CANADIAN MUSIC QUIZ

All of the JUNO Awards for this year have now been handed out (for those reading this from outside Canada, the JUNOS are the Canadian Grammy Awards). By the way, you don't need to have an intimate knowledge of Canadian music to get any of these questions correct as they deal with international superstars who happen to be Canadian. So here we go.

QUESTIONS:

1. This international superstar was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1982. He's lived in California for decades but was born in Toronto and grew up in Winnipeg. He was once in a Toronto band called The Mynah Birds with Rick 'Superfreak' James. He later drove a hearse to LA and connected with someone who would be a part of this artists next two groups. Who is he?

2. This singer has 13 older brothers and sisters who also sang, but the 'baby' of the family is the one who became the international legend. She's won an astounding 21 JUNO Awards and several Grammies as well. She always has her 'heart' in the right place, even when the ship is sinking. OK I can't be much clearer than that. She has a star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto and one on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Who is this singing superstar?

3. She was once known in Canada as a 'disco' artist. She co-starred on a children's television show that also aired in the U.S. This angst ridden singer/songwriter turned her life around by moving to Los Angeles and writing songs from her heart and her emotions. Her first album in this vein sold over 30 million albums. She's won some 15 JUNO Awards as well as 7 Grammy Awards. Who is she?

4. The nation's capitol is where this superstar hails from, although he hasn't lived there in over 40 years. He made it in the music business 'his way' and millions of people around the world know his music. His first hit was a song he wrote about his babysitter. Since then, he wrote songs that were huge hits for Tom Jones, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley among others. Within the last few weeks, he's gone into the recording studio with TMZ's Harvey Levin to record a version of one of his most famous songs. He was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1980. Do you know shis name?

5. She was Elvis Presley's favourite female singer, but all she wanted was to be a high school gym teacher, which she was for a time. She's famous for performing on stage in her bare feet and although she recently retired, she still has her 24 JUNO Awards and 4 Grammy's to keep her company. She's one of Canada's best known performers and even though she doesn't fly to Florida for the winter seasons, she's always be associated with a 'snowbird'. If you don't get this one, you're going to have to turn in your Canadian passport. So, who is this songbird?

ANSWERS:

1. He's Neil Young, who on Sunday March 27, won two JUNO awards (Artist of the Year and Adult Alternative Album of the Year) as well as the Allan Waters Humanatarian Award. When he drove that hearse to LA, he ran into Stephen Stills and formed Buffalo Springfield. Later, when Stills, David Crosby and Graham Nash formed Crosby, Stills & Nash, it was many times amended to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

2. That would be Celine Dion who sang the song "My Heart Will Go On" at the end of director James Cameron's movie, "Titanic". Celine has sold over 200 million albums around the world since she began her career. As of this past March, Celine's back in Las Vegas for another 3 year run at Caesar's Palace.

3. Alanis Morissette is the artist we're looking for. Her "Jagged Little Pill" album in 1995 became the best selling album by a female artist in the U.S. She was engaged to fellow Canadian Ryan Reynolds, but they mutually broke up in 2007. In May of 2010, she married rapper Mario 'MC Souleye' Treadway and last December gave birth to the couples' first child, a daughter. That children's TV show she co-starred in was called "You Can't Do That On Television".

4. It's Paul Anka, who wrote "Diana" for his babysitter. Tom Jones had a hit with the Anka written "She's A Lady" and both Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley hit the singles chart with Paul's "My Way".

5. Anne Murray is the name that should have immediately sprung to mind. By the way, Anne holds the record for winning the most JUNO awards with 24.

