Boney M. is a group that in the late 70s - early 80s became 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 the “black ABBA,” but in Europe their popularity quickly faded. But on the territory former USSR It is they, and not the Swedish quartet, that still come to mind when seeing a mirror ball, embroidered vests and bell-bottom trousers.

It all started in Offenbach, a small town in capitalist West Germany. Frank Farian, a 33-year-old music producer, wrote the catchy 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. The year was 1974. The record took off, and the still non-existent group began to be torn apart with offers of concerts. Farian had a hard time - after all, all of Boney M. consisted of his voice multiplied in the studio. However, he quickly put together a temporary team of Jamaican emigrants and Boney M. began her path to fame.

By 1976, a permanent composition had already been formed, however, also from immigrants from the Caribbean islands. Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell were responsible for the vocals, and Maisie Williams and Bobby Farrell were responsible for the 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 USA, its success has so far been modest.

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

By some miracle, the group got behind the Iron Curtain - on January 1, 1977, the whole country met to the tune of “Melodies and Rhythms of Foreign Pop” with Boney M. Soviet citizens, not spoiled by Jamaican rhythms, felt like a village boy who saw a giraffe for the first time at the zoo .

Then the Melodiya company also released a record with a collection of the group’s songs. For some reason, many of Boney M.’s hits were not included there, however, there was the song “Sunny”, which became on long years the most popular in the USSR. There were real battles for the record in stores, and the black marketers were charging 5,000% for it.

Further more. Suddenly Boney M. came to Moscow, and not only did they come, but they 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 1980 Olympics in Moscow were just around the corner, and the concert of world stars was supposed to show the whole world that the USSR was a normal, progressive country.
After this, Boney M. remained forever in the domestic “ cultural code" In 1986, the group broke up. Each participant scored their own “Boney M.” and began to give concerts without getting out of squabbles over copyrights. In Russia, they were always welcomed with open arms. Many years later, in 2010, it was in Russia, in St. Petersburg, that Bobby Farrell, the face of “that same” Boney M, would die.

Photo of the BONEY M team Maisie Williams:

Photo of the BONEY M team Marcia Barrett (Marcia Barrett):

Boney M - invite the foreign group Boney M or order for a celebration, as well as organize solo concerts of the group Boney M

group BONI M - personal page on the official website of an agent in Russia and the CIS countries for organizing concerts and performances (Official Booking).

History of the group Boney M (THE WHOLE TRUTH about the creation of the group!) >>>>>

The group BONEY M. (Boney Em) is a German disco group created in 1975 by music producer Frank Farian.

Boney M (Boney Em) - we all, to one degree or another, tend to dream about the future and analyze the past, care about progress and fall into a nostalgic mood, remembering good times of their youth (what they wore, what they believed, what they listened to, and what they danced to). It is enough just to remember the name of the famous German producer Frank Farian, who for the last 25 years has been steadily supplying the European dance scene with super popular groups and performers, among which the familiar name - BONEY M - does not fade.
European listeners of the second half of the 70s and early 80s doted on them in the group Boni M. The composition of the group changed, but despite this, about 40 million discs and more than 65 million singles were sold.
BONEY M have achieved phenomenal success in countries of Eastern Europe and especially in the USSR, where they were one of the first Western artists to visit. The group performed on Red Square and even filmed a video clip there. Bonnie M are legends and pioneers of Eurodisco over their long career.
They topped the singles charts in many European countries eight times, placed their albums at the highest level of popularity three times, and in the last decade they have literally inundated us with various collections of their best songs, Christmas albums, remixes and megamixes.
BONEY M continue to live in four current lineups - however, only the one led by Liz Mitchell is officially recognized - touring with solo concerts and filming for television.
It’s hard to believe that the idea of ​​putting together such a team arose in Farian’s head exactly a quarter of a century ago. The son of a tannery worker who died in World War II and a church choir soloist, Franz Reuter, who later took the pseudonym Frank Farian, was born on July 18, 1942 and grew up in the West German city of Saarbrücken, bordering France. adjacent to dozens of American military bases.
Farian switched to the production front in the 70s. The pro-American ballad style, in which he was listed as an expert on the famous Hansa-Ariola label, finally began to bear fruit, and two of his songs, “Dana My Love” (1972) and especially “Rocky” (1976), which topped the national charts in Western Europe Germany, entered the golden fund of German English-language pop music.
Then there was a sharp transition to more fashionable disco, and it was the turn of grandiose projects, the first of which was called BONEY M.
At first, Farian did not have any large-scale plans. He was driven by the usual calculations of a young producer who had just written a cute song (“Baby Do Ya Wanna Bump?”), released it as a single with his own vocals, and needed to consolidate his success on tour and television. Frank recruited a group of black session musicians, immigrants from the Caribbean, most of whom sang well, and in just five years produced a winning series of 100% dance hits with simple English lyrics and catchy disco rhythms.

