Bonnie group m. Boney M (Boney M) disco group

Night flight to Venus

Start

The history of the Boney M. group began in the now distant 1974, when a young and incredibly enterprising German musician Frank Farian decided to try himself in a new style for Europe - by that time already very popular in American clubs. He recorded a trial single: “Baby Do You Wanna Bump”, which he himself performed in a low, insinuating voice, which later became the group’s “calling card” ...

By the early 70s, Farian already had two solo albums on his account (and, probably, the ambitions of a singer and musician), and such an "experimental" song could be a risk to his solo career. Among the German stage of that time, which was still dominated by pop-rock, the composition stood out sharply for its unusual rhythm and vocal performance. No one knew (and could not know) how the audience would react to the song, where the same phrase is repeated for almost seven minutes! And Farian did not dare to release it under his own name, taking the funny nickname "Zambi". Thus, his reputation as a producer remained out of danger, while the success of the single could bring a good profit!

The song was recorded at the Europa Sound Studios in Offenbach. The record was released in 1975 under the name of the non-existent group Boney M. On the cover of the disc, as a sign of quality, there was an American flag!

Who is Boney M.?

The attentive reader will ask: why Boney M.? What was Farian thinking about when he chose this name? This question journalists do not get tired of asking Frank for the fourth decade.

The answer is simple, though not obvious. At that time, the Australian detective series “Boney” was on the German blue screens, the main character of which was an inspector (aka “Bony”), who worked undercover. The letter M. to Boni - Bonaparte Farian attributed himself - apparently "for balance." The name turned out to be very successful, and outlived its original for a long time! Forty years later, the film has long been deservedly forgotten, and the Boney M. group has entered the treasury of world pop music!

From the very beginning, the Boney M. group was conceived as a quartet of black (as befits a decent disco group!) musicians. Without further ado, Frank turned to the casting agency Katya Wolf (it was not so easy to find dark-skinned vocalists in Germany in the 70s!), which helped to select the first line-up.

Team selection

The first line-up included: Maisie Williams with her friend Sheila Bonnick, a certain Natalie and a certain Mike. However, in this form, the group did not last long - Natalie was replaced by a professional vocalist.

Claudia Barry

Claudja Barry was born in Jamaica in 1952. Singer and actress, participant of the European versions of the musicals "Hair" and "Catch My Soul".

When she was only six, her family emigrated to Canada, settling in the town of Scarborough. After graduation, Claudia moved to New York where she landed a role in the musical Hair. The performance toured Europe for a long time, and in the spring of 1975, Claudia ended up in West Germany, where she signed a contract with the Hot Foot label to record the single " Reggae Bump". At the same time, Claudia met Frank Farian, who invited her to become a member of the Boney M group.

However, the work in the group, where it was required only to open her mouth in time to the soundtrack, soon got bored with her, and in 1976 Claudia left the group forever. After leaving Boney M. Claudia continued her solo career and very successfully! Her song " Dancin' Fever" hit on the 72nd line of Billboard, and " Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes"In 1979, it took 37th place on the US R&B charts and 56th place on the pop chart, which, you see, is very good even by today's standards!

In 1985, Claudia made her debut as an actress in Mario Van Pibbles' film "Rappin". Today, Claudia Barry has 9 solo albums. The singer remains one of the recognized stars of American classic disco of the 70s.

For those who believe that Claudia made “the worst mistake of her life” by leaving Boney M., we hasten to remind you that neither Liz Mitchell, nor Marcia Barrett, nor Bobby Farrell (not to mention Maisie Williams) has a full-fledged solo career did not work out, while Claudia Barry quite brightly "lit" in 70s , 80s And 90s what is many examples !

But three days before the important performance, Claudia suddenly leaves, and Sheila Bonnick leaves after her, saying that she deserves more (which did not prevent her from declaring herself a former participant many years later). So very quickly, only Maisie Williams remained from the first line-up.

However, the singles continued to sell out, and Frank decided to recruit new extras. Claudia's place was taken by a participant in the Hamburg musical "Hair" Liz Mitchell. Frank liked her performance so much that he invited her to the Hansa studio, where a one-year contract was signed. Why so few? the attentive reader will ask. Because then no one could have imagined what a great future awaits the group! It was about the one-song project "Baby Do You Wanna Bump", which was supposed to completely exhaust itself in a year.

More about "Baby Do You Wanna Bump"

• "Bump" - popular dance disco era, most common in the US and UK, first performed by musician Jony Spruce. During the dance, it is supposed to produce rhythmic hip thrusts for every beat of the music. In a couples dance, this movement can be more intimate, with the two hitting each other's hips lightly (or harder). Most famous compositions: Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)"Parliament Funkadelic (USA) and " Nutbush City Limits» Ike & Tina Turner (Great Britain).
• The song "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" is a cover of the Jamaican song " Al Capone» Prince Buster. In the original, you can catch the main theme of the melody, but Frank has largely reworked it and changed the lyrics;
• When recording the song, Frank sang not only in a low, insinuating voice, but also in falsetto. On the album version of Take The Heat Off Me, Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett were overdubbed over his voice;
• All female parts of the song "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" feature the voice of Sheila Bonnick;
• The song was not included in the American, British, Brazilian and Japanese versions of the Take The Heat Off Me album, not because its sound is outdated (as some authors write), but because the rights to release it in the UK belonged to Creole Records, on which the very first single was released. In 1978, the studio re-released this single, increasing the playing time to 12 minutes.

By 1976, the permanent composition was finally formed. It included:

Elizabeth Rebecca Mitchell was born July 12, 1952 in Clarendon, Jamaica. In 1963 she moved to London with her family. In the late 60s, after replacing Donna Summer in the musical "Hair", she moved to Berlin. Member of the German band The Les Humphries Singers in which she began an affair with Malcolm Magarone. After leaving the group together, they founded " Malcolm Locks” and even released the record “Caribbean Rocks”, which, however, was not successful.

Shortly after returning to England, Liz received an invitation to work in the group Boney M. The singer was recommended to Farian by Maricia Barett, whom Liz met a couple of months before she decided to return home. During this time, Marcia joined the Boney M group, and Claudia left her, and now a replacement was urgently needed.

Initially, Liz was supposed to enter the group only for three days, so as not to break the performance. Who could have known that she would soon become the main soloist, and even one of the most permanent participants?

Born in Jamaica, in the district of St. Catherine on October 14, 1948. Before joining the group, Boni M. already had experience performing in nightclubs, and also worked in several Hansa studio projects as a dancer and even the solo single "Could Be Love" (1971). Although during the work in the group the main parts belonged to Liz Mitchell, Marcia perfectly complemented her, which made the sound of Boney M. more harmonious.

Maisie Ursula Williams

Maisie Ursula Williams was born March 25, 1951 on the island of Montserrat in the West Indies, dancer and model, in 1971 she was awarded the title of "Miss British Commonwealth". Before joining the group, she performed in restaurants and clubs with her friend Sheila Bonnick. Unlike the other girls, she was a completely "silent" member, although she sang along with them during live performances.

Maisie received an invitation to work in the group right at the restaurant, where she performed with Sheila Bonnick. Here is how she recalls the episode:

“Everything happened like in a movie! My friend and I were sitting in a restaurant eating when this lady from Hansa Records comes up to us. She did not speak English, but she had an interpreter with her, who explained that the lady was recruiting a group for Frank Farian, the one who recorded the record ... And this Frank is looking for dancers, a dance group that would dance to this song. I looked at a couple and thought: “Well, well, let’s fill it up, I don’t peck at such things!”.

Robert Alphonso Farrell was born on the island of Aruba on October 6, 1949, a former sailor, dancer, DJ, inexhaustible showman who always knew how to put on a great show! At various times, he supported the performances of various Farian groups.

