I Sang "Initially" Trivia Quiz

Answer: BB King

B.B. King, born in 1925 as Riley B. King, has been making music since a very young age. "Rolling Stone" magazine has ranked him at number six on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. His musical style and technique has been a model for thousands of players, from Eric Clapton and George Harrison to Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

His best showing on Billboard's Top 100 was a number 15 placing with "The Thrill is Gone" in 1970. He has had many R & B hits over the course of his 60 year career, and even into his 80s was still performing over 100 shows per year.

Answer: Ben E King

Ben E. King (born Benjamin Earl Nelson) lead the Drifters on such late 1950s hits as "There Goes My Baby", "Dance with Me", and "This Magic Moment", before going solo in 1960. His rendition of "Spanish Harlem" in 1961 made number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and later that year he scored a number one hit with "Stand By Me". King continued to have numerous charting hits throughout the 1960 and 1970s and was still touring as of early 2013 at the age of 74.

Answer: BJ Thomas

B. J. Thomas (born as Billy Joe) burst onto the music scene in 1966 with "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" which topped out at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. He is of course most remembered for "Hooked on a Feeling" which reached number five on the Billboard charts in 1968, and his number one hit "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" in 1969, which was a major musical piece from the motion picture "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". Going forth into the 1970s Thomas continued to score on the Billboard charts and in the mid 70s Thomas ventured into Country music and later in the decade charted in Christian music as well, even scoring a number one tune in 1980 called "Jesus on My Mind".

Answer: OC Smith

Ocie Lee Smith began his recording career in 1955 after an appearance on "Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts", a popular TV show at the time. In 1961 Count Basie recruited him to be the vocalist for the Count Basie Orchestra and he did that for four years.

He was not able to muster any hits of his own, and his record label was about to drop him in 1968, having only one tune reach as high as number 40 on the charts. Along came the recording of "Little Green Apples" which went to number two on the Billboard charts and sold over one million copies.

The recording won the 1969 Grammy Award as Song of the Year. Unfortunately Smith never had another Top 40 hit.

Answer: RB Greaves

Ronald Betram Aloysius Greaves was born in 1943 on a U.S. Army Air Force base in Georgetown, Guyana. His debut tune "Take a Letter Maria" which he wrote and recorded under the insistence of his record label's president. The song was previously recorded by both Tom Jones and Stevie Wonder, but it was Greaves' version that made it to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 charts in 1969 and sold over one million copies.

Answer: R Dean Taylor

Richard Dean Taylor, born in Toronto Canada, was a singer/songwriter/producer for Motown Records in the late 60s/early 70s. He had some minor successes in Canada since his recording career began in 1962. This song was put out on the Rare Earth label, a division of Motown devoted to white artists (The group "Rare Earth" also was on this label). Taylor never again had this kind of success as a recording artist, although he had some success as a writer, co-writing some of the Supremes hits, such as "Love Child" and "I'm Living In Shame".

Answer: BW Stevenson

Born Louis Charles Stevenson in Dallas, Texas in 1949, he came to be known as "Buckwheat", hence the initials BW. "My Maria" was Stevenson's highest charting hit in a short lived career. He did, however, record the original version of "Shambala" which became a major hit when covered by Three Dog Night.
Stevenson passed away at age 38 while undergoing heart surgery.

Answer: KC and the Sunshine Band

Harry Wayne Casey (K.C.) formed his Sunshine band in Miami, Florida in 1973. Their string of hits such as "Shake Your Booty", "That's the Way I Like It", and "I'm Your Boogie Man" among others, kept us dancing throughout the disco era in the mid and late 1970s. The band had a total of five Billboard chart toppers between 1975 and 1979.

Answer: CW McCall

C. W. McCall is the pseudonym of William Dale Fries, Jr. He was a creative director for an Omaha, Nebraska advertising agency in 1974 when he came up with an award winning advertisement for a product called Old Home Bread. The ad featured a truck driver named CW McCall. Fries used this name when he recorded the 1976 Billboard chart topping "Convoy" which came at the peak of the CB craze in the U.S.

The tune sold over two million copies and was awarded a gold record.

Answer: JD Souther

John David Souther was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1945. He moved to California in the 1960s and met both Glen Frey and Jackson Browne. As a songwriter, Souther co-wrote some of the Eagles biggest hits such as "Best of My Love", "Heartache Tonight", and "New Kid in Town" as well as co-producing a number of tunes for Linda Ronstadt.

He has also collaborated with James Taylor, and co-produced Roy Orbison's television special "A Black and White Night" in 1987. His success as a solo recording artist came with 1979's "You're Only Lonely", which peaked at number seven on the Billboard charts.