Backing Bands Have Names Too Quiz | Bands and Musical Acts

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Bruce Springsteen's primary backing band since 1972, this band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their own right in 2014. Who are they?

Answer: E Street Band

Founded in Belmar, New Jersey in 1972, members of the E Street Band have worked as songwriters, producers and session musicians with numerous world famous musicians in addition to Springsteen. Guitarist Steven Van Zandt even had considerable success as an actor, starring as Silvio Dante in the hit TV series "The Sopranos". Drummer Max Weinberg's own group has spent more than 15 years as Conan O'Brien's studio band, first on "Late Night" and them on "The Tonight Show".

2. English jazz singer/musician Georgie Fame was one of the first white performers influenced by ska music. In the 1960s, he became the only artist ever to reach number one with each of his three Top 10 singles. The first two of those number one hits are credited to Fame and which backing band?

Answer: The Blue Flames

Born Clive Powell in 1943 in the Wigan suburb of Leigh in Greater Manchester, Georgie Fame began the 1960s as the piano player in Billy Fury's back-up band, the Blue Flames. Fame took over as the group's vocalist in 1961 and they earned a 3-year residency at London's famous "The Flamingo".

Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames released nine singles between 1964 and 1966, but only two climbed into the Top 10 of the UK chart. Both of those two also made it all the way to number one: their version of the Latin soul tune "Yeh, Yeh" knocked The Beatles out of #1 in January 1965, and "Get Away", written by Fame, topped the chart in July 1966.

After leaving the Blue Flames to go solo, Fame hit the number one spot again in January 1968 with "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde", a song written by Mitch Murray and Peter Callander.

3. Elvis Presley may be the most famous performer of the 20th century, but who were his backing group from 1956 until 1972?

Answer: The Jordanaires

The photo shows a pair of Air Jordan X Steels, but that's as close as I could get to a picture clue for "Jordan Airs" :)

They began in 1948 as the Foggy Bottom Boys, comprising four brothers who were all ordained ministers, Bill, Monty, Jack and Matt Matthews. Various line-up changes followed and they changed their name first to the Melodizing Matthews before eventually settling on the Jordanaires. Following their first recording session with Elvis in 1956, the group performed at most of his recording session over the next 14 years, and also appeared in numerous TV appearances and some of his movies.

The Jordanaires were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2001.

4. Founded as the Primettes in 1959, this group comprised four members from the same Detroit housing project. By 1967, one member of the renamed group had emerged as the lead singer, and for the next four years they performed as a backing group until the leader departed for a solo career. Which group is this?

Answer: The Supremes

The original Primettes comprised Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Betty McGlown. Barbara Martin replaced McGlown and, renamed as The Supremes, they rivalled The Beatles as the world's most popular group during the 1960s.

Their tally of 12 Billboard 100 number one singles remains a record for an American vocal group half a century later. By 1967 they had become Diana Ross and the Supremes, with Mary Wilson and Cindy Birdsong making up the back-up group. Ross left in 1970 (replaced by Jean Terrell) and the group name reverted to The Supremes.

In 1988, the Ross-Ballard-Wilson Supremes line-up was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

The photo clue is the home of a different type of 'Supremes', Supreme Court Judges, as it where the Supreme Court of the United States sits in Washington DC.

5. Founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979, this was the original backing band for Prince, and they were included in the artist's name on his 1984 mega-hit single and album "Purple Rain". Which band is this?

Answer: The Revolution

Often ranked amongst the best albums of all time, "Purple Rain" was actually the sixth studio album released by Prince but the first credited to "Prince and the Revolution". The band disbanded officially in 1986, after the second album, "Expansion", Other than Prince himself, the only ever-present members of The Revolution were drummer Bobby Z and keyboard player Matt Fink.

Shortly after Prince's deathin April 2016, some of the many members of The Revolution announced that they would be performing a number of reunion shows.

The photo clue in the London Eye, on which travellers make a single revolution which gives them a panoramic view across London.

6. Formed as the Five Chimes in 1955, they became The Matadors in 1957 before adopting the name by which they are best-known a year later. In 1960, they became the first Motown Records group to release a million-selling hit, when "Shop Around" reached number two in the Billboard Top 100 chart. Which group is this?