The first line-up of BONEY M included: Maizie Williams, whose family once emigrated from their native Caribbean island of Montserrat, first to London (where Maizie became a model and even won the title “Miss Black Beauty”), and then to Germany; Sheila Bonnick; a girl named Natalie and an African Mike. Then Claudja Barry was added to them, who was soon replaced by a girl from Jamaica Liz Mitchell, and friend Maisy, her strong voice became business card groups. Liz always dreamed of becoming a professional singer, and her first success came after starring in the famous English musical "Hair".

Where did Farian get such a strange name for the group - it’s all very simple, a big fan of television series really liked the Australian crime soap about a brave, resourceful policeman named Bonnie. The letter "M" completed the picture phonetically, and the name was ready for use.

BONEY M had phenomenal success with Farian's songs. When, in July 1976, the second line-up of the group, which is now commonly called the “original”, namely: Liz Mitchell, Maisy Williams, another emigrant from Jamaica, Marcia Barrett, and a native of the Caribbean island of Aruba, Bobby Farrell, who for some time worked unsuccessfully as a dancer and DJ in one of the Dutch clubs, first performed the song “Daddy Cool” on the TV show “Musikladen”, a month later it topped the German charts (in England it sensationally hit the top ten), and after hits poured out like from a cornucopia.

In 1986, the group officially disbanded for very vague mysterious reasons, but almost every year they gathered in different lineups.
A website for organizing concerts and ordering corporate performances of the Boni M group. The official website of the vipartist, where you can familiarize yourself with the biography, and using the contact numbers indicated on the site, you can invite the Boni M group with a concert for a holiday or order a performance by the Boni M group for an event. Boni M's website contains photo and video information.
Personal page of the group Boney M on the official website of the agent in Russia and the CIS countries for organizing concerts and performances (Official Booking Boney M).

Night flight to Venus

Start

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

By the early 70s, Farian already had two solo albums to his name (and probably ambitions as a singer and musician), and such an “experimental” song could have been a risk for his solo career. Among the German pop music of that time, which was still dominated by pop-rock, the composition stood out sharply due to its unusual rhythm and vocal performance. No one knew (and could not know) how the audience would react to a 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 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.?

An attentive reader will ask: why Boney M.? What was Farian thinking when he chose this name? Journalists have not tired of asking Frank this question for four decades now.

The answer is simple, although not obvious. At that time, the Australian detective series “Boney” was running on German silver screens, the main character of which was an inspector (aka “Bony”) who worked undercover. Farian himself attributed the letter M to Boni - Bonaparte - 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 group Boney M. 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 of Katya Wolf (it was not so easy to find black vocalists in Germany in the 70s!), which helped select the first line-up.

Team selection

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

Claudia Barry

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

When she was only six, her family immigrated to Canada, settling in the town of Scarborough. After graduating from high school, Claudia moved to New York, where she landed a role in the musical Hair. The play 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, working in a group where she only had to open her mouth in time to the soundtrack soon got boring, and in 1976 Claudia left the group forever. After leaving Boney M. Claudia continued solo career and very successfully! Her song " Dancin' Fever" hit number 72 on Billboard, and " Boogie Woogie Dancin' Shoes"In 1979, it took 37th place on the American R&B hit parade 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 the film “Rappin” by Mario Van Pibbles. 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 by leaving Boney M. Claudia made “the worst mistake in her life,” 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. career never developed, while Claudia Barry “lit up” quite brightly in 70s , 80s And 90s what to eat many examples !

