The Labels: Arista Trivia Quiz

Answer: Real McCoy

Formed in 1988, the band Real McCoy found minor success with a breakthrough track titled "Pump The Jam Rap", a cover of Technotronic's "Pump Up The Jam", peaking at number sixteen in Germany. Mainstream success for the band took place both in Europe and in North America in the mid 1990s beginning with their 1993 Billboard hit "Another Night" that peaked in at number three (and also number one on the US Dance Charts). Between 1994 and 1997, Real McCoy also had five other Top 20 hits on the US Dance Charts, specifically "Automatic Lover (Call for Love)", "Run Away", and "Come and Get Your Love" all charting in the top three.

Answer: Monica

Monica Denise Brown (simply known by her stage name as Monica) had eight Top Ten hits on the US Billboard charts between 1995 and 2003. "The Boy Is Mine", "The First Night", and "Angel of Mine" all reached the number one spot on the charts and all reached Platinum status in the United States.

Her studio album "The Boy Is Mine", released by Arista Records in 1998 went 3x Platinum in both Canada and the United States and featured all three number one hits.

Answer: Roses

"Ms. Jackson" was a breakthrough hit for OutKast in 2000 when it peaked in at number one in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom. Released as a single from their fourth studio album "Stankonia", it was a sign of success to come. In 2003, OutKast released a double album titled "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" that went double platinum in the United Kingdom and hit Diamond status in the United States (going eleven times Platinum).

The album featured three Top Ten hits in the United States, two that went to the number one spot ("Hey Ya!" and "The Way You Move") and one track, "Roses" peaked in at the number nine spot.

Answer: U Got It Bad

Born Usher Raymond IV, he began his music career in a local youth church choir where he was discovered to have musical talent. He then went on to be in a local quintet known as NuBeginnings releasing one album that could only be purchased through mail order. His breakthrough year came in 1997 when the album "My Way" was released an eventually went six times platinum in the United States. This album featured three top three hits; ""Nice & Slow", "You Make Me Wanna...", and "My Way".

Although two artists (Joe and Shaggy) did release hits with a featured artist that peaked on the charts, Usher was the only solo artist in 2001 to have a number one hit on the US Billboard Top 100. "U Got It Bad" and "U Remind Me", both from the album "8701" hit the top spot. The follow up album to this was the popular 2004 "Confessions" album that reached Diamond status and featured four number one singles (including the duet "My Boo" with Alicia Keys), although this was achieved with LaFace Records and not Arista Records.

Answer: Deborah Cox

"Nobody's Supposed to Be Here" spent fourteen weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles & Tracks in 1998. This would be a record charting until Mary J. Blige released her 2006 hit "Be Without You" which would stay at the number one spot for fifteen straight weeks. Cox's hit would also peak at the number two spot on the US Billboard Charts that same year. With the exception of the 1999 track "We Can't Be Friends" that peaked at the number eight spot, Deborah Cox has had limited success on the Billboard and R&B Charts in the United States, but has been acclaimed for her success on the US Dance Charts. Between 1996 and 2013, Cox released twelve hits that peaked in at the number one spot on the US Hot Dance Club charts.

Answer: Avril Lavigne

Avril Lavigne began singing as early as the age of two. By the time she was fourteen, her parents had purchased various instruments for her and she was performing at local country fairs. In 1999, she was invited to sing on stage with country music star Shania Twain in Ottawa and made the decision that she wanted to become a "famous singer".

In 2000, she had signed a deal with Arista Records and released her debut album "Let Go" in 2002. The album was so successful that it went Diamond status in Canada and went six times Platinum in the United States.

The album included the number one hit "Complicated" and the punky "Sk8er Boi". Following this initial success, her three follow up albums all went Platinum in the United States and included the Top Ten hits "Girlfriend", "Don't Tell Me", "When You're Gone", and "Nobody's Home".

Answer: Happy Nation

Ace of Base released four studio albums between 1992 and 2002 and sold over 30-million copies around the world. With this success, the band became the third most successful Swedish band of all time, falling behind ABBA and Roxette. Their most successful album "Happy Nation/The Sign", was released by Arista Records in 1992-93 and went to Diamond status in Canada and nine times Platinum in the United States.

The album became the first ever debut to produce three number one hits on the US Billboard Mainstream charts with "All That She Wants", "The Sign" and "Don't Turn Around" all peaking at the top position.

Answer: Next

Next's "Too Close" peaked at the number one spot in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. It also peaked at the number sixteen spot on the Decade-end charts making it the most successful track for the Minneapolis musical trio. The album "Rated Next" went double Platinum in the United States.

In 2000, they had a second successful hit with Arista Records called "Wifey" released off of the "Welcome II Nextasy" album that peaked at the number seven spot on the US Billboard Charts.

Answer: Santana

Formed in 1966, Santana gained popularity after performing their 1969 track "Soul Sacrifice" live at Woodstock '69. Between 1969 and 1992, Santana had several Billboard Top 20 hits with Columbia and Polydor Records including "Black Magic Woman", "Evil Ways", "Winning" and "Hold On" but eventually came to a standstill after their album "Milagro" was released in 1992.

After signing with Arista Records, they released their Diamond status album "Supernatural" that featured two number one singles "Maria Maria" (featuring Wyclef Jean) and "Smooth" (featuring Rob Thomas).

Their next album with Arista Records, "Shaman", went double Platinum in the United States and included two more Top Ten hits; "The Game of Love" featuring Michelle Branch that peaked at number five and "Why Don't You and I" featuring Chad Kroeger that went to number eight.

Answer: Whitney Houston

Initially given an offer to sign with Elektra Records in 1981, (her mother declined in order to help her finish high school), Whitney Houston signed with Arista Records in 1983. It wasn't until 1985 that Houston recorded her self-titled first album. The album included her first three number one Billboard singles "Greatest Love of All", "How Will I Know", and "Saving All My Love For You". During her professional music career up until her tragic death in 2012, she never signed a record deal with any other company. All seven studio albums were released with Arista Records and upon her death in 2012, she was estimated to have sold over 170 million records worldwide. Following her debut album, Houston released another eight number one Billboard charting songs, and another twelve Top Ten charting singles making her the most successful artist to ever release music with Arista Records.