59 Fun Facts About Black Music

Who was the first female artist inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and won 18 Grammys, including the first eight ever given for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Which arranger and bandleader produced Michael Jackson's Thriller?

The pair first worked together on the 1978 film The Wiz, and Jones went on to produce three of Jackson's solo albums.

Michael Jackson first showed the moonwalk to a TV audience on which 1983 special?

Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, taped in March 1983 and aired on NBC that May, is where Jackson's 'Billie Jean' performance popularised the moonwalk.

Whitney Houston's biggest hit, 'I Will Always Love You', was written and first recorded by whom?

Dolly Parton wrote and recorded 'I Will Always Love You' in 1973, a country No. 1 in 1974; Houston's 1992 version from The Bodyguard spent 14 weeks atop the Hot 100.

Which singer was Whitney Houston's cousin?

Dionne Warwick is Whitney Houston's cousin: Warwick's aunt is Whitney's mother, gospel and soul singer Cissy Houston, whose Sweet Inspirations sang backing vocals for Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.

Which 1965 song gave James Brown his first top-ten pop hit and first Grammy?

'Papa's Got a Brand New Bag' reached No. 8 on the Hot 100 in 1965 and won Brown the Grammy for Best R&B Recording; its stripped-down, interlocking rhythm became the template for funk.

Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' is the only rock and roll song included on what?

The Voyager Golden Record, launched in 1977 aboard the two Voyager probes as a message to any civilisation that finds them, carries 'Johnny B. Goode' as its only rock and roll track.

Chuck Berry recorded his 1955 breakthrough 'Maybellene' for which label?

Chess Records, the Chicago blues label of Leonard and Phil Chess, released 'Maybellene' in 1955; adapted from the fiddle tune 'Ida Red', it sold over a million copies.

Beyonce rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of which group?

Beyoncé fronted Destiny's Child, the Houston group whose 'Bills, Bills, Bills' and 'Say My Name' topped the Hot 100 in 1999 and 2000, before going solo with Dangerously in Love in 2003.

Which Kendrick Lamar album was the first non-classical, non-jazz Pulitzer Music winner?

DAMN., released in April 2017, won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, announced on April 16, 2018, the first winner from outside classical music and jazz.

Which 1979 single by the Sugarhill Gang took rap from the Bronx to the national Top 40?

'Rapper's Delight', released in September 1979, reached No. 36 on the Hot 100; by then its party-rhyme style was already old news at the Bronx block parties where hip hop began.

DJ Kool Herc's August 11, 1973 party, the 'birth of hip hop', took place at which Bronx address?

1520 Sedgwick Avenue, a Bronx apartment building, hosted Cindy Campbell's back-to-school party on 11 August 1973, where her brother Kool Herc extended records' drum breaks for the dancers.

Alongside rapping, DJing and graffiti, what is the fourth principal element of hip hop?

Breakdancing, or b-boying, is the fourth element alongside MCing, DJing and graffiti, a canon set out by the Universal Zulu Nation as hip hop emerged in the 1970s Bronx.

'The Message' (1982), a landmark of politically conscious rap, was released by which act?

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five released 'The Message' on Sugar Hill Records in 1982; Melle Mel's verses about life in the projects broke from the party rhymes of early rap.

Run-DMC's 1986 crossover hit 'Walk This Way' was recorded with which rock band?

Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry joined Run-DMC on the 1986 'Walk This Way', which reached No. 4, put rap on MTV's rock-heavy rotation and revived Aerosmith's career.

Louis Armstrong's 1964 recording of 'Hello, Dolly!' reached No. 1 by dislodging which act?

'Hello, Dolly!' knocked The Beatles' 'Can't Buy Me Love' off No. 1 in May 1964, ending their 14-week run at the top; Armstrong, then 62, spent 22 weeks on the chart.

Which nickname belonged to New Orleans trumpeter Louis Armstrong?

Satchmo, short for 'satchel mouth', was Louis Armstrong's best-known nickname; he was also called Satch and Pops, and rose to fame with his Hot Five and Hot Seven recordings of the 1920s.

Which 1920 Mamie Smith recording is regarded as the first of its kind by an African-American singer?

'Crazy Blues', recorded for Okeh in August 1920 and written by Perry Bradford, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and convinced labels there was a market for Black artists.

Which composition is regarded as W. C. Handy's signature work?

'Saint Louis Blues', published in 1914, became Handy's most recorded work and earned him the title 'Father of the Blues'; he had published 'The Memphis Blues' two years earlier.

B.B. King gave what name to his guitars, after a fire at a show in Twist, Arkansas?

Lucille: two men fighting over a woman named Lucille knocked over a kerosene heater at a 1949 dance in Twist, Arkansas; King ran back into the blaze for his guitar and named it, and every successor, after her.

