This coming long weekend, known as the ‘Victoria Day Weekend’
in most of Canada, celebrates Britain’s Queen Victoria. It’s also referred to as the ‘May 2-4
weekend’, although it doesn’t always fall on the 24th of May. So just for fun (because there certainly
isn’t any profit in it), our quiz this time is about hit songs or groups that
have ‘royal’ connections. Either their
name has a ‘royal’ connotation or the song title has ‘royal’ in it. Example:
Aretha Franklin is referred to as the ‘Queen of Soul’. Elvis Presley was the ‘King of Rock and
Roll’, etc. so of course, none of the questions will be about them.
All of the songs and/or the artists in question went to #
1. The years range from 1967 to 2013. Keep a stiff upper lip old chap, take your
best ‘royal’ shot and have a happy ‘Vicky’ weekend those of who celebrate such
things.
QUESTIONS
1. This teenaged singer/songwriter
from New Zealand had her # 1 ‘royalty’ song win two Grammy Awards this past
March. One was for ‘Song of the
Year’. The other for ‘Best Pop Solo
Performance’. Her mother is a prize
winning poet. In the tradition of Cher
or Madonna, this performer also uses only one name. Do you know what it is?
2. In 1980, this ‘royal’ British group hit the #
1 spot on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart for the
first time. They had initially charted in 1975 and
eventually charted 29 hits of varying degrees.
Two of their songs made it to # 1.
Mike Myers (the actor, not the movie’s masked murderer) helped take one
of this groups’ songs to # 2 on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart for the second time
in 1992. Can you name this ‘killer’
group?
3. This group first made
the singles chart in 1966 with a song about a beloved cartoon character versus
one of World War I’s German flying ace.
The following year, they recorded a song about the same duo at Christmas. It went straight to the top of the Christmas charts. Can you ‘snoop’ around your brain and come up
with the name of this ‘royal’ group?
4. She’s a multi Grammy Award
winning singer/songwriter - the most successful female songwriter of all time. Some of the hits she wrote or co-wrote were
recorded by Aretha Franklin, The Shirelles, James Taylor, Bobby Vee, The
Monkees, Little Eva and The Beatles. In 1971,
her solo album ”Tapestry” was # 1 for 15 weeks from June 19th until
September 25th. She’s in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Who the heck is this ‘queen’ of the record
charts?
5. It was 20 years ago this year that this
singer/songwriter hit # 1 on Billboards’ Hot 100 singles chart. In fact, that year, he did it twice. He’s a colourful performer who prefers
purple. He famously had a few problems
with his record company, Warner Bros. So
much so, that he insisted they not call him by his name and that he be known only
by a symbol. He also wrote several hits
that other artists made successful, including “Manic Monday”, a # 2 hit for The
Bangles in 1986 and “Nothing Compares 2 U”, a # 1 smash for Sinead O’Connor in
1990. On his own, he charted over 50
single hits and that includes 5 # 1’s. Do
you know his artists’ name? Don’t ‘go
crazy’ trying to figure it out though.
ANSWERS
1. New Zealander Lorde won her two Grammy Award this year for her song “Royals”. Her real name is Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor
but she says she chose her stage name Lorde because of her fascination with
royalty and aristocracy. She says she
though Lord was too masculine so she added the ‘e’ at the end and became Lorde. She was first signed to Universal Music at
the age of 13, but didn’t hit big time success with “Royals” until she was
17. She’s the first solo artist from New
Zealand to have a # 1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart.
2. Freddie Mercury, Brian
May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon were Queen.
Their first chart hit was 1975’s “Killer
Queen” which got to # 12. That was
followed by “Bohemian Rhapsody” (the first time around) which went to # 9. Several more chart hits followed, but nothing
made it to the top spot until February 23rd, 1980 when “Crazy Little
Thing Called Love” climbed to # 1. That
song fought off all comers for 4 weeks until Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The
Wall (Part II)” replaced it. Queens’ “Another
One Bites The Dust” also went to # 1 for 3 weeks in October of ‘80. “Bohemian Rhapsody” had a comeback in 1992
thanks to the movie “Wayne’s World”.
This time around, it climbed to # 2.
Lead singer Freddie Mercury died in 1991 at the age of 45. The members of Queen were inducted into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. As
well, the current hit play, “We Will Rock You” is built around the songs of
Queen.
3. In 1967, The
Royal Guardsmen took their hit “Snoopy’s Christmas” straight to # 1 on the
Christmas singles chart. The previous
year, “Snoopy Vs The Red Baron’ had climbed all the way to # 2 on Billboards’
Hot 100, but it was kept out of the # 1 spot by The Monkees “I’m A Believer”.
4. 1971 was the year singer/songwriter Carole King first hit # 1 on
Billboards’ Hot 100 chart as a solo performer with her song “It’s Too Late”
from her album “Tapestry”. Carole wrote
(or co-wrote with her then husband Gerry Goffin), 118 hits that charted on
Billboards’ Hot 100, including “You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” (Aretha
Franklin), “Pleasant Valley Sunday” (The Monkees), “Loco-Motion” (Little
Eva/Grand Funk), “Up On The Roof” (The Drifters) and “Chains” (The Cookies/The
Beatles). She’s won 4 Grammy Awards
(plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and Grammy Trustees Award), has a
star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and, along with former husband Gerry Goffin, was
inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. The duo had previously been inducted (in
1987) into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
While in high school, Carole briefly dated fellow student (and later hit
maker) Neil Sedaka. She’s also guest
starred in such television shows as “The Mary Tyler Moore Show”, “The Tracy
Ullman Show” and most recently, “The Gilmore Girls”.
5. Prince is the award winning name we were looking for. Real name: Prince Rogers Nelson. Prince has sold over a hundred million
records around the world. He first
charted in 1978, but the song, “Soft And Wet” only managed to make it to # 92
on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart. He first
cracked the Top Ten in ’83 with “Little Red Corvette” (# 6), then did it again
a few months later with “Delirious” (# 8).
His five # 1 hits are: “When Doves Cry” (1984), “Let’s Go Crazy” (1984),
“Kiss” (1986), “Batdance” (1989) and “1991’s “Cream”. Prince always produces himself and has a state-of-the-art
recording studio complex in Minneapolis he calls Paisley Park.
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