Bobby McFerrin: His Career Up to "Being Happy" Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Bobby McFerrin released his solo debut in 1982, a self-titled jazz album. A mixture of original and uniquely arranged cover songs, it didn't fare well on the music charts, but it did pique the interests of many jazz critics. Bobby McFerrin put his own spin on several composers' songs; which of the following did he NOT cover on his first album?

Answer: Carlos Santana

Featuring Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got a Hold On Me", Horace Silver's "Peace" and Van Morrison's "Moon Dance", Bobby McFerrin only went A cappella a few points on the album. McFerrin went back to a number of these songs when touring with the "Bang Zoom" trio in the mid1990s.

2. Bobby McFerrin's second album in 1984 was a groundbreaking work, the first solo vocal jazz album to have no accompaniment or over dubbing. Plus, it was done live. Bobby McFerrin's second album was simply called what?

Answer: The Voice

Taking excerpts from a tour in Germany, Bobby McFerrin's signature style was completely unveiled on this album. He truly proves himself as a one-man band, yet does so without the use of instruments. Highlights of the album feature remakes of the Beatles' "Blackbird" and James Brown's "I Feel Good".

3. 1985 broke the seal on Bobby McFerrin winning Grammy Awards. He collaborated with Manhattan Transfer and Jon Hendricks to pen a completely A cappella version of a classic jazz instrumental song made famous by Charlie Parker. The song went on to win two Grammy Awards. What song was this?

Answer: Another Night in Tunisia

Bobby McFerrin and Cheryl Bentyne of Manhattan Transfer shared the award for "Best Vocal Arrangement for Multiple Voices", and Bobby and Jon Hendricks shared the award of "Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Male". Jon Hendricks was no slouch on the song either, as he reproduced Charlie Parker's ridiculously difficult saxophone solo on the song, and even included words.

4. In 1986 Bobby McFerrin was hand picked by the star of a popular American television show to record a new version of the show's theme song. What was this famous TV show?

Answer: The Cosby Show

Using multiple tracks of his own voice, and NO instruments, Bobby McFerrin put down a version of the "Cosby Show" theme that was arguably the most popular of all the versions released. In fact, the music company TVT that puts out the series of albums entitled "Television's Greatest Hits" chose the Bobby McFerrin version of the "Cosby Show" theme when they needed a "Cosby Show" theme to put on their collection. Bobby McFerrin is also the performer of another TV theme song, this time performing "Hush Little Baby" with Yo-Yo Ma on the theme to the HBO Family show, "Kindergarten".

5. In the latter part of the 1980s, Bobby McFerrin was tabbed to do a series of commercials for a clothing company. What was advertised on these commercials?

Answer: Levi's 501 Blue Jeans

The commercials mainly consisted of Bobby being Bobby, hanging out on the street corner singing by himself. Of the four companies listed, Nike Shoes would be the least likely to be endorsed by Bobby McFerrin, as he tends to remove his shoes and socks during performing. One concert I saw, he barely got through one song before he realized he just didn't feel right. Off came the footwear.

6. In 1987, Bobby McFerrin took a different path temporarily and recorded a children's album, performing the soundtrack to the reading of a famous Rudyard Kipling story "The Elephant's Child". The storyteller was an Academy Award winner, and as storytellers go, he's as good as it gets. Who teamed up with Bobby McFerrin on "The Elephant's Child", and shared a Grammy for "Best Children's Recording"?

Answer: Jack Nicholson

Jack Nicholson has won three Oscars and been nominated a staggering twelve times. His droll delivery of the story matches up brilliantly with McFerrin's African style singing in the background. When hearing about this little gem, my mind thought, "I would have nightmares for a week if the dude from "The Shining" read me a bedtime story!" But Jack is a man of many facets, and once you hear it, you realize he would be the "cool" uncle in your family.

7. In 1988 Bobby McFerrin released the album "Simple Pleasures", his greatest commercial success. Contrary to popular belief, "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was not the first single released off the album. What minor hit, a remake of a 1960s song by the Rascals, was released first?

Answer: Good Lovin'

Once again, with no help from musical instruments, Bobby McFerrin crafted a fantastic arrangement of a song, with his voice spanning four octaves in one song. With the use of green screen, the song's video incorporated him singing with himself, himself, himself, and himself on five microphones simultaneously.

Other highlights from this album are "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Drive". In fact, "Drive" was performed on his one appearance on "Saturday Night Live" (again, no accompaniment), and he resurrected the song in 2009 in an improvisational performance on the first season of NBC's "The Sing-Off".

He performed the song with all of the three final groups simultaneously, leading them in an improv chorus while singing over them.

8. And so came "Don't Worry, Be Happy", the first Number One Hit on Billboard's Hot 100 done completely A cappella. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" appeared also on a movie soundtrack to a Top Ten grossing movie from 1988. This greatly contributed to the exposure and success of the song. Of these top ten movies from 1988, what movie and corresponding soundtrack featured the song?

Answer: Cocktail

"Don't Worry, Be Happy" was a huge hit for Bobby McFerrin, spending two weeks at Billboard's Number One spot in the fall of 1988. The video featured Bobby, Robin Williams and Bill Irwin of "Mr. Noodle" fame, and from what I can tell there wasn't much of a plan for choreography. It appeared the three did what they thought was funny in front of a camera for a couple hours, and the editors edited it down to the funniest portions. Whatever works.

But the history of the song takes a turn.

9. "Don't Worry, Be Happy" went on to win three Grammy Awards for Bobby McFerrin. Which of these did he NOT win for "Don't Worry, Be Happy"?

Answer: Best A cappella Performance, Male

There is no such award for best acapella performances, they are lumped in with the specific music genres, and compete against accompanied songs.

With this success, one would think Bobby performs "Don't Worry, Be Happy" on a regular basis. Nothing could be further from the truth. In 1988, George H.W. Bush used the song during his campaign trail for the Presidency, without asking for permission from McFerrin. Bobby promptly and publicly protested the use of the song, saying he had no intention of voting for Bush, and took the song off of his performance list to make sure he never associated himself with it again. No matter, George Bush still won in November of 1988.

10. In the same year, 1988, Bobby McFerrin won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Performance, a collaborative effort with bass player Rob Wasserman. What was the simple title of this song?

Answer: Brothers

This is one of Bobby's least known tracks, a song he did on Rob Wasserman's Jazz album, "Duets". Nevertheless, with him winning the Grammy for this song, he set a record that will stand for perhaps forever. He won the award four consecutive years, for "Another Night in Tunisia" in 1985, "Round Midnight" in 1986, "What Is This Thing Called Love?" in 1987, and "Brothers" in 1988.

This Grammy Award category has since been retired in 1992.

Source: Author Spaudrey

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor agony before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Bobby McFerrin's career has spanned many decades, and he has become an icon in jazz and popular music. Here is a quiz, one of two, that deals with his music career. This one will deal with the early part up until 1988.

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