Billboard Number One Hits of 1981 Quiz

Answer: The Tide is High

"The Tide is High" was a song included on a compilation demo given to the band while they were in London. The song was written by John Holt, the singer for the Jamaican band Paragon. Chris Stein and Deborah Harry thought it would be a great song for their next album.

The band tried to keep the same Caribbean feel as the Paragons' version when they recorded it for their "Autoamerican" album. They hired percussionists, strings and horns on the production to capture the West Indies feel. The band returned to former producer Mark Chapman to produce "Autoamerican" after working with Georgio Maroder on their previous project. "The Tide is High" was their third number one hit and they would score another number one in March, 1981, with the Chris Stein-Deborah Harry composition "Rapture". "Atomic" only reached number 39. "Call Me" was co-written by Deborah Harry and was a 1980 number one for the band. "One Way or Another" reached number 24 in 1979.

Answer: Kool and the Gang

The Jersey-based Kool and the Gang had been around for 17 years when "Celebration" broke them nationally. In an interview with "Rolling Stone", Robert "Kool" Bell related that he started performing as a teen in a band he called The Jazziacs. By 1969 the name of the band changed to Kool and the Gang when they recorded for DeLite records.

Their first single was an instrumental aptly called "Kool and the Gang". When disco became popular the band changed direction. They recorded the "Ladies Night" LP which had two 1980 hits for the boys, the number eight "Ladies night" and number five "Too Hot". "Celebration" proved to be their first number one and coincided with the release of the hostages from Iran.

It was also the theme of the 1981 Super Bowl and Walter Mondale's presidential campaign. Foreigner had a top five in November with "Waiting for a Girl Like You". SOS Band had a top five in 1980 with "Take Your Time" and Spinners also had a 1980 top five with "Cupid/I've Loved You For A Long Time".

Answer: Eddie Rabbitt

New Jersey boy Eddie Rabbitt scored a country style hit. Eddie was born in New York and raised in New Jersey. His father played the fiddle and accordion and instilled music in young Eddie. After trying to get noticed as a country singer in New jersey without success, Eddie headed to Nashville on a Greyhound and had early success when Elvis recorded his "Kentucky Rain" in 1970. Once the hit established him, several other artists starting singing his compositions after he became a staff writer at Hill and Range publishing.

His $37.50 a week job with the publisher became a thing of the past after he wrote the theme for "Every Which Way But Loose" and started having his own hits such as "Suspicions" and "Driving My Life Away" from the movie "Roadie".

He followed up with "I Love A Rainy Night" by listening to demos he had done a dozen years earlier. Leo Sayer had a number two hit in December, 1980, with "More than I Can Say". Don McLean hit the number five spot in March, 1981, with a cover of Roy Orbison's "Crying" and Grover Washington's top five song was in May, 1981, with "Just the Two of Us".

Answer: Keep on Loving You

Kevin Cronin was the lead singer for REO Speedwagon and wrote "Keep on Loving You". The Evanston, Illinois, band built up a local following by touring throughout the Midwest. In an interview with Don McLeese of the "Chicago Sun Times" Kevin said the band worked hard playing clubs, bars and high school dances.

After signing with Epic records in 1971 they released an album annually and enjoyed great sales but no national hits. After Kevin briefly quit to go solo and later reconciled, the band recorded the "Hi Infidelity" LP in 1980 and released "Keep on Loving You" as a single.

The ballad was not indicative of the hard rocking band, but the high energy of the song propelled it to the top spot. Styx was number three behind Reo Speedwagon with "Best of Times". Bob Seger and The Silver Bullet Band hit number five in November, 1981, with "Tryin' to Live My Life Without You" and Foreigner had top five success in December the same year with "Waiting for A Girl Like You".

Answer: Diana Ross

Diana and Lionel's duet stayed on the top spot for nine weeks. It was the most successful Motown Records single of their 33 number one records to date. "Endless Love" outpaced Debbie Boone's "You Light Up my Life" as the top selling soundtrack single.

When movie producer Jon Peters asked Lionel for a theme for "Endless Love" Lionel demoed a tune which he had already written but never recorded with The Commodores, altering lyrics to fit the movie title. Director Franco Zeffirelli thought the song was great but believed a female singer would also be appropriate. Diana Ross had just left Motown for RCA, but an agreement allowed her to record the song.

Despite hectic careers, the duo connected in a Reno studio while Richie was performing in Lake Tahoe. Diana showed up for the session not even having seen the lyrics.

