Boney M. was a Euro-Caribbean vocal group created by German record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell, a performing artist from Aruba. The group was formed in 1976 and achieved popularity during the disco era of the late 1970s. Since the 1980s, various line-ups of the band have performed with different personnel. The band has sold around 80 million records worldwide and is known for international hits such as "Daddy Cool", "Ma Baker", "Sunny", "Rasputin", "Mary's Boy Child - Oh My Lord" and "Rivers of Babylon".
German singer-songwriter Frank Farian recorded the dance track "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" in December 1974. Farian sang the repeated line "Do you do you wanna bump?" in a deep voice (entirely studio created) as well as performing the high falsetto chorus. When the record was released as a single, it was credited to "Boney M.", a pseudonym Farian had created for himself after watching the Australian detective show Boney. After a slow start, the song became a hit in the Netherlands and Belgium. It was then that Farian decided to hire performers to 'front' the group for TV performances. Farian found Maizie Williams (originally from Montserrat), who brought in Bobby Farrell, a male exotic dancer from Aruba. Singer Marcia Barrett (from Jamaica) joined the group, who brought in Liz Mitchell, a former member of the Les Humphries Singers and Boney M. was finalised.
Boney M.'s first album, Take the Heat off Me, was released in 1976. It contained tracks that Marcia Barrett had already recorded with Farian, including the title track and "Lovin' or Leavin'" The album's commercial performance was initially lukewarm. However, the group rigorously toured discos, clubs and even country fairs to earn a reputation for themselves. The group's big break came when, at the end of summer 1976, German television producer Michael 'Mike' Leckebusch (of Radio Bremen) requested the group for his show Musikladen. Boney M. appeared on the live music show on 18 September 1976, after 10 pm and in their daring stage costumes, where they performed the song "Daddy Cool". The song quickly went to no.1 in Germany, with the album following the success of the single. Another single, "Sunny" (a cover of the 1966 Bobby Hebb song) gave the group their second no.1 hit. The group's popularity had also grown throughout Europe, with "Daddy Cool" reaching no.1 in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, France and Austria. Both singles were also Top 10 hits in the UK, which would become one of their biggest markets. In 1977, Boney M. released their second album, Love for Sale, which contained the hits "Ma Baker" and "Belfast". The group embarked on their first major concert tours with a live band of musicians called 'The Black Beauty Circus' (given their name after Maizie Williams' first band, 'Black Beautiful People'). Love for Sale was certified Gold a year after its release in the UK. Both singles from the album reached no.1 in Germany and the UK Top 10.
1978 was the group's biggest year. They released a new double A-sided single, "Rivers of Babylon/Brown Girl in the Ring", which was a hit all over Europe, reaching No. 1 in several countries as well as becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time in the UK. It also became their most successful single in the United States, peaking at No. 30 on the U.S. pop singles chart. Following this came their biggest-selling album, Nightflight to Venus, which spawned further hit singles with "Rasputin" and "Painter Man". Continuing with their success, they released "Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord", which was the 1978 Christmas number one single in the United Kingdom and became another of the biggest selling singles of all time there. Also during 1978, Boney M. made a much-publicized promotional visit to the Soviet Union, one of the very few Western acts along with Elton John to do so, although tracks like "Rasputin" were not released in the Soviet Union due to their lyrics.
1979 saw Boney M. release a brand new single, "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", which became another Top 10 hit across Europe. Later in the year they released their fourth album, Oceans of Fantasy, containing two hit singles – "Gotta Go Home"/"El Lute" and "I'm Born Again"/"Bahama Mama". The album also included a "Lead" and "Backing Vocals" credit for the first time. Oceans of Fantasy reached no.1 in the UK and was certified Platinum, though their run of Top 10 singles had now ended with "Gotta Go Home" peaking at no.12 and "I'm Born Again" peaking at 35. Boney M.'s fifth album had been scheduled for release in November 1980 but the recording sessions dragged on all through 1981. When Boonoonoonoos was finally released by the end of that year, Bobby Farrell was fired from the group due to his unreliability. While still a healthy seller in continental Europe, Boonoonoonoos failed to crack the UK Top 100 after three consecutive No. 1 albums, and Farrell's departure left the group unable to promote it. Following this, the group released a Christmas Album.
Reggie Tsiboe was hired to replace Farrell as the new male member of Boney M. in 1982 but the singles "The Carnival Is Over" and "Jambo" fared poorly, and the group's seventh album Ten Thousand Lightyears, issued in 1984, marked another commercial low point peaking at number 23 in the German album charts. The group, however, returned to the German Top 20 in the autumn of 1984 with "Kalimba de Luna" (a Top 10 hit in France) and "Happy Song" (a cover of a song by Italian Italo-disco band Baby's Gang), the latter seeing Bobby Farrell return to the group. Both songs were carbon-copies of the original Italian hits by Tony Esposito and Baby's Gang respectively. By 1985, Farian clearly began losing interest in the group, and their final and eighth studio album Eye Dance was widely regarded as uninspired and disappointing. After celebrating Boney M.'s 10th anniversary in early 1986, the group officially disbanded after the release of the commercially unsuccessful single "Young, Free and Single" which peaked at No.48.
