SINGING OSCAR WINNERS

Well, well, Steven Spielberg did NOT win the Academy Award for ‘Best Director’.  That’s a bit of a shocker.  Jennifer Lawrence and Daniel Day-Lewis’ win for ‘Best Actress’ and ‘Best Actor’ wasn’t much of a surprise, but well deserved nonetheless.   Congratulations to Adele for ‘Best Original Song’ for the theme from “Skyfall”.  For our final Academy Award quiz until next year, the questions are about Oscar winning (or nominated) actors/actresses who’ve also had (or not had) a singing career.  Once again, the questions are in the form of true or false, so guess away if you’re not sure.  

QUESTIONS:

1.  Academy Award winner Sissy Spacek (she won her Oscar for her portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn in 1980’s “Coal Miner’s Daughter”) once recorded a song about John Lennon – true or false?  

                                                                                                                       

2.  Although Clint Eastwood has never won an Academy Award for acting (although he has been nominated), he does have two Oscars on his mantle for ‘Best Director’ – one for 1992’s “Unforgiven” and the other for 2004’s “Million Dollar Baby”.  During his career, Clint has recorded at least one album featuring his ‘singing’ – true or false?         

3.  Cher has certainly had her ‘share’ of hits.  From “I Got You Babe”, her first # 1 with then husband Sonny Bono in 1965 to her solo smashes in the ‘70’s, ‘80’s and ‘90’s.  She’s been in dozens of movies, including “Silkwood”, “Mask”, “The Witches Of Eastwick” and “Burlesque”.  But despite her success on the recording side, Cher has never won an Academy Award – true or false?

4.  Phil Collins won a ‘Best Original Song In A Motion Picture’ Academy Award in 2000 for “You’ll Be In My Heart” from Disney’s animated feature ”Tarzan”  Although he’s appeared as an actor in movies like “Buster” and “Hook”, he was also in one of The Beatles’ movie – true or false?     

5.  In movies, Lee Marvin usually played a tough guy – sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always tough.  His only Academy Award win was in 1966 when he took home the ‘Actor In A Leading Role’ Oscar for the 1965 film “Cat Ballou”.  Marvin even shot Ronald Reagan in the 1964 film, “The Killers”, several decades before Reagan was elected President of the United States.  This ‘tough guy’ actor, Lee Marvin, once had a # 1 hit – true or false?   

ANSWERS

1.  That’s true, true, true.  Sissy Spacek DID record a song about John Lennon called, “John, You Went Too Far This Time”.  The name on the record was Rainbo, but that was a pseudonym for Spacek.  Before she made it on the silver screen, Spacek played and sang in New York’s Greenwich Village coffee houses.  She even sang commercial jingles.  The 1968 novelty sang was in response to John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s album, “Two Virgins” in which they appeared on the front cover naked as ‘jay birds’.  The song did not chart, nor did it sell very well and Rainbo aka Spacek was dropped by her record company.  Lucky for her, her acting career started to take off.    HH                           

2.  True again.  Eastwood has had a fairly lengthy recording career, which began when Clint was starring in the TV series “Rawhide” (1959-1966).  In 1963, Cameo Records, home to ‘60’s teen heart throb Bobby Rydell, released an album called “Rawhide’s Clint Eastwood Sings Cowboy Favorites”.  It wasn’t a huge seller.  Clint has composed music to many of his films, including “Mystic River”, “Million Dollar Baby”, “Flags Of Our Fathers”, “Hereafter” and “J. Edgar”.  In 1007, Clint was awarded an honorary ‘Doctor of Music’ degree from the Berklee College of Music.   

3.  Oh my, that is so false.  Cher won the Oscar for ‘Actress In A Leading Role’ for 1987’s “Moonstruck” at the Shrine Civic Auditorium in Los Angeles on April 11, 1988.  She’s currently in pre production on the movie “Bet and Flo’ due for release possibly in 2014.

4.  Yep, it’s absolutely true.  Phillips David Charles Collins was a working actor long before he became successful as a musician.  As a young lad, he played the Artful Dodger in the stage production of “Oliver” in London’s West End.  In The Beatles 1964 film debut “A Hard Day’s Night”, you can spot Phil (if you look really closely) in the audience during the Beatles TV performance at the end of the film.  He was 13 at the time and got the gig because his mother, June Collins, was a talent agent in London.

5.  It’s might be unbelievable, but it’s true.  Lee Marvin’s # 1 hit single in Great Britain was the song, “Wand’rin’ Star” from the 1969  motion picture “Paint Your Wagon”.  His deep, husky voice took the song to # 1 in the UK for three weeks in 1970 which kept The Beatles “Let It Be” at # 2.      

