Boney M. are a reggae, funk and disco music group founded in 1974 in West Germany. They achieved popularity during the disco era in the second half of the 1970s. The band were created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter and one of its main vocalists. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the band's official line-up were Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica, Maizie Williams from Montserrat, and Bobby Farrell from Aruba. Since the 1980s, various line-ups of the band have performed with different members.
The band sold over 100 million records during their commercial heyday, and are known for hits including "Daddy Cool", "Ma Baker", "Belfast", "Sunny", "Rasputin", "Rivers of Babylon", "Brown Girl in the Ring", "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", "Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord" and "Gotta Go Home". They achieved eight number one singles in their native Germany, and two in the United Kingdom, both of which are among that country's all-time bestsellers.
History 1974–1976: Formation and early career German singer-songwriter Frank Farian recorded the dance track "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" in 1974. Farian sang the repeated line "Do you do you wanna bump?" in a deep voice and the falsetto chorus. When the record was released as a single in early 1975, it was credited to "Boney M.". Farian created this pseudonym for himself after watching the Australian television detective series Boney, whose main character was named Napoleon Bonaparte. Farian said:Boney M by John Shearlaw and David Brown, Hamlin Paperbacks, 1979 -page 35-6
After a slow start, the song became a hit in the Netherlands and Belgium. Farian decided to hire performers to create a troupe for TV appearances.
In 1975, model-turned-singer Maizie Williams (originally from Montserrat) and her friend Sheyla Bonnick were approached by an agent while at a restaurant in Hanover, Germany, and invited to join a new pop group. The job was to dance and mime to the studio recording of "Baby Do You Wanna Bump". Williams and Bonnick were joined by two other performers identified only as "Nathalie" and "Mike", and together the four embarked on a discothèque tour and made a few television appearances in the subsequent months. No footage of this early lineup of Boney M. has surfaced. Nathalie left the group and was replaced by Claudja Barry. Bonnick decided that lip-synching was not for her and departed with the aim of pursuing a solo career, and Mike also left. They were replaced by Marcia Barrett, a singer from Jamaica, and Bobby Farrell, a dancer from Aruba. When Barry also left, Barrett brought in Liz Mitchell, also from Jamaica and formerly a member of the Les Humphries Singers, and the group's classic lineup was complete.
1976–1979: Take the Heat off Me and international success Boney M.'s first album, Take the Heat off Me, was released in 1976. It featured tracks that Marcia Barrett had already recorded with Farian, including the title track and "Lovin' or Leavin, both of which were previously recorded in German by another Farian act, Gilla. As Maizie Williams' voice was not considered suitable for recording purposes by Farian, and a try-out with Bobby Farrell performing "No Woman No Cry" did not work, Farian decided to use only Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, along with his own studio-enhanced voice, to create the Boney M. sound.
The album's commercial performance was initially lukewarm. However, the group rigorously toured discos, clubs, and even country fairs to earn a reputation for themselves. The group's big break came at the end of the summer of 1976 when West German television producer Michael "Mike" Leckebusch of Radio Bremen requested them for his show Musikladen. Boney M. appeared on the live music show on 18 September 1976, after 10:00 p.m. and in their daring stage costumes, where they performed the song "Daddy Cool". The song quickly went to no.1 in West Germany, with the album following the success of the single. Another single, "Sunny", a cover of the 1966 Bobby Hebb song, gave the group their second no.1 hit. The group's popularity had also grown throughout Europe, with "Daddy Cool" reaching no.1 in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, France, and Austria. Both singles were also Top 10 hits in the UK, which would become one of their biggest markets.
In 1977, Boney M. released their second album, Love for Sale, which contained the hits "Ma Baker" and "Belfast". The group embarked on their first major concert tours with a live band of musicians called The Black Beauty Circus, given their name after Maizie Williams' first band, Black Beautiful People. Love for Sale was certified Gold a year after its release in the UK. Both singles from the album reached no.1 in West Germany and the UK Top 10.
1978 was the group's biggest year. They released a new double A-sided single, "Rivers of Babylon" / "Brown Girl in the Ring", which was a hit all over Europe, reaching no.1 in several countries as well as becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time in the UK. It also became their most successful single in the United States, peaking at no.30 on the U.S. pop singles chart. Following this came their biggest-selling album, Nightflight to Venus, which spawned further hit singles with "Rasputin" and "Painter Man". Continuing with their success, they released "Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord", which was the 1978 Christmas number one single in the United Kingdom and became another of the biggest selling singles of all time there. The same year, Boney M. made a much-publicised promotional visit to the Soviet Union, one of the very few Western acts (along with Elton John) to do so, although tracks like "Rasputin" were not released in the Soviet Union due to their subject matter.
