Which female vocal group was the only one in history to receive diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)?
1. Patti LaBelle and the Blue Bells
2. TLC
3. Destiny’s Child
4. Supremes
TLC
TLC’s 1994 album, "CrazySexyCool", to date, is the only album by a female group to receive diamond certification.
Which was the first popularized hip hop song in the United States and around the world?
1. "King of Rock"
2. "Feel the HeartBeat"
3. "Party Time"
4. "Rapper’s Delight"
"Rapper’s Delight"
"Rapper's Delight", recorded in 1979 by The Sugar hill Gang, while not the first single to feature rapping, is generally considered to be the song that first popularized hip hop.
Who was the musician who was known for his bent horn and balloon-like cheeks?
1. Dizzy Gillespie
2. Donald Byrd
3. Miles Davis
4. Charles Mingus
Dizzy Gillespie
Dizzy Gillespie, accepted as one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all times, was highly recognizable by his beret and horn-rimmed glasses, his scat singing, bent horn, and of course, his pouched cheeks.
Who was the singer, formerly of a husband/wife singing team, who reinvented herself in the 80s, ultimately earning four Grammys?
1. Diana Ross
2. Tina Turner
3. Patti Labelle
4. Roberta Flack
Tina Turner
Tina Turner, originally half of the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, divorced her abusive husband in 1978 and launched a highly successful solo career that spanned the next 30+ years.
"Strange Fruit", a song sung by Billie Holiday, dealt with what social phenomena?
1. Importation of food from other countries
2. Lynching
3. Mental illness
4. Homosexuality
Lynching
"Strange Fruit", recorded in 1939 by Billy Holliday, was written by a teacher song-writer as a protest against the violent racism in the U.S., especially lynching.
Which of the following is the composer of "Negro Folk Symphony: which premiered in 1933 by the Philadelphia Symphony?
1. William Dawson
2. W.C. Handy
3. Hall Johnson
4. Wendell Whalum
William Dawson
William Dawson created and headed the Music Department at Tuskegee (Institute) University and led the Tuskegee Choir on tours ranging from Carnegie Hall to Washington’s Constitution Hall to Europe and Russia. In 1934 his "Negro Folk Symphony" was premiered by the Philadelphia Orchestra, the first time a composition by an African American was performed in the U.S. by a major orchestra.
Which music festival was begun in 1967 and urged and sustained the creative innovations of modern jazz players?
1. Cincinnati Jazz Festival
2. Montreaux Jazz Festival
3. New Orleans Jazz Festival
4. Newport Jazz Festival
Montreaux Jazz Festival
The Montreaux Jazz Festival, in Montreaux, Switzerland and the second largest annual jazz festival in the world, began as a pure jazz festival but is now opened to nearly all genres of music.
Who was known as “the Queen of Soul”?
1. Billie Holliday
2. Aretha Franklin
3. Nina Simone
4. Patti Labelle
Aretha Franklin
In 1960, Aretha Franklin launched her professional career at the age of 18 with little success, but by the end of the decade she enjoyed so many hits that she was designated as “the Queen of Soul”.
Which of the following was NOT a “bebop” musician?
1. Dizzy Gillespie
2. Thelonious Monk
3. Harry Belafonte
4. Charlie Parker
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte, actor, singer, philanthropist and Civil Rights activist, was recognized as King of Calypso. In 1956, his breakthrough album "Calypso" was the first million selling album by a single artist. He did not play “bebop,” that style of jazz developed in the U.S. in the early and mid 40s.
Which singer was NOT one of the singers in George Gershwin’s "Porgy and Bess" during the 30s and 40s?
1. Todd Duncan
2. Etta Moten
3. Eva Jessye
4. Anne Wiggins Brown
Eva Jessye
Eva Jessye was not a singer, but rather the first Black woman to receive international distinction as a professional choral conductor. She collaborated in a number of productions of groundbreaking works, directing her choir and working with a number of well-known directors including George Gershwin on the opera "Porgy and Bess" in 1935.
What singer started at the Cotton Club and in 1958 became the first Black woman to earn a nomination for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical?
1. Mahalia Jackson
2. Lena Horne
3. Ella Fitzgerald
4. Billie Holiday
Lena Horne
Lena Horne, singer, dancer, actress and Civil Rights activist, joined the chorus line of the Cotton Club in 1933 and earned the Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical in 1958 for her role in the musical, "Jamaica".
