Billboard Number One Hits of 1987 Quiz

Answer: Shake You Down

"Shake You Down" was Abbott's first single for the CBS label. "I Got the Feelin' (It's Over)" was slated to be the first release.
Abbott's mother came from Venezuela and she gave him his first piano lessons. She then enrolled him in the St. Patrick's Cathedral Choir but he got thrown out when his voice changed. While earning his psychology undergraduate degree, Abbott earned money by playing with various bands at college events. He suspended work on his doctorate to pursue music full time. He related in an interview with "AP" "I stopped because music became more important to me". He learned studio techniques working with Marvin Gaye and married singer Freda Payne. She included some of his songs on her albums. While writing songs and doing production work he got a chance to get a record deal with CBS through his uncle, record executive Mike Abbott.
"I Didn't Mean to Turn You On" went to number two in 1986 for Robert Palmer. Don Johnson had a 1986 top five with "Heartbeat". "C'est la Vie" was number two on January 24, 1986, for Robbie Nevil.

Answer: George Michael

"I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)" was Aretha's first number one song since "Respect" topped the charts in 1967. When Simon Climie and Dennie Morgan composed the song it wasn't meant to be a duet. Morgan first learned that George Michael and Aretha were going to record the song when Climie's publisher informed him that Clive Davis was interested in pairing the two singers. Producer Narada Walden put together the instrumental tracks in California and Aretha did her vocals in Detroit. George flew from England on the Concorde and put down his tracks.

It was a lifelong ambition of his to sing with Aretha and he was determined to do his best. Lou Gramm had a solo top five the same week with "Midnight Blue". Chris de Burgh enjoyed top five success in June, 1987, with "The Lady in Red". Richard Marx broke the top five in August, 1987, with "Don't Mean Nothing".

Answer: Whitesnake

David Coverdale started singing for the same reason Ricky Nelson started. He wanted to impress a girl. In 1973 he saw an ad by Deep Purple soliciting a new singer to replace Ian Gillan. Coverdale came on board in time for the band's "Burn" album. He gained experience touring and recording with Deep Purple and left when the band broke up in 1976.

He was contractually prevented from touring for two more years so he started putting together the band that would eventually become Whitesnake. In February, 1978, the band made their first appearance at the Sky Bird Club.

The band was still going through personnel changes, which delayed the release of the "Whitesnake" album. The first release, "Still of the Night", featured Adrian Vandenberg, Vivian Campbell, Rudy Sarzo and Tommy Aldridge as permanent members. "Is This Love?" was another top five for the band in 1987. Europe took "Carrie" to the number three spot the same month. Expose recorded the 1987 top five "Come Go With Me". Bon Jovi hit the top spot in 1987 with "Livin' on a Prayer".

Answer: I Think We're Alone Now

Tiffany Darwisch has the distinction of being the first artist to reach number one who was born in the seventies. She started singing very young and had her first public appearance when she was only nine when she joined the Country Hoedowners at a barbecue. She started singing country songs and by the time she was 12 she was singing pop tunes. She met producer George Tobin and recorded a demo for him. He was impressed and when Tiffany was 14 she started cutting tracks for an album. Among the songs chosen was "I Think We're Alone Now", a Ritchie Cordell song Tommy James took to number four in 1967. Tiffany had never heard the song before and wasn't overly impressed with it.
After shopping demos of the album without success, Tobin invited record execs to hear her live and she was picked up by MCA. She started touring and when Lou Simon of KCPX in Salt Lake City starting giving the song airplay it broke nationally.
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts did a rendition of "Crimson and Clover" in 1981 that reached number seven. "Mony Mony" went to number one in November, 1987, when Billy Idol recorded the Tommy James song. Tito Puente and The Heptones are among those who have covered "Crystal Blue Persuasion".

Answer: Siedah Garrett

Barbra Streisand was Jackson's first choice for the duet. Whitney Houston was considered. She was too busy having number one hits in 1987 such as "Didn't We Almost Have it All" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)". Siedah Garrett had worked with Dennis Edwards on a duet titled "Don't Look Any Further" as well as singing with Plush.

She connected with Quincy Jones when she auditioned for him while he was looking for a singer. She was signed to Quincy's Qwest label. She was working on songs for her recording project when she was invited to a recording session.

She thought she was going to sing background vocals and was surprised to find she had been selected to sing the duet with Michael Jackson. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" is the first song released from Micheal's "Bad" album. Samantha Fox had her own top five with "Touch Me (I Want Your Body)".