Bobby got into the Boney M. group with the light hand of Maisie Williams, who told Farian about him. Going to Hannover with casting agent Katya Wolf, Frank saw firsthand what somersaults Bobby does on stage, and was simply delighted! Since then, Bobby has become a big part of the Boney M. show!

“He was a very sociable, lively and full of energy person who knew how to create funny situations ... I still remember our first appearance in MusikLaden. Bobby had a huge fear before going on stage. But fate smiled at us, and he literally captivated the audience!

(Frank Farian)

daddy cool

The next composition was also released without much pretense of success. Her goal was to extend the life of the project. It was called ... "Daddy Cool"! Needless to say, how pessimistic Frank's expectations were!

There was a lot of innovation in it: an intro of some drums, complemented by a ticking sound, monotonously repeating phrases, but most importantly, the words of the song - like a nursery rhyme, completely devoid of a hint of any meaning!

"Daddy Cool" became an instant No. 1 hit at home and skyrocketed to No. 6 in the UK. But that is not all! Having crossed the ocean, "Daddy" hits the 65th place on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and the 20th place on the Canadian charts! Such a quick start cannot be called otherwise than a “breakthrough”!

“I basically foresaw the success of Daddy, but everything that followed it was an unexpected surprise for me,” Frank will say in an interview. Indeed, it was from this single that the real ascent of Boni M began!

Sunny

The third hit is a cover of Bobby Hebb's song " Sunny"("Sunshine"), which is performed by Boney M., takes on a rebirth, changing the bard sound to a disco dance rhythm.

What is this song about? In the words of Bobby Hubb himself, at the moment when he wrote it, all he wanted was “just to wait for happier times or at least a sunny day, because then the times were not the best.” In November 1963, two events shocked Hubb at once: the death of John F. Kennedy and the murder of his own brother, who was stabbed to death near a nightclub.

The song was written as a direct opposite of Johny Bragg's song " Just Walkin' in the Rain". Its release brought Habb such success that in 1966 he participated in a joint tour with The Beatles themselves!

According to Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) the song is ranked 25th on "Top 100 songs of the century".

No Woman No Cry

The back of the single "Daddy Cool" featured a cover of Bob Marley's " No Woman No Cry". Authors of articles and music critics they love to translate its name literally: "No women - no crying." This is partly the fault of the group itself, which placed the name of the song precisely in the form of “No Wom e n No Cry" on the album cover!

Well, maybe they are right somewhere, but the true meaning of the song is completely different: the hero of the song is a wandering minstrel who assures his weeping woman that he will definitely return: “no woman, don’t cry”!

And again Farian sang behind the scenes. No, at first he was not at all going to usurp the place of the soloist, and he hired Bobby Farrell precisely as a singing musician (and not just a dancing one). And that was the song that Bobby was supposed to sing. However, none of Frank's experiments with Farrell's voice led to anything good. He did not fit into the sound of Boney M. at all, and, in the end, Frank finally decided that only himself, Liz, less often Marcia, would sing. And Bobby and Maisie will only open their mouths.

So Boney M. became one of the first studio projects in Europe!

Take The Heat Off Me

In June 1976, the band's first album, Take The Heat Off Me, was released. The audience met him rather reservedly, however, when in September the group performed the song on a musical TV show MusikLaden, Frank was able to appreciate the magical power of television for the first time! Demand exceeded all expectations - more than 100 thousand records were sold in one week!

Success grew like a snowball! The largest music companies acquired licenses for the publication of Boney M. The circulation of discs and cassettes was already in the millions!

In England, the first album was released by major label Atlantic Records, replacing the track "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" with a 6-minute " Help! Help!", which previously performed Gilla.

Apparently, at first, Frank was trying to adapt American disco, and the first album has the tracks: " Take The Heat Off Me », « Lovin' Or Leavin' », « Fever”, which strongly resemble the work of overseas disco stars of the time like Gloria Gaynor. But there are other songs in it - already by their first sounds you can unmistakably recognize the characteristic "warm" sound of Boney M.!

« Got a Man On My Mind », « Sunny », « No Woman, No Cry” had a more playful combination of bass and string parts and sounded so warm, as if it were not disco at all, but music from some Jamaica or the Cayman Islands!

Constant experimentation with instruments and a passion for exotic melodies gradually lead Frank away from the canonical American disco. His music acquires some special charm, which later develops into the signature style of Boney M.

Boney M. is a legendary disco group from Germany. Formed in 1975 by producer Frank Farian. It happened, one might say, spontaneously. In 1974, Frank experimented with the then emerging disco style and recorded the single Baby Do You Wanna Bump?. To publish this composition, he needed to come up with a name for the new group, and he chose "Boney M." - on the name of the protagonist of the then fashionable detective film series, and the letter "M." added for significance. He did not expect that the composition would arouse great interest - invitations to perform at concerts and appear on television immediately appeared. Frank realized that it was urgent to assemble a group, which he did by inviting the Caribbean team.

The final composition was approved in 1976, it included people from Caribbean Cast: Liz Mitchell & Marcia Barrett, Montserrat Maisie Williams & Bobby Farrell. They all went to Western Europe as teenagers and became professional artists there. The popularity of the quartet "Boney M." worldwide was so great (besides the United States of America) that their commercial success was even listed in the Guinness Book of Records. And such songs of the group as "Sunny", "Rasputin", "Ma Baker" (translations of the songs can be read below) became immortal disco hits. But, in the early 80s, Bobby had a conflict with Farian due to the fact that he gave him too little role in the group. And in 1981, Farrell left the band. Bobby replaced Reggie Cibo. However, the audience was extremely unhappy with the absence of the incredibly charismatic Farrell. And Frank was forced to ask Bobby to return in 1984. But, already in 1986, Frank Farian announced the termination of the group. However, until 1989 the team in in full force reunited from time to time to perform at concerts in support of the release of remixes of the songs "Boney M".

Frank Farian became the main owner of the rights to the group, and since 1989, only Liz Mitchell could participate in concert activities under the pseudonym "Boney M." Other former members of the group (excluding Reggie Tsibo) challenged this decision in court and got the opportunity to perform as a Boney M. show with the obligatory addition of their own name (each member organized a solo project after leaving the group). Original name "Boney M." and remained at the disposal of the founder and producer of the team, Frank Farian. In 2006, for the band's 30th anniversary, Frank and Mitchell recorded a disc that included one new composition. The record became number 1 in many countries of the world. Over the next 10 years, permanent producer Boney M., together with Liz Mitchell, released remix albums almost every year and took the highest places in the world charts. And they are not going to stop, given that the glory of Boney M. seems to be imperishable.

The group was created by singer and music producer Franz Reuter, who later took the pseudonym Frank Farian.

In the early 1960s the young vocalist gathered around him a whole group of black music enthusiasts. Experimenting with the fashionable disco style in late 1974, Farian recorded the composition Baby Do You Wanna Bumb under the pseudonym Zambie. Farian recorded the song himself, he used his voice and the voices of the regular vocalists of the Europa Sound Studios in Offenbach. In 1975, the Hansa Record Company released a single, under the title "artist" was Boney M.

Baby Do You Wanna Bumb becomes quite a famous hit in Germany, as well as in Holland and Belgium. Single sales reached 500 copies per week. Soon applications for television and concert performances began to arrive, but since Farian himself was not going to go on stage, he, with the help of an artistic agency, formed the group Boney M.

The idea for the name of the group came to Farian after he watched one of the series popular in Germany in the early 1970s. comedy Australian television series, the main character of which was named Boney.

