Mary, Did You Know? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wynonna Judd

Wynonna first hit stardom with her mother Naomi during the 1980s. They performed as The Judds, a country music duo. Naomi's illness in 1991 resulted in Wynonna going her own way. The pair have however reunited on stage from time to time. She normally styles herself 'Wynonna' for her solo albums and singles.

Wynonna's name is a bit suggestive of success. The photo clue, showing a goat winner eating its champion rosette, is a play on her first name.

Answer: Creedence Clearwater Revival

Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) was a popular American rock band from the 1960s and early 1970s. Internal divisions resulted in the demise of the group. The band's name comes from three sources. The Clearwater part of the name (to which the photo alludes) is said to have come from a TV advert for Olympia beer. They started out as the Blue Velvets.

There are reportedly over 100 cover versions of the song "Proud Mary", including the 1971 hit version by Ike and Tina Turner. There was also a British blues/rock band with the name "Proud Mary".

Answer: The Monkees

The band was created for a television show called "The Monkees" in 1965. The studio brought in the song-writing duo Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart to write the songs. Although Mike Nesmith was writing songs from the outset, the band did not have control of the content of their albums to begin with. This eventually changed. Mike Nesmith left the band in 1970 and had to buy his way out of the remaining three years of the studio contract.

Answer: Wings

The band was formed in 1971 following the break-up of the Beatles, of which McCartney was a member. Wings went through various line-up changes and achieved commercial success. Perhaps the group's best known album was "Band on the Run" from 1973. They were also behind the popular theme song for the 1973 James Bond movie "Live and Let Die".

Answer: Boney M

The Boney M version was one of the UK's biggest selling singles, selling over 1.8 million copies by November 2012. Harry Belafonte's version, which hit the top of the UK charts in 1957, has also sold over a million copies.

Boney M was created by German record producer Frank Farian in 1975. He sang and recorded the first song by himself and then hired various performers to front the band, eventually settling on three singers and a dancer. Farian continued to provide the male vocals for recordings and used only two of the band members to supply the female vocals. After the group disbanded in 1986, versions of the band popped up from time to time, formed by some of the original members with a variety of new singers.

Answer: Cliff Richard & The Shadows

The Shadows were the backing group for Cliff Richard and were unusual in having their own chart success independent of Cliff Richard. Their musical hits were mostly instrumentals; perhaps their best known single is "Apache" (1960). They were formed in 1958 as The Drifters with Cliff Richard as lead singer. The name of the backing group was changed in 1959 to The Shadows to avoid confusion with the earlier-established American soul group The Drifters.

Cliff Richard was a bit of an institution in the UK, being the only artist to achieve number one hits in the UK Singles Chart in the five decades from the 1950s. Success in the US charts eluded him. He has numerous albums and singles to his name, including 43 studio albums (as of 2013). "Living Doll" was a hit for him in 1959 (when singing as Cliff Richard and The Drifters). It reached number one in the UK Singles Chart for a second time in 1986 when he teamed up with the cast of the alternative comedy TV show "The Young Ones". Coincidentally, the TV show used another Cliff Richard and The Shadows 1962 hit "The Young Ones" as their theme song.

Answer: Scissor Sisters

The American pop group Scissor Sisters were formed in New York during 2001 and it was their disco-version of Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb" which got them first noticed. Most of their chart success has been in the UK and Europe rather than their native America.

Answer: The Vines

Formed in Sydney during 1994 with the name Rishikesh, the band's name was apparently changed to The Vines because the local newspapers had difficulty spelling the original name. As of 2013, they have had five albums with their debut album "Highly Evolved" being the most successful in the charts. The music style has been described a blend of garage rock and alternative rock. Nicholls is the only remaining original band member.

There have been in excess of 20 "Mary Jane" songs and also a band called the Mary Jane Girls. Here's a piece of "Mary Jane" trivia for you: the singer-songwriter Mary J. Blige (her middle name is Jane) sampled the Mary Jane Girls' hit "All Night Long" in her own "Mary Jane (All Night Long)" song.

Answer: Ricky Nelson

American musician Ricky Nelson started off at the age of eight in a radio sitcom "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" with other family members. This became a long-running TV show for the family. It was at the age of sixteen that he began his music career, which featured 53 songs in the US Billboard Hot 100 between 1957 and 1973.

In total he released 36 albums and 91 singles before dying in a plane crash at the end of 1985.

Answer: Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers

Perhaps the song should have been called "Stan Lynch's Last Dance" as the recording sessions for "Mary' Jane's Last Dance" (and "Something in the Air") proved to be the last for the band's drummer of 18 years. Tom Petty has been involved in all the bands listed as answers.

The Heartbreakers were formed in 1976 after the demise of Mudcrutch, which itself had morphed from The Epics. The band's music forms part of the American heartland rock genre.