THE WORLD’S DREAM FACTORY REWARDS ITSELF ONCE AGAIN

Awards season continues!  Props to Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Frank Ocean Fun. and the other Grammy Awards winners.  Elton John, Mavis Staples and a plethora of performers paid a soulful tribute to the late drummer/singer Levon Helm of The Band.  Prior to the awards, CBS had sent a memo to all attendees not to show too much skin, no deep cleavage, no slit skirts, etc.  Some women obviously didn’t pay too much attention to that memo...yes, we’re talking about you Jennifer Lopez and Katie Perry.  Well, now that the Grammies are done for another year, the awards season is nearly over, although there’s still the JUNO Awards coming up on April 21^st, plus the Academy Awards on Sunday.  Will “Argo” steal ‘Best Picture’ from “Lincoln’?  Ben Affleck, who won the Directors Guild award for ‘Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film’ can’t win at the Oscars, because he wasn’t nominated as Director, although if “Argo” wins for best picture, then he would receive a statue as one of the producers (along with George Clooney).  Steven Spielberg will most likely take home the Oscar for directing, but then again, the Awards ceremony is always good for a surprise or two.  So, this week, our quiz is about successful musicians who’ve possibly won or been nominated for an Academy Award/Awards.  The questions are in the form of true or false, so you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right, if you don’t know the answer.  Take a deep breath and let’s begin.

QUESTIONS:

1.  Bruce Springsteen has never won an Academy Award – true or false? 

                                                                                                              

2.  In 1971, The Beatles lost the Academy Award for ‘Best Original Song Score’ to Rod McKuen and John Scott Trotter for their work on “A Boy Named Charles Brown” – true or false?         

3.  During the course of his career, record producer George Martin has being the man in the control room behind dozens of hits for artists such as The Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer, Cilla Black, America and Elton John (Martin produced the single of Elton’s 1997 tribute to Lady Diana, ”Candle In The Wind”).  At the 37^th annual Academy Awards ceremony in 1965, George won the Academy Award for ‘Best Original Score’ for The Beatles 1964 film, “A Hard Day’s Night” – true or false?

4.  Canada’s own Bryan Adams has been nominated for a ‘Best Original Song’ Academy Award three times – true or false?     

5.  On his mantle, rapper/actor Marshall Mathers III has more than a dozen Grammy Awards plus one Academy Award statue – true or false?   

 ANSWERS

1.  That’s false.  On March 21, 1994, Bruce won the ‘Best Original Song For A Motion Picture’ Oscar for his song, “Streets of Philadelphia” from the 1993 motion picture “Philadelphia” starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, who’s nominated this year in the ‘Best Actor In A Leading Role” category for his work in the film, “Flight”.   HH                           

2.  That’s also false.  The Beatles WON the “Best Original Song Score” during the 43^rd Academy Awards ceremony held on April 15^th, 1971 for their 1970 documentary, “Let It Be”.  The other nominees in that category included “A Boy named Charlie Brown” (music by Rod McKuen and John Scott Trotter, lyrics by Rod McKuen, Bill Melendez and Al Shean). “The Baby Maker” (Music by Fred Karlin, lyrics by Tylwyth Kymry), “Darling Lili (Music by Henry Mancini, lyrics by Johnny Mercer) and “Scrooge” (Music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) 

3. Another false I’m afraid.  George Martins’ 1964 score for “A Hard Day’s Night” lost to Andre Previn and his score to “My Fair Lady”.  A few years later, Martin scored The Beatles animated feature “Yellow Submarine” and in 1973, the film score for the James Bond film “Live And Let Die”.  Neither was nominated for an Academy Award, but the Paul McCartney’s theme song, produced by George Martin was.  It didn’t win either.  The winner of the Oscar that year was “The Way We Were”, (Music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Marilyn & Alan Bergmann).     

4. That my friends, is absolutely true.  Bryan was first nominated in 1992 for ‘Best Original Song’  for “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You” from the movie “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves”.  His co-writers were Michael Kamen  and Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange (Shania Twain’s ex-husband).  They lost to “Beauty And The Beast” from the Disney motion picture of the same name.  In 1996, the same trio were nominated for “Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman” from the movie ”Don Juan DeMarco” starring Johnny Depp.  That time, they lost to “Colors Of The Wind” from “Pocahontas” (Music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz).  The third time wasn’t the charm the following year (1997) for “I Finally Found Someone” from the movie “The Mirror Has Two faces”.  His co-writers on that song were Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange, Barbra Streisand and Marvin Hamlisch.  “You Must Love Me” from “Evita” with music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyrics by Tim Rice won the Oscar that year. 

5.  It is true.  Marshall Mathers aka Eminem won the 2003 ‘Best Original Song’ Academy Award for “Lose Yourself” with co-writers Jeff Bass and Luis Resto.  The song was featured in Eminem’s 2002 movie “8 Mile”.  It was also nominated for a Grammy Award as well as a Golden Globe, but did not win.    

Gimme a 'G', gimme an 'R', gimme an 'A', 'M', 'M', 'Y'.. WHAT’S THAT SPELL? GRAMMY!

