I Love Rock And Roll... But Pre-Rock Matters, Too! Quiz

Answer: The Ames Brothers

The Ames Brothers - Joe, Gene, Vic and Ed - sang popular tunes in the 1950s. Their parents, David and Sarah Urick, were Ukrainian Jewish immigrants. Originally known as the "Amory Brothers", they had simply adopted Vic's middle name as the name of their group.
Although they disbanded in the early 1960s, Ed went on with a successful singing and acting career in his own right, and on the '60s television series "Daniel Boone", he played the part of the native American, Mingo.

Answer: Bobby Darin

After a brief romantic affair with Connie Francis, she and Bobby Darin split up. Connie later said that she had made a terrible mistake by not pursuing their relationship.

In the 1960s Bobby became very active in the political campaign efforts of another Bobby; Robert "Bobby" Kennedy. Bobby Darin was present in Los Angeles when Robert Kennedy was assassinated during the campaign.

Bobby Darin and Don Kirshner co-wrote several songs together.

While Bobby Darin turned the song "Mack The Knife" into a number one hit in 1959, Louis Armstrong had first brought it to American popularity back in 1956.

Answer: "A-Tisket A-Tasket," and "I Found My Yellow Basket"

A master of "scat", Ella struck pay-dirt with "A Tisket A Tasket" and later that year, "I Found My Yellow Basket".
(Scat singing can probably best be described as a vocal improvisation with wordless vocals; nonsense syllables, or even with a complete lack of any words at all. It gives singers the opportunity to improvise melodies and rhythms by simply making crooning noises or other "instrumental" type sounds with their voice.)

Ella Fitzgerald was born in 1917 in Newport News, Virginia and had a hard early childhood, after her mother moved to Yonkers, New York. Ella began working at some odd jobs of less than an appropriate or desirable nature for a child, in an effort to help her financially strapped family.

After the death of her mother in 1932, she appeared at the Apollo Theater, where she managed to launch her singing career with the Hoagy Carmichael tune "Judy".

Answer: The Battle Of The Bulge

Tony Bennett served in the "Blood and Fire" Division; The 63rd Infantry Division, during WW2. His unit arrived in France in late 1944/early 1945 and made its way across Europe and eventually into Germany itself in March of '45. Tony later described his wartime experience as a "front-row seat in hell".

After his return home from the war, he attended the American Theater Wing, where he learned a type of voice control called "bel canto" style. His first big hit was "Because Of You", which managed to stay at the number one position on the music charts for 10 weeks in 1951.

Tony has released over 70 albums in his long career as a singer.

Answer: Les Paul and Mary Ford

Lester William Polsfuss (Les Paul) and his wife, Mary Ford (the former Iris Colleen Summers) were married on December 29, 1949. Both had been married previously; Les once and Mary twice. Les had originally called his wife and singing partner "Mary Lou" to avoid confusion among her earlier country music fans, but later he chose the name "Mary Ford" from a telephone directory so her name would be as short as his own.

(The husband and wife duo of Ray Hildebrand and Jill Jackson were popularly known as Paul and Paula)

Answer: Vaughn Monroe

Vaughn Monroe had several nicknames which included "The Baritone with Muscles", "The Voice with Hair on Its Chest", "Ol' Leather Tonsils", and "Leather Lungs".
His signature tune was "Racing With the Moon" which was released in 1941.

Answer: Doris Day

Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff (Doris Day) was born in Evanston, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. Her first career choice was dancing, but a car accident left her legs damaged to the point that she could no longer pursue that interest. Her mother noticed that she enjoyed singing, so she enrolled her in singing lessons. Grace Raine was employed to give her lessons, and was enthralled by her voice after only three lessons.

When she sang the song "Day After Day" on a radio program, it was suggested by Barney Rapp (an orchestra leader) that she adopt the surname "Day", as he felt the name Kappelhoff was too long.

Doris Day also became a film star, as well as a television actress, (much to her dismay). Her third husband had signed her up for "The Doris Day Show" without even asking her permission, just prior to his death. He had also committed her by contract to perform on several television specials, all without her knowledge. She was shocked, of course, but honored all the contracts anyway.

(The theme song to her television show was a personal favorite of mine, "Que Sera Sera", (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), and I looked forward to her show each week.)

Answer: Red Foley

Pat married one of Red Foley's daughters, Shirley Lee Foley, just before his 19th birthday in 1953. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Pat Boone's family moved to Nashville, Tennessee when he was two years old.

Much of his career was devoted to covering black-influenced R&B songs for the white American market. (Segregation was still very strong in America, especially throughout much of the South.)

In spite of his 'squeaky clean' image, his marriage very nearly ended in divorce during the early 1960s due to his abuse of alcohol. His wife's influence and support and that of his Christian upbringing brought him back from the teetering edge of disaster during that time of his life.

Answer: Frankie Laine

Francesco Paolo LoVecchio is best know by his stage name, Frankie Laine. He was born on March 30, 1913 and passed away on February 6, 2007.
His singing, songwriting and acting career spanned an unbelievable 75 years!

Answer: Nat King Cole

Nat "King" Cole was born Nathaniel Adams Coles in 1919. Besides those hits mentioned in the question there was also his rendition of "Mona Lisa" and his signature song, "Unforgettable".

Although Nat King Cole died in 1965 of lung cancer, an 'unforgettable' version of "Unforgettable" was performed by his daughter, Natalie in 1991, when she and her father had a hit with Natalie's own voice track mixed with her father's 1961 version of "Unforgettable" in a new duet rendition, with video of her father running almost seamlessly in the background. That version won seven Grammy awards in 1992.