But three days before the important performance, Claudia suddenly leaves, and Sheila Bonnick leaves after her, declaring that she deserves more (which did not stop her from declaring herself many years later). former member). So very quickly, only Maisie Williams remained from the original cast.

However, the singles continued to sell out, and Frank decided to recruit new extras. Claudia's place was taken by Liz Mitchell, a participant in the Hamburg musical "Hair". Frank liked her performance so much that he invited her to Hansa studio, where a one-year contract was signed. Why so few? – the attentive reader will ask. Because back then no one could have imagined what a great future awaited the group! It was about a project of one song, “Baby Do You Wanna Bump,” which was supposed to completely exhaust itself within 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 Johnny Spruce. During the dance, you are supposed to make rhythmic hip thrusts to every beat of the music. IN pair dance this movement can be more intimate when two people hit each other's hips lightly (or harder). The most famous compositions: “ Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker)"Parliament Funkadelic (USA) and " Nutbush City Limits» Ike & Tina Turner (UK).
• 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 largely reworked it and changed the lyrics;
• When recording the song, Frank sang not only in a low, insinuating voice, but also in falsetto. The album version of "Take The Heat Off Me" featured Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett 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 on the American, British, Brazilian and Japanese versions of the Take The Heat Off Me album, not because its sound was outdated (as some authors write), but because the rights to release it in the UK belonged to Creole Records, which The very first single was released. In 1978, the studio re-released this single, increasing the playing time to 12 minutes.

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

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

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

Initially, Liz was supposed to join the group for only three days so that the performance would not be disrupted. 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 parish of St. Catherine on October 14, 1948. Before starting work in the group, Boni M. already had experience performing in nightclubs, and also worked in several projects of the Hansa studio as a dancer and even a solo single “Could Be Love” (1971). Although while working in the group the main parts belonged to Liz Mitchell, Marcia complemented her perfectly, which made Boney M.’s sound more harmonious.

Maisie Ursula Williams

Maisie Ursula Williams was born on March 25, 1951 on the island of Montserrat in the West Indies, a dancer and model, and was awarded the title of Miss British Commonwealth in 1971. 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 in the restaurant, where she performed with Sheila Bonnick. Here's how she remembers this episode:

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

Robert Alfonso Farrell was born on the island of Aruba on October 6, 1949, a former sailor, dancer, DJ, an inexhaustible showman who always knew how to put on a great show! IN different time supported the performances of various Farian groups.

Bobby got into the Boney M. group thanks to Maisie Williams, who told Farian about him. Having gone to Hanover with casting agent Katya Wolf, Frank saw with his own eyes what kind of somersaults Bobby does on stage, and was simply delighted! Since then, Bobby has become an important part of the Boney M. show!

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

(Frank Farian)

Daddy Cool

The next composition was also released without any particular claim to success. Her goal was to extend the life of the project. It was called... “Daddy Cool”! Needless to say, Frank's expectations were so pessimistic!

Much of it was innovative: an introduction consisting only of drums, complemented by a ticking sound, monotonously repeated phrases, but most importantly, the words of the song - like nursery rhyme, completely devoid of any hint of meaning!

"Daddy Cool" instantly becomes a No. 1 hit at home and soars to No. 6 in the UK chart. But that is not all! Having flown over the ocean, “Daddy” reaches 65th place on the American Billboard Hot 100 chart and 20th place on the Canadian chart! Such a quick start cannot be called anything other than a “breakthrough”!

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

Sunny

The third hit is a cover of Bobby Hebb's song " Sunny"("Sunny"), performed by Boney M., finds a rebirth, replacing the bard sound with a disco dance rhythm.

What is this song about? According to Bobby Hebb 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 times were not the best.” In November 1963, Hebb was shocked by two events at once: the death of John F. Kennedy and the murder of his own brother, stabbed to death outside a nightclub.

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

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

No Woman No Cry

The flip side of the single "Daddy Cool" featured a cover of Bob Marley's " No Woman No Cry" Authors of articles and music critics are very fond of translating its title literally: “No women - no crying.” This is partly the fault of the group itself, which placed the title of the song in the form “No Wom e n No Cry" on the cover of the record!

