Well Labour
Day has come and gone and life goes on a little bit cooler. It’s September, but we’re not going to ‘fall’
into being lax on this site. The
questions will keep on comin’. This time,
questions about songs from artists who were born during the month of September
AND also had hits during the 1970’s. It’s
not complicated I promise.
QUESTIONS:
1. This singer/songwriter was a member of a very
‘colourful’ psychedelic British band. He
wrote almost all of their lyrics (including the songs on a 40 million selling album
that spent over 700 weeks on Billboards’ album chart). He split from the group after ‘creative
differences’ and went solo in 1985. Along
with his former band mates, this performer was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1996. There’s no ‘dark
side’ to this man’s talents, so can you name him?
2. This singer, songwriter, producer was born on
September 1, 1946 and initially became successful as part of a group with his two
twin brothers. Their first North
American hit happened in 1967, but they didn’t hit # 1 until 1971 – that one was
followed by 8 other # 1’s throughout the 1970’s. The brothers’ youngest sibling, who was also
a singer, had 3 # 1’s in a row during the ‘70’s. He died in 1988 at the age of 30. This artist’s twin brothers both passed away making
him the last one ‘Stayin’ Alive’. Who is
this chart topping performer?
3. Her maternal grandfather was a Nobel Prize
winning atomic physicist. She’s a
multiple Grammy Award winner and has been at the top of the singles chart 5
times, starting in 1974 and had her last # 1 in 1981. Her first charted hit single, which made it
to # 25, was with a Bob Dylan song.
She’s also an actress with several major hit films to her credit
(including one with the star of ”Saturday Night Fever”). In fact, she had a couple of hit songs with
this actor/singer/ airline pilot. In the
mid 1980’s she opened a chain of clothing stores called Koala Blue. She still performs today and is currently on a
North American tour. Who is she?
4. This guitar player/songwriter had two # 1 hits as a member of two different
groups. His first chart topper came in
1970 with his first group. In 1974 as a
co-founding member of his second group, he hit the top of the singles chart
once again. This performer has an
‘overdrive’ to succeed and his records have sold some 40 million copies. He has had an on again/off again relationship
with the lead singer from his first group, but they have toured together fairly
recently. His son had a Top 20 hit in
1999, so the family’s hit making continues with the next generation. Can you ‘guess who’ this legendary guitar
player is? (C’mon it’s right there in black and white already).
5. Farrokh Bulsara is the name with which this
performer was born. Growing up, he lived
in Zanzibar (his home and native land), India and Great Britain. At an early point in his career, this
singer/songwriter performed as Larry Lurex.
In 2008, the editors at Rolling Stone magazine named him # 18 on their
list of “The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time”.
The group he co-founded is considered to be rock ‘royalty’. Canadian born actor Mike Myers used one of
their songs in the first “Wayne’s World” films in 1992 and that song charted 7
positions higher than its first time around in 1976. His group wrote and recorded the music to the
1981 film, “Flash Gordon”. Can you guess
the name of this electric performer?
ANSWERS
1. George Roger Waters was born on September 6,
1943 in Surrey, England. He was a
founding member of Pink Floyd and wrote most of the bands’ lyrics. After some ‘creative disagreements’, Roger
left Pink Floyd in 1985 and went on to a successful solo career. He reunited on stage with David Gilmour, Nick
Mason and Rick Wright in 2005 for the Live 8 Global Event. After 3 kicks at the marriage can and 3 divorces,
he said ‘I do’ for the 4th time earlier this year.
2. It’s Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, full name
Barry Alan Crompton Gibb. The groups’
first chart hit in 1967 was “New York Mining Disaster 1941”, but it wasn’t
until the summer of ’71 that they made it to # 1 with “How Can You Mend A
Broken Heart?” Their other eight # 1’s during
the ‘70’s were: “Jive Talkin’” (1975), “You Should Be Dancing” (1976), “How
Deep Is Your Love” and “Stayin’ Alive” (both 1977), 1978’s “Night Fever” and
“Too Much Heaven” and two in 1979, “Tragedy” and “Love You Inside Out”. Barry also scored additional # 1’s by co-writing
“Grease” for Frankie Valli in 1978; Andy Gibb’s three chart toppers, “I Just
Want To Be Your Everything”, “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water”, “Shadow Dancing” and
co-writing and producing “Islands In The Stream” with Dolly Parton and Kenny
Rogers in 1983. Barry’s younger brother
Andy passed away in 1988 and the twins, Maurice and Robin died in January of 2003
and May of 2012 respectively.
3. Olivia Newton-John came into this world on September
26, 1948. Although many people assume
she’s Australian, she was actually born in Cambridge, England and emigrated to
Oz with her family when she was 6 years old. Her maternal grandfather, Max Born, won the
Nobel Prize for Physics in 1954. Her
first album was 1971’s “IF Not For You” and the title song went to # 25. Her five # 1 hits are: “I Honestly Love You”
(1974), “Have You Never Been Mellow” (1975), “You’re The One That I Want” (with
John Travolta in 1978), “Magic” (1980) and 1981’s “Physical”. Olivia’s a breast cancer survivor since 1992
and is a tireless advocate for breast cancer research. Since 2008, she’s been married to John
Easterling, founder and President of the Amazon Herb Company. It was the second marriage for both Olivia
and John. The couple live in Florida.
4. It was on September 27th, 1943
that guitar legend Randy Bachman was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba (that’s in
Canada for those of you reading outside North America). His first taste of chart success came with
the group Chad Allen & The Expressions (he being an expression). To add a little mystery to the song “Shakin’
All Over”, the record company changed their name on the record label to Guess
Who? The name stuck. Chad Allen didn’t. After his departure, Burton Cummings became
the new lead singer and keyboard player.
The Guess Who’s only number one single was 1970’s “American Woman”,
which had a resurgence 34 years later with a version by Lenny Kravitz that was
used in the film, “Austin Powers: The
Spy Who Shagged Me”. After he left The
Guess Who, he formed Brave Belt with Chad Allen, but after 2 albums, that group
dissolved and Bachman-Turner Overdrive was born. That groups’ only number one was 1974’s “You
Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet”.
5. Freddie Mercury of Queen is the only correct
answer to this question. Freddie was
born on September 5th, 1946 in Zanzibar and died at the age of 45 on
November 24, 1991. Freddie didn’t live long
enough to see the additional success that Queens’ song ”Bohemian Rhapsody” had...thanks
to the success of the 1992 movie “Wayne’s World”. When it was originally released in 1976, it
went to # 9 on the singles chart. After
“Wayne’s World” came out, it zoomed right back on the charts to # 2. During their career, Queen scored two # 1
hits, both in 1980 – “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” and “Another One Bites
The Dust”, although they had more than two dozen of their songs make the
singles charts.
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