Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Cliff Richard, known as the "Peter Pan of Pop" in the UK, had his first hit in 1958. It is probably one of his few real rock numbers. What was it called?
2. Cliff Richard's backing group, The Shadows, have had an astonishing career too, they are the third most highly-rated in singles hits in the UK behind Sir Cliff and Elvis. This was not, however, their original name because it was the same as an already established American group. What was their original name?
3. Larry Parnes was an entrepreneur who managed a group of young rock singers at this time. He liked to give them names that he thought summed up their character. See if you can spot the odd one out that he didn't manage.
4. Marty Wilde had a string of hits from 1958 through to 1962. Some of these he wrote himself but others were cover versions of songs that had charted in the USA. One of these was "Rubber Ball" in 1961. Which American singer had a hit with the original version in the UK at the same time?
5. During this period there was a famous coffee bar in Old Compton street, Soho. Many future stars were discovered there including Cliff Richard, Tommy Steele and Joe Brown. What is the name of this coffee bar?
6. Adam Faith charted 18 times between 1959 and 1963.He became the first British artist to have all of his first seven hits reach the top five. His first two hits "What Do you Want?" and "Poor me" were number ones but his third hit only got to number two. What was this song?
7. During his early career Adam Faith had the benefit of having John Barry as his musical backing but in 1963 he felt his chart success was flagging and decided to go back to his roots with a rock group backing. He had two big hits with "The First Time" and "We are in Love" with his new group. Who were they?
8. Which of these four early TV rock/pop shows was the first to come to our screens in the 1950s?
9. John Leyton had parallel acting and singing careers beginning in the early sixties but he hit the jackpot with a number one song in August 1961 produced by the legendary Joe Meek in his home-made studio in London. The hit followed an appearance on TV in which John Leyton played a pop star and sang this song. What was the song called?
10. Having mentioned the innovative Joe Meek in the previous question it is a good time to remember his greatest success as a record producer and writer. In 1962 he produced a No 1 instrumental which was number one in Britain but also the first number in the Billboard Top 100 by a British band. The band was The Tornados and the piece was named after a telecommunications satellite. What was it called?
11. Like Cliff Richard this singer was born in India. His real name was Richard Sarstedt and he had five top ten hits between 1961 and 1964. His only number 1 was "Well, I Ask You" in 1961. Under what name did he record his hits?
12. Before he had a series of hits in the early 60s Joe Brown was a session musician. What was the instrument that he usually played in his session work?
13. Billy Fury was another from the Larry Parnes treasury of UK rock singers with a suitably acquired name. Arguably he was the most successful with more than 20 chart entries in the late "50s" and early "60s". "Halfway to Paradise" and "Jealousy" were two of his biggest hits following each other in 1961 but how many of his 20+ hits reached number one?
14. Johnny Kidd and the Pirates had hits in the late 50s and early 60s and had a number one in 1960 with a real classic rock song. What was it called?
15. Tommy Steele was, arguably, the first UK rock star - in fact he had a number one in Britain before Elvis did. This was in 1957 and the strange thing is that the song had been number one the previous week by Guy Mitchell before Tommy's cover version leapfrogged over him. What was the song?
Source: Author
baker13
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
ralzzz before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