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 crying woman that he will definitely return: “no woman, don’t cry”!

And again Farian sang behind the scenes. No, at first he did not intend to usurp the place of the lead singer, and he hired Bobby Farrell specifically as a singing musician (and not just a dancing one). And this is exactly the song Bobby should have sung. 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 he, Liz, and less often Marcia would sing. And Bobby and Maisie will only open their mouths.

This is how the Boney M. group became one of the first studio projects in Europe!

Take The Heat Off Me

In June 1976, the group's first album, Take The Heat Off Me, was released. The public greeted him rather restrainedly, but when in September the group performed the song on a music TV show MusicLaden, 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 to publish Boney M. The circulation of discs and cassettes was already in the millions!

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

Apparently, at first Frank tried to adapt American disco, and the first album contains the tracks: “ Take The Heat Off Me », « Lovin' Or Leavin' », « Fever”, which strongly resemble the work of overseas disco stars of that time like Gloria Gaynor. But there are other songs in it - from 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"were distinguished by a more playful combination of bass and string parts and sounded so warmly, as if it was not disco at all, but music from some Jamaica or the Cayman Islands!

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

Boney M. is a legendary disco group from Germany. Formed in 1975 by producer Frank Farian. This happened, one might say, spontaneously. In 1974, Frank, experimenting with the then newly emerging disco style, 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 main character of the then fashionable detective film series, and the letter “M.” added for significance. He did not expect that the composition would arouse enormous interest - invitations immediately appeared to perform at concerts and appear on television. Frank realized that he urgently needed to assemble a group, which he did by inviting a Caribbean group.

The final lineup was approved in 1976, and included people from the Caribbean: Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, Montserrat Maisie Williams and Bobby Farrell. They all went to Western Europe as teenagers and became artistic professionals there. The popularity of the quartet “Boney M.” was so great throughout the world (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 small a role in the group. And in 1981 Farrell left the team. Bobby replaced Reggie Cibo. However, the public was extremely unhappy with the absence of Farrell, who has incredible charisma. And Frank was forced to ask Bobby to return in 1984. But already in 1986, Frank Farian announced the cessation of the group’s activities. However, until 1989, the full band reunited from time to time to perform at concerts in support of the release of remixes of Boney M songs.

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

As a teenager, Franz fell madly in love with English and American pop music, but according to his own memories, instead of the Beatles, he listened to Sam Cooke, Little Richard and Otis Redding. The guy worked on his voice for a long time and, trying to imitate popular soul hits in America, began performing in local eateries, where American soldiers, homesick for their homeland, often hung out. The public loved him very much, and this filled him with inspiration.

In the early 60s, the young vocalist gathered around him a whole group of black music enthusiasts and, calling themselves Frankie Farian And The Shadows, they quickly became popular. hometown as the best band that performed covers of the Drifters and Otis Redding (usually everyone started with this). But their popularity did not spread beyond Saarbrücken, because many believed that no one could play black music better than blacks, and whites could only imitate. But Farian did not give up and in the 70s not only did not give up his business, but also gradually switched to the production front. The pro-American ballad style, in which he was listed as an expert on the famous Hansa-Ariola label, finally began to bear fruit, and two of his songs “Dana My Love” (1972) and especially “Rocky” (1976), which topped the German national charts , entered the golden fund of German English-language pop music. Then there was a sharp transition to more fashionable disco, and it was the turn of grandiose projects, the first of which was called BONEY M.

It all started at the end of 1974, when Farian made a recording under the pseudonym Zambie, completely different from anything he had done before, the composition “Baby Do You Wanna Bumb”. Farian recorded the song himself, using his voice and the voices of the staff vocalists at Europa Sound Studios in Offenbach.

In 1975, Hansa Record Company released the single "Baby Do You Wanna Bump", with the name BONEY M in the "artist" column. Frank Farian got the idea for the band's name after watching an episode of an Australian comedy television series popular in Germany in the early 70s, whose main character was named Boney.