The first composition of Boney M included Maizi Williams (Maizie Williams), whose family once emigrated from the Caribbean island of Montserrat, first to London (where Maizi became a model and even won the title of "Miss Black Beauty"), and then to Germany, singer Sheila Bonnick ( Sheila Bonnick) and Claudia Barry (Claudja Barry), dancer Mike (Mike). These people served mainly as dance extras and sang along with Farian in the background. Claudia Barry was soon replaced by Liz Mitchell, Misey's friend, whose strong voice became the band's hallmark.

The final line-up was formed by 1976, when it included vocalists Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, dancer Misey Williams and dancer Bobby Farrell.

Boney M was waiting for a phenomenal success with the songs of Farian. In 1976, the group first performed the song "Daddy Cool" on the TV show "Musikladen", after a while the sales of the single "Daddy Cool" reached 100 thousand copies a week, a month later it topped the German charts (in England, the single sensationally hit the first ten).

"Daddy Cool" was certified gold in nine European countries, and Boney M.'s first album "Take The Heat Off Me" topped the charts throughout Europe. A remake of Bobby Hebb's song "Sunny" reached number one in Germany and the UK.

In 1977, the single "Ma Baker" repeated the same success. The singles that followed were "Rivers Of Babylon/Brown Girl In The Ring", "Rasputin", "Belfast", "Mary's Boy Child", "Painter Man", "Hooray! Hooray! It "s A Holi-Holiday", along with their albums, did not leave the top ten of most European countries for a long time.

In 1978, Boney M became the first Western group to perform on tour in the USSR. On December 9, 1978, the group arrived in Moscow, where they gave 10 sold-out concerts. A video clip was filmed about the group on Red Square.

In 1982, Bobby Farrell was replaced by Reggie Tsiboe from Ghana, who proved to be a talented producer and author of songs that became quite popular. In 1985, Farrell returned to the group.

In early 1986, Farian announced the end of the existence of Boney M. On January 16, the group gave a farewell show on the ZDF television channel in a "classic" line-up. However, until 1989, the group periodically gathered in different compositions at concerts and recording remixes of their classics. The single "Everybody Wants To Dance Like Josephine Baker / Custer Jammin" (November 1989) was the last collaboration between the members of the original lineup.

Since 1992, Frank Farian has been regularly releasing remixes of Boney M songs, which are successful in European countries.

Since 1997, three line-ups have performed under the name Boney M: Liz Mitchell, who has permission from Frank Farian to use the name Boney M, as well as a group of Bobby Farrell and Maisie Williams. Marcia Barrett performs as a solo artist.

The team entered the Guinness Book of Records as having sold the largest number of singles. According to some estimates, the legal circulation of albums and singles Boney M exceeded 200 million copies, while the number of illegal copies released worldwide is estimated at least another 300 million.

The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources

Boney M's career was like a comet: a group that suddenly appeared out of nowhere, very quickly became the subject of universal worship. There was not a single disco in the world that didn’t play Boney M, every TV show just dreamed of inviting the famous four from the Caribbean, and their compositions - a mixture of reggae, disco, funk, gospel, soul and rock - like bombs blew up musical charts of all countries of the world. The name of the group was on everyone's lips for more than ten years of their phenomenal career, however, despite such a grandiose success, the members of Boney M themselves remained rather modest and ordinary people. Today, their songs have become classics, and the memory of them will probably never disappear ... But who are Boney M?
Their story began around Christmas 1974/75, when the not very famous and not very successful German producer and hit performer Frank Farian, hiding under the pseudonym "Zambi", decided to return to his "roots" - black music - as a result of which composed and recorded the song "Baby do you wanna bump" at Europa Sound Studios in Offenbach, Germany. At the same time, by technical means, he greatly distorted his voice and superimposed a stylized female choir on it. In 1975, the Hansa record company released the single "Baby do you wanna bump" under the name Boney M; Farian found this name in the credits of an Australian television series that became a cult hit in Germany in the early 70s. The film was a comedy genre, and the name Boney was carried in it by a black detective hero. Boney M member Bobby Farrell laughs: "There was an English white actor in the show, and his face was so thickly covered in black makeup that all of Germany laughed at it."
Nothing special happened then: "Baby do you wanna bump" sold steadily throughout the year in the amount of about 500 pieces a week, but that's about it. And at the end of 1975, Farian received an unexpectedly pleasant message: his song became a small hit in Holland and Belgium, and TV stations began to be curious, who is this Boney M? There were invitations to speak. However, Farian had the good sense not to appear on stage himself: after all, indeed, he would look quite funny on stage, repeating the refrain "Huh-huh!" high female voice. Thus, it became necessary to form a fictitious group to be shown on television and in front of the press. He was helped in this by an agent for hiring artists, Katya Wolf, who found three girls and one guy. One of the first members of Boney M was model and dancer Maisie Williams, followed by Sheila Bonnick, Claudia Barry and African Mike. It was they who played the main role in drawing public attention to the Boney M group, while not performing anything, but only posing for photographs.

When the success of "Baby do you wanna bump" began to fade, Farian decides to organize a more permanent group and signs an already permanent contract with Maisie Williams, Marcia Barrett, Claudia Barry and Bobby Farrell. True, soon Claudia Barry, who did not believe in the project, leaves the group and begins a solo career that brought her well-deserved success in the late 70s. Marcia Barret, who also, in general, did not fully support the project, suddenly recalls her acquaintance, whom she met two months before entering Boney M - Liz Mitchell, with the same stage experience as her, and recommends her instead of the departed soloist. In December 1975, Farian, with the new members of the team, began recording a full album, and already in 1976 the single "Daddy cool" was released, followed by the album "Take the heat off me". It should be noted that before becoming world-famous hits, both the single and the album lay like a dead weight on store shelves for quite a long time. Only a few provincial discos and clubs invited the group to perform live. And only after the appearance of Boney M in the well-known TV show "Musikladen" in Germany, sales went up and reached 100,000 copies per week. The single soon rose to number one on the German single charts, as did the album "Take the heat off me" on the album charts. In various European countries, the single "Daddy cool" goes gold nine times, and at the end of the year the same successful single from the album - "Sunny" is released. Liz Mitchell's gorgeous voice is featured on most of the album's tracks, while Marcia Barrett's beautiful velvety vocals only appear on the title track and on the funky "Loving or Leaving".
In the summer of 1977, anticipating the release of the group's second full album, the single "Ma Baker" was released, the lyrical basis of which was a crime drama read by Hans-Joerg Mayer (Reyam), one of the Boney M songwriters hired by Farian, in a book about the history of crime in the United States. Few people know that Farian originally planned to create a song about John Dillinger, and Meyer tried in vain to convince him that the phrase "John Dillinger" would not fit well into the rhythm. Still skeptical, Farian suddenly heard the Tunisian tune "Sidi manzun" and finally agreed with Mayer - the song was called "Ma Baker". Subsequently sold 8 million copies of the single made this track the most popular disco bestseller of all time. The then-released LP "Love for sale" immediately hit the charts, but due to the erotic cover photo, it did not reach the desired high positions. In the UK, for example, it only rose to a humiliating 60th place. The idea for this album cover had already been used for the cover of the LP "Take the heat off me" when Farian hinted to photographer Didi Zill that "they have to do something mind blowing - three girls and one guy... For example, girls can turn each other on caresses while Bobby watches them." I must say, the idea itself was not bad, in contrast to the resonance received. Nevertheless, "Love for sale" became one of Boney M's most famous discs; in addition to the already mentioned hit "Ma Baker" it included such famous songs as "Plantation boy", the old Motherless Child gospel with lead vocals by Liz Mitchell, a cover version of Creedence's "Have you ever seen the rain" and the most beautiful of the tracks, ever recorded by Boney M, the song "Still I"m sad" by the Yardbirds, emotionally performed by the gorgeous Liz Mitchell.
With the release of their next single, "Belfast", which features Marcia Barrett's powerful vocals, Boney M are achieving even more success. In the UK, it hits the top ten, but in Northern Ireland, the track is banned from being played on the air. To counter the rumors that the band is fake and can't really sing, Boney M perform the hit "Belfast" live on the TV show "Musikladen". It is no longer a secret to anyone that only two members of the group sing on the records, and Farian makes all the other voices an overdub. Farian himself also does not hide the fact that he "borrowed" his voice on the records of Bobby and Maisie, and the rest of the vocals are performed by Marcia and Liz. "My voice fits the sound of Boney M more than the voices of Boney and Maisy." Although Bobby and Maisie also sing on songs like "Ma Baker", "Rasputin" and "Belfast" where a choir is required. On stage, all band members sing live - no recordings and tricks! To prove it and help promote the new album, Boney M are playing some live shows with backing vocals from Black Beautiful Circus. At one time, the first tour of Boney M (with the performance of songs under the "plywood") failed miserably. "No one believed in us," Liz said, and the German criticism dealt the group an even more crushing blow. However, the second tour - in support of the "Love for sale" album - was a huge success, although German music critics did not really like Boney M this time either. Farian was annoyed: "If I organized Boney M in the UK, no one would belittle us just like them. All Boney M wants is just to entertain people." And only the fans of the group did not pay attention to what the critics wrote. They enthusiastically perceived exotic musical shows, saturated with a sense of love and emancipation. Thanks to such stars as Boney M., Donna Summer, ABBA, Bee Gees and the like, conservative Europeans, who rarely express their temperament in dance, suddenly flooded the dance floors and discos. One fan of the group described the subject of his adoration as follows: "Boney M is a natural force, it cannot be stopped!" Indeed, only another natural force could stop Boney M. So, in the winter of 1978, the group was forced to cancel all television shows, including the BBC awards ceremony, which was supposed to receive the Carl Allen award as the most popular foreign pop group in the United Kingdom. And the thing is that Germany at that time was covered with a thick snow cover, and normal life in it almost stopped. But nevertheless, the rain of awards, which began with the single "Daddy cool", continued to pour on Boney M. This is the "Golden Otto" from the German youth magazine "Bravo", and " Golden Europe" in 1977, and "Golden Antenna", and "Golden Lion", as well as platinum, gold and silver discs from music companies ...

