Close The Door Lightly When You Go Quiz

Answer: Tammy Wynette

Wynette had personal experience of divorce when she recorded this tear-jerker, having been married and divorced twice before it was released. She was to marry three more times; one of those unions lasted 44 days.

Born Virginia Wynette Pugh in 1942 in Mississippi, Wynette died in 1998 after years of health problems.

Wynette was working as a hairdresser in Birmingham, Alabama, and singing on a local radio show when she got a chance of a short tour with Porter Wagoner.

Boosted by that, she moved to Nashville where she fell under the wings of renowned producer Billy Sherrill. Signed to Epic Records, her first single was "Apartment #9". and it was to be the first of 20 US number ones.

In 1968, "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" was one of her early hits, and one of her best-known songs, along with "Stand By Your Man" in the same year. The latter did not go down well with those who felt it encouraged women to stay in relationships that were not working. "I spent 15 minutes writing 'Stand by Your Man', and a lifetime defending it," she later said.

Answer: Gloria Gaynor

When timeout.com published a list of "The best karaoke songs ever", it put "I Will Survive" at number 17.

Incredibly, when the song was pitched to Gaynor and then recorded, her record company deemed it only suitable to be on the B side of a Righteous Brothers cover. When DJs and radio presenters started to play "I Will Survive", the single was re-released with the sides reversed.

It was a Billboard Hot 100 number one and also topped the charts in Canada and the UK. It won the 1979 Grammy for Best Disco Recording. It was to be Gaynor's sole US chart topper.

Answer: Eric Andersen

Early influences for Eric Andersen included The Kingston Trio and The Weavers and he started a folk trio while still at high school. He dropped out of school and ended up in San Francisco in about 1963.

While he was singing in a local coffee house, Tom Paxton invited him to join the Greenwich Village folk scene. He arrived at just the right time and was snapped up by Vanguard Records the morning after his first performance. Four albums followed in just a few years and he was active in the protest song movement.

"Close the Door Lightly When You Go" was on the 1966 album "Bout Changes 'n' Things".

Andersen's songs were well received by critics and fellow performers, and a passionate set of followers. He toured and recorded regularly and lived for a time in Norway.

While folk had been the first genre he recorded in, later albums fused blues and rock.

Answer: Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift was a precocious kid: at the age of 11 her parents took her to Nashville and she spent time handing out tapes to record stores of her singing country karaoke classics.

At 14, she was signed by a record company, but walked away when it became clear she would not have control over what she was being asked to record.

After her family moved to Nashville, she released her first album at the age of 17. It topped the country album charts.

Her first single to top the the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart was "Love Song" in December 2007.

The song in the question, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", was a Hot 100 number one in 2007.

She had 21 songs in the Hot 100 top ten between 2006 and 2018.

Answer: Britney Spears

"Stronger" was a Hot 100 number 11 for Britney Spears in 2000. It was taken from her album "Oops...I Did It Again", which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 charts.

Britney Spears had a complicated personal life. She once got married in Las Vegas - and separated 55 hours later. She also had a relationship with Justin Timberlake. At the time this question was written, she had been twice-divorced but was in a long-time relationship.

Spears had five number ones among 13 top tens on the Hot 100. Six out of ten top ten albums on the Billboard 200 reached number one.

Answer: Neil Sedaka

Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1939. He was a classically-trained pianist and early in his career was noted as a songwriter for other artists, among them Connie Francis.

After several early singles of his own failed to garner much attention, he had a Billboard top ten with "Oh! Carol".

Within a short time he was successful in his own right and by 1963 he had sold 25 million records.

That point may have been the peak of his early recording career, but Sedaka remained a popular entertainer. He was to find new spurt of activity in England and in 1975 he had his first US number one in 13 years, "Laughter in the Rain".

Answer: Bob Dylan

"Don't Think Twice It's All Right" was on the 1964 album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan".

As a single it was a US number 12 for a band called Wonder Who (actually they were The Four Seasons in disguise.)

Dylan did not have a lot of luck on the singles charts in the US. Just one single reached number one on the Hot 100 by the time this quiz was written, but five albums topped the Billboard 200 and a further 17 reached the top ten.

Answer: Vince Gill

"When I Call Your Name" was the title track of Vince Gill's 1989 album. The album won him a Grammy. That was one of eight Grammys, five in as many years.

Bluegrass was the first love of the young Gill and he was greatly admired for his guitar skills.

He played with Pure Prairie League and also in the band of Ricky Skaggs before embarking on a solo career.

In a 2017 feature "100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time", "Rolling Stone" magazine placed Gill at number 62.

Answer: Hank Williams

You may not be surprised to learn that Hank Williams wrote "Your Cheatin' Heart" after divorce from sometime singing partner Audrey Mae Sheppard.

He recorded the song in September 1952, just months before his untimely death at the age of 30. It topped the country charts for six weeks.

Despite his short time in the business, Williams became one of the most recognised and revered artist in country music.

In a 2017 feature "100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time", "Rolling Stone" magazine placed Williams at number two. (Behind Merle Haggard, in case you were wondering.)

Answer: B. B. King

"Woke Up This Morning (My Baby's Gone)" was written by B.B. King in 1952 after his six-year marriage broke up.

Riley B. King, to give him his birth name, was a disc jockey in Memphis after serving in the forces in WW2.

In a career from about 1949 until his death in 2015, King toured relentlessly, performing up to 300 concerts a year, and winning 15 Grammys.

One obituary writer called him "the most eminent and influential blues musician of his generation."

In a "Rolling Stone" list of "The 100 greatest guitarists of all time", King was placed at number three.