"Bump" becomes a fairly famous hit in Germany, as well as in Holland and Belgium. Single sales reach 500 copies per week. Soon applications for television and concert performances began to arrive, but since Farian himself did not intend to go on stage, he, with the help of the artistic agency Katja Wolf, formed the group Boney M., which included model and dancer Maizie Williams Williams, 03/25/1951), singers Sheila Bonnick and Claudja Barry, dancer Mike. The group was introduced to the press and photographers, and began to appear in television programs and perform in clubs to a studio soundtrack.

By the end of 1975, when the success of "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" began to wane, Farian decided to take the project seriously and signed new contracts with Maizie Williams, Marcia Barrett (10/14/1945), a singer already with active solo single, Claudja Barry and disc jockey and dancer Robert (Bobby) Farrell (10/6/1945). However, Claudia Barry did not believe in the future of the project and left Boney M. at the first opportunity; later she successfully performed as a solo performer.

To urgently replace Barry for three performances at the Franks club in Saarbrücken, on the recommendation of Marcia Barrett and Katya Wulf, Liz Mitchell was invited (Liz Mitchell, 12.7.1952), who had already taken part in productions of the musical “Hair” in Berlin and Hamburg, and also sang in the famous ensemble Les Humphries Singers (1970-73).

Farian saw Liz Mitchell only during the third performance and made an appointment with her in the studio. The next day, Liz recorded demos of "Fever", "Sunny" and "Got A Man On My Mind", songs for which Marcia Barrett had also previously recorded demos.

Hansa offered Liz Mitchell a one-year contract with an option to extend for a further two years.

Farian wanted all members of the group to sing on the album, for Bobby Farrell he planned "No Woman No Cry", the recording was made in the very expensive Union Studios, where such stars as Donna Summer worked, but no one liked the result and they decided to give the song to Liz Mitchell . Farian was more concerned about how well Bobby opened his mouth to the soundtrack than working with Liz, since by that time Marcia had already recorded demo versions of songs for the first three Boney M. albums.

The recording of "No Woman No Cry" changed Farian's plans; after listening to the tape, he immediately redistributed the songs between Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell. Needless to say, this did not lead to a strengthening of the friendship between Liz and Marcia. During the first finishing recordings, in December 1975, it became clear that the best results were achieved when Liz Mitchell, Marcia Barrett and Frank Farian were in the studio, recording all the leading and supporting parts. In 1978, Hansa management suggested that Farian replace Liz Mitchell with Precious Wilson, since her voice was more suitable for the American market, but this idea was abandoned - Liz Mitchell's voice was already perceived by listeners as the voice of Boney M.

BONEY M. had phenomenal success with Farian's songs. In 1976, the group first performed the song "Daddy Cool" on the TV show "Musikladen", after some time, sales of the single "Daddy Cool" (07/1976) reached 100,000 copies per week, a month later it topped the German charts (in England the single was a sensational hit in the top 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. Then the remake of Bobby Hebb's song "Sunny" (12/1976) made a double (took 1st place in Germany and Great Britain).

In May 1977, the single "Ma Baker" (05/1977) was released - the plot of the song was based on the real story of the gangster gang Mother Barker and her sons, found by Farian in a book about crime in the USA (Ma Barker was changed to Ma Baker for a better sound ). The single repeated the success of "Sunny", simultaneously reaching number 1 in Germany and the UK, and sold 8 million copies worldwide - "Ma Baker" became the best-selling disco record of all time.

Boney M.'s second album "Love For Sale" was released in the summer of 1977, in addition to the singles "Ma Baker" and "Belfast" (No. 1 in Germany and No. 8 in the UK), it contains the following famous songs like “Love For Sale”, “Plantation Boy”, old gospel “Motherless Child”, excellent cover versions of Creedence hits “Have You Ever Seen The Rain” and Yardburds “Still I”m Sad”, emotionally sung by Liz Mitchell.

The next single, "Belfast" (10/1977), for which Marcia Barrett recorded a solo, became No. 1 in Germany and No. 8 in the UK, despite the fact that the single entered the British Top 10, it was banned from broadcast by radio stations in Northern Ireland.