1978 was the year of Boney M! The group's superstar status was strengthened by the third and best-selling album "Nightflight to Venus", which gave rise to the mega-hit "Rivers of Babylon" - it became number 1 in all countries of the world. It is estimated that every four seconds in the world one single with this hit was sold! In Germany, it stayed at number one on the single charts for 16 consecutive weeks! In the UK, "Babylon" is No. 1 for four weeks, and in Australia, where the Swedish pop group ABBA recently achieved great success, two Boney M hits share the top spot: "Rivers of Babylon" (four weeks in the Top 10) and Rasputin. In fact, there, in 1978, Boney M ousted the ABBA group from the top 25 positions of the "End of the Year" charts (No. 3 is "Babylon" and No. 25 - "Rasputin". In the US, the single reaches the position of Top- 30, but in this country the participation of the group in the charts is purely nominal - imagine what would happen if Boney M achieved the same success there as in other countries!
When British radio DJs got tired of playing the same song over and over, they just flipped the single and played "Brown girl in the ring", after which the single soared again to number 2, where it remained for almost 40 weeks! Supported by a 15-piece backing vocal group, Boney M perform live on the UK TV show "Top of the pops" and meet Queen Elizabeth after the concert at the Royal Variety Hall.
The fifth biggest selling single in the UK after "Rivers of Babylon" was the Christmas hit "Mary's boy child (oh my lord)". 175,000 records were sold daily and about 2.2 million copies were sold in four weeks. It turned out that after the chart success of "Babylon" with lyrics taken directly from the Bible, Frank Farian decided to record another song with a religious theme. It became "Mary" s boy child ", which was also well known in the UK already performed by the master of calypso Harry Belafonte, twenty years before Boney M. The "Nightflight to Venus" LP, with "space" cover and corresponding title track, was also an all-time best-seller in Europe. In the UK, this disc stayed in the album charts for an exceptionally long time - 65 weeks! This mega-single was followed in popularity by such songs as Neil Young's cover version of "Heart of gold", wonderfully arranged with melodic vocals, "Never change a lover in the middle of the night", performed by Marcia Barrett in a vibrating voice, and "He was a steppenwolf" is a cover of the famous Temptation hit "Papa was a rolling stone". The success of this album made Boney M the most popular non-British pop group in the United Kingdom, for which they were awarded the Carl Allen Prize.
It is not surprising that with such popularity, the group began to show interest from the other side of the Iron Curtain. So, in the Soviet Union, a special edition of the Boney M compilation disc was released with a circulation of 100,000 copies, which turned out to be insultingly small for a population of 240 million people! The public wanted more - to see Boney M live! At the same time, the song "Rasputin - the lover of the Russian queen" was banned in the USSR. And on December 9, 1978, the group arrived in Moscow, where they gave 10 completely sold-out concerts. Historically remarkable is not only the fact that this was the first Western band to perform in the Soviet Republic, but also the fact that a video clip was filmed about this group on Red Square in Moscow. The Soviet public and the government liked Boney M so much that they were paid for concerts in hard American currency, while with the Swedish pop group ABBA, whose records were also sold in the USSR, they paid with potatoes and oil! However, the song "Rasputin" "for historical reasons" they were never allowed to perform. Marcia had to answer fans: "we are not allowed to perform this thing", and the translator translated this way: "we have songs that everyone likes, Boney M will perform one of them for you." And it was never "Rasputin - the Russian machine for love"... In fairness, it should be noted that after the visit of Boney M in Russia, this song was nevertheless released, and it became very popular among Russians. They especially liked the "Oh, those Russians!" ending, according to Bobby Farrell. ("Oh, those Russians!").
Boney M tours usually dragged on for a year, tearing the band members away from families and loved ones, and this was the most unpleasant moment in their work. Giving an interview, Maisie Williams once remarked: "We and our families are trying to put up with this, our relatives understand that it is impossible otherwise ...". Everyone who has ever participated in show business knows that touring is the hardest and most exhausting part of stage activity. But at the same time, this is an exceptional opportunity to visit other countries and get acquainted with a foreign culture. True, not everything always goes smoothly ... In 1978, Boney M. went to the Middle East. Then they were perhaps the first international pop group to visit countries such as Israel, Syria and Jordan. In the Jordanian capital of Amman, the entire band was poisoned the day before the concert by the fish they ate for dinner. It was time to cancel the performance, but King Hussein II of Jordan personally sent his doctor to them to get the group back on their feet. Something similar happened during the triumphant eastern tour in 1979: in Bangkok - again food poisoning, in Singapore the concert was delayed for 10 minutes due to the fact that the necessary seals were not affixed to the documents of the group members, etc. But despite these incidents, Boney M understood that you can’t earn much just by selling records. It is stage performances that are a key factor in their activities and guarantee more or less permanent success. Thus, since the "Love for sale" tour, they have been paying more and more attention to their image on stage and directing concerts. Their costumes, sets, lighting and musical equipment are getting more sophisticated and improved from album to album and tour to tour.

