One, One and Done! Trivia Quiz

Answer: Get a Job

In 1956, Rick Lewis joined a group called the Gospel Tornados but enduring tight financial circumstances, they decided to give secular music a spin and called themselves The Silhouettes. That was the title of a big Number Three hit in 1957 by another doo-wop group, The Rays. Lewis briefly lived with his mother when he left the military and when he was lounging around, his mother pestered him to "get a job" thus providing him the inspiration for the lyrics to his song.

When it became such a big hit, the group followed it up with similarly styled songs that did reasonably well in the Philadelphia/New York market but never broke out nationally and hence, never could crash the Top 100 chart.

They persisted until the late 1960s but broke up just before the group Sha Na Na suddenly appeared on the scene in 1969 and paid homage to them. With a sudden resurgence in the popularity of doo-wop vocalizations, they quickly reformed and plied the nostalgia circuit until 1993 when the group retired for good.

Answer: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

The nursery rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" was written in 1806 by English poet Jane Taylor. Sometime earlier, in the 1700s, Mozart had adapted a French melody, "Ah, Vous Dirai-je, Maman", and some anonymous person married the two into the nursery rhyme song that survives to this day.

The Elegants were a Staten Island based doo-wop group and two members, Vito Picone and Arthur Venosa, further adapted that nursery rhyme song and turned it into the Number One hit "Little Star". Despite remaining active in the recording studio and in live performances, the group would never again have a Billboard charting hit of any sort, classic one hit wonders. As of 2020, Vito Picone continues to tour with The Elegants on the nostalgia circuit, he the only original member left in the group.

In the department of odd curiosities, "Little Star" replaced "Volare" by Domenico Modugno at Number One for one week before "Volare" rebounded to reclaim top spot a week later. Were it not for a song entitled "Piove" released by Modugno in 1959 that charted for just one week at Number 97, he would have also been a true one hit wonder.

Answer: Hollywood Argyles - Alley-Oop

"Alley-Oop", a song about the cartoon caveman, was written in 1957 by Dallas Frazier, a country music artist. In early 1960, he was hanging around an L.A. recording studio with several session musicians, singer/producer Gary Paxton and producer Kim Frawley. After consuming copious amounts of cider, the whole gang were induced by Paxton to record Frazier's song with Paxton assuming vocal duties. Frawley and Paxton co-produced the recording and remarkably, it proved to be an enormous success, topping the Hot 100 chart and selling three million records. Since there was no "group" per se, Paxton suggested it be released under the name of "Hollywood Argyles" which was the nearest intersection to the recording studio - Hollywood Blvd. and Argyle St. When it became such a massive hit, a group was quickly assembled by Paxton to capitalize but if they ever recorded anything else, it never charted. They were one chart entry, one Number One hit, then done!

As for your distracting options, Jimmy Dean had first entered the Hot 100 with a couple of minor hits in 1957 before "Big Bad John" topped the charts in 1961. He followed that up with five more top 30 hits including the Number Eight "P.T.109" before abandoning the music business for other pursuits. 1961 was also the year that The Marcels scored their Number One hit with their version of an old standard, "Blue Moon". They repeated the formula with another oldie, "Heartaches", which peaked at Number Seven but other releases were less successful and the group disbanded a year later. Before Johnny Horton's career and life were abruptly terminated in a car crash in 1960, he had two more top 10 hits in addition to his chart topping "Battle of New Orleans", namely the Number Three "Sink the Bismarck" and the Number Four "North to Alaska".

Answer: The Singing Nun

The Singing Nun, or Sister Luc-Gabrielle (Nee: Jeanine Deckers), was a 30-year-old Dominican Nun who unexpectedly took the music world by storm with her simple little song about St. Dominic. She had written the song and performed it casually for her fellow nuns in the convent but then thought maybe she ought to record it for private use and whatever profits accrued, if any, would contribute to the Order's coffers.

Her record label, Philips, released the song and an album of her other material and both became world-wide best sellers. What should have been a feel-good story turned into anything but! Her professional, personal and spiritual life were upended with this sudden celebrity and a series of events beyond her ability to control and cope with ultimately led to her suicide in 1985.

Answer: In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)

"In the Year 2525 (Exordium and Terminus)" describes the slow descent of mankind over the course of 8,000 years, first through the ascendency of machines and technology taking over man's functions, then the earth ultimately becoming a vast wasteland devoid of life - the apocalypse.

Nebraska natives, Rick Evans and Denny Zager, met in 1962 at Nebraska Wesleyan University and formed a band shorty thereafter which disbanded in 1965. Evans and Zager reunited in 1968 and recorded this song which was written by Evans four years earlier. It was a regional hit initially but when RCA took over national distribution it soared to the top of the Hot 100 for six weeks starting July 12, 1969. As was the case for all the artists in this quiz, subsequent releases failed to chart and the duo split up in 1971 and eventually departed the entertainment industry altogether. As of 2020, Zager builds custom guitars in Lincoln, Nebraska but Evans passed away in retirement in 2018 at the age of 75.