Answer: The Miracles

The key original members were Smokey Robinson, Warren "Pete" Moore and Ronnie White. In 1958, Emerson "Sonny" Robinson was drafted into the army and replaced in the band by his sister, Claudette, and it was then that the group's name changed to The Miracles. After a string of hits, the band was renamed Smokey Robinson and The Miracles in 1967. That same year, the group's most famous single first appeared on the "Make It Happen" album. Three years later, "Tears of a Clown" (hence the picture clue) was released as a single and instantly topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

The group recorded 26 U.S. Top 40 singles, including 16 that reached the Top 20. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the Riock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

7. Rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan, drummer Jerry Allison and bass player Joe Mauldin were the backing trio behind their superstar vocalist/guitarist when this group formed in 1957. Which band is this?

Answer: The Crickets

The Crickets were founded in 1957 in Lubbock, Texas, home tome of their lead singer and inspiration, Buddy Holly. Their first hit single, "That'll Be the Day", rocketed to number one in the Billboard 100 chart and the UK chart that same year. Their debut album, "The "Chirping" Crickets", also produced two more US Top 20 and UK Top 5 singles, the double-A sided "Oh Boy!"/"Not Fade Away" and "Maybe Baby".

Holly's premature death in a 1959 plane crash spelled the end of The Crickets as a superstar group, but they have continued to produce albums and perform live with various changes in line-up over the years. In 2004, they released the album "The Crickets and Their Buddies". By then well into his 70s, Jerry Allison was still touring in 2011.

Buddy Holly was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 2012, the Crickets were inducted in their own right.

8. Some members began in The Loving Awareness Band in 1974, but they reformed behind their enigmatic lead singer and changed their name in 1977. Their biggest hit, a year later, contained the imaginative lyrics "Hit me, Hit me, Hit meeeeeee". They continued to perform following their talisman's death in 2000. Which group is this?

Answer: The Blockheads

Guyana-born Charlie Charles (real name Hugh Glenn Mortimer Charles) and bass player Norman Watt-Roy (born in Bombay, India) left The Loving Awareness Band in 1977 to team up with London-born singer-songwriter Ian Drury.

Hit singles include "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll" in 1977 and "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3" in 19789, but Ian Drury and The Blockheads are best-remembered for the 1978 UK number one single, "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick".

Drury was diagnosed with cancer in 1996 and died aged 57 four years later. The Blcokheads have continued toc record and perform: in 2008 they released the live album "30 Live At the Electric Ballroom" to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the group's first album release, "New Boots and Panties".

9. Founded in 1964 as The Soul Giants, this group is known for its experimental use of sound, elaborate live shows and innovative album covers. They were mentioned in a hit song by another group, before expanding their name at the record company. Which backing group is this?

Answer: The Mothers

Comprising Ray Collins, David Coronado, Ray Hunt, Roy Estrada and Jimmy Carl Black. the Soul Giants were the backing group for non-conformist singer, songwriter, musician and producer Frank Zappa. One day Zappa decided he didn't like the group's name so insisted they change it -- it happened to be Mother's Day so the group became The Mothers. A record executive objected to the name and so Zappa extended the group's name to The Mothers of Invention. They released a number of critically-acclaimed albums before disbanding in 1969. The band twice reformed with new line-ups in the 1970s before finally calling it a day in 1975. Zappa himself died in 1993 aged just 52.

"Frank Zappa and The Mothers" are the protagonists in the story told by the Deep Purple 1972 hit "Smoke on the Water".

10. Formed in Austin, Texas in 1978, this blues rock group was the backing band for my all-time favourite guitarist and their debut album, "Texas Flood" in 1983, was critically acclaimed. They continued performing and recording following the tragic death of their leader in 1990. Which band is this?

Answer: Double Trouble

The original line-up of drummer Chris Layton, bass player Tommy Shannon and keyboard player Reese Wynans formed in 1978 as Double Trouble to back Dallas-born vocalist/guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The 35-year old guitar maestro was killed in a helicopter crash in 1990. Vaughan was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2000, the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2014, and a year later into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Double Trouble released their first studio album since Vaughan's death, "Been a Long Time", in 2001.

Source: Author EnglishJedi

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor 1nn1 before going online.
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Backing Bands Have Names Too Trivia Quiz

Most performers generally classed as solo artists still have backing bands, and some of them have become well-known in their own right. Can you identify the ones clued here?

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