to continue to perform.

Answer: Eurythmics

Annie Lennox was born in Scotland in 1954. In 1977, she teamed up with Dave Stewart, Jim Toomey, Eddie Chin, and Peet Coombes to form a group called The Tourists. They had a number of top ten hits in the UK and Australia, but split in 1980. At that point, Lennox teamed with band mate Stewart to form The Eurythmics. They had international success with hits like "Sweet Dreams are Made of This", "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)", and "Here Comes the Rain Again".

In 1992, Lennox started a solo career. She has continued to have success with hits such as "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass". She has branched out in her career, writing and performing songs for movie soundtracks. She has gained many awards and honours for her work, including being named Best British Female Artist a number of times, multiple Grammy Awards, an MTV Video Music award, and a Billboard Century Award in 2002. In 2004, she won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Awards for her song "Into the West", that she wrote for the soundtrack of the feature film "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King".

Besides music, Lennox has engaged in many humanitarian works over the years, including raising money and awareness for HIV/AIDS charities in Africa that assist women and children who have been affected by the disease. In 2011, she was appointed to the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II for her "tireless charity campaigns and championing of humanitarian causes".

Each of the other options in this question had female vocalists, including Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie in Fleetwood Mac, Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad in ABBA, and Ann and Nancy Wilson in Heart.

Answer: He was her driver

Tina Turner became famous when she was partnered with her first husband, Ike Turner, from 1957-1976. Their relationship was reportedly quite violent, and she ended up striking out on a solo career in 1976. Her first solo album was "Private Dancer" that she released in 1984. In 1985, Turner starred with Mel Gibson in the film "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome". She received multiple Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her work.

In 1986, Erwin Bach was a record executive in Germany. Turner had arrived at the Düsseldorf Airport and he was sent to greet her and drive her to the EMI office where he worked. Bach is over sixteen years her junior, but they became friends and started dating soon after they met. They continued their romantic relationship until 2013, when they finally married. Three weeks after their wedding, Turner suffered a stroke with damage that resulted in her having to learn to walk again. In 2016, Turner was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. She also developed kidney failure as a result of some homeopathic medicine that she had used to control her high blood pressure. When she was told that her chances of receiving a kidney transplant were very low, her husband stepped up to the plate and offered her one of his kidneys. They are now joined forever.

Answer: Dolly Parton

Whitney Houston (1963-2012) first started singing in church as a child. She continued to develop as a singer, becoming a background vocalist while still in high school. She also became a model in 1981, and was the first woman of colour featured on the cover of "Seventeen" magazine. In the early 1980s, she also appeared in other magazines, including "Glamour", "Cosmopolitan" and "Young Miss". It was during this time that she was also in a Canada Dry soft drink TV commercial.

Houston was offered her first record deal in 1983, which resulted in her first, self-titled album being released in 1985. By 1986, the album hat topped Billboard's Hot 200 chart and stayed there for fourteen weeks. Also in 1986, Houston won her first Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female. In 1986, she won her second Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)" from her second album. Houston went on to release further albums, and even sang the US national anthem, at the Super Bowl in 1991.

In 1992, Houston starred in the movie "The Bodyguard" with Kevin Costner. Despite critics panning the film, it was a box office success, grossing over $410 million around the world. Houston recorded six songs for the soundtrack for the film, the most successful of which was "I Will Always Love You". This became Houston's signature song despite having been written by Dolly Parton in 1974. Houston's version of the song won her the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1994. She continued acting in movies and creating music through the end of the 20th century.

In the early 2000s, rumours began to circulate that Houston was using illicit drugs. She admitted to using drugs in media interviews in these years. Houston went to rehabilitation programs in an effort to leave the drugs and alcoholic out of her life, but could never break from then completely. In 2012, Houston was found dead, submerged in a bathtub in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub, having apparently drowned. Toxicology reports after the autopsy found a number of illicit drugs in her system.