Billboard Number One Songs of 1975 Quiz

Answer: Rhinestone Cowboy

"Rhinestone Cowboy" was Glen's first number one hit. He had played guitar on number one songs including "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra and "I Get Around" by the Beach Boys. Even the success of his sixties television program "The Glen Campbell Good Time Hour" couldn't propel his "Gentle on my Mind" to the top in 1968.

His first chart entry was 1961's "Turn Around, Look at Me". "By the Time I get to Phoenix" only reached number 26. Larry Weiss was a singer/songwriter who released an album titled "Black and Blue Suite" in 1974.

His "Rhinestone Cowboy" was on the LP but only received airplay on easy listening stations. He was about to quit the music business and open a furniture store when Glen recorded "Rhinestone Cowboy". Weiss had plans for a Broadway play based on the song, but after shopping the idea for a few years the movie "Rhinestone" with Sylvester Stallone and Dolly Parton was released in 1984. "Rhinestone Cowboy" was not on the soundtrack.

Answer: Earth, Wind and Fire

Maurice White had worked with Booker T. Jones, The Ramsey Lewis Trio and was a session player at Chess Records before he got an idea to form a band based on principles he learned in the book "The Laws of Success". He conceived a band name based on the elements in his astrological chart.

While traveling with The Ramsey Lewis Trio he toured the Middle East and developed a spiritual vision of the band's concept. He returned to L.A and assembled a group based on compatibility. They were originally a brassy jazz band, but soon changed direction.

Their sixth album was titled "That's the Way of the World" and contained the single release "Shining Star." Maurice's vision had resulted in number one success. B T Express recorded the top five song "Express" in April, 1975. Grand Funk's Top five song was "Some Kind of Wonderful" and Ace had a number three in May with "How Long".

Answer: Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds

The genesis of Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds is in the group The T-Bones. They had a number three song in 1966 with the instrumental "No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach's In)". Dan Hamilton was raised in rural Washington and moved to LA where he worked as a session player.

He was a regular on the "Shindig" show where he met Frank Carollo and Tommy Reynolds and formed the T-Bones. As a renamed vocal group they reached number four in 1971 with "Don't Pull Your Love". Mississippi-born Carollo was so busy gigging while attending Delta State College he never got his music degree. Reynolds is a New York native who learned drumming in the Caribbean but left the band to pursue the ministry.

He was replaced by a keyboardist from Ohio named Alan Dennison, who was actually with the band when they recorded "Fallin' In Love".

The Eagles took "Best of My Love" to number one on March 1, 1975. "Black Water" was the Doobie Brothers' number one on March 15, 1975, and Ozark Mountain Daredevils took "Jackie Blue" to number three in May, 1975.

Answer: Minnie Riperton

Minnie's album, "The Perfect Angel", was the ideal album to showcase her five octave vocal range. Minnie's mother encouraged her to pursue music and by age nine she was singing in church. She attended The Lincoln Center and studied voice. While singing opera she came to the attention of Raynard Miner and Rose Miller who signed her to Chess Records.

She toured with Chess artists The Gems and Rotary Connection but finally left the business to move to Florida. Stevie Wonder called and invited her to be in his backing group, Wonderlove.

When she signed with Epic, Wonder agreed to produce her album. Stevie was her last visitor before she passed in 1979 at age 31. Phoebe Snow took "Poetry Man" to number four the same month. Olivia Newton-John's number one was "Have You Ever Been Mellow" on March 5, 1975 and Helen Reddy had a number one in late 1974 with "Angie Baby".

Answer: Scotland

The band members are all from Glascow, Scotland. Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie came up with the name for the group. The newly-formed group was touring military bases and European clubs when received an invitation to open for Eric Clapton at a concert at London's Rainbow Theater. Delaney and Bonnie were also on the bill. Shortly thereafter they embarked on a tour of the US with equipment borrowed from The Who.

They came to the attention of Jerry Wexler who signed them to Atlantic Records. This enabled the band to get exposure through airplay.

The group's Sax player Roger Ball composed "Pick Up the Pieces" with their guitarist, Hamish Stuart. The band's next album was called "Pick Up the Pieces" and the title song reached number ten later in 1975.

After the release of the album the band members all relocated to America.