RECORDING STARS FROM THE TV SCREEN

This week, we look at the TV screen (but not too closely, you'll ruin your eyes). Starting back in the 1950's and on through the 80's, when the record industry saw an opportunity to cash in on a hit TV show's success, you know they did it. The list of TV actors who recorded singing?? albums is a very long one...it includes: Three Star Trek (the original series) cast members - Nicelle Nichols, Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner recorded albums (who could ever forget Bill's version of The Beatles' song "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds"). Both stars of "Miami Vice", Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas, had LPs released. Alyssa Milano ("Who's The Boss"/"Charmed"); Tony Randall & Jack Klugman ("The Odd Couple"); Jim Nabours ("The Andy Griffith Show"/"Mayberry R.F.D."/"Gomer Pyle: U.S.M.C."); Scott Baio ("Happy Days'/"Joanie Loves Chachi") all ventured into the recording studio to warble a tune or two. John Travolta of "Welcome Back Kotter" fame, had a successful recording career even before he teamed up with Olivia Newton-John in the movie "Grease". "Bonanza" star Lorne Greene (a former newscaster at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during World War II) even made it to number one with his 1964 hit, "Ringo". Telly Savalas, star of movies such as "The Dirty Dozen" and the hit TV series "Kojack", had a number one hit in England with "If". So, how many questions about TV stars who became recording artists can you name? Good luck.

QUESTIONS:

1. This televison performer had a successful weekly TV show that was mostly sketch comedy and some variety. It ran for 11 years from 1967 until 1978. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and has recently turned in great dramatic performances on such TV series as "Law And Order: Special Victims Unit". At the end of every one of her own shows, she'd tug her earlobe. Can you guess this star's name?

2. This TV star played a cop on a hit series from the 1970's and did actually have a siccessful singing career for a while. Although he wasn't really a 'soul' singer, he did manage to score 3 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, including a number one hit in 1977. Don't give up on this one, I know you know who this actor is, don't you? If not, how many hints do you need?

3. Someone at Atlantic Records decided that these two stars from a hit TV show should record a singing album. Their show was extremely successful, but the album certainly wasn't. They began as characters on "Happy Days", then spun off to star in their own weekly show about two female roomates who worked at a beer bottling plant, hung around a pizza/bowling alley and had two weird male neighbours with strange sounding names. One of the actresses went on to have a successful career as a film director and is the sister of another famous director. Who are they?

4. This TV star was an in demand character actor in movies before jumping to the small screen to portray a lovable bigot. He later starred as a southern Police Chief in another long running TV series based on a movie starring Rod Steiger and Sidney Poitier. The living room chair he famously sat in for 12 TV seasons is in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C. Who is this Emmy Award winning actor?

5. This actor co-starred for 3 years on the long running western TV series "Gunsmoke". He went on to have a hugely successful movie career and was known for dating some of Hollywood's hottest actresses. He later infamously posed nude for Cosmopolitan Magazine. His hit TV series, "Evening Shade" aired during the first half of the 1990's. Who is he?

ANSWERS:

1. Carol Burnett is the star we were looking for. Carol was born in 1933 in San Antonio, Texas. Her hit CBS weekly series, "The Carol Burnett Show" featured Vicki Lawrence, Tim Conway and Harvey Corman. In 1959, she successfully starred in the Broadway play, "Once Upon A Mattress". Also in '59 she became a regular on "The Gary Moore Show". She won an Emmy for that series and 23 Emmy Awards for "The Carol Burnette Show". Carol's solo album featured such songs as "It's Too Late" (originally sung by Bobby Goldsboro);"Rainy Days And Mondays" (The Carpenters); "Rose Garden" (Lynn Anderson); "Those Were The Days" (Mary Hopkin) and "Who's Sorry Now" (Connie Francis)

2. David Soul is the star in question. Soul starred as Kenneth "Hutch" Hutchinson in the hit TV series "Starsky & Hutch" that aired on ABC from 1975 until 1979. His 1977 hit, "Don't Give Up On Us" was his only number one. In the mid 1990's, Soul moved to London, England where he acted in a number of plays, including the part of Jerry Springer in "Jerry Springer: The Opera" (seriously). He's also had a successful career acting on British television. David became a British citizen in 2004 although he retained his U.S. citizenship.