Well, the Super Bowl is over for another year.  Congrats to the Ravens.  Next up are the 2013 Grammy Awards on Sunday.  Will Taylor Swift snag a new boyfriend at this years’ ceremony?  Will the ultimate break up of that relationship result in a Grammy nominated song next year?  Of course, it will.  Will Chris Brown try and thump Frank Ocean again like Frank says he did at an LA recording studio last week?  Will Will. I. Am. even be there?  You’ll have to tune in on Sunday to find out.  But for now, let’s see how many Grammy Award questions you can answer correctly.  Since not everyone’s into awards, we’ve made these questions multiple choice, so you have a one in three shot at getting it right.   

QUESTIONS:

1.  Prior to the 1983 Grammy Awards, held in Los Angeles on February 28^th, 1984, Michael Jackson had only ever won one Grammy.  That was an R&B statue for 1979’s “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”, but the ‘83 awards came after “Thriller’ had been released, so the question is: How many Grammy Awards did Michael Jackson personally win that night: a. six b. seven or c. eight? 

                                                                                                                        

2.  Directors Mel Brooks (“The Producers”, “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein”) and Mike Nichols (“The Graduate”, “The Bird Cage” and “Charlie Wilson’s War”) have both won ‘Spoken Word’ Grammy Awards.  Which CBS newsman has also won a Grammy? Is it: a. Walter Cronkite b. Charles Kuralt or c. Eric Sevareid?  

         

3.  This year, Bruce Springsteen is nominated in the ‘Best Rock Album’ category along with Coldplay, The Black Keys, Muse and Jack White.  He’s also nominated in the ‘Best Rock Song’ category for “We Can Take Care of Our Own”.  How many Grammy Awards has Bruce Springsteen won over the years?  Is it: a. sixteen b. eighteen or c. twenty?

4.  Music sensation Taylor Swift, who hooks up with boyfriends, then breaks up rather quickly, then writes a hit song about the break up, has won 6, count ‘em 6, Grammy Awards so far.  This year, she’s nominated in 3 categories.  In what year did Taylor Swift receive her first Grammy?    a. 2008 b. 2009 or c. 2010?   

5.  Kim Kardashian’s baby daddy (and current boyfriend) Kanye West is nominated this year for 6 Grammy Awards.  He’s also done pretty well for himself at previous Grammy ceremonies.  So exactly how many Grammy Awards has Kanye previously won?  Is it:  a. twelve b. fifteen or c. eighteen?

ANSWERS

1.  That would be c. eight.  Michael won for ‘Album of the Year’ (“Thriller”); ‘Record of the Year’ (“Beat It”); ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male’ (“Thriller”); ‘Best Rock Performance, Male’ (“Beat It”);HH ‘Best Rhythm & Blues Song’ (“Billie Jean”); ‘Best Best Rhythm & Blues Performance, Male’ (“Billie Jean”); ‘Best Recording For Children’ (“ET: The Extra-Terrestrial” that Michael narrated; ‘Producer of the Year, Non Classical’.  Michael shared that award with Quincy Jones, James Anthony Carmichael and Lionel Richie.  “Thriller” also won ‘Best Engineered Recording, Non Classical’ for Bruce Swedien.  
                               

2.  Charles Kuralt won a Grammy for “Charles Kuralt’s Spring” in 1998 (for recordings released in 1997) so the correct answer was b. although both Walter Cronkite and Eric Sevareid were nominated, Cronkie for 1971 and Sevareid for ’74.  Charles Kuralt hosted “CBS News Sunday Mornings” for fifteen years.  Prior to that, he was a featured reporter on the “CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite” with ‘On The Road’ stories of human interest from across America.  Kuralt died in 1997 at the age of 62.        

3.  Bruce has walked to the winners’ podium many times.  So far, he’s won 20 Grammy Awards, so if you guessed c. you are correct.  Bruce’s first Grammy came in 1984 for “Dancing In The Dark”.  That won ‘Best Rock Performance, Male’.  His last one (at least until maybe this weekend) was in 2009 when Bruce won ‘Best Solo Rock Performance’ for “Working On A Dream”.    

4.  The correct answer is a. 2009.  Taylor Swift won her first Grammy Award in 2009.  In fact, that year, she won four awards, ‘ Best Country Album’ and ‘Album of the Year’ for “Fearless”, plus ‘Best Country Song’ and ‘Best Female Country Vocal Performance’ for the song “White Horse”.  In 2001, Taylor won 2 more – ‘Best Country Song’ and ‘Best Country Solo Performance for the song “Mean”.  This year, she’s nominated for 3 Grammy Awards – ‘Record of the Year’ for “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together” as well as ‘Best Country Duo/Group Performance’ along with ‘Best Song Written For Visual Media’ for “Safe & Sound” from “The Hunger Games”.              

5.  Boy, that Kanye’s been a busy boy.  In total, his Grammy award collection totals 18, so c. would be correct.  In 2004, his first win year, he took home 3 Grammy statues for ‘Best Rap Album’, ‘Best Rap Song’ and ‘Best R&B Song’.  The following year, 2005, he won 3 more.  In 2007, 4 more Grammy statues went into the trunk of his ride.  There were 2 more in 2008, an additional 2 in 2009, then in 2011, 4 more Grammy Awards went the way of Kanye.