GRAMMY, GRAMMY, WHO’S GOT A GRAMMY?

Well, it’s February and one Canadian groundhog didn’t see his shadow, which is good for a short winter.  Two others saw their shadows...which is bad for a long winter.  Which groundhog will be correct?  We shall see.  Of course February also means that it’s time for the annual Grammy Awards.  So, just for fun and because we have to have 5 new questions anyway, it’s Grammy quiz time. 

Anyone remember what won the 2014 ‘Song of the Year’ Grammy?  Anyone?  Bueller?  Bueller?  How about ‘Album of the Year’?  Hmmm?   I didn’t either actually until I looked it up.  The 2014 ‘Song of the Year’ Grammy (it’s a songwriters award) went to “Royals”, written by Lorde and Joel Little.  The Grammy for “Album of the Year” was won by Pharrell Williams for “Random Access Memories”.  If you knew either or both of those questions. then let’s see how you do with this quiz, smartypants.  Seriously, good luck – these questions are kind of tough.  But no more so than usual.  No hints this time around though.  Alright, maybe one or two, but that’s it!

QUESTIONS

1.  The 53^rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 11^th, 2011.  Two Canadians were nominated in the ‘Best New Artist’ category along with Mumford & Sons, Florence + The Machine and the winner, Esperanza Spalding.  Although neither won this particular Grammy, both Canadians HAVE won JUNO Awards before.  In fact, one of them won the ‘Fan Choice Award’ for the past 4 years in a row, yet is not even nominated in that category this year.  Can you name this Canadian entertainer who constantly seems to be getting himself into trouble?                   

2.  At the 40^th annual Grammy Awards ceremony in New York on February 25, 1998,     one performer won the Grammy for ‘Best Dance Recording’ as well as ‘Best Pop Album’.  From 1984 until the end of 2000, she scored 12 # 1 hits on the U.S. record charts.  She’s a successful singer, songwriter, author, actress and business woman who goes by only one name, even though she has several.  She is one of the richest and most powerful women in the entertainment industry.  Can you name her?        

3.  The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles was the setting for the 25^th annual Grammy Awards on February 23, 1983.  The group that won ‘Record of the Year’ also won ‘Album of the Year’.  The ‘Record of the Year’ was a girls’ first name.  She had dated one of the members of this group.  She comes from an acting family, but that’s enough about “Rosanna”, what’s the name of the group that won ‘Record’ and ‘Album of the Year’ and has absolutely no connection to “The Wizard of Oz” except for borrowing the name of Dorothy’s little dog.                

4.  The artist who won the Grammy Award for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male’ at the 34^th annual Grammy Award on February 8^th, 1991 in Los Angeles, had re-recorded a # 1 hit from 1966 for Percy Sledge.  The new version also went to # 1.  It was this performer’s second and final # 1 (at least so far).  Although he was an successful songwriter, several of his hits came by re-recording previous hits, including Otis Reddings’ “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” in 1988; the 1960 Ray Charles # 1 “Georgia On My Mind” in ‘90 and The Bee Gees 1967 Top Twenty hit, “To Love Somebody” in ‘92.  For many years, he had huge hair, but later cut it.  Who is this superstar hitmaker?   

5.  We’re going back to 1969 for this Grammy Award winner.  This highly successful composer, conductor and arranger has been nominated for an amazing 72 Grammy Awards.  He’s won 20, plus a Golden Globe and 4 Academy Awards.  His fame came mainly from writing songs for, and scoring motion pictures.  He wrote the theme from “The Pink Panther” (Ba dum ba dum, ba dum, ba dum, ba dum, ba dum, ba dum, baaaa daaaaa, ba da da da dum), which on the record charts in 1964, climbed only as high as # 31.  This hit went all the way to # 1 and was the love theme from the 1968 motion picture, “Romeo & Juliet”.  I gave you the title of the song.  Can you give me the name of the man who had the # 1 instrumental hit with it in ‘69?           

ANSWERS

1.  Yes of course, it’s the Biebs, Justin Bieber.  As any true Belieber knows, Justin was discovered in 2007 via You Tube videos.  The man who discovered him, Scotter Braun, teamed him with Usher and the rest is on a police blotter.  OK, to be fair, Justin has seen more than his share of trouble in the past few years, but his latest video says he’s trying to clean up his act.  Time will tell.  Meantime, the kid from Stratford, Ontario has sold in the millions and debuted 4 albums at # 1.  In 2011 and 2012, Forbes Magazine ranked the Biebs as # 3 of “the top ten most powerful celebrities in the world”.  By 2013, he’d dropped down to 9^th place.  By the way, Drake was the other Canadian performer nominated for a ‘Best New Artist’ Grammy Award.                               

    

2.  Madonna Louise Ciccone is the correct answer, but if you just said Madonna, that’s cool too.  Madge’s ‘Best Dance Recording’ and ‘Best Pop Album’ Grammies were for “Ray of Light”.  ‘Ray of Light’ also won a Grammy that year for ‘Best Short Form Music Video’.  Thus far, Madonna has sold more than 300 million records and The Guinness Book of World Records organization recognized her as ‘best selling female recording artist of all time’.  If it’s good enough for the Guinness folks, then it’s certainly good enough for me.  

3.  “Toto IV” is the name of the album, therefore the name of the group has to be Toto.  Members of Toto include or have included David Paich, Steve, Mike and Jeff Porcaro, Steve Lukather, Joseph Williams, Keith Carlock, Bobby Kimball, David Hungate, Simon Phillips, Fergie Frederiksen, Jean-Michel Byron and Greg Phillinganes.  Toto’s biggest hits are “Hold The Line”, “Africa” and “Rsoanna”, written about actress Rosanna Arquette, whom co-starred in the movie “Desperately Seeking Susan” with Madonna.  Several of the members of Toto were studio musicians, playing on albums by Boz Scaggs, Steely Dan, Sony & Cher and Seals & Crofts among others.  They finally decided to form their own group and the rest, as ‘they’ say (whoever ‘they’ are) is history.   

                  

4.  Michael Bolton is the man with the big hair.  “When A Man Loves A Woman” is the big hit song.  Born in New Haven, Connecticut, his real name is Michael Bolotin, but he dropped the middle ‘o’ and became a huge international success.  Mike (he hates when I call him Mike) started out in hard rock bands for a while, was the lead singer for the band Blackjack, but he eventually turned to ballads and made a fortune.  He’s sold over 75 million records and recorded eight Top Ten albums.  His two # 1 hits on Billboards’ Hot 100 chart, 1990’s “How Am I Supposed To Live Without You” and 1991’s “When A Man Loves A Woman” both won Michael the Grammy for ‘Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male’.          

5.  In 1969, Henry Mancini took home the ‘Best Instrumental Arrangement’ Grammy statue for “Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet”.  It was his only # 1 hit single in a career that spanned five decades.  Henry Mancini passed away in June of 1994 at the age of 70.  A year after his death, he was posthumously honoured with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  His first charted hit single came in 1960 with “Mr. Lucky’, the theme from the TV series.  It made it to # 21.  Henry did better in 1961 with “Moon River”, a song from the film, “Breakfast At Tiffany’s” that went to # 11 on the Hot 100 pop singles chart, # 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and won a Grammy Award for ‘Song of the Year’ the following year.