3. That hit TV show was "Laverne & Shirley" starring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams. Marshall later directed such hit movies as "Big", "Awakenings", "A League Of Their Own" and "The Preacher's Wife". Her brother Garry Marshall was the director of movies such as "Beaches", "Pretty Woman" and "The Princess Diaries". Cindy williams continues to act. She co-starred in 1973's "American Grafitti" and she has appeared in recent TV series such as "Girlfriends", "Drive" and Law And Order". The "Laverne & Shirley Sing" album included such '50's and '60's hits as "All I Have To Do Is Dream","Da Doo Ron Ron", "Easier Said Than Done" and "Chapel Of Love". You might find some of these songs on itunes, but why bother? Stick with the originals, they're so much better

4. The man who made the words 'dingbat' and 'meathead' famous, Carroll O'Connor, starred as Archie Bunker in "All In The Family". Carroll's album was titled "Remembering You" and features the title song, which Carroll co-wrote, along with 40's big band hits such as "So Rare" and "Sweet And Lovely".

5. Burton Leon Reynolds, aka Burt Reynolds, starred in such movies as "Deliverance", "Smokey And The Bandit", "The Longest Yard", "White Lightning", "Gator" and "Boogie Nights" among many others. He dated Sally Field, Adrienne Barbeau ("Maude") and Loni Anderson from "WKRP In Cincinatti". His "Gunsmoke" career ran from 1962 until 1965. The movie "Boogie Nights" won Burt a Golden Globe statue as well as an Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" but lost to Robin Williams for "Good Will Hunting". Burt's album, titled "Ask Me What I Am", is probably not worth looking for on eBay.

TV MUSIC TRIVIA

This week, I thought we'd take a look at some of the hit TV shows that spawned music careers and vice versa. I think that's fairly self explanatory, so let's get right to it.

QUESTIONS

1. James Darren had several hits in the 1960's."Goodbye Cruel World" in 1961 and "Her Royal Majesty" in '62 were both Top 10 hits. Darren also starred in several movies, including "Gidget", "Gidget Goes Hawaiian", "The Guns of Navarone" and "Because They're Young" with Dick Clark - but what was the name of James Darren's sci-fi TV series that aired on ABC TV for one season from September 1966 until April of 1967?

2. This actor/singer played a police detective on a hit TV series that aired in the 1970's. He's a British citizen now, but was born and raised in the U.S. In 1977, he landed at # 1 on the singles chart. Who's the 'soulful'actor/singer and what was the name of his # 1 hit?

3. Over the years, several TV cop and private detective show themes have made it big on the record charts. "Peter Gunn" went top ten for Ray Anthony in 1959; composer/producer Mike Post took two of his themes, "The Rockford Files" (1975) and "The Theme From Hill Street Blues" (1981) into the TOp 10; In 1969, The Ventures recorded the theme from the hit TV series "Hawaii Five-O" and made it all the way to # 4. There were others, but for this particular question, what was the name of the group and the hit TV show that the theme came from, that went all the way to # 1 in 1975?

4. "The Partridge Family" was a hit TV series that also had hit records. David Cassidy, Susan Dey, Danny Bonaduce and Shirley Jones were the main actors on the series. David sang lead on their hits, including 1970's number one, "I Think I Love You". "The Partridge Family" TV show was inspired by a 'real life' hit making family - who was it?

5. "The Golden Girls", starring Bea Arthur, Rue McClanahan, Betty White and Estelle Getty, aired from September 1985 until May of 1992. The theme song the show used had already been a Top 30 hit in 1978 for a singer who had formerly been in Linda Ronstadts' band. Can you name the singer AND the song? HINT: He had a Top 10 hit in 1977.

ANSWERS

1. The TV series that James Darren starred in, that ran for one season in '66 and '67 was "The Time Tunnel". Darren played Dr. Anthony Newman, a scientist, who along with his partner, played by Robert Colbert, flipped back and forth in time as they tried, in vain, to return to their original era. "The Time Tunnel" theme was written by John "Star Wars" Williams. Incidentally, James Darren's son by his first wife, Gloria, is reporter Jim Moret, formerly with CNN and Inside Edition.

