7 questions on posthumous hits

Posthumous hits quiz

Death has not withered Michael Jackson's run of chart hits, with a new song This Is It released this week. Test yourself on posthumous hits.

1.) Multiple Choice Question

The co-writer of Jackson's This Is It is Paul Anka, who co-wrote the lyrics for which song that was a posthumous hit for Elvis Presley?

1. A Little Less Conversation
   
2. It's Now or Never
   
3. My Way
   
4. Jailhouse Rock
   

2.) Multiple Choice Question

Only once in UK chart history, a deceased singer has replaced another dead artist at number one. Who?

1. Elvis Presley and Karen Carpenter
   
2. John Lennon and Jackie Wilson
   
3. Kurt Cobain and Freddie Mercury
   
4. George Harrison and Aaliyah
   

3.) Multiple Choice Question

After Pavarotti died in September 2007, his most famous song, Nessun Dorma, topped the pop charts for the first time.

1. True
   
2. False
   

4.) Multiple Choice Question

Six years after TLC singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes died in a car crash, her second solo album was released featuring which also-dead singer?

1. Aaliyah (plane crash)
   
2. Tupac Shakur (drive-by shooting)
   
3. The Notorious BIG (drive-by shooting)
   

5.) Multiple Choice Question

A singer who died in obscurity, elevated to posthumous fame by Terry Wogan in the UK and by Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan in the US. Who?

1. Nick Drake
   
2. Eva Cassidy
   
3. Patsy Cline
   

6.) Multiple Choice Question

Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue) - a posthumous hit for which singer, or singers, who died in a plane crash?

1. Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves
   
2. Buddy Holly
   
3. Otis Redding
   
4. John Denver
   

7.) Multiple Choice Question

And finally, What A Wonderful World - a posthumous number one for which late singer, dueting with a living artist?

1. Bing Crosby
   
2. Nat King Cole
   
3. Eva Cassidy
   

Answers

1. It's My Way - he co-wrote the English lyrics. It became a hit for Elvis after his death, and also a signature track for the late Sid Vicious and, of course, Frank Sinatra.
2. It's George Harrison's My Sweet Lord taking the top slot from Aaliyah's More Than a Woman in 2002. Both Elvis and John Lennon have replaced themselves at number one posthumously.
3. It's false - it leapt to number 24 the week of his funeral. But it was not Nessun Dorma's first foray into the UK charts - it made number two in June 1990 when it was the theme tune for the BBC's World Cup coverage.
4. It's the late rapper Tupac, who died in 1996. Lopes herself died in 2002 while driving in Honduras. The 2008 album Eye-Legacy was compiled from unreleased tracks.
5. It's US singer Eva Cassidy, who died of melanoma in 1996. Four years later, Wogan played her version of Over the Rainbow on Radio 2, which propelled her album Songbird to the top of the charts. And in the US, Kwan skated to Fields of Gold for her 2002 Winter Olympic gala performance - Cassidy's label credits Kwan with bringing her music to a wider audience.
6. It's by country singers Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves. She died in 1963 aged 30 at the height of her fame; he suffered the same fate in 1964. The electronically produced duet was released in 1981.
7. It's Eva Cassidy, with Katie Melua. The duet reached number one in December 2007. Nat King Cole, who died in 1965, re-entered the charts in 1991 when his daughter Natalie added her voice to his hit Unforgettable. And Bing Crosby recorded Little Drummer Boy with David Bowie shortly before he died in 1977.

Your Score

0 - 3 : Uncharted

4 - 6 : Just scraping into the Top 20

7 - 7 : Straight in at number one

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