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Boney M
Boney M is a Eurodance and disco group, which was phenomenally successful during the 1970s.
HistoryThe group was created by producer Frank Farian in 1975 and was composed of four West Indian artists working in London, Germany and Netherlands: singers Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell, model Maizie Williams and DJ Bobby Farrell. Boney M is noted for the mix of white and black music—the producer Farian is white and the singers are black; significantly many songs are black (freedom) songs, for example "No More Chain Gang" in the album Oceans Of Fantasy . When Farian first released "Baby Do You Wanna Bump?" in 1975, under the Boney M name, he did the singing himself (there were very few words), and only when the song became a hit he decided to hire a team of dancers and vocalists to 'man' the group. The line-up changed several times; only Maizie Williams was there from the very beginning. Maybe some true disco fans remember Claudja Barry was a member. But since the troup was never really singing but only miming Farians song, she finally left thinking, she was a real singer and deserves better. She left on extremely short notice in Feb.76, when the group was booked for a local TV-gig in Saarbruecken only days ahead. What now? One of the members (Marcia Barrett) remembered she once knew a young black singer in Hamburg who had been returned to her parents in the meantime, due to unemployment as a singer in Germany. That girl had been a member of the formerly famous Les Humphries Singers, and Marcia thought, "if she gets paid all costs plus something extra, she will do the job". Her name was Liz Mitchell, and she did come, was engaged to the group for that 3-days-job. A local TV-gig in Saarbruecken and several disco-gigs. When they met, Farian asked Liz wether it was true, she was with Les Humpries, and she said yes. He had her singing to prove she could sing, and the next day they went into his studio to record the first LP of Boney M. (Take the heat off me). She had been hired for a three-days-job, but she stayed then for almost 10 years. She became the lead-vocalist of the group. Farian had previously recorded some songs with the other vocalist in the group, Marcia Barrett. Two of these songs were included in the first album ("Take the heat off me" and "Lovin' or leavin'"). The album was released about April 1976, together with the 7"Single "Daddy Cool", but nothing happened with it. But due to the fact the colourful group toured the whole area (West Germany, Netherlands, Belgium) up and down, through all local discos, even country-fairs, they grew themselves a little name. After the summer an important music-TV-producer (Michael "Mike" Leckebusch of Radio Bremen) wanted the group for his show "Musikladen". It was a LIVEshow (not pre-recorded). They appeared on Saturday night, the 18th of September 1976, after 10pm, they were extremely sexy, new, colourful, and by now everybody knew the song "Daddy Cool" from their local discos playing it every night. The next week the Single was No.1 in the west european charts, another week later the LP was. Foreshadowing Farian's involvement in the Milli Vanilli controversy a decade later, Williams and Farrell sang very little, or not at all, on Boney M's records. The mostly spoken male voice was that of an unknown speaker who tried very hard to sound like an american, and of course Farian himself. Farian sang all male voices plus even some choire vocals as well. Several songs were 100% Farian, no female voices at all! (Dancing in the streets, Bye bye Blubird) He finally admitted to this on German television in 2003, saying that Farrell had been chosen for his personality and innovative dancing. (The vocal contributions of Mitchell and Barrett are not in doubt.) Success"Rivers of Babylon ", based on a psalm, became the second highest selling single of all time in the UK in 1978 when the B-side "Brown Girl in the Ring " was given extensive airplay on radio. It sold 500 copies short of 2 million. The group also achieved a second UK million seller with their version of calypso classic "Mary's Boy Child" which was previously a million seller for Harry Belafonte. On a list of the best selling singles in the United Kingdom , issued in 2002, Boney M appear fifth and tenth places respectively, with the two above singles. They are the only act to appear twice in the Top 10; not even the Beatles were able to achieve this. Boney M, with their sensuous tunes and catchy rythms became one of the few western bands that became well-known in the non-European world including Africa, India and South-East Asia. To this day, along with ABBA, they are the most widely known western music acts in these regions. DiscographyAlbums
Singles
External links
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