This song was also a Number One hit in the U.K. for three weeks in 1969. As in the U.S., they never had another hit in that country either. Zager and Evans thus became the only recording entity to have only one hit, a Number One, on both national charts from 1958 to 1999.

Answer: Pop Muzik

All your other choices were also Number One hits but the artists that recorded them had at least one other Hot 100 entry. "Boogie Oogie Oogie" was performed by Taste of Honey who scored a Number Three hit in 1981 with a cover of Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 Number One hit "Sukiyaki". "Rise" reached Number One for Herb Alpert who had many Hot 100 hits. The tricky one was Lipps, Inc.'s "Funkytown". That group only had one other charting entry, the Number 64 "Rock It" before sliding into obscurity.

M was more of a "musical project" conceived by British musician Robin Scott, rather than an actual band. He assembled a varying group of session musicians to record his musical creations until 1984 when he decided to abandon the concept and did solo work. A handful of releases by M did manage mediocre placements on the British Pop chart but only "Pop Muzik" made the grade on Billboard's Hot 100, albeit a Number One. Scott, whether as part of a group or as a solo artist, never again achieved charting success on the Hot 100, a true one hit wonder

Answer: Chariots of Fire

Vangelis was playing in a rock band in Greece but in 1967, a revolution in his homeland induced the 24-year-old to move to France where he formed another group that lasted until 1971. He devoted the next four years to composing and recording some solo albums prior to moving to Great Britain. Eventually, he wrote the music for the TV series "Cosmos" which led to composing the scores for "Chariots of Fire", "Blade Runner" and several other movies and stage productions... but no other commercial music that was chart oriented.

As a one hit wonder, he continues his work in semi-retirement as of this writing in 2020.

Answer: Miami Vice Theme

In 1968, Alexander Dubcek was elected to head the communist government in Czechoslovakia and immediately intended to introduce reforms that would distance that country from others in the Warsaw Pact. Those other countries invaded Czechoslovakia to halt those reforms and that was the impetus for 20-year-old Jan Hammer to leave his homeland and emigrate to the U.S.

He continued his formal education in music and upon the completion of his studies in 1971, he was one of the formative members of the Mahavishnu Orchestra as their keyboardist.

He formed his own band in 1974 and recorded albums with such luminaries as Jeff Beck and Neil Schon but no single hits resulted from those collaborations. By the early 1980s, he was almost exclusively composing music for TV and the movies, finally hitting the jackpot with his commission to produce the music for "Miami Vice". Essentially, music composition and production for TV and movies became his life's vocation but "Miami Vice Theme" would remain the only recording of his that would be a Hot 100 hit, a Number One at that!

Answer: Don't Worry, Be Happy

Bobby McFerrin's infectious "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was a most unusual song. Although it sounds like he has a small combo providing instrumental accompaniment, he provides the musical support himself through the overdubbing of rhythmic vocalizations... no instruments were utilized at all. It was first heard in the movie "Cocktail" and although the movie was critically panned, two songs from the soundtrack wound up topping Billboard's Hot 100 chart - this song for two weeks in September and the Beach Boys "Kokomo" for a week in November. By reaching Number One, it was the first a cappella song to do so in Billboard Hot 100 history. It also topped the charts in Canada and Australia but stalled at Number Two in the U.K. McFerrin was inspired to write the song after seeing a poster with that message. An Indian mystic named Meher Baba often used the expression when communicating with acolytes abroad and it became a common poster theme in the "hippy era" of the late 1960s.

McFerrin was born in New York City in 1950, his parents classically trained vocalists who often performed at The Metropolitan Opera so he was blessed with good musical genes. He started performing professionally in the mid-1970s, usually in the jazz or classical idioms, almost always in the a cappella format except when he performed with classical music greats like Yo-Yo Ma. He has continued to create his unique music into the 21st Century.

Answer: How Do You Talk to an Angel

Let's eliminate your choices! "I'll Make Love to You" was a huge hit for Boyz II Men in 1994, dominating the top of the chart for 14 weeks and just one of several hits that group would have in the early 1990s. All-4-One weren't nearly as successful as that but did have three top five hits in 1994-5 including "I Swear" which topped the chart for 11 weeks. "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman" was one of several charting hits Bryan Adams would have in his lengthy career. It was Number One for five weeks in 1995.

The Heights were a fictional band assembled to star in a TV show on the Fox network, also called "The Heights", in the fall of 1992. The Monkees, anyone? It was classified as a "musical drama" and dealt with the travails of the band as they sought success and each week, a new song performed by the group was presented. "How Do You Talk to an Angel" was the offering in the first episode on August 27 and it obviously resonated with viewership, debuting on the Hot 100 chart at Number 48 on Oct. 3. It spent two weeks at Number One but during the week of November 28, it not only lost its grip on that chart position, but Fox also cancelled the show after just 12 episodes, effectively dismantling the band as well. Clearly, they were not going to be the new Monkees! The group's lead singer, Jamie Walters, tried going solo but faded into the woodwork following one Number 16 hit in 1995, another one hit wonder.