Jamie Foxx won the Best Actor Oscar for portraying which blind singer and pianist?

Ray Charles was played by Jamie Foxx in Ray (2004); the biopic runs from the 1930s to 1979, the year 'Georgia on My Mind' became Georgia's state song.

Which 1962 Ray Charles album includes his No. 1 hit 'I Can't Stop Loving You'?

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962) topped the Billboard album chart for 14 weeks, and its 'I Can't Stop Loving You' spent five weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100.

Which 1976 Stevie Wonder double album includes 'Sir Duke' and 'Isn't She Lovely'?

Songs in the Key of Life (1976) entered the Billboard 200 at No. 1 and won Album of the Year; 'Sir Duke', its tribute to Duke Ellington, topped the Hot 100 in 1977.

Berry Gordy's Detroit headquarters at 2648 West Grand Boulevard carried what nickname?

Hitsville U.S.A. was the name painted over the door of 2648 West Grand Boulevard, the house that served as Motown's headquarters from 1959 to 1968 and held its Studio A, nicknamed the Snake Pit.

In June 1972 Berry Gordy's label announced it was moving all operations from Detroit to which city?

Motown moved to Los Angeles in 1972, following Gordy's push into film with Diana Ross's Lady Sings the Blues; he sold the company to MCA and Boston Ventures in 1988 for $61 million.

Diana Ross's group, holder of twelve Hot 100 number ones, was originally called what?

The Supremes began in 1959 as The Primettes, a sister act to the Primes (later of the Temptations), before Berry Gordy signed and renamed them in 1961.

Which song was Marvin Gaye's first Hot 100 number one, topping the chart for seven weeks from December 1968?

'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks from December 1968, Gaye's first No. 1; Gladys Knight & the Pips had taken the same song to No. 2 a year earlier.

Which Prince film won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score?

Purple Rain (1984), the loosely autobiographical film whose soundtrack spent 24 weeks at No. 1, won Prince the Oscar for Best Original Song Score, the last time that award was given.

Prince's home and recording complex in Chanhassen, Minnesota, is called what?

Paisley Park, opened in 1987 in Chanhassen, Minnesota, was Prince's home, studio and soundstage complex; he died there in April 2016, and it opened to the public as a museum that October.

Which 1984 compilation is the best-selling reggae album of all time?

Legend, released in May 1984 three years after Marley's death, collects Bob Marley and the Wailers' hits and has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, far ahead of any other reggae album.

Miles Davis's 1959 album Kind of Blue is built entirely on which approach, a break from hard bop?

Kind of Blue is the landmark of modal jazz: Davis built its pieces on scales (modes) rather than fast chord changes, with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans in the sextet.

A 17-year-old Ella Fitzgerald won first prize at an amateur night in 1934 at which Harlem venue?

The Apollo Theater's amateur night on 21 November 1934 launched Ella Fitzgerald: she had planned to dance but sang instead and took the $25 first prize, aged 17.

Which saxophonist gave Billie Holiday the nickname 'Lady Day'?

Lester Young, the tenor saxophonist of Count Basie's band and Holiday's closest musical partner, named her 'Lady Day'; she in turn called him 'Prez', short for President.

'Strange Fruit', the 1939 protest song Billie Holiday made famous, was written by whom?

Meeropol, a Bronx schoolteacher, adapted it from his own poem; the 1972 film Lady Sings the Blues later dramatised Holiday's life with Diana Ross.

From late 1927 Duke Ellington's orchestra was the house band at which Harlem nightspot?

Duke Ellington's orchestra opened at the Cotton Club on 4 December 1927 after King Oliver turned the booking down; nightly radio broadcasts from the club made Ellington a national name.

'Take the A Train', the theme song of Duke Ellington's band, was written by whom?

Billy Strayhorn, Ellington's composing partner from 1939, wrote 'Take the A Train' from the subway directions Ellington had given him; the 1941 recording replaced 'East St. Louis Toodle-Oo' as the band's theme.

Scott Joplin's 1899 piece, the first big hit of ragtime, was which composition?

'Maple Leaf Rag', published by John Stark in Sedalia, Missouri, in 1899, sold steadily for years on a royalty of one cent a copy and made Joplin the 'King of Ragtime'; he received a posthumous Pulitzer in 1976.

Which ex-Soul Stirrers singer had a three-week No. 1 in 1957 with 'You Send Me'?

Sam Cooke left the gospel group the Soul Stirrers for pop in 1957; 'You Send Me' topped the Billboard pop chart for three weeks that December, and he later founded SAR Records and wrote 'A Change Is Gonna Come'.

Little Richard's breakthrough single, recorded in three takes in September 1955, was which song?

'Tutti Frutti', cut in three takes at J&M Studio in New Orleans on 14 September 1955 with its lyrics cleaned up on the spot, reached No. 2 on the R&B chart and launched Richard Penniman of Macon, Georgia.