At 3:30AM they began recording and had the hit song completed by 5:00AM. Juice had her own top five in May, 1981, with "Angel of the Morning". Sheena Easton sang the theme to the Bond movie "For Your Eyes Only" and took it to number four in November, 1981. Kiki Dee was paired with Elton John for "Don't Go Breaking My Heart".

Answer: The One That You Love

Graham Russell was born in Nottingham, England and met Melbourne, Australia, native Russell Hitchcock when he was in Australia during a 1976 production of "Jesus Christ, Superstar" in Melbourne. Ironically, Graham missed the first audition but attended the second one and when he heard the ensemble singing on stage he realized that singing professionally was what he wanted to do.

At the time, they were a trio, with Jeremy Paul being the other member.The trio recorded "Love and Other Bruises" which became a regional hit and they left the play. Graham then took a few months off to write songs. Around this time, Paul left. Along with some studio musicians they were selected to support Rod Stewart on his Australian and US tours, giving them the exposure to launch their string of seven top ten singles.

The 1981 number one "The One That You Love" was their only US Billboard Hot 100 number one song. "All Out of Love" was number two in 1980, "Making Love out of Nothing at All" hit the number two spot in 1983 and "Even The Nights Are Better" went to number five in 1982.

Answer: Kim Carnes

Bette Davis was moved to write to Kim Carnes as well as songwriters Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon after the song was released. When the song won a Grammy Bette sent them roses. Jackie had recorded the song on her "New Arrangement" LP in 1975 with a honky-tonk vibe. Kim Carnes didn't like the song and thought it would never be a hit when Jackie offered it to her. Kim eventually did an arrangement of it.

In a later interview with Dick Clark on "The National Music Survey" she credited her synthesizer player, Bill Cuomo, with the innovative sound of the project.

She also confided that the song was so well produced that she was never able follow it up with another top hit. Olivia's number one was "Physical" in November, 1981, Sheena had a number one with "(Morning Train (Nine to Five)" in May, 1981, and the closest Juice Newton came to number one on Billboard Hot 100 was the number two "Queen of Hearts" in 1981. (She did have several number one songs on the country charts.)

Answer: Jessie's Girl

"Jessie's Girl" hit the top spot the same week that The Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company gave the music business a shot in the arm by launching MTV. Australian native Richard Lewis Springthorpe was smitten with the band scene on a visit to London in his teens.

He started fronting bands when he got back to Australia such as Rock House, Wackedy Wak and Zoot. He eventually left Zoot and recorded the solo effort "Speak to the Sky", which came to the attention of Capitol Records in the US. In an interview with "New York Daily News" Rick said he knew he would end up in America.

He was disappointed when Capital focused more on his visual appeal and marketed his music to young teens. "Speak to the Sky" hit number 14 in 1972. Because of the marketing conflicts with Columbia Rick took a hiatus from the music business and took up acting.

After guest shots on shows like "The Million Dollar Man", "Wonder Woman" and "The Rockford Files" Rick landed a recurring role on "The Young and the Restless" before signing on to play Dr. Noah Drake on General Hospital.

He renewed his interest in music and RCA signed him while he was still on the soap.

Answer: Private Eyes

"Private Eyes" was the duo's ninth album and the title cut single. In a "Billboard" interview the boys related that the album was almost titled "Head Above Water" and was recorded over a four-month period including 101 sessions. They had a formula for songwriting of coming up with basic ideas for tunes and refining them during the recording process.

The boys did extensive touring including club dates and a number of engagements in high schools that were contest prizes in a promotional campaign sponsored by Care Free gum.

In the "Billboard" interview they were candid about the fact that these venues provided a great testing and proving ground for what would soon become arena-sized venues. "Did It in a Minute" made it to number nine in 1982. "Rich Girl" was released in 1977 and "She's Gone" charted in 1976.

Answer: Christopher Cross

Christopher had some heavy hitters in the songwriting business help him compose the song. Other contributors were Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen. Burt confirmed that Cross was the only person considered to sing the theme. The song was written in a short session with the writers involved and went on to be the eighth Billboard number one tune to earn an Oscar. Chris wasn't done composing themes.

His song "Think of Laura" became part of the soundtrack for the soap opera "General Hospital". Joey Scarbury took "Theme from greatest American Hero" to number three in August, 1981. Ray Parker, Jr. wrote and sang the theme to "Ghostbusters" in 1984. Bruce Springsteen had top five chart action in 1980 with "Hungry Heart".