2. David Soul is the guy we're looking for. His hit TV series, "Starsky & Hutch" aired from 1975 until 1979. In April of 1977, Soul's hit "Don't Give Up On Us Baby" was # 1 on Billboards' Hot 100 chart. David moved to England in the mid 1990's and became a British citizen in 2004.

3. In 1975, producers Steve Barri and Michael Omartian took a group of LA studio musicians into the recording studio and came out with a # 1 hit. They called the session players, Rhythm Heritage and that # 1 hit was "Theme From S.W.A.T."

4. That would be The Cowsills - Bill, Bob, Paul, Barry, John, Susan and mom Barbara, who had hits from 1967 until 1969, including "The Rain, The Park & Other Things" (1967), "Indian Lake" (1968) and "Hair" (1969) all of which made the Top 10 chart.

5. Andrew Gold had been a member of Linda Ronstadts' band and had done session work and arranging for Linda as well. His biggest hit in 1977 was "Lonely Boy", which made it to # 7 on Billboard's Top 100 singles chart. The following year, Andrew had another hit "Thank You For Being A Friend" (#25) and that song was later adapted as the theme for "The Golden Girls".

ACADEMY AWARD WINNING SONGS

Well, the Academy Awards are over for another year. Congratulations to all of this years Oscar winners. This week, continuing with our new format, we're going to test your knowledge of Academy Award winning 'Best original Songs'. And for those of you that aren't over 80, we'll confine the quiz to the 1960's, '70's, '80's and '90's. And to make it even easier, at least a little bit, all 5 questions are true or false. Take your best guess if you don't have a clue. And there may just be a trick question thrown in just for fun.
So here we go.

QUESTIONS

1. Neil Young has never won an Academy Award for 'Best original Song' - true or false?

2. Composer Henry Mancini won back-to-back Oscars for 'Best original Song' in the 1970's - true or false?

3. "Unchained Melody" from the 1990 movie "Ghost" won the Oscar for 'Best Original Song' - true or false?

4. Rocker Huey Lewis won the 1985 'Best Original Song' Oscar for "The Power of Love" from "Back To The Future" - true or false?

5. Burt Bacharach and Hal David won the 'Best Original Song' OScar in 1970 for "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" from the 1969 film "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". B. J. Thomas sang the song in the movie, but B.J. was not the composers first choice. Burt and David actually wanted Neil Diamond, but he turned them down - true or false.

ANSWERS

1. True, although Neil Young was nominated in 1994 for his song "Philadelphia" from the 1993 Tom Hanks/Denzel Washington film, "Philadelphia". The Oscar for 'Best original Song' that year went to Bruce Springsteen for "Streets of Philadelphia", also from the same movie.

2. Trick question here. The answer is false, although Henry Mancini DID win back-to-back Oscars for 'Best Original Song' in the 1960's. In 1962, Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer won for "Moon River" from the 1961 film, "Breakfast At Tiffany's". The following year, the duo repeated their win with "Days of Wine and Roses" from the movie of the same name. Interestingly, the '62 Oscars, hosted by Bob Hope for the 7th time no less, ran over 2 hours for the very first time. These days, they're usually over 4 hours.

3. False. Although "Unchained Melody" worked fabulously for the pottery scene between Demi Moore and Patrick Swayze in "Ghost", the song wasn't eligible to be nominated, having been previously written for the 1955 film, "Unchained". At the 28th annual Academy Awards ceremony in 1956, "Unchained Melody" was nominated as 'Best original Song' for authors Alex North and lyricist Hy Zaret, but lost to "Love Is A Many Splendored Thing".

4. False. While Huey Lewis WAS nominated for 'Best Original Song' in 1986 for "Power of Love", Lionel Richie's "Say You, Say Me" from the movie "White Nights" took home the Oscar.
SIDE NOTE: Huey Lewis sued Ray Parker Jr. over the theme from 1984's"Ghostbusters" theme song, claiming it was a rip off of his song, "I Want A New Drug". Huey won in court.

5. That too is false. Burt Bacharach and Hal David had originally wanted Bob Dylan to sing "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head", but HE turned them down.