Trivia questions about jazz and popular music.
Which instrument did Lionel Hampton introduce to jazz?
A: Vibraphone.
Who was Singin' n the Rain in 1952?
A: Gene Kelly.
Who is credited with the invention of scat singing?
A: Louis Armstrong.
Which bandleader disappeared on a flight from England to France in
1944?
A: Glenn Miller.
Which American jazz singer is particularly noted for her
interpretations of songs by Gershwin and Cole Porter?
A: Ella Fitzgerald.
Which singer became a star in Funny Girl?
A: Barbra Streisand.
What was Louis Armstrong's nickname?
A: Satchmo.
What instrument was played by jazzman Django Reinhardt?
A: Guitar.
Who was backed by the Shadows?
A: Cliff Richard.
Who is credited with describing the 1920s as the Jazz Age?
A: F Scott Fitzgerald.
Who is particularly associated with the song 'My Way'?
A: Frank Sinatra.
Who wrote the Sound of Music?
A: Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Which rock and soul singer's real name is Annie Mae Bullock?
A: Tina Turner.
Whose 'Maple Leaf Rag' was the first instrumental sheet music to sell
a million?
A: Scott Joplin.
Who sang about 1999 in 1982?
A: Prince.
What is the stage name of the rock singer Reg Dwight?
A: Elton John.
Which jazz singer was nick named 'Lady Day'?
A: Billie Holiday.
Who was Born to Run in 1975 and Born in the USA in 1984?
A: Bruce Springsteen.
Who wrote the song "White Christmas" in 1942?
A: Irving Berlin.
What style of music was pioneered by Charlie Parker and Dizzy
Gillespie?
A: Bebop.
Which soul singer had a posthumous hit with (Sittin' on the ) "Dock
of the Bay"?
A: Otis Redding.
In whose quintet did John Coltrane come to prominence in the 1950s?
A: Miles Davis.
Which destructive English rock band made the rock operas Tommy and
Quadrophenia?
A: The Who.
Which record company signed the Four Tops, the Temptations and Marvin
Gaye?
A: Motown.
What is the specialist instrument of Wynton Marsalis, the jazz
musician?
A: Trumpet.
Which group's hits include 'Surfin USA' and Good Vibrations?
A: Beach Boys.
Which singer and songwriter had a successful partnership with Art
Garfunkel?
A: Paul Simon.
Which band started their notorious career with 'Anarchy in the UK'?
A: Sex Pistols.
Who composed 'One O' Clock Jump'?
A: Count Basie.
What was the title of Chris de Burgh's 1986 number 1 hit?
A: Lady In Red.
Which of Michael Jackson's albums sold 41 million copies?
A: Thriller.
What was the name of the best-selling British female group of the
19870s?
A: Bananarama.
Who had a hit in 1965 with the song 'In the Midnight Hour'?
A: Wilson Pickett.
Who made the jazz albums Birth of the Cool and Sketches of Spain?
A: Miles Davis.
Which guitarist was in the Yardbirds, Cream and Derek and the
Dominoes?
A: Eric Clapton.
Which great rock-and-roller died in a plane crash in 1959 at the age
of 22?
A: Buddy Holly.
Who is the connection between the Boomtown Rats and Band Aid?
A: Bob Geldof.
Which British singer has had a string of hits including 'In the Air
Tonight' in 1981, and 'Groovy Kind of Love' in 1988?
A: Phil Collins.
Which jazzman said "There are only two kinds of music: good and bad"?
A: Duke Ellington.
Where did hip-hop music originate: New York, Detroit, or London?
A: New York.
Who was the 'Empress of the Blues'?
A: Bessie Smith.