Answer: Kim Wilde

"You Keep Me Hanging On" has the honor of being the first song in Billboard history to have three versions crack the top ten. Vanilla Fudge took it to number six in 1968. Five versions of the song have been in the Hot 100. Kim Wilde didn't intend to have the song released as a single from her "Another Step" album.

In an interview with "Record Mirror" Wilde related that she was happy to get a call from the composers of the song expressing their appreciation of the arrangement of it. Kim's father Marty had been a popular singer in London with cover versions of "Donna" and "Teenager in Love". Kim sang backing vocals for her dad and her brother Ricki, who also had hits in England such as "Teen Wave" and "I Wanna Go to A Disco". In 1981 Kim Carnes recorded the Jackie DeShannon and Donna Weiss song "Bette Davis Eyes".

It spent nine weeks at number one. Jody took "Looking for A New Love" to number two in May, 1987. Janet Jackson had top five success in 1987 with "Let's Wait A While".

Answer: The Go-Go's

Belinda founded the The Go-Go's with Jane Wiedlin, Charlotte Caffey, Kathy Valentine and Gina Schock. The Go-Go's recorded the 1982 hit "Vacation", which went gold. The number 11 "Head over Heels" is from their 1984 album "Talk Show". The "Beauty and the Beat" album featured "We Got the Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed". Belinda didn't want to sing with the Go-Go's, she preferred to just play bass.

After seven charted singles the band broke up in 1985. Belinda went solo with the "Belinda" album. The early Bangles line-up was Susanna Hoffs, Vicki Peterson, Debbi Peterson and Annette Zilinskas.

They took Prince's "Manic Monday" to number two in the early eighties. Exposé primarily consisted of vocalists Ann Curless, Jeanette Jurado and Gioia Bruno.

Their first seven singles reached the Top Ten on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Bananarama are an English girl group who had hits including "Cruel Summer" and "Venus".

Answer: Dirty Dancing

"I've Had the Time of My Life" was specifically written for the film "Dirty Dancing" by Frank Previte, John DeNicola and Donald Markowitz. Frank was reluctant to try to write a song for the film's finale because he already had a full schedule. He agreed and asked DeNicola and Markowitz to help him out.

He got the idea for the song while driving and expanded on it on an eight-track recorder. Frank wanted to sing "I've Had the Time of My Life" but producer Jimmy Ienner insisted that Medley was the only one who could do it the way he conceived it. Medley didn't want to do the song at first and it took two months for him to commit.

When Medley and Warnes got together in the studio they learned that they were from the same Orange County, California, area.

Another Billboard record was set when Medley had a gap of 22 years and 10 months between number one songs. "Outrageous Fortune" is a 1987 movie that stars Shelley Long and Bette Midler. Midler received an American Comedy Award for Funniest Actress in a Motion Picture. "What A Wonderful World" is from the "Good Morning, Vietnam" soundtrack. "Moonstruck" was released on December 18, 1987.

Answer: Bob Seger

Glen Frey had a number two hit from "Beverly Hills Cop" with "The Heat is On". He almost had a number one when he was originally selected to follow up with "Shakedown". Shortly before the session to do "Shakedown", Frey came down with laryngitis and called MCA Records to tell them he couldn't do it.

There were only eight days left before the session was scheduled. Seger was between tours and was the first person called to record the song. Seger made some changes in the lyrics but learned the song in time to get it recorded.

The changes were significant enough to give him songwriting credits along with Harold Faltermeyer and Keith Forsey. The song "Hold On" was sung by Keta Bill in "Beverly Hills Cop II" but Corey Hart had the hit record. Starship had a number one in April, 1987, with "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now". Huey Lewis and the News tasted number one success in March, 1987, with "Jacob's Ladder" and Atlantic Starr took "Always" to the top spot in June, 1987.

Answer: Club Nouveau

"Lean on Me' is the fifth song to reach number one in versions recorded by separate artists. "Go Away Little Girl", "The Loco-Motion", "Please Mr. Postman" and "Venus" preceded "Lean on Me". Jay King was working as a legislative aid to an Alaskan state senator when he promoted a concert by Con Funk Shun.

The group suggested he record some of his demos. He eventually formed a group and recruited singer Valerie Watson. Initially calling themselves Nouveau Riche, they changed their name to Club Nouveau on the advice of their label's attorney. Jay King told "Rock Express" that Bill Withers called him after their version of his song went to number one congratulating the band. Cutting Crew had a number one hit in May, 1987, with "(I Just) Died in Your Arms Tonight". Billy Vera and the Beaters' number one song in 1987 was "At This Moment" on January 24th. Crowded House had a top five with "Don't Dream it's Over" in April, 1987.