"Signature Songs" of Singers or Groups-Part 13 Quiz

Answer: Roberta Flack

Roberta Flack first performed the song in Griffith Park, Los Angeles, while opening for Marvin Gaye in 1972. Recorded on the Atlantic Record label, it was released in January, 1973, and two months later it reached the Number One spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, a position it would occupy for five weeks. "Killing Me Softly with His Song" was also numero uno in Canada, and it reached the runner-up spot on the "Billboard" Rhythm & Blues chart as well.
Beginning her career in 1969, Roberta Flack has released over 20 albums and more than 45 singles. She had another song which won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, which she also took to the "Billboard" Hot 100 top spot in 1972.
If you'd like to get a little more nostalgic, here's some more of Roberta Flack's signature song:
"I felt all flushed with fever
Embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he found my letters
And read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish
But he just kept right on

Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song"

Answer: Sheb Wooley

"The Purple People Eater" wasn't purple; he just enjoyed munching on people who happened to be purple, despite the common misconception of the creature itself having that hue. It was just Sheb Wooley's second single (after "Are You Satisfied?" in 1955). Music lovers of all colors embraced it to the point that it reached Number One on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart on June 9, 1958 and no one could move the monster from the top spot for six weeks. This was Wooley's only song to make it onto the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, but in 1962 he had a song, "That's My Pa" reach number one on the "Billboard" Hot Country chart.

Interesting fact: The Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League, (which wore purple jerseys), used the sobriquet of The Purple Gang, for their fearsome defensive line. Carl Eller, Alan Page and Jim Marshall were three of its stalwarts.

Answer: Terry Jacks

Terry Jacks got "Seasons in the Sun" to the Number One spot on March 2, 1974. It became the only recording of his to crack the top 40 in the U.S. The Canadian-born singer had two other songs make it into the top ten in Canada, "I'm Gonna Love You Too" (1973) and "Christina" (1975). Here's a little bit more "seasoning" for you:
"Goodbye Papa, please pray for me
I was the black sheep of the family
You tried to show me right from wrong
But too much wine and too much song
Wonder how I got along

Goodbye Papa, it's hard to die
When all the bird's are singing in the sky
Now that the spring is in the air
Little kids are everywhere
Think of me and I'll be there

We had joy, we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the wine and the song
Like the seasons have all gone.
We had joy, we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
But the hills we could climb
Were just seasons out of time."
The Canadian Music Industry awarded Terry Jacks the Juno Award for his recording of "Seasons in the Sun".

Answer: Lipps, Inc.

"Funkytown" was track one, side one from Lipps, Inc. initial album, "Mouth to Mouth". The group had a short run, from 1979-1985, and during that time "Funkytown" would be their only top 40 hit. "Funkytown" was also a number one hit in Australia, Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, and Switzerland. Just one other song, "Rock It" ever charted for them on the "Billboard" Hot 100 list, peaking at number 64, in 1979
Lipps, Inc. disbanded in 1985, having recorded just 15 singles.

Answer: Bobby Day

Born Robert James Byrd, Bobby Day's one hit was really big, as it was designated gold in 1958. His first experience with rock & roll bands came when he was part of The Hollywood Flames at the age of 15. He didn't record a great many songs, but he sure wrote a bunch, including "Over and Over", which became a number one Billboard Hot 100 hit for The Dave Clark Five (1965). Thurston Harris took another composition of his, "Little Bitty Pretty One" to number six in 1957, when it also went gold. Michael Jackson included "Rockin' Robin" as track six on his 1972 album, "Got to Be There", and The Hollies had it as track eight on their "Stay with the Hollies" album in 1964.

As a singer, "Rockin' Robin" was Bobby Day's only song to crack the top 40 on the "Billboard" charts.

Answer: The Impalas

The Impalas' fame was fleeting. After taking the million selling "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home") to number two on the Billboard Hot 100 list, number 14 on the R&B charts, and to overseas success when it hit number 28 in the U.K, they would last only until 1961, when the group disbanded. Famed rock & roll disc jockey Alan Freed had been instrumental in landing them a contract with CUB records (a subsidiary of MGM Records) in 1959. Beside their one big hit, they would record just a handful more and one album.

The Impalas lead singer, "Speedo" Frazier, managed to get the group back together in 1980, and they began playing again, this time as a touring band.

Answer: Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge (sometimes called Johnny Maestro and the Brooklyn Bridge, after their lead singer), enjoyed sales of over one and a quarter million copies of "The Worst that Could Happen". The song was written by Jimmy Webb who won a Grammy for Song of the Year, "Up, Up, and Away", for the Fifth Dimension (1967). Johnny Maestro (born John Mastrangelo), was the first lead singer for The Crests ("16 Candles", 1959). The Brooklyn Bridge sold over ten million records and was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2005.

Here's some nostalgia from several decades back:

"Girl, I heard, you're getting married
This time you're really sure and this is the end,
They say, you really mean it
This guy's the one that makes you feel,
So safe, so sane and so secure

And baby, if he loves you more than me,
Maybe it's the best thing,
Maybe it's the best thing for you,
But it's the worst that could happen to me"
:-(

Answer: The Flying Machine

The Flying Machine also had more names than they had hit songs. They only recorded about a dozen tunes and just one other, "Baby Make It Soon" (1969), ever charted, and none cracked the top 40. "Smile a Little Smile for Me" which sold over a million copies, peaked at number five on the "Billboard" Hot 100 list on October 18, 1969, but surprisingly failed to chart back home across the pond. They disbanded in 1971, after their final song, "The Devil Has Possession of Your Mind", proved unsuccessful. "Smile a Little Smile For Me" sure was a popular late 1960s hit...here are a few verses:
"Oh, c'mon smile a little smile for me, Rosemarie
What's the use in cryin' ?

In a little while you'll see, Rosemarie
You must keep on tryin'.

I know that he hurt you bad,
I know, darling, don't be sad, and
Smile a little smile for me, Rosemarie, Rosemarie"

Answer: Jefferson Starship

Jefferson Starship has had a run spanning four decades. During that time three of their albums have made it into the top five, the previously mentioned "Red Octopus" was number one in 1975, "Spitfire" made it to third place in 1976, and "Earth" sat at number five in 1978. Three singles topped the "Billboard Hot 100 chart: "We Built This City" (1985), "Sara" (1985), and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" (1987).
Rock singer Grace Slick was an on again, off again member of Jefferson Starship.

Answer: Richard Harris

Probably best known for the more than 60 films he made over five decades, Irish born Richard Harris also recorded about a dozen albums and singles. "A Tramp Shining" was his initial album and it received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The single of "MacArthur Park" reached number four in the U.K., peaked at the runner-up spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, and claimed Number One down under in Australia.

Some of Harris' better known movies include "The Guns of Navarone" (1961), "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962), "Camelot" (1967), "A Man Called Horse" (1970), and "Gladiator" (2000). Donna Summer gave "MacArthur Park" the disco treatment in 1978, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman jazzed it up, and other artists who covered it include Sammy Davis, Jr., Andy Williams, The Fifth Dimension and Frank Sinatra.