They're Behind You Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Pips

The Pips were a real family venture, forming in 1952 and comprising Gladys Knight, her brother Michael (known as Bubba), her sister Brenda and their cousins Eleanor and William Guest. Even the band's name had a family connection, as it was the nickname of cousin, James Woods.
In 1959, Brenda and Eleanor left the band and were replaced by another cousin, Edward Patten, along with Langston George, the first member of the band who wasn't related.
In 1961, the same year that George left the band, they changed their name to Gladys Knight and the Pips and by 1967 the hits were rolling in.
The band had eleven UK top 20 hits including two top five records and 16 Billboard Hot 100 top 20 hits in USA including the smash number one, "Midnight Train To Georgia" (1973).
The Pips also released two albums without Gladys Knight in the late 70s, but neither of these, nor the singles released from them, had any chart impact.

Answer: The Range

Bruce Hornsby formed the Range in 1984 and the first album from his new band, "The Way It Is" (1986) was a multi platinum hit, reaching the top 20 in many countries. It also gave Hornsby his first taste of success in the singles charts with the title track being a Billboard Hot 100 number one in USA as well as hitting the top in Canada and the Netherlands.
After a further two albums, "Scenes From The Southside" in 1988 and "A Night On The Town" (1990), Hornsby disbanded the Range to concentrate on solo work and also further his involvement with the Grateful Dead.
Former Range member David Mansfield is an in demand session musician, having worked with Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Dwight Yoakam among others, as well as composing several film scores.

Answer: The Dakotas

Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas found instant success with their debut single, the Lennon-McCartney written "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" which reached number two in the UK charts in 1963.
This was followed by UK chart toppers "Bad To Me" (1963) and "Little Children" (1964).
In 1965, the band had their last UK top 20 hit with "Trains and Boats and Planes", and when their next few singles failed to chart, Kramer set out on his own in 1968.
Although he continued to release records for the next 40 years, none of them charted and "Trains and Boats and Planes" remains the last hit for either Kramer or the Dakotas.

Answer: The Revolution

"Purple Rain" (1984) was a huge album, seemingly owned by everybody and reaching the top 20 in the album charts of countries such as Australia, Norway, Zimbabwe, UK as well as on the Billboard 200 in USA.
It gave us the hit singles "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy" as well as the title track, all hits in 1984, and served as an excellent soundtrack for the film of the same name (also 1984).
The Revolution continued as backing band to Prince for his 1985 album "Around the World in a Day", which featured the brilliant "Raspberry Beret", and also for the "Parade" (1986) album, which was the soundtrack to the movie, "Under The Cherry Moon" (1986).
Following the tour to promote "Parade", Prince disbanded the Revolution and former members Wendy and Lisa were the most successful following the breakup with a total of three top 50 hits on the UK charts.

Answer: The Shadows

The Shadows, originally known as The Drifters, were Cliff Richard's backing band from 1958 to 1968 and appeared on an incredible 28 UK top 20 singles with him during that period. They also had 20 UK top 20 hits without Cliff during this time, including five number one hits, so it comes as no surprise to find they are one of UK's most successful acts ever. The bond between Cliff and the Shadows runs deep as, although they haven't recorded together for many years, the Shadows are still his go to band for touring including The Final Reunion Tour in 2009-2010 and his Great 80 Tour, originally scheduled for 2020-2021, but rearranged due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Answer: The Aces

Dekker was an icon of the ska, "rude boy" genre, and early in his career, had a couple of Jamaican hits with various backing groups, including The Maytals, Toots Hibbert's backing band who used the name The Cherrypies when recording with Dekker.
In 1965, Dekker recruited the Howard brothers Carl, Patrick, Clive and Barry as his permanent backing band, naming them the Four Aces. They recorded tracks such as "Get Up Edina" and "Mount Zion" (both 1965) before shortening their name.
As Desmond Dekker and the Aces they recorded rude boy classics such as "007 (Shanty Town)" (1967), "Rude Boy Train" (1967) "It Mek" (1969) and "Israelites" (1968).
In 1969, Dekker moved to UK, where he had a large fan base, while the Aces remained in Jamaica, having hits with tracks such as "Mademoiselle Ninette" (1970), "Reggae Motion" (1972) and "Working On It Night And Day" (1973).

Answer: Spearhead

Spearhead are not so much a backing band as a contractual requirement, but we'll still include them in this quiz as they make great music.
Michael Franti formed Spearhead in 1994 and the band had minor success with their first two albums, "Home" (1994) and "Chocolate Supa Highway" (1997) before deciding to split from their record company and start their own.
Problem was, Capitol Records still owned the rights to the name Spearhead, so a name change was required, resulting in Michael Franti and Spearhead.
They have released the excellent albums, "All Rebel Rockers" (2008), "The Sound of Sunshine" (2010) and "All People" (2013) on their own Boo Boo Wax label, featuring tracks such as "Say Hey (I Love You)" (2008), "The Sound of Sunshine" (2010) and "Life Is Better With You" (2013).

Answer: The Waves

Katrina and the Waves can trace their history to a UK band from Cambridge called The Waves which featured Alex Cooper on drums and another UK band from Norfolk called Mama's Cookin' which included American Katrina Leskanich on vocals.
Alex Cooper joined Mama's Cookin' in 1980 and in 1982, with Katrina as the main vocalist they renamed themselves Katrina and the Waves.
Despite being a UK/USA band, they found initial success in Canada, which was the only country in which their debut album, "Walking On Sunshine" (1983) was released.
Word grew of this "Canadian" band and by 1985, the album was remixed and released worldwide, giving the band a smash hit on singles charts with the title track.
Sadly, this was their only major hit for a few years though, and they returned to gigging around Canada, while releasing records, often only in Canada.
Major success found the band again when in 1997, they were chosen to represent UK at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Love Shine a Light", which won the competition by a record 70 points.
Once again though, further success deserted them and in 1998, the band split, with Katrina concentrating on a solo career.

Answer: The News

Huey Lewis and the News had first got together in 1978, when they were called Huey Lewis and the American Express. After a lot of work gigging, they changed their name to Huey Lewis and the News before releasing their first album in 1980. This album didn't sell well, but their second album, "Picture This" (1982) really took off, and also gave the band a top ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in USA with "Do You Believe In Love" (1982).
After that, the hits came regularly with "I Want A New Drug", "Heart Of Rock & Roll" (both 1984), "Jacob's Ladder" (1987) and "Couple Days Off" (1991) all being big hits.
The News appeared as Nick Lowe's backing band on his 1985 hit, "I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock 'N' Roll)" and the Four Tops' backing band on their track, "Are You With Me" from the "Indestructible" album in 1988.

Answer: The Cardinals

The cardinals joined forces with Adams in 2004 and they released their first album together in 2005, "Cold Roses". This was the first of five albums credited to Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, the most successful of which was "Cardinology" (2008).
In a strange twist of fate, Adams most successful album of this period was "Easy Tiger" (2007) which was a top 20 hit in UK and a top ten hit on the Billboard 200 in USA. Although Adam's backing band on this album was The Cardinals, it was credited as a Ryan Adams solo album.
The Cardinals have also worked with other artists, acting as Willie Nelson's band on his 2009 album, "Songbird" and, following their split with Adams in 2009, were the backing band for New Zealand singer Gin Wigmore on her album, "Holy Smoke" (2009).