One of the reasons why Boney M has never had much success in America is the fact that Americans are very closed in on their pop scene and it is very difficult for a foreign artist to break into the American market. At that time, MTV did not yet exist, and the music performed by the group was somewhat unsuited to the tastes of the American public. This was confirmed by the participation of Boney M in the popular (and very important for black music) show "Soultrain" in 1979: the audience did not need "Rasputin" or "Holiday", but R&B compositions like "Dancing in the streets", etc. .P. In addition, Farian himself did not really strive to conquer America, he was quite satisfied with the success won by the group in Europe, Africa and Asia. American record companies didn't spend much energy marketing Boney M in their country either. However, if Boney M were to gain recognition in the States (as in Canada, which is more European oriented), they could easily double their CD sales! As of the current date (2000), about 150 million records of the group have been sold in the world ...
To reduce the waiting time for a new studio album, Farian in 1979 decides to record with Boney M a new version of the folk song "Polly Wolly Doodle", which was once performed by the famous film actress Shirley Temple. In the new arrangement, the song became known as "Hooray! Hooray! It" s a holiday "and also turned into an international hit. At that time, disco fashion reached its zenith, and the soundtrack to American film"Saturday night fever" (performed by the Bee Gees) starring John Travolta. German film producer, Hans Janisch, inspired by Boney M's concert advertisment, decided to create something similar. The film was called "Disco Fieber" (Disco Fever), and Boney M, along with other rock bands - "The Teens", "Eruption" and "La Bionda" - played, danced and sang their hits "Holiday" and " Ribbons of blue". The script was pretty trivial: a girl loves a guy, a guy loves another, etc., but the climax comes when all the characters meet in a city where celebrities like Eruption and Boney M are performing. After the announcement that Boney M was in the film , it was purchased by about 80 countries ...
In the same year, a world tour followed, as a result of which South America was also conquered by the sound of Boney M. Returning to Germany, the group is finishing work on a new album, which once again proved that Boney M do not stand still and are still able to amaze the world with fresh and unusual melodies.
With the release of the single "El Lute / Gotta go home" fans were given the opportunity to get a feel for what to expect from the upcoming album "Oceans of fantasy". The song "El Lute" itself was true story about a young Spaniard unjustly convicted during the Francoist regime, and in some countries they tried to ban it. Fairy-tale with themes from the underwater world "Oceans of fantasy" (Oceans of fantasy) again hit the top positions of the music charts in all countries of the world. The new songs were performed with a characteristic Boney M sound, but they also included some elements of soul, funk and rock that were absent in early works. To promote the album, a television show called "Fantastic Boney M" was produced and aired. The songs "I"m born again", "Bahama mama" and "The calendar song" became hits. The album also features the voice of Eruption lead vocalist Prescis Wilson ("One way ticket", "I can"t stand the rain") ; she sings on "Let it all be music" and "Hold on i'm coming" Marcia Barrett sings "No time to lose" and with Liz Mitchell on "Ribbons of blue", "Two of us" and "No more chain gang". It was later announced that Frank Farian offered Prescis Wilson to take the place of Maisie Williams in the group, but she refused, as she wanted to start her own solo career.
Of course, the constant coexistence of the members of the group left its mark and required certain sacrifices from them. “Today we get along wonderfully,” says Marcia Barrett in an interview with the Daily Mirror in 1978, “but there was a time when we simply couldn’t stand each other, and only universal recognition made us control ourselves.” About the relationship with their producer, mentor and friend, she says: "I think the two sides of the coin are equal, because without any of them the medal cannot exist. Of course, Frank is a wonderful producer, but what would he mean without four singers who can embody "His ideas? On the other hand, what would Boney M mean without his material? So we are kind of the golden mean and it's great to realize that without each other we're nowhere." Based on this, today it seems strange that despite the resounding success of the new album "Oceans of fantasy", then rumors spread that a split was planned within the group and now it's a matter of time when it will happen; that the members of the group feel like puppets in the hands of Farian, who does not appreciate their artistic talent enough; that they would like to participate more fully in the creative process ... The latter was really a problem for the group: Frank Farian was not only its founder, but also the songwriter, manager, producer and performer in one person, and the final decision always remained with him. However, on the other hand, to face the truth, it must be admitted that the other four members hardly had time to write songs. Their schedule was very busy, because the status of a world-famous group required them, in addition to regular concerts, to attend almost 50 different television shows annually. For example, the first vacation the group earned only 18 months after the start in 1976!
The last two months have been very busy for the band, there have been several breakdowns in the studio work, and Frank Farian decided to give her a little break. To fill the gap in the release of new discs, in the spring of 1980 the band released their first collection, "The magic of Boney M", which immediately became a bestseller. The album includes the most successful dance hits of the first half of their career: "Daddy cool", "Rivers of Babylon", "Rasputin", as well as beautiful melodic compositions such as "No women no cry" and "Still I'm sad". , the collection included two songs from the new single "I see a boat on the river / My friend Jack", which had already been played on the radio and entered the Top-10 charts in Germany and Switzerland. It should be noted that in Switzerland Boney M's singles are already entered the top ten in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979, and "Rivers of Babylon" was named best song of the year. In addition, the hits "Rivers of Babylon", "Ma Baker", and "El Lute" even outperformed the hits of Boney M's friends and main rivals, the pop group ABBA, there.
But let's go back. In 1981, two singles were released: one with the song "Children of paradise" on the A side and a wonderful cover version of the Iron Butterfly song "Gadda-da-vida" on the B side, the other with the tracks "Felicidad Margherita" and "Strange" . It is interesting that Farian arranged "Felicidad" as a kind of mixture of limbo and disco, but despite the already emerging decline in the popularity of disco, the track still became a hit and hit the charts. During this period, in addition to releasing singles, the group's activity decreased: Liz devotes more time to the family, and Bobby and Marcia work on their solo projects. However, all four claim to remain with the group.
Finally, in the summer of 1981, Boney M returned to action, releasing a single with a Swahili folk song "Malaika", which was supposed to precede the release of a new album under the mysterious title "Boonoonoonoos" (Playfulness). To capture the cover photo, photographer Didi Zill traveled with the group throughout Jamaica for five days. The group's style on the album changed dramatically: reggae began to clearly show through in the rhythm section and melodic basis. Recordings were made in various countries, including Southern France, USA (Los Angeles), England (London) and Jamaica (Bob Marley Studio in Kingston). Many people took part in the recording of the album. famous musicians, among which one cannot fail to mention jazz saxophonist Tom Scott (the title track and the song "Breakaway") and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (on the Mike Butt track "Ride to Agadir"). For the first time since "Belfast", the lead on the hit single "We kill the world (don" t kill the world) "is again performed by Marcia Barrett, on MTV the song is played as a music video. In the second part of the composition, "Don" t kill the world", a children's choir is involved, which undoubtedly touched the hearts of the audience. In many countries, this track immediately hit the top ten hits, and in South Africa it stayed for several weeks as No. 1. There are some really great tracks on the album, like "African moon" (co-written with Liz Mitchell), "Consuela biaz" and one of Boney M's best songs, the melancholy and bitter "Goodbye my friend". "Boonoonoonoos" is also characterized by the fact that here the band, in addition to returning to its historical roots, also tries to touch on the most pressing problems modern society. It may seem ironic, but the same critics who had scolded Boney M for the triviality of the themes began to criticize them for the excessive social focus of the songs ("Kill the world").
In the UK, "Boonoonoonoos" was not as successful as it was in mainland Europe. Perhaps this was somehow due to the fact that the British did not know the true state of affairs with the recording of the voices of the group members. The newspapers raised a big fuss around this, although Farian, in his usual intelligent manner, quite convincingly explained that it was very difficult to make Bobby Farrell sing so that his voice matched the characteristic sound of Boney M. Nevertheless, Bobby's voice sounds in the rapper tongue twister of the track "Rain to skaville", while the rest of the party is performed, as always, by Farian. Despite the fact that in Europe the disc rose to the Top-5 mark, it still did not surpass the success of its predecessor - "Oceans of fantasy". It also played a role that the record company, in anticipation of the collapse of the group, considered that it was too risky to invest big money in promoting the album.
Prior to the release of the album, the band undertakes a tour of Jamaica, where they perform two benefit concerts for orphans. The result of this action was the offer of Bob Marley's widow, Rita, who lives in Jamaica, to use the singer's recording studio, located there, free of charge. With "Babylon" hitting the top of the music charts and staying there for a full six weeks, Boney M reach superstar status in the Caribbean. This was confirmed by the reception they received from the people of the small coastal town of Ocho Rios during the photo tour: in the evening, a whole carnival was organized in honor of the group, at which a band of banjo players performed "Rivers of Babylon". In addition, in support of the new album, a 45-minute film about the band was filmed in Jamaica and shown on local television. After the release of the album "Boonoonoonoos", Boney M also released the Christmas album "Christmas album", which includes the mega-hit "Mary"s boy child" and such famous compositions as "Silent night", "Petit Papa Noel" and the hit "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby, in which the well-known gospel choir "The Jackson Singers" performs on vocals.

