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59 free R&B trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
60 free R&B trivia questions with answers. Rhythm and blues has been reinventing itself since Billboard first printed the phrase in 1949, and this quiz follows it the whole way. You'll get questions on the Atlantic and Motown eras, the 1970s giants like Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, the new jack swing years, the 90s golden age of Boyz II Men, TLC, Mary J. Blige and Brandy, the 2000s of Usher, Alicia Keys and Beyoncé, and the current wave from Rihanna to SZA and the Weeknd. It works for a music trivia night, a road-trip playlist argument, or a classroom unit on Black American music. Early questions are for casual listeners; the later ones reward people who read liner notes. Every answer was checked against the Wikipedia article for the artist or genre in question, and each question shows the sentence that supports it once you answer. Sixty questions, free, no signup.
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Q 01Which Billboard writer coined 'rhythm and blues' in 1948, replacing 'race music' on the charts?
Jerry Wexler
He later became a legendary Atlantic Records producer for Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles.
Q 02What was Billboard's first chart of records popular with African American listeners, from 1942, called?
Harlem Hit Parade
It was renamed Rhythm and Blues in 1949, and that name lasted on the chart until 1969.
Q 03Ruth Brown's string of 1950s hits earned which label the nickname 'the house that Ruth built'?
Atlantic
The pun borrows Yankee Stadium's nickname; Brown later helped found the Rhythm and Blues Foundation to fight for royalties.
Q 04Which singer nicknamed 'The Genius' pioneered soul in the 1950s and was later played by Jamie Foxx?
Ray Charles
Friends called him 'Brother Ray'; his 'Georgia on My Mind' was the first of his three Hot 100 number ones.
Q 05The Genius's first Billboard 200 number one, in 1962, was a collection of what kind of songs?
Country and western
Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music helped merge country, R&B and pop audiences.
Q 06Sam Cooke, the 'King of Soul', died in 1964 after being shot by whom?
A motel manager
The Los Angeles courts ruled it justifiable homicide, a verdict his family has questioned ever since.
Q 07Which singer known as 'Mr. Excitement' had hits with 'Lonely Teardrops' and 'Higher and Higher'?
Jackie Wilson
His stage moves influenced Elvis Presley, James Brown and Michael Jackson.
Q 08Etta James's signature 1960 ballad, later a wedding-dance staple, is called what?
At Last
She sang everything from gospel to rock and roll, and won three Grammys late in her career.
Q 09Berry Gordy founded Motown's first label, Tamla Records, in which year?
1959
The company was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation the following year.
Q 10The Motown studio at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit was known by what name?
Hitsville U.S.A.
Gordy bought it as a photography studio in 1959 and lived upstairs for the first few years.
Q 11How many Hot 100 number ones did the Supremes score, a record for an American vocal group?
Twelve
Most were written and produced by the Holland-Dozier-Holland team.
Q 12Stevie Wonder is the only artist to win Album of the Year with how many consecutive releases?
Three
Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale and Songs in the Key of Life did it between 1973 and 1976.
Q 13The 1972 hit 'Superstition' is famous for the sound of which keyboard instrument?
Hohner Clavinet
It was Wonder's first Hot 100 number one in a decade.
Q 14Aretha Franklin's 'Respect' was originally written and recorded by which singer?
Q 21Barry White's 1974 number-one instrumental hit was credited to which 40-piece ensemble he conducted?
Love Unlimited Orchestra
He got his break in 1972 producing the girl group Love Unlimited before his own bass-voiced hits.
Q 22Earth, Wind & Fire was formed in 1969 in which city by Maurice White?
Chicago
The band grew out of White's earlier group, the Salty Peppers, and has sold over 90 million records.
Q 23Before his solo career, Teddy Pendergrass was the lead singer of which Philadelphia group?
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes
Otis Redding
On hearing her version he reportedly said, 'That little girl done took my song away from me.'
Q 15In 1987 Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into which institution?
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Rolling Stone has twice named her the greatest singer of all time.
Q 16How did the singer of '(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay', the first posthumous Hot 100 No. 1, die?
A plane crash
Otis Redding recorded it with guitarist Steve Cropper days before his death; it was released in January 1968.
Q 17Which Motown singer's 1971 album What's Going On let him break free of the label's production system?
Marvin Gaye
He went on to produce Let's Get It On, I Want You and the divorce album Here, My Dear himself.
Q 18The 'Prince of Motown' was shot dead in 1984 by whom, one day before his 45th birthday?
His father
'Sexual Healing', released two years earlier, had won him his first two Grammys.
Q 19Al Green's biggest hits, produced by Willie Mitchell, were on which two-letter Memphis label?
Hi
Mitchell coached him to stop imitating Jackie Wilson and Sam Cooke and find his own falsetto.
Q 20Which Al Green song is considered his signature tune?
Let's Stay Together
He became an ordained pastor and spent the 1980s recording gospel.
A 1982 car crash left him paralysed from the chest down, but he kept recording.
Q 24Chaka Khan first found fame in the 1970s as lead vocalist of which funk band?
Rufus
Her 1984 cover of Prince's 'I Feel for You' was the first R&B crossover hit to feature a rapper.
Q 25Chaka Khan's debut solo single 'I'm Every Woman' later became a pop hit for which singer?
Whitney Houston
The 1992 cover appeared on The Bodyguard soundtrack, the best-selling soundtrack ever.
Q 26Which single gave Prince the No. 1 US film, album and single simultaneously in 1984?
When Doves Cry
He later changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol during a dispute with Warner Bros.
Q 27Which producer, leader of the group Guy and later Blackstreet, is called the inventor of new jack swing?
Teddy Riley
The style fused hip-hop beats with R&B vocals and ruled the charts from the late 1980s to the early 1990s.
Q 28Which two Janet Jackson albums, made with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, turned her into a global star?
Control and Rhythm Nation 1814
Rhythm Nation 1814 remains the only album to place seven singles in the Hot 100 top five.
Q 29Anita Baker rose to fame in 1986 with which platinum album, home to the Grammy-winning 'Sweet Love'?
Rapture
She had started out in the late 1970s with the funk band Chapter 8.
Q 30Sade, the band behind 'Smooth Operator', formed in 1982 in which city?
London
They have not had a drummer since 1986 and use session players instead.