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60 free Bonnie Raitt trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This Bonnie Raitt trivia quiz follows the slide-guitar great from a Stella guitar under the Christmas tree to Radcliffe, Warner Bros., the lost 1980s and the Nick of Time comeback that swept the 1990 Grammys. The easy questions cover the big albums, Album of the Year, Bruce Hornsby's piano part, the Song of the Year win for "Just Like That" and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Medium questions dig into Don Was, the Del Shannon cover, Sun City, Prince's Paisley Park offer, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Brownie the Stratocaster. The hard and expert questions are for serious fans: Dick Waterman, Fred McDowell, Camp Regis, Ocean Way, the $150,000 Capitol deal, the seventeen-and-a-half-year record, Shirley Eikhard, Delbert McClinton and the Mount Zion headstones. Every answer was checked against a reference page and each question carries its citation, so the dates, chart positions and names can be trusted. Difficulty is shown on every question, which makes it easy to build a round for a music quiz night or play the whole set. When you finish, try our other blues and classic rock quizzes.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which California city was Bonnie Raitt born?
Burbank
She arrived on November 8, 1949, into a musical family.
Q 02Bonnie Raitt's father John Raitt was a Broadway star best known for which original role?
Billy Bigelow in Carousel
He also originated the lead in The Pajama Game.
Q 03What instrument did the eight-year-old Bonnie Raitt receive as a Christmas gift in 1957?
A Stella guitar
She never took lessons and instead copied the folk-revival players she heard.
Q 04Which 1963 live album sparked the 14-year-old Raitt's love of slide guitar?
Blues at Newport 63
Slide guitar became her signature; B.B. King later called her the best slide player working.
Q 05Which college did Bonnie Raitt attend, majoring in social relations and African studies?
Radcliffe
She planned to move to Tanzania to work under President Julius Nyerere before music intervened.
Q 06Which blues promoter befriended Raitt in her first year of college and changed her path?
Dick Waterman
She left school for a semester to travel to Philadelphia with him and other musicians.
Q 07With which bluesman did Raitt play at the 1970 Philadelphia Folk Festival?
Fred McDowell
She later paid for a new headstone for him through the Mount Zion Memorial Fund.
Q 08Which label released Raitt's self-titled debut album in 1971?
Warner Bros.
Critics praised her as a bottleneck guitarist at a time when few women were known for guitar.
Q 09What was the title of Raitt's second album, released in 1972?
Give It Up
Its back cover carried a dedication to the people of North Vietnam.
Q 10Raitt's first commercial hit came in 1977 with a remake of which Del Shannon song?
Runaway
Its success set off a bidding war between Warner Bros. and Columbia.
Q 11Which anti-nuclear group did Raitt co-found in 1979, staging five concerts at Madison Square Garden?
Musicians United for Safe Energy
The shows produced the No Nukes album and film, with Springsteen and Tom Petty among the performers.
Q 12In which 1980 film did Raitt appear as herself singing "Don't It Make You Wanna Dance"?
Urban Cowboy
John Travolta starred in the Paramount film.
Q 13Her label dropped Raitt in 1983 the day after she finished mastering which album?
Tongue and Groove
The label released a half-recut version three years later as Nine Lives.
Q 21Nick of Time set a record for the longest gap between an artist's first charting album and a No. 1. How long was it?
17½ years
Give It Up first charted in 1972; Nick of Time hit No. 1 on April 6, 1990.
Q 22Which actor flirts with Raitt in the bar in her "Thing Called Love" video?
Dennis Quaid
MTV and VH1 exposure helped introduce her to a younger audience.
Q 23Roughly how much did Capitol pay to sign Raitt in 1988 after at least fourteen executives passed?
$150,000
Tim Devine was the A&R man who took the chance.
Raitt won a 1990 Grammy for the duet "I'm in the Mood" with which blues legend?
Q 14Which anti-apartheid protest song did Raitt sing on and appear in the video for in 1985?
Sun City
Steven Van Zandt wrote and produced it.
Q 15Bonnie Raitt sang backing vocals with k.d. lang and Jennifer Warnes on whose 1987 TV special?
Roy Orbison
She began writing new material after the acclaimed broadcast.
Q 16Which pop star tried to sign Raitt to his Paisley Park label in the late 1980s?
Prince
A skiing accident and two months in hospital gave her time to rethink her life before the deal fell through.
Q 17Which producer, of the band Was (Not Was), guided Raitt's comeback album Nick of Time?
Don Was
They first worked together on "Baby Mine" from Dumbo for a Disney tribute album.
Q 18Which Disney lullaby did Raitt record with Don Was for the 1988 tribute album Stay Awake?
Baby Mine
She liked the sessions so much she asked Was to produce her next record.
Q 19Nick of Time was which number studio album in Raitt's career?
Tenth
She called it "my first sober album".
Q 20What major prize did Nick of Time win at the 1990 Grammys?
Album of the Year
It topped the Billboard 200 right after the ceremony.
John Lee Hooker
It appeared on his comeback album The Healer.
Q 25What was the title of Raitt's 1991 follow-up to Nick of Time, her biggest seller ever?
Luck of the Draw
It sold seven million copies in the US and two million in France and Italy.
Q 26To which late guitarist, who had urged her to quit drinking, did Raitt dedicate her 1991 album?
Stevie Ray Vaughan
The liner notes read "still burning bright".
Q 27Which Canadian songwriter wrote "Something to Talk About"?
Shirley Eikhard
Anne Murray wanted to record it in 1985 but her producers passed.
Q 28What was the Billboard Hot 100 peak of "Something to Talk About", Raitt's only top-ten hit?
5
It also won her the Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Q 29Which pianist plays on "I Can't Make You Love Me"?
Bruce Hornsby
Raitt recorded the vocal in a single take and said she could not recapture the emotion.
Q 30Who wrote "I Can't Make You Love Me"?
Mike Reid and Allen Shamblin
Reid was a former NFL defensive tackle turned Nashville songwriter.