Marcia Barret is also releasing her solo single "You / I"m lonely" this year and appears on a number of British television programs promoting it.
And suddenly a sensation: Boney M is on the verge of collapse! Farian fires Bobby Farrell, explaining it this way: "Bobby did not show up at important meetings without permission and, in addition, suddenly demanded a fabulous amount of money!" Bobby, in fact, had grumbled for a long time: "I'm tired of being a bear dancing to Frank's tune. I want to prove that I can sing too." Which he does, recording the solo single "Polizei / A fool in love", which did not receive much recognition. Realizing that without Farian he has no chance of success, Bobby is trying with all his might to return to the group, in which he has already found a replacement in the person of a talented singer and composer Reggie Tsiboe; the remarkable voice of the latter sounds on the single "The carnival is over / Going back west" released in the summer of 1982. However, the success of the single soon overshadows the worldwide release of the Christmas album "Christmas with Boney M", which becomes the most famous of all the albums in the world, released on the eve of the holiday. Moreover, the scrolling of the track "Little drummer boy" from it is accompanied by a video clip with the participation of Bobby Farrell, since the clip was filmed a year before.
In 1983, another wonderful single of the group was released, the ethnic "Jambo - Hakuna Matata (no problems) / African moon", and immediately became a hit on African continent. It should be noted that at that time the ethnic sound with a strong influence of African rhythms began to come into fashion. Maisie Williams described the situation as follows: "We had to keep up with the times, and with Reggie, although we had more African songs in the repertoire, we did not move far from the old style." In the video accompanying the single, Liz Mitchell appears pregnant with her second child, and the male vocals in "Jambo" are performed - for reasons unknown to us - not by Reggae with a beautiful voice (and African roots), but, as always, by Farian.
In 1984, after a long break, the group again goes on tour: it starts in Africa, continues in India and ends in Europe. Reggie remembers him with delight: "I started to get tired of the endless recording sessions and TV appearances, it was time to go on stage and warm up." However, for one performance in Bophutatswana, South Africa, the group is blacklisted by the United Nations. Apartheid was raging in South Africa at this time, and Boney M agreed to perform there only after they received confirmation from the Botha government that the black population would also be able to attend concerts and no acts of racial segregation would be allowed during the performance. The members of the group and their orchestra of 15 musicians really wanted to perform in this country in order to convey their message of love and equality to all people on earth to its black and oppressed population. Songs like "Belfast" were supposed to remind everyone that Belfast exists not only in Northern Ireland, but everywhere where human rights are violated. And songs such as "No women no cry" and "Rivers of Babylon" were designed to build trust, tolerance and understanding between people of different races. So while other rock stars simply boycotted Botha's South African regime (like Bruce Springsteen), Boney M planted the seeds of equality directly under the hot South African sun.
Some time after the events described, a new, semi-conceptual album "10" 000 Lightyears "is on store shelves, on which the change in the musical style of the group is clearly noticeable, because synth-pop is now everywhere in fashion; tracks" Somewhere in the world / Exodus (Noah "s Ark 2001)" is also released as a single. In the philosophical concept of the album - the problems of mankind on our planet. To enhance the drama musical images Farian again uses the support of the Londost Philharmonic and Munich String Orchestras. On the album, Liz Mitchell's vocals are stronger than usual, while Reggie Ciboe almost fades into the background, although it is true that he does the first part in "Barbarella fortuneteller", but where is Marcia Barrett? The album also includes an up-tempo remake of "Jimmy", which was recorded in early 1982 and was intended to be the third single from the album, "Boonoonoonoos". At the same time, Frank Farian, planning to return to his solo career, recorded the song "Dizzy" for a solo single with Sandy Davis (by the way, she is a co-author of several songs from the new album), but the single was never released, so the song was also included in album "10" 000 Lightyears". The release of the album was accompanied by the release of video cassettes from the Boney M television show "Boney M. - Future world", in which most of the tracks from the album were performed with video clips. However, poor sales of this disc led Frank Farian to decide record the single "Kalimba de luna" with lead vocals by Reggie Tsiboe (later it became a club hit) and include this track in the second edition of "10"000 Lightyears", released at the end of the same year. I must say, "Kalimba" really had the makings of a major hit, but unfortunately, at that moment there were three versions of this song on the market: the original one by Tony Esposito, the version by Boney M and someone else's, and therefore the thing "didn't work". The thing was, when Tony Esposito released "Kalimba de luna" it looked like it was going to fail; Farian heard her and quickly recorded with Boney M, but then Esposito's option went up. Thus, in some countries, for example, in Switzerland, the original hit the top ten, and in neighboring Frinzia, the version of Boney M rose to the top.

