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.