While it had never been a secret that Bobby Farrell never sang on the group's records (Farian did the male vocals in the studio), in 1978 it became public knowledge that Maizie Williams did not sing on the studio recordings either, since "her voice wasn't suited for this kind of music" as Farian stated in an interview with German teen magazine Bravo. Because this had become common practice within the disco genre of the late 1970s, few people caredunlike when Farian repeated the practice to much more severe backlash with Milli Vanilli in the late 1980s. While only two of Boney M.'s official members actually contributed to the sound of the band's records, all four members of the group, including Williams and Farrell, performed the vocals live at Boney M. concerts. The band's live sound was also augmented by several backing vocalists, which served to mitigate any vocal deficiencies the group may have had compared with the studio productions.
1979 saw Boney M. release a brand new single, "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", which became another Top 10 hit across Europe. Later in the year they released their fourth album, Oceans of Fantasy, featuring two hit singles – "Gotta Go Home" / "El Lute" and "I'm Born Again" / "Bahama Mama". The album also included lead and backing vocals credits for the first time. Oceans of Fantasy reached no.1 in the UK and was certified Platinum, though their run of Top 10 singles had now ended, with "Gotta Go Home" peaking at no.12 and "I'm Born Again" peaking at no.35.
1980–1986: The Magic of Boney M.; departure of Farrell and split
In 1980, Boney M. released a greatest hits album, The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits, which also featured two new songs, "My Friend Jack" and "I See a Boat on the River". It made the no.1 spot in the UK, reaching Gold status within six weeks of release, though it was their last big-selling album in the UK.
Boney M.'s fifth album had been scheduled for release in November 1980, but the recording sessions dragged on through 1981. When Boonoonoonoos was finally released by the end of that year, Bobby Farrell left the group, having had issues with Frank Farian. While still a healthy seller in continental Europe, Boonoonoonoos failed to crack the UK Top 100 after three consecutive no.1 albums, due to the group being unable to promote it without Farrell. Following this, the group released Christmas Album.
In 1982, "Rasputin" was played by local broadcasters in Vietnam during the waiting periods before live games of the España 82 – the 1982 FIFA World Cup. This led to the popularity of the band in Vietnam for decades following.
Reggie Tsiboe was hired to replace Farrell as the new male member of Boney M. in 1982, but the singles "The Carnival is Over" and "Jambo" fared poorly, and the group's seventh album Ten Thousand Lightyears, issued in 1984, marked another commercial low point, peaking at number 23 in the German album charts. However, they returned to the German Top 20 in the autumn of 1984 with "Kalimba de Luna" (a Top 10 hit in France) and "Happy Song", the latter seeing Farrell return to the group. Both songs were carbon-copies of the original Italian hits by Tony Esposito and Baby's Gang respectively.
By 1985, Farian clearly began losing interest in the group, and their eighth and final studio album Eye Dance was widely regarded as uninspired and disappointing. After celebrating Boney M.'s 10th anniversary in early 1986, the group officially disbanded after the release of the commercially unsuccessful single "Young, Free and Single",A cover version of the UK hit by Sunfire from 1983; the original version written and performed by Lorita Grahame was released almost simultaneously. which peaked at no.48 in West Germany.
1990–present: Failed reunions and public interest
From this point, different versions of the group were formed by members, some with the cooperation of Farian, others without, for example by independently obtaining the rights to use the Boney M. name in a different country. One version began touring in the first half of 1987 with Marilyn Scharbaai (Carrilho) taking Liz Mitchell's place. Mitchell returned for a second leg of the tour late 1987, and Marcia Barrett soon left the band. At the same time, Bobby Farrell had set up a deal for a new Boney M. album to be recorded without Farian in Belgium. When Farrell failed to show up for either recording or tour, and as Maizie Williams had never sung on record, the album ended up being released as Liz Mitchell's first solo album, No One Will Force You. Mitchell and Williams completed a tour during 1987–88, adding singer Celena Duncan and Ron Gale as replacements for Barrett and Farrell. Carol Grey later replaced Celena Duncan and Curt De Daran later replaced Ron Gale.
In October 1988, the classic Boney M. line-up reunited without producer Frank Farian for the album Greatest Hits of All Times – Remix '88, but tensions ran high between the members, and Mitchell left in the spring of 1989, to be replaced by Madeleine Davis. While Mitchell promoted her solo album, the group recorded the single "Everybody Wants to Dance Like Josephine Baker", without Farian's knowledge or approval. Threatened with legal action by the producer over the use of the Boney M. name, the single was subsequently withdrawn and Farian issued "Stories" with his own new Boney M. line-up featuring Mitchell, Reggie Tsiboe and two new members, Sharon Stevens and Patty Onoyewenjo. "Stories" peaked at number 11 in the Swiss charts, and a second remix album, Greatest Hits of All Times – Remix '89 – Volume II, was released, but fared poorly.