In order to refute reports that appeared in the press that Boney M. were using a studio soundtrack, the group performed “Belfast” live in the next Musicladen program. The group held the "Love For Sale" concert tour, featuring a large group of musicians and backing vocalists. Despite the fact that critics were skeptical about Boney M.'s concerts, the public received the group's performances very warmly. At the end of 1977, the group collected a large harvest of awards: the Carl Allen Award as the most successful group in the UK, Golden Otto from BRAVO magazine, The Golden Europe, Golden Antenna, Golden Lion and recording industry awards in the form of numerous platinum, gold and silver discs. ..

1978 was the YEAR of BONEY M. The group cemented their star status with the release of the album "Nightflight To Venus", with the single "Rivers Of Baylon" (05/1978), which became a #1 hit worldwide and spent 4 weeks at #1. Australia, displacing ABBA, 5 weeks in the UK and 16 (!) weeks in Germany. At the end of the year, Boney M. came third with “Rivers” and 25th with “Rasputin”.

One of the most played on British radio was the song "Brown Girl In The Ring", the single reached number two in the UK Charts and stayed on the charts for 40 weeks. The album "Nightflight To Venus" immediately became number 1 in most countries, in the UK it was number one for 4 weeks. The following singles from the album were also successful: “Painter Man” (9/1978) - UK No. 1 and “Rasputin” (03/1979) - Germany No. 1, UK No. 2.

The band performed with 15 musicians on the UK's TOP OF THE POPS TV show, and were received by Queen Elizabeth after their performance at the Royal Variety Concert.

At the end of December 1978, up to 175,000 copies of Boney M's Christmas single were sold daily. "Mary"s Boy Child (Oh My Lord)" in total, the British bought 2.2 million copies of the single! The record became No. 5 in single sales in the UK, almost repeating success "Rivers Of Babylon" - No. 2.

LP "Nightflight To Venus" with a "cosmic" sleeve and unusual names The song became one of the best-selling records of all time in Europe. In the UK it stayed on the charts for 65 weeks! In addition to the singles, there are other brilliant numbers on the album: a cover of Neil Young's "Heart Of Gold" or "Never Change A Lover In The Middle Of The Night" with a solo by Marcia Barrett.

On December 9, 1978, Boney M. began touring in the USSR. They performed at the Rossiya concert hall in Moscow, gave a private concert in the Kremlin, and also in Concert studio television center in Ostankino, the program included all the main hits of the group, with the exception of “Rasputin”. The group also filmed material on Red Square for the video for the single “Mary’s Boy Child.” For Boney M.’s tour, the Melodiya company released the group’s disc with a circulation of 100,000 copies.

The arrival of Boney M. caused a stir in Moscow, but tickets for the concerts were distributed in advance and were not available for public sale.

Here's what the Soviet press wrote about Boney M.'s performances:

“The technology for making songs according to the recipe of Farian and Bonnie M is technically complex, but musically simple. Any source material is suitable - sentimental ballads, Negro spirituals, rock and rolls, even protest songs. The melodies are adjusted to a disco rhythm and flavored with “tasty” "intoxicating electronics.

Actually, Jamaican folk music - reggae, whose performers are sometimes considered "Boney M", does not play a significant role in their repertoire. But still, it was the original rhythm and melody of national Jamaican music that turned out to be the fresh blood that revived Frank Farian’s schemes. Although, of course, the group is very far from the genuine temperament, sincerity and expressiveness of genuine performers folk songs, be it Jamaican reggae or American soul. This explains the fact that "Boney M" is not very popular in America and in his native Jamaica. Strictly speaking, the revival of interest in folk music The West Indies is not Farian's target. His goals are more pragmatic.

Concert performances - strong point"Boni M", and the ensemble proved this on tour in Moscow. The mobility and inexhaustible energy of the artists are simply amazing. Stringing one song on top of another without a break, they did not relieve the tension in the audience for a second. You can’t deny them professionalism and stagecraft.

The songs of "Boni M" attract listeners primarily by their temperament, polished performance, and extraordinary color of sound. Bright melodic things are often in their repertoire. Compared to ABBA, an ensemble that is in many ways close in concept to Bonnie M, the latter is more exotic and emotional. Another undoubted quality of Boni M's music is its easy digestibility. The reaction to such music is unambiguous - a carefree mood, relaxation."

