A Rainbow of Songs with Colorful Titles Quiz

Answer: Fats Domino

Antoine "Fats" Domino is a New Orleans native. He has recorded over 175 singles, including such hits as "Ain't That a Shame" (1955), "Blueberry Hill", that's where he found his thrill (1956), and "I'm Walkin'" (1957). The multi-talented singer, pianist and humanitarian has a much deserved star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame,(HWOF) located at 6616 Hollywood Boulevard.
Fats Domino took his place among the other early day pioneer rock and roll greats when he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

Answer: Marty Robbins

Marty Robbins was born Martin David Robinson on September 26, 1925.
"A White Sport Coat", which he also wrote, reached number one on the U.S. Country Charts and made it to number two on the U.S. Billboard Pop Chart in 1957.
A couple of his other songs that also made it to the top of the Country Charts were "Singing the Blues" (1956) and what is perhaps his signature song, "El Paso" (1959). The latter made it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 list as well.
Robbins who recorded over 50 albums and 100 singles has a star on the HWOF. You can visit it at 6666 Hollywood Blvd. Sport coats are optional.

Answer: Haze

"Rolling Stone" magazine had "Purple Haze", released by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, ranked at number 17 on its list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All-Time". Controversy swirled around the tune as many believed that "purple haze" was a euphemism for LSD. Hendrix denied any intentional reference to the popular drug of the day. Jimi Hendrix was "Rolling Stone" magazine's "Performer of the Year" in both 1968 and 1969, and "Billboard" magazine named him "Artist of the Year" for 1968 as well. He has a star on the HWOF located at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.
Jimi Hendrix died tragically in London on September 18, 1970 at the age of 27.

Interesting fact: In 2011 Hendrix was named the "Greatest Guitar Player of All Time" by "Rolling Stone".

Answer: Brian Hyland

Brian Hyland would go on to record two dozen songs. He even had two that managed to rise as high as number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, "Sealed with a Kiss" (1962) and "Gypsy Woman" (1970). However, none came close to matching the success of his song about the embarrassed girl wearing her scant bikini for the first time that day, which sold over two million copies.(It also helped sales of bikini bathing suits soar.) Talk about early success, Hyland was just 16 years old when he recorded that iconic ditty, which was his first single.

Interesting fact: Two years later Hyland was touring with "Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars". As fate would have it, they would be in Dallas on November 22, 1963, the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in that city.

Answer: He was a medic.

At the time of his writing the song, Green Beret Sadler was convalescing from a severe leg wound suffered in the Vietnam war. He had joined the Air Force at age 17 and after his tour of duty ended he decided to join the Army, serving until 1966. The highly decorated Sadler's rendition quickly rose to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart and stayed there for over a month in March/April 1966. "Ballad of the Green Berets" has sold over nine million copies. Sadler wrote the lyrics to honor the memory of his fallen fellow Green Beret, James Gabriel, Jr. who was the first native of Hawaii to die in the Far East conflict.

Answer: Shirley Bassey

The native of Cardiff, Wales recorded over 100 singles and "Goldfinger" was the only one to make it onto the Billboard Hot 100 list as a top ten title.
One of the co-writers of "Goldfinger" was Anthony Newley, and in 2008, he and Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey were equally proud when their song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Each of the other ladies mentioned above has also done a "007" Bond title song: Carly Simon belted out "Nobody Does it Better" from "The Spy who Loved Me" (1977), Sheena Easton sang the title tune from "For Your Eyes Only" (1981)
and Rita Coolidge did "All Time High" from "Octopussy" (1983).

Interesting fact: Ms. Bassey also sang the title tunes from two other 007 movies: "Diamonds Are Forever" (1971) and "Moonraker" (1979).

Answer: Johnny Mercer

Johnny Mercer wrote the wonderful lyrics for "That Old Black Magic" as well as for over 50 other songs. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song for nine of them and won four times. The Oscars winners were, "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe" from "The Harvey Girls" (1946), "In the Cool, Cool Cool of the Evening" from 1951's "Here Comes the Groom", "Moon River" from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), and the title tune from "The Days of Wine and Roses" (1962).
Johnny Mercer has a star on the HWOF located at 1750 Vine St.

Answer: Red Red Wine

This melancholy song is about a jilted lover trying to drown his sorrows by drinking some red vino. Diamond's version reached number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1968. "Red, Red Wine" was later included on his album, "The Greatest Hits (1966-1992)".
In a career that spans over five decades, Neil Diamond has recorded over 150 singles, more than 75 albums and has sold over 115 million records around the world. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011. His star on the HWOF is located at 1750 Vine St.

Answer: Herman's Hermits

Songwriter Trevor Peacock was quite proud of the work he wrote for Herman's Hermits. Peter Noone handled the vocals, backed on guitar by Karl Green and Keith Hopwood. In the same year they had another number one hit on the same chart with "I'm Henry the VIII, I Am" (or Hen-er-y if you prefer). The group had already enjoyed success with their debut single, "I'm Into Something Good", just a year earlier.

Interesting fact: A classy rendition about Mrs. Brown and her lovely daughter was recorded by "Alvin & the Chipmunks" for their too cute album, "Chipmunks a' Go-Go" (1965).

Answer: Lesley Gore

Lesley Gore, who was still a teenager when she recorded this song, was born May 2, 1946. In fact she was just 16 when she recorded her most biggest hit, "It's My Party" in 1963. That song reached number one on U.S. Pop charts and sold over a million copies. "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" was written by lyricist Howard Liebling with music composed by a young Marvin Hamlisch, and was nominated for a Grammy.
Lesley Gore recorded more than 15 albums and over 35 singles, including "Judy's Turn to Cry" (1963) and "You Don't Own Me" (1964).

Interesting fact: "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" was the first of what was to become many big hits for the legendary record producer Quincy Jones.