Boney m.

Boney M. Producer Frank Farian created Boney M. as a studio project in 1975. On the first output, "Baby Do You Wanna Bump", Farian performed all vocals himself. Soon, however, TV stations started to demand 'Boney M.' to perform the track on TV shows, which made Farian form an actual group. After some initial changes, Frank Farian arrived at the lineup with which the group had their biggest successes: Maizie Williams, Marcia Barrett, Bobby Farrell and Liz Mitchell. The group's major break came in 1978 with "Rivers Of Babylon", the second highest selling single of all time in the UK. Boney M. enjoyed over a dozen hit singles throughout Europe between 1976 and 1981. After Farrell was replaced by Reggie Tsiboe, Boney M. had two more hits in 1984.

Although they never had much success in America, the Euro-disco group Boney M. were a European phenomenon during the '70s. After German record producer Frank Farian (born in 1942) recorded the single "Baby Do You Wanna Bump?" (which was successful in Holland and Belgium), he created Boney M. to support the song, bringing in four West Indian vocalists who had been working as session singers in Germany – Marcia Barrett (b. October 14, 1948, St. Catherines, Jamaica), Liz Mitchell (b. July 12, 1952, Clarendon, Jamaica), Maizie Williams (b. March 25, 1951, Monserrat, West Indies), and Bobby Farrell (b. October 6, 1949, Aruba, West Indies, d. December 30, 2010, St. Petersburg, Russia). "Daddy Cool" reached the U.K. Top Ten in February 1977, followed in April by a remake of Bobby Hebb's "Sunny." In July, "Ma Baker" just missed the U.K. number one spot, and "Belfast" hit the Top Ten in December. In 1978, Boney M. were at the height of their popularity with "Rivers of Babylon"/"Brown Girl in the Ring," which became the second-biggest selling single in U.K. chart history. "Rivers of Babylon" also was Boney M.'s only U.S. Top 40 hit. Boney M.'s album, Nightflight to Venus, also topped the U.K. charts. In October 1978, "Rasputin" became another U.K. Top Ten hit, followed by the seasonal chart-topper "Mary's Boy Child"/"Oh My Lord," which became the fifth-biggest selling single in U.K. history. In March 1979, "Painter Man" hit the U.K. Top Ten, followed in May by "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday." In September, the album Oceans of Fantasy hit number one. Their music continues to sell well in Europe, with a compilation hitting the U.K. Top Ten in 1994. Farian went on to create the late-'80s dance sensation Milli Vanilli.