THE DECEMBER OF MY YEARS

As we come into the final month in 2013, our quiz is about # 1 hits from Decembers of the past five decades – that is 1963, ’73, ’83, ’93 and ’03.  We’re mixing it up this time with the usual questions plus one or two that are multiple choice.  But hey, it’s always fun, so if you’re up for it – let’s go.      

    

QUESTIONS

1.  The Billboard Hot 100 chart for the entire month of December 1963 was dominated by one song.  The singers real name was Jeanine Deckers, but she used a different name for the record.  Although the song was sung in French, it still climbed to the top of the singles chart.  Her life story was made into a movie in 1966 starring Debbie Reynolds.  She never had another hit, but did appear on the Ed Sullivan TV program in ’63.  Can you name the song as well as the singer?         

      

2.  In December of 1973, this song stood at the top of the singles chart.  In the 1960’s, this singer charted two Top 30 hits, “Lonely Weekends” and “Mohair Sam”, but he only ever had one # 1 on the pop charts.  His nickname, in his later years, was ‘The Silver Fox’ due to the color of his hair.  He won the Grammy Award for ‘Best Country Vocal Performance, Male’ in 1974 and was honored posthumously with the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998.  Who is this singer?  Is he a. Ray Stevens  b.  George Jones   c. Charlie Rich                           

                

3.  This former Beatle had the # 1 song for the final 3 weeks of 1983.  It was actually a duet with a former Motown star.  This duo had two hits on the chart in ’83.  The first, “The Girl Is Mine” came at the beginning of the year.  That one stalled at # 2. So, who were the two singers with the two hits in ’83?  Were they:  a. Paul McCartney and Smokey Robinson  b. Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson  c. Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder                      

                   

4.  This song was the # 1 hit for the last week of December 1993.  It remained at the top for the first 3 weeks of ’94 as well.  In the fall of ’93, her hit “Dreamlover” was the # 1 song for 8 weeks.  This singer was a former judge on “American Idol”, but in a recent interview, she said it was “…like going to work in Hell with Satan”, most likely referring to her feud with fellow judge Nicki Minaj.  What’s the name of her 1992 # 1?  Is it a. Hero  b. Without You  c. Fantasy            

    

5.  In December of 2003, this hit was # 1 from a hip hop duo from Atlanta, Georgia.  It hung around in the Top Ten for a total of 17 weeks.  This duo got together as high school students in 1992 and are one of the most successful duos of all time.  They won six Grammy Awards and have sold over 25 MILLION albums/CDs etc.  Two of their albums are in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of ‘500 Greatest Albums of All Time’.  So they are certainly no outcasts (HINT ALERT!) What’s the name of the duo (I just gave you that in the Hint Alert) and Hey! while you’re at it, what’s the name of their 2003 # 1 hit single?

             

ANSWERS

1.  The song was “Dominique”.  Jeanine Deckers became a Belgian Dominican nun who took the name Sister Luc Gabrielle.  You know her better as The Singing Nun aka Soeur Sourire (“Sister Smile”).  After the success of “Dominique”, Deckers left the convent and tried to continue her singing career, but she never again achieved the success she had had as The Singing Nun.            

2.  c. Charlie Rich is the correct answer.  Rich’s only # 1 in 1973 was “The Most Beautiful Girl”, but that same year, he had a # 15 hit with “Behind Closed Doors”.  Rich was born in Colt, Arkansas and began his professional musical career while in the U.S. Air Force in the early 1950’s.  In the late ‘50’s, Charlie was a session musician for Sam Phillips at Sun Records in Memphis, playing with such artists as Johnny Cash and Bill Justus.  The Country Music Association named Charlie Rich ‘Entertainer of The year’ in 1974.  Rich passed away in July of 1995 at the age of 62.              

    

3.  In 1983, there were two hits in the Top Ten from b. Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson.  The first three weeks of ’83 saw “The Girl Is Mine” stuck in the # 2 spot behind first, Daryl Hall & John Oates “Maneater” for one week, then for the following two weeks, “Down Under” from Men At Work kept McCartney & Jackson from the top of the singles charts.  For the final three weeks of December in ’83, “Say, Say, Say” was the # 1 song in all the land.  “Say Say Say” kept its # 1 status for an additional two weeks in January of ’84.  Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder had their # 1 hit in 1982 with “Ebony and Ivory”.  As far as we know, McCartney never recorded anything with Smokey Robinson.                  

    

4.  From the very first # 1 that Mariah Carey had in 1990, “Vision of Love” until the end of 2001, Mariah racked up 15 # 1 hits.  1993’s “Hero” remained in the top spot for 4 weeks, so the correct answer is a.  “Without You” was a # 3 hit in ’94 and “Fantasy” made it to # 1, but in 1995.  Mariah resigned from “American Idol” after only one season, but her husband, Nick Cannon is the host for “America’s Got Talent”.       

5.  If you were paying attention to the Hint Alert! you’d know that the duo is OutKast.  Their 1993 # 1 song was “Hey Ya!”, which spent nine weeks at the top of Billboards’ Hot 100 chart.  Besides their 6 Grammy statues, OutKast has also won 4 American Music Awards.