(A. Troitsky magazine "Musical Life")

Boney M. spent the beginning of 1979 on numerous tours; they were practically the first Western pop group to visit Israel, Syria and Jordan. In Jordan, members of the group were poisoned by fish dishes during dinner and King Hussein sent his personal doctor to get them into shape for the upcoming concert. Something similar happened in Bangkok. In Singapore, the concert was interrupted for ten minutes because the musicians did not have a work permit in this country; the paperwork was completed during the show.

In the spring of 1979, Farian recorded with Boney M. new version traditional song "Polly Wolly Doodle" which was once sung by film star Shirley Temple, it was the famous "Hooray! Hooray! It"s A Holiday" (04/1979) which again became a hit in Germany (No. 4) and Great Britain (No. 3).

DISCO fever reached its peak in Europe and German producers decided to make a disco film, something like the American Saturday Night Fever with John Travolta. German film producer Hans Jahnisch began filming the film DISCO FIEBER (Disco Fever), in which Boney M., the teenage rock group The Teens, Eruption and La Bionda, played, danced and sang, reviving the trivial story of how a girl fell in love with a boy who loves another girl, and at the local disco they are performing famous bands Eruption and Boney M.. However, as soon as it became known that Boney M. was starring in the film, it was purchased for screening in 80 countries...

Boney M.'s 1979 tour ended in South Africa, and after it ended, the group began recording a new album. In August 1979, the pilot single "El Lute / Gotta Go Home" was released. One of Boney M.'s first performances with a new song took place during the Intervision competition in Sopot, to which the group was invited as guests, and the concert was broadcast on Soviet television. "El Lute" is the true story of a young man in Spain during the Franco regime - the single was banned in several countries.

In November 1979, the album "Oceans Of Fantasy" was released; fantastic "underwater" themes were used in the design of its sleeve; the disc immediately took leading positions in the world charts. The new songs were in the style of Boney M., but new soul, funk and rock elements were added to the sound. The drum parts sounded in a new way - they were arranged by Michael Cretu. The new album was presented on the TV show Fantastic BONEY M. In December, the next single “I”m Born Again / Bahama Mama” (Germany No. 7) was released.

"Oceans Of Fantasy" featured Eruption singer Precious Wilson, who contributed solos to "Let It All Be Music" and "Hold On I"m Coming. Marcia Barrett contributed solos to "No Time To Lose" and together with Liz Mitchell in "Ribbons Of Blue", "Two Of Us" and "No More Chain Gang". It later became known that Precious Wilson was offered to take the place of Maisie Williams in Boney M., but she preferred a solo career. Hansa made changes in the composition of Boney M. Marcia Brerett once said in an interview: “At times we simply hated each other, but success forced us to stick together. Farian is a fantastic producer, what would we four singers be without his material. Ultimately, it all depended on him as the songwriter, producer, leader and founder of the group. We had to play by his rules."

The success of Boney M.'s new album was ensured by a massive advertising campaign - the group performed in 50 (!) television shows. After 18 months of intense work, Farian decided to take a break to give the band members a break from live performances and studio work.

In the spring of 1980, the first collection of hits of the group, “The Magic Of BONEY M.”, was prepared for release, which again sold millions of copies. The album features Boney M.'s biggest hits, such as "Daddy Cool", "Rivers Of Babylon", "Rasputin", as well as "No Women No Cry" and "Still I'm Sad". The album included a new single "I See" A Boat On The River / My Friend Jack" (Germany No. 5).

In September 1980, a new single by Boney M. “Children Of Paradise / Gadda Da Vida” and in November “Felicidad (Margerita) / Strange” (Germany No. 6) appeared on sale. Both singles were released without live support from the band, whose members went about their own business: Liz spent time with her family, Bobby and Marcia worked on solo projects. But all four confirmed that they remain members of Boney M. even if they release solo singles.

The album "Boonoonoonoos" hit the shelves music stores in October 1981, two singles, "Malaika" and "We Kill The World", did not reach higher than 12th place in the charts, and the album itself sold much worse than the group's previous works.

For Christmas, the "Christmas Album" was released in Germany and "Mary's Boy Child - The Christmas Album" in the UK. This album became the basis for several Christmas collections of the group: "The 20 Greatest Christmas Songs Of The World" 1986, "Happy Christmas "1991 and "The Most Beautiful Christmas Songs Of The World" 1992.