In those days, one of the main problems of Boney M was the fact that the audience did not accept Reggie Ciboe as the new frontman of the group, because Farrell became a key figure in the team that had been successfully performing for many years. And although Farian once stated in an interview in the 70s that "we have no irreplaceable people except Liz Mitchell, even Marcia can be easily removed without any harm to the group," time showed that he was greatly mistaken. And already in an interview in 1984, when asked how he explains such a phenomenal success of Boney M in the recent past, Farian replies that he "spent many years trying to collect such good group, and its composition is almost impossible to repeat.
In the summer of 1984, Liz Mitchell, Reggie Tsiboye and sisters Amy and Helen Goff start recording a new Christmas album, but after recording six songs, they leave this idea. As a result, the tracks "Hark the herald angels sing", "Oh christmas tree", "Joy to the world", "Auld lang syne", "The first Noel" and "Oh come all ye faithful" (the only one on which the sisters sing Goff) were released only in South Africa at the end of 1984 on the album "New Christmas with Boney M", which also included the already well-known Christmas hits "Little drummer boy", "Mary" s boy child", quasi-religious songs "Somewhere in the world", "Children of paradise", "I"m born again" and cheerful "Hooray! Hooray!" and "Ribbons of blue". Interestingly, the same album included the previously unreleased track "Mother and child reunion" recorded for the disc "10.000 Lightyears" with the main solo part of Reggie Tsiboe and the second voices of the La Mama group, which is not on any other albums of Boney M However, Farian subsequently remixed this track with the addition of the voices of Liz Mitchell, Amy and Helen Goff, The School Rebels, Raff (Raff) and members of the Barclay James Harvest group, and in 1985 released it as a charity single under the brand name "Frank Farian Corporation for the famine-stricken Ethiopia.
Bobby reunites with the band for "Happy song" by "Bobby Farrell and The School Rebels featuring Boney M". This song becomes a club hit and hits the top ten, later it is re-released as a Boney M hit.
By the end of the year, the collection "Kalimba de luna - 16 happy songs with Boney M" is released, which includes extended remixes of "Happy song" and "Kalimba de luna".
At the same time, Bobby Farrell releases another solo single, "King of dancing / I see you", produced by Frank Farian, and the first track on it is a reworked version of the Boney M song "Dancing in the streets".
In 1985, Bobby Farrell returned to the group again to record the album "Eye dance", on which Reggie Tsiboye performed more lead vocals. These include the samba "My cherie amour", the energetic "Young, free and single" and the best song of the album - "Dreadlock holiday" - a cover version of one of the hits of the famous rock band 10CC in the 70s. Liz Mitchell shows her vocal skills on "Chica da silva" and "Got cha loco", while Marcia does not perform the first parts at all, and her voice in the form of backing vocals is barely audible against the background of other participants. And although Bobby Farrell leads on "Young free and single", his voice is unrecognizably distorted by the vocoder, the rest of his part is performed, as always, by Farian. Most of the backing vocals are performed by the Goff sisters, and it is suspected that the rest of the backing vocals were performed by former La Mama members Madeleine Davis and Patricia Shockley, as well as Rhonda, who at that time worked in Farian's studio. The album was well received by critics, but did not sell as well as the band expected. Perhaps this was due to the fact that, according to many fans, the characteristic sound of Boney M. on this album was completely lost. Also affected was the absence single concept: as if Farian was not sure in which direction to lead Boney M. The album is clearly dominated by synthesizers, and together with the digital recording, this did not already give that feeling of warmth of Boney M's sound, as before. It is not surprising that in this situation, when the group already included five members, and the future of Boney M was uncertain, conflicts began to arise between the participants. These days, they rarely appeared on television either.
So, 10 years after its founding, at the end of 1985, the group finally decides to split up: it is no longer a secret to anyone that the members of the group hardly talk to each other, constantly complain about low contract amounts, and their hits have ceased to occupy high positions on the music charts. And on top of that, they began to resent the fact that all of them put together did not earn as much money as Frank Farian alone. Confirmation of the group's decline was also the television show that the five original members (including Reggie) recorded for German television under the banner "10 years of Boney M": very poorly organized, with technical problems, it was cut by the producers from sixty to thirty minutes. Boney M, booed by the fans, realized that they were at the lowest point of their stunning career. Plus, Farian "burned out" producing Boney M, which he informed the team members about, intending to do more interesting projects. In an attempt to rectify the situation after the aforementioned show, Farian and Boney M release the compilation "The best of 10 years (32 superhits nonstop remixed)", but this does not improve the situation. It is interesting that, ironically, about the same thing happened at this time with the main competitor of Boney M on the musical front - the Swedish supergroup ABBA. Yes, ten years of joint work and many months of tours finally made themselves felt...

The beginning of 1986 was marked by the release of the anniversary 9-minute single "Daddy cool", re-recorded by Liz Mitchell, Frank Farian and Reggie Ciboe. He enjoys great success in clubs, but commercially unpromising. Thus, the result of the ten-year activity of Boney M includes: 18 platinum and 15 gold albums, more than 200 gold and platinum singles and about 150 million records sold worldwide.
In the same year, Boney M went on their last international tour. Liz Mitchell is pregnant again, unable to complete the tour, and is replaced by Madeleine Davis, former member of La Mama. At the same time, the single "Bang Bang Lulu" from the album "Eye dance" was released, but it no longer arouses any interest among the public.
By the end of 1986, the disc "The 20 greatest christmas songs" was released. This is a compilation of remixes from the 1981 Christmas album, which adds several new songs recorded back in 1984. At the end of the tour, the band members went their separate ways, and throughout 1987 their only action was the release of Bobby Farrell's solo single " Hoppa hoppa".
In 1988, Liz Mitchell released her first solo album "No one will force you" in Belgium. Then, in the continuation of her career, she invites Maisie Williams, singer Selena Duncan and dancer Kurt Di Daren, and together with them goes on tour again as with the new composition of Boney M. However, Maisie Williams soon leaves this composition, and Liz Mitchell replaces her with her relative Carol Gray, who is still on her team today. At this time, Liz Mitchell is having difficulty releasing her album in Germany, as many companies continue to consider her bound by a contract with Frank Farian. Finally, in October 1988, she manages to release the album in Spain, preceded by the single "Mandela". This single was followed by another, "Nicos de la playa", released in Denmark, but due to poor sales, the release of the album there was decided to be postponed.
At the same time, for the release of the collection "The greatest hits of all times - Remix 88", a fairly well-known company Stock-Aitken-Waterman starts remixing the original hits of Boney M and even invites Liz Mitchell to re-record the vocals for the tracks "Sunny", "Amy no woman no cry" and "Brown girl in the ring". Liz hesitates for a long time - after all, for this it is necessary to postpone the work on promoting her solo album, but in the end she agrees. The album comes out in October and is accompanied by the release of remixed (acid house remix) singles "Rivers of Babylon" and "Megamix". In addition, the London-based firm Simon Napier Bell is attempting to reunite the original members of the Boney M group, and together they embark on a European club and cabaret tour. In France, the aforementioned album reaches #1 on the music charts and even gets Platinum disc status.
In 1989, the second remixed album "The greatest hits of all times - vol II" was released, and "The summer megamix" from it became a big hit in Europe. Meanwhile, tensions between the four members begin to escalate, working relationships are strained, and Farian, who is successfully developing the Milli Vanilli project, shows no interest in further cooperation. Liz Mitchell decides to "forge while it's hot" and manages to release her album in Holland and France, where it is accompanied by the singles "Mandela" and "Marinero". Back in London, Marcia Barrett, Bobbie Farrell, Maisie Williams and Madeleine Davis (from La Mama) who joined them continue to work as Boney M and record the absolutely wonderful, but critically underappreciated single "Everybody wants to dance like Josephine Baker / Custer jamming", produced by Barry Blue and Chris Birket for the "Imperative" label. The single shows the full potential of Marcia Barret as the main soloist - her voice sounds so impressive that it becomes clear - the sound of Boney M was not only done by Liz Mitchell. Bobby Farrell also contributed - his male vocals sound on both tracks. Most of all, this single proved that Barrett, Farrell and Williams could do without Mitchell and Farian. However, this activity was immediately suppressed by Frank Farian, as soon as he heard about it, because he owns the rights to the Boney M brand.