Which of the following is NOT a singer/pianist?
1. Ray Charles
2. Nina Simone
3. Roberta Flack
4. Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington was a major composer, pianist and bandleader of a jazz orchestra enjoying a career that spanned over 50 years. He did not sing.
Who was the singer/musician instrumental in the movement to make Martin Luther King Jr. 's birthday a national holiday?
1. Stevie Wonder
2. Prince
3. Ray Charles
4. Michael Jackson
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder was a key figure in the campaign to get Dr. King’s birthday established as a national holiday; in 1981, he even made a song, Happy Birthday, appropriately dedicated to the birthday effort. The national holiday was approved by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.
During the 1940s, which opera company opened its doors to Black singers?
1. New York City Opera House
2. Metropolitan Opera House
3. Oakland Symphony
4. Atlanta Opera House
New York City Opera House
In 1945, baritone Todd Duncan, broke the color barrier for major opera companies by performing the Italian opera "Pagliacci" at The New York City Opera Company.
Which of the following is NOT true about John Coltrane?
1. Best selling album was "A Love Supreme"
2. Played saxophone
3. Played several times with Carlos Santana
4. Recorded with Thelonious Monk
Played several times with Carlos Santana
John Coltrane, famed saxophone player died in 1967 while Carlos Santana did not hit the musical scene until the late 60s. Hence, the two never played together; however, Santana did produce "Love Devotion Surrender" in 1973 as a tribute to John Coltrane.
What was the first musical to open on Broadway that was written and performed by African Americans?
1. "Ain’t Misbehavin’"
2. "Porgy and Bess"
3. "Shuffle Along"
4. "Carmen Jones"
"Shuffle Along"
"Shuffle Along", with music and lyrics by Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake and written by Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, premiered on Broadway in 1921, launching the careers of such greats as Josephine Baker and Paul Robeson.
Which writer initiated work on the libretta for the 1938 opera, "Troubled Island" by William Grant Still?
1. Jessie Fauset
2. Richard Wright
3. Gwendolyn Brooks
4. Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes
Langston Hughes began work on the libretta for "Troubled Island", about the Haitian Revolution, with William Grant Still; however, he left the project to cover the Spanish Civil War for the Baltimore Afro-American and Verna Arvey replaced him. The opera premiered at the New York City Opera making it the first grand opera composed by an African American to be produced by a major company.
Who composed an opera, "Treemonisha", which was not professionally performed until 1972?
1. Scott Joplin
2. W.C. Handy
3. John W. Work III
4. Duke Ellington
Scott Joplin
"Treemonisha" is an opera composed in 1911 by the African-American “rag-time” composer Scott Joplin. The opera was not professionally performed until the world premiere took place in 1972, as a joint production of the music department of Morehouse College and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia.
Who earned the first Grammy award for Best Rap Performance?
1. D.J. Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince
2. Salt-N-Peppa
3. Public Enemy
4. Run-DMC
D.J. Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince
The Hot 100's First Black Artist to hit No. 1 on the billboard charts
Who was the composer with whom Duke Ellington collaborated to create such compositions as "A Drum is a Woman" and "Virgin Island’s Suite"?
1. Hale Smith
2. Noel de Costa
3. Billy Strayhorn
4. David Baker
Billy Strayhorn
Billy Strayhorn collaborated with Duke Ellington on many compositions, among them were the well-known "A Drum is a Woman", a jazz allegory, and "Virgin Island’s Suite", inspired by a visit by the two musicians to the Caribbean.
Which of the following was not a composer at the beginning of the 20th century?
1. Harry Burleigh
2. William Grant Still
3. Will Marion Cook
4. Scott Joplin
William Grant Still
Joplin, Burleigh and Cook were all composers from the 19th and early 20th centuries; William Grant Still wrote more than 150 compositions over his career which extended into the 1970s.
What singer was forbidden by the Daughters of the American Revolution to sing at Constitution Hall?
1. Lillian Evanti
2. Leontyne Price
3. Caterina Jarboro
4. Marian Anderson
Marian Anderson
In 1939, Marian Anderson was denied by the Daughters of the American Revolution the opportunity to sing at Constitution Hall because of her race. Subsequently, Eleanor Roosevelt and associates of President Franklin D. Roosevelt arranged for her to sing for 75,000 people on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