In 1982, Bobby Farrell was replaced by a far from newbie in show business, Reggie Tsiboe (b. 1950) from Ghana, who performed in “Hair” and even in “Jesus Christ Superstar” and proved himself to be talented producer and the author of songs that have become quite popular.

In 1982-83, 3 Boney M. singles were released: The Carnival Is Over / Going Back West (07/1982), Zion's Daughter / White Christmas (11/1982), Jambo (Hakuna Matata) / African Moon (07/ 1983).

Boney M.'s new work, the album "10,000 Lightyears" was released in May 1984. It seems that Farian did everything possible to regain Boney M.'s lost positions, but one of the group's best albums practically failed - the public was interested in completely different music...

In order to somehow change the current situation, dance singles "Kalimba De Luna" (08/1984) and "Happy Song" (10/1984) (under the name "Boney M - with Bobby Farrell and The School Rebels") were urgently recorded. , and then released the eerie compilation "Kalimba De Luna" (11/1984), which is a mixture of singles and songs from albums released in the 80s.

In 1985, recording of the album "Eye Dance" began, Bobby Farrell returned to the group, and members of Farian's other project, the group La Mama, were also involved in working on the album. The arrangements of all the compositions were made in the Hi Energy style with a fairly harsh computer sound. The end result was very vaguely reminiscent of Boney M. from the 70s and even the early 80s. The album, released at the end of the year, was not successful with listeners, despite the fact that it included the singles “My Cherie Amour” (05/1985) and “Young, Free And Single” (09/1985).

Boney M.'s last chart appearance was with "The Best Of 10 Years", which peaked at number 35 on the UK charts in 1986.

In 1988, Farian reassembled the group to record two parts of the remix collection "Greatest Hits Of All Times".

By that time, relations in the group had become so strained that Liz Mitchell refused to participate in the tour and came only to television recordings. At the same time, she was preparing her first solo album. It was tantamount to leaving the group. Mitchell began to be accused of using the name Boney M. to advertise her solo project. Marcia, Bobby and Maisie were able to get Liz Mitchell banned from performing as a solo single on television shows, and they also tried to obtain legal rights to the name "Boney M."

Farian was outraged by what was happening and took Liz's side.

In early 1989, Farian recorded the single "Stories" (03/1989) with Liz, Reggie Tsiboe and two girls Patty Onywenju and Sharon Stevens, which was released under the name Boney M. feat. Liz Mitchell.

The remaining members of Boney M., along with Mitchell's replacement, Madeline Davis, who was previously a backing vocalist for Boney M. and a member of the group La Mama, recorded and released the single "Everybody Wants To Dance Like Josephine Baker / Custer Jammin"" ( 11.1989). This was the last collaboration of the original members of the group.

Since 1992, Frank Farian has regularly released remixes Boney songs M. which are successful in European countries. "Boney M Megamix" (1992) reached No. 7 in the UK charts, at the end of 1992 the single "Christmas Megamix" and the album "The Most Beautiful Christmas Songs Of The World" were European bestsellers. Two collections, "Gold" (1992) and "More Gold" (1994), were well received in Germany and Europe. 4 new songs have been published on "More Gold" - "Papa Chico", "Time To Remember", "Da La De La", "Lady Godiva", recorded by Liz Mitchell, and a remix of "Ma Baker - Remix "93".

After the success of the "Gold" collections, BMG reissued all of Boney M.'s albums on CD in 1994: "Take The Heat Off Me", "Love For Sale", "Nightflight To Venus", "Oceans Of Fantsay", "Boonoonoonoos", "10,000 Lightyears", "Kalimba De Luna" and "Eye Dance".

In 1999, DJ Sash received permission from Frank Farian to remix "Ma Baker", which marked the beginning of a new remix album, "20th Century Hits", released by the team led by Farian under the name Boney M 2000 in November 1999.

In 2000, the collection “25 Jaar Na Daddy Cool” was released on BMG Nederland; in the same year, Farian prepared the collection Boney M. - “Their Most Beautiful Ballads”.

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