Thus, the second remix album without the support of a live and legitimate team fails, and Farian decides to form a new version of Boney M in order to take revenge on the naughty former wards and at the same time capitalize on the attention that the single "Josephine Baker" attracted. To accomplish this task, he invites Liz Mitchell, Reggie Tsiboye, Sharon Stephens and Patty Onivenyo. And so, in the early spring of 1990, this team with the official name Boney M. (feat. Liz Mitchell) released the single "Stories / Rumors" with great dance hits, which shows what the original Boney M group could have become in the 90s. But despite the fact that the single reached the Top-30 in some countries, it also showed that the public does not show much interest in the new line-up. The presence of two versions of Boney M and the unceremonious pressure from Farian on Maisie Williams, Marcia Barret and Bobby Farrell will result in a lawsuit "Williams, Barret and Farrell v. Farian" in the future. The verdict of the court will be quite loyal: all four former members of the composition of Boney M are allowed to perform under the name Boney M, but the composition with Liz Mitchell receives the title "official". Liz Mitchell is once again regrouping her line-up with Carol Grey, Patricia Lorne-Foster and Kurt D-Deran as new members, although he will soon be replaced by Tony Ashcroft, and three other former members including Reggie with his beautiful strong voice are not at affairs. After that, in 1991, Liz released the solo single "Mocking bird / Tropical fever", produced by Farian.
But the irony is that it's not the new version of Boney M by Liz Mitchell that attracts fans the most, but the original line-up, which hits the top of the music charts in the summer of 1992 with the new single "Megamix" from the "Gold" compilation. At the same time, the single of the Boney M. featuring Liz Mitchell "Brown girl in the ring" was released, and the line-up went to the UK, where it gives 10 concerts.
A new compilation "More gold" is released, which includes four new songs recorded by Liz Mitchell and Frank Farian, and "Papa Chico" was first released as a single, but failed, but "Ma Baker remix 1993" hit the charts.
Thus, since 1994, three versions of Boney M began to exist:
– c Liz Mitchell (headquartered in England), who successfully performs in clubs and often visits Russia;
– with Maisie Williams (Featuring Maizie Williams with original band member Sheila Bonnick) touring Asia, the CIS countries and Western Europe, including festivals in the UK and Scandinavia (it should be noted that Maisie Williams is always an underestimated member of the original Boney M - now he successfully sings in his team and even performs the main vocal parts in such hits as "Hooray! Hooray! It" s a Holiday ");
– and, finally, the controversial - both beloved and rejected - line-up with Bobby Farrell (Boney M featuring Bobby Farrell), who performed mainly in Holland, but also visited clubs in the USA, Europe and Russia with considerable success.
All three compositions of Boney M have an uneven career: there are ups and downs. Liz Mitchell's line-up, for example, had to cancel a Christmas tour of South Africa in December 1993 due to poor ticket sales - fans wanted to see the original line-up that came to them in 1984.
At the turn of the century, in the early spring of 1999, activity around Boney M increased: a new remix of the single "Ma Baker" (side A) hit the charts, performed by the best remixing team in Germany, Sash! The B-side, "Somebody screams (Ma Baker)", was remixed by Horny United (formerly Fatboy Slim). The scrolling of the single is accompanied by a delightful video clip. Farian begins work on a remix album of the most famous hits group Boney M, and in early autumn the promotional single "Daddy cool" was released, accompanied by a video clip featuring Moby T.; it also charts in the Top 50 positions. There is news about the appearance of four new members of Boney M including rapper Moby T. and the new name of the group - Boney M. 2000. However, due to the protest of fans and former members of Boney M, Farian refuses this idea, although indeed, new members were hired, but only for visual presentation - no live performances or albums with their participation were planned. The remix album will be released in October under the name "20th Century hits - Boney M. 2000"; it was worked on by various DJs who "looked at the old hits with a fresh look". One of them, O-Tone Farian, said: "What was good in the past deserves to exist in the new century, but in a fresher processing." However, in the German market and in many other countries, this album only entered the purely nominal charts. A wonderful cartoon video for the new single "Hooray! Hooray! Caribbean nightfever megamix" could have brought Boney M back into the charts, but the single itself did very poorly. The reason was probably that Boney M didn't really exist anymore and the record companies didn't do the marketing. Another single, "Sunny 2000", with a new beat and accompanied by a state-of-the-art computerized video clip, also did not rise above 100.
In 1999, Boney M fans were pleased with the good news: both Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett released their long-awaited solo albums. 'Survival', Marcia's first solo album, opens with the house-tempo dance song 'Strange rumors', dedicated to the rumors spread about her. In it, she talks about her past very truthfully and with humor, striking the listener with an energetic mixture of house, rock, reggae and ballads.
Liz Mitchell's "Share the world" is more subdued and consists of beautiful ballads and a few dance tracks like "Sunshine" that nostalgically glimpse 60s rhythms. Both albums testify that their authors not only good performers, but also talented poets and producers from God. The only bad thing is that today's music industry is more than ever focused on young artists who are easier to manipulate and from whom it is easier to get a solid income in a shorter period of time. Long-term careers are no longer the rule, and so Marcia and Liz, endlessly in love with good music and those who know how to do it, no longer want to play these games. Now it's their turn to show that they are not puppets in the hands of a producer and record companies, but experienced actresses who know what they want.
For more than three and a half decades after the release of "Daddy cool", the legend of Boney M lives on. Their hits are unforgettable: today's youth rediscover this group, which they may have heard about on the radio or from their parents. And while critics and music historians still ignore Boney M's impact on the music scene, we're pretty sure that without them, popular music would be very different today. Not only did they set the standard for the stage music show, but more importantly, they established high-quality sound recording as the norm. What is taken for granted today for every serious musician was sharply criticized in the seventies: both the synthesized sound, and the too clear rhythm, and the simplicity of the harmony ... However, their audience knew for sure that Boney M was more than a plastic band - they really were a group of not only great show stars, but also extraordinary personalities who had something to say. What the critics never mentioned was the fact that Boney M brought people of all races and ages together around the music they loved. It is reasonable to ask the question: what else can be demanded from a pop group? And it's very sad that the original line-up will no longer get together, but their music and the legend of Boney M will live on for a long time...

Band discography:

1976 - Take The Heat Off Me
1977 - Love For Sale
1978 - Nightflight To Venus
1979 - Oceans Of Fantasy
1980 - For Dancin'
1981 - Boonoonoonoos
1981 - Christmas Album
1984 - Kalimba De Luna
1984 - Ten Thousand Lightyears
1985 - Eye Dance

Boney M. - a group that became in the late 70s - early 80s one of the most famous disco groups in the world and definitely the most famous in the USSR. During their heyday, Boney M. was called "black ABBA", but in Europe their popularity quickly faded. But on the territory of the former USSR, it is they, and not the Swedish quartet, that still come to mind at the sight of a mirror ball, embroidered vests and flared trousers.

It all started in Offenbach, a small town in capitalist West Germany. Frank Farian, 33 music producer, wrote the incendiary song "Baby Do You Wanna Bump?" and released it on a record under the pseudonym Boney M. - after the name of the Australian TV series. It was 1974. The record "shot", and as yet non-existent group began to be torn apart with offers of concerts. Farian had a hard time - after all, the whole Boney M. consisted of his voice reproduced in the studio. However, he quickly put together a temporary team of Jamaican emigrants and Boney M. began her journey to fame.

By 1976, a permanent composition had already formed, however, also from immigrants from the Caribbean. Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell were responsible for vocals, Maisie Williams and Bobby Farrell were responsible for dancing and "Jamaican performance". The group recorded several "killer" hits: "Daddy Cool", "Rasputin" and others, and simply blew up the European charts. However, overseas, in the United States, her success has so far been modest.

Boney M. would have remained another disco group of the “ABBA times”, if not for an unexpected twist of fate that gave them a sure piece of bread right up to the present day - they are incredibly loved in Russia.

By some miracle, the group got behind the "iron curtain" - on January 1, 1977, the whole country met under "Melodies and rhythms of foreign pop music" with Boney M. Soviet citizens, not spoiled by Jamaican rhythms, felt like a village boy who first saw a giraffe in the zoo .

Then the Melodiya company also released a disc with a collection of the group's songs. For some reason, many hits by Boney M. did not get there, however, there was the song "Sunny", which became long years the most popular in the USSR. Real battles unfolded for the record in stores, and black marketers cheated 5000% on it.

Further more. Suddenly, Boney M. came to Moscow, and not just arrived, but gave ten concerts there and even filmed a video on Red Square. What it was is unknown. There were rumors that Brezhnev personally became a fan of the group. Of course, the Olympics-80 in Moscow was on the nose, and the concert of world stars was supposed to show the whole world that the USSR is a normal progressive country.
After such Boney M. forever remained in the domestic "cultural code". In 1986, the group broke up. Each member scored their own "Boney M." and began to give concerts without getting out of the copyright squabbles. In Russia, they have always been welcomed with open arms. Many years later, in 2010, it was in Russia, in St. Petersburg, that Bobby Farrell, the face of “the same” Boney M.