Answer: Ohio Players

In the music business since 1959 and originally called The Ohio Untouchables, their hard work finally paid number one dividends. They backed a young Wilson Pickett on his 1962 R&B Hit, "I Found Love" but most of the members left the band even thought they had a record deal with Detroit label Lu-Pine. Members Clarence Satchell and Marshall Jones recruited some Dayton area musicians and reformed as the Ohio Players.

While working as session musicians the boys found time to record their own material and shop it to labels.

They released "Pain" and followed with three other LPs without significant success. A switch to the Mercury label produced the "Skin Tight" LP with the title track reaching number 13. Their 1974 album called "Fire" truly went on fire and on to number one earlier the following year. Labelle reached number one on March 29, 1975, with "Lady Marmalade". "When Will I See You Again" went number three for the Three Degrees in December, 1974, and K C and The Sunshine Band had their number one for 1975 on August 30th with "Get Down Tonight".

Answer: The Hustle

When Van McCoy recorded "The Hustle" as a final track on the "Disco Baby" album he had no idea it would become an international best seller. Van was born in DC and studied piano. After college he founded the Rockin' Records label. A versatile musician, he wrote songs such as "Baby I'm Yours" for Barbara Lewis and had compositions recorded by Aretha Franklin, Nancy Wilson, Tom Jones and Gladys Knight. "The Hustle" almost didn't get recorded.

Inspired by the dances done to disco music, McCoy sat down and wrote "The Hustle" with only hour of studio time remaining.

After the success of the song he worked at Motown Records. Although he enjoyed pop success, his first love was always the classics. "Jive Talking" hit number one for the Bee-Gees on August 9, 1975. "The Streak" was a 1974 number one for Ray Stevens. Sylvers did "Boogie Fever" in 1976.

Answer: Before the Next Teardrop Falls

Baldermar Huerta was born in San Benito, Texas. He started performing at local dances as a teen before joining the Marines and playing in USO clubs. Upon release he played in clubs around Texas. He was asked to do a friend a favor and accompany him on a studio date.

The studio owner took a liking to Freddy and he was signed to Falcon Records. He enjoyed regional success and after a bout with the law he moved to New Orleans and became the house singer at Papa Joe's. He eventually connected with producer Huey P. Meaux and released "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" among other cuts.

Despite being a country Tex-Mex song it made the crossover to the pop charts and hit number one. "I'm Sorry" went to number one on September 27, 1975, and "Thank God I'm A Country Boy" went number one on June 7, 1975, for John Denver giving him two number ones in 1975. "Please Mister Please" was a country style top five song done by Olivia Newton-John in 1975.

Answer: Frankie Valli

Frankie hadn't been in the top forty for close to seven years when he signed with the Private Stock label and recorded "My Eyes Adored You". "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" had hit number two for him after going solo in 1967. He had signed with Motown, but didn't realize any chart hits.

After Private Stock released "My Eyes Adored You" Motown re-released his material. Songwriter Bob Crewe, along with Valli, paid Motown $4,000 for the rights to buy back the song and shopped it around before Private Stock took them up on it. If you've ever heard Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice" by the Wonder Who you were actually listening to Frankie's vocals. Coincidentally, The Four Seasons had their own number three in November, 1975, with "Who Loves You". Neil Sedaka enjoyed number one success on October 11, 1975 with "Bad Blood" and also on February 1st with "Laughter in the Rain". B J Thomas' number one in 1975 was "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done somebody Wrong Song" on April 26th. David Bowie hit top of the chart gold with "Fame" on September 20, 1975.

Answer: The Staple Singers

The Staple Singers had already enjoyed number one success with "I'll Take You There". They were comprised of Roebuck "Pop" Staples and his three daughters. The group had jumped from gospel recording to pop success. After Stax Records folded, The Staple Singers signed with Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label. Mayfield wrote "Let's Do It Again" for the score of a black comedy movie of same name.

He produced the Staple Singer's recording. After "Let's Do It Again", the Staple Singers had only one more chart entry on the Hot 100 after switching to Warner Brothers.

The Silver Convention hit number one the previous month with "Fly, Robin, Fly". The Carpenters remake of "Please Mr. Postman" went to number one on January 25, 1975, and Captain and Tennille hit number one on June 21, 1975 with Neil Sedaka and Howie Greenfield's composition "Love Will Keep Us Together".