Jailhouse Rock: Musicians Who Served Time Quiz

Answer: Chuck Berry

Chuck Berry, famous for song such as "Johnny B. Goode" and "Maybellene," was sentenced to three years in 1962 for violation of the Mann Act when he transported a fourteen- year-old girl across state lines. Previously, as a juvenile, Chuck Berry had served time on charges of armed robbery, including for stealing a car at gunpoint.

Answer: Merle Haggard

American country singer Merle Haggard is known for songs such as "Are the Good Times Really Over," "Pancho and Lefty," "Workin' Man Blues," and "It's All Going to Pot." He's been inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. For his crime, he was sent to Bakersfield Jail, from which he attempted to escape, which resulted in him being transferred to San Quentin Prison in 1958.

It seems the good times were not over, because he released his first studio album in 1965.

Answer: Billie Holiday

Billie Holiday, nicknamed Lady Day, recorded her best selling jazz song "Strange Fruit" in 1939. For the drug charges, she was sentenced to Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia and lost her New York City Cabaret Card. Thus, after her release, she was only able to perform in concert venues and theaters.

Answer: Jim Gordan

Jim Gordan, who was a member of Derek and the Dominoes, co-wrote "Layla" with Eric Clapton. The song contains these lyrics:

"Make the best of the situation
Before I finally go insane...
Layla, you've got me on my knees
Layla, I'm begging, darling please
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind."

The drummer suffered from schizophrenia and began hearing voices. He attacked his mother with a hammer in 1983 and then stabbed her to death with a knife. He was sentenced to 16 years to life in a psychiatric prison.

Answer: Sid Vicious

John Simon Ritchie, who went by the stage name of Sid Vicious, was a bassist and singer for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. He said he awoke in a drugged stupor on October 12, 1978 to find his girlfriend Nancy Spungen dead on the hotel bathroom floor.

After a single stab wound to the abdomen, she apparently bled to death. He admitted to stabbing her, but said he never meant to kill her. He was released on bail from Rikers Island metro jail on February 1, 1979, but he died of a drug overdose the next day.

Answer: Steve Earle

After being charged for possession of narcotics and failing to appear in court, Steve Earle was sentenced to 12 months. He served 60 days of his sentence before being released to a drug treatment program. While in jail, he worked on his album "Train A' Comin'," which was released in 1995 and nominated for a 1996 Grammy in the Best Contemporary Folk category.

Answer: James Brown

Known for such songs as "I Feel Good" and "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," soul singer James Brown was charged with stealing clothes from a parked car in 1949 and served three years in juvenile prison. In 1998, he faced charges for possession of drugs, resisting arrest, and assaulting a police officer, for which he served two and a half years in prison.

Answer: Lead Belly

Huddie William Ledbetter was a blues musician known by the stage name of Lead Belly and famous for performing such songs as "Gallows Pole," "Birmingham Jail," "House of the Rising Sun," and "Goodnight Irene."

Lead Belly's first major run in with the law came in 1915 when he was convicted of unlawfully carrying a pistol and sentenced to a chain gang. He escaped the chain gang lived under another name, but when he killed a relative of his, Will Stafford, in an argument over a woman, he was sentenced to 7 to 35 years. He was imprisoned at Imperial Farm in Sugarland, Texas.

In 1925, however, he was pardoned and released after writing a song to Governor Pat Morris Neff. At that time, he'd served the minimum seven years of his sentence. Just five years later, however, he was convicted of attempted homicide and landed back in jail. Three years into his sentence, the ethnomusicologist John Lomax came to the Louisiana State Penitentiary to record Lead Belly's music (and that of other prisoners). Lomax then lobbied for the blues man to be released, and he was, in 1934.

Answer: Tupac Shakur

Known for such songs as "Only God Can Judge Me," "Thug 4 Life," and "Keep Ya Head Up," Lesane Parish Crooks (stage name: Tupac Shakur) was convicted of sexual assault in 1995. While in prison, he released the album "Me Against the World," which hit number one on the U.S. Billboard 200.

The CEO of Infamous Death Records posted his $1.4 million bail in exchange for his agreement to record three albums for their label.

Answer: Ronald Isley

Founder and lead singer of The Isley Brothers, Ronald Isley is known for such songs as "Busted," "Spend the Night," "This Old Heart of Mine," and "Get Into Something." In 2006, he was sentenced to three years and one month at the Federal Correctional Institution at Terre Haute, Indiana.