What chart distinction does Otis Redding's '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay' hold?

Redding recorded it days before he died in a plane crash in December 1967, months after closing a night at Monterey Pop.

Which 1984 song gave Tina Turner her first and only Hot 100 number one?

'What's Love Got to Do with It' topped the Hot 100 for three weeks in September 1984 and won Record of the Year; the Private Dancer album that carried it was recorded in about two weeks.

In 2013 Tina Turner gave up her US citizenship to become a citizen of which country?

Tina Turner became a citizen of Switzerland in 2013 and relinquished her US passport; she had lived near Zurich with husband Erwin Bach since the 1990s and died there in May 2023.

Under what name was Nina Simone, the 'High Priestess of Soul', born?

Eunice Waymon, a trained classical pianist from Tryon, North Carolina, took the stage name Nina Simone in 1954; she blamed prejudice for her rejection by Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music.

Which gospel singer performed 'How I Got Over' at the 1963 March on Washington?

Mahalia Jackson sang 'How I Got Over' at the 1963 March on Washington and, moments later, urged Martin Luther King to 'tell them about the dream'; her 1947 'Move On Up a Little Higher' sold millions.

Earth, Wind & Fire's sound is built around which African instrument?

The kalimba, the thumb piano founder Maurice White played on stage and in the studio, gave Earth, Wind & Fire a signature; White even named the band's production company Kalimba Productions.

Which 1998 album was the first by a hip-hop artist to win the Grammy for Album of the Year?

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, recorded after the Fugees went on hiatus, won five Grammys in February 1999 including Album of the Year, then a one-night record for a woman.

Which producer worked with Donna Summer on the futuristic 1977 hit 'I Feel Love'?

Giorgio Moroder, with Pete Bellotte, built 'I Feel Love' almost entirely on a Moog synthesizer in Munich in 1977; it reached No. 6 in the US and topped the UK chart.

The name 'house music' is said to come from the Warehouse, a Chicago club whose resident DJ was who?

Frankie Knuckles was resident DJ at the Warehouse from 1977 until he left in 1982 to open the Power Plant; his blend of disco, Philly soul and drum machines earned him the title 'godfather of house'.

The squelchy Roland TB-303 bass synthesizer defines which subgenre of dance music?

Acid house takes its name from the TB-303's squelch: Roland sold the 303 as a bass-guitar substitute and it flopped, until Chicago's Phuture twisted its knobs on 'Acid Tracks' in 1987.

Detroit techno pioneers Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson are known as what?

The Belleville Three take their name from Belleville, the Detroit suburb whose high school brought Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson together in the late 1970s.

When Billboard began a separate chart for African-American music in October 1942, what was it called?

The Harlem Hit Parade, launched on 24 October 1942, was Billboard's first chart for African-American music; it was renamed 'Race Records' in 1945 and 'Rhythm and Blues Records' in 1949.

The Fisk Jubilee Singers, who popularised spirituals for concert audiences, first toured in which year?

The Fisk Jubilee Singers set out from Nashville on 6 October 1871 to raise money for Fisk University, carrying spirituals to concert halls in the North and, by 1873, to Britain.

Jimi Hendrix played 'The Star-Spangled Banner' on August 18, 1969, at which festival?

Woodstock closed on the morning of Monday 18 August 1969 with Hendrix's set, whose feedback-laden 'Star-Spangled Banner' became the festival's defining moment; Chas Chandler had brought him to London in 1966.

The Memphis label Stax was founded in 1957 under what original name?

Satellite Records, started by Jim Stewart in 1957, became Stax (STewart + AXton) in September 1961 after a California label called Satellite complained about the name.

Estelle Axton mortgaged her family home to raise how much for the fledgling Stax label in 1958?

$2,500: Axton borrowed it against her house in 1958 to buy an Ampex tape recorder for her brother Jim Stewart's label; she later ran the Satellite Record Shop in the foyer of the old Capitol cinema that became Stax's home.

Which Stax instrumental group, once the Royal Spades, hit No. 3 with 'Last Night' in 1961?

It was the first single nationally distributed on the Satellite label, which prompted the name change to Stax.

Berry Gordy founded his label on January 12, 1959 under what name?

Tamla Records, the name Gordy settled on for 12 January 1959 after 'Tammy' proved unavailable, was folded into the Motown Record Corporation, incorporated in April 1960; the name blends 'motor' and 'town'.

How many top-10 hits did Motown score between 1961 and 1971?

Motown notched 110 top-10 hits between 1961 and 1971, led by the Supremes, Four Tops and Jackson 5 on the Motown imprint and Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye on Tamla.

Which songwriting trio left Motown in 1967 over royalty disputes?

Their departure, and the 1967 Detroit riot, helped push Gordy toward moving the company to Los Angeles.