Boney M Artistfacts

1975–1986, 1988–1989, 1992–
Liz MitchellLead vocals1976–1986, 1988–1989, 1992–
Marcia BarrettLead vocals1975–1986, 1988–1989
Maizie WilliamsDancer, live vocals1975–1986, 1988–1989
Bobby FarrellDancer, live vocals1975–1981, 1984–1986, 1988–1989
Reggie TsiboeLead vocals1982–1986, 1990
The name Boney M was producer Frank Farian's own stage pseudonym. Farian coined it after catching the end credits of an Australian television detective series called Boney, whose main character is named Napoleon Bonaparte. He liked the sound of it so much that when he needed a name to put on his 1974 dance recording "Baby Do You Wanna Bump," he used it - and then built a group around the name afterwards.
Although Boney M were presented as a four-piece group, only two members - lead singers Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett - actually sang on the studio recordings. Maizie Williams' voice was not considered suitable by Farian, and a trial with Bobby Farrell on "No Woman No Cry" didn't work out. Farian also performed all the male vocals on the records himself, using a studio-enhanced voice. Williams and Farrell were rarely needed in the studio at all.
Boney M's big break came on September 18, 1976, when West German television producer Michael Leckebusch invited them onto his show Musikladen. They performed "Daddy Cool" after 10 p.m. in their daring stage costumes, and the song quickly went to #1 in West Germany. It also topped the charts in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, France and Austria.
Liz Mitchell came very close to walking away from Boney M and going back to college before the hits arrived, but Frank Farian talked her out of it. The nightclub circuit was gruelling - shows starting at 10 p.m., smoky venues, sometimes two or three sets a night - and it was taking a heavy toll on her voice and clashing with her Christian lifestyle. Mitchell cried a lot and called home frequently, and people around her encouraged her to leave. She stayed only because she had given Frank Farian her word she would do the year, and then "Daddy Cool" and "Sunny" became worldwide hits just as that year came to an end.
Boney M are one of the few artists to have sold a million copies in the UK with two different singles in the same year. "Rivers Of Babylon" sold over 2 million copies in the UK in 1978, while "Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord" sold over 1.8 million copies - 1.6 million of those in the four weeks it sat at #1 at Christmas 1978.
Bobby Farrell, who played the role of the wild-eyed Rasputin on stage dancing and miming, died on December 30, 2010, exactly 94 years to the day that the real Rasputin was killed. Farrell had performed a concert in Saint Petersburg the night before his death and died in a hotel room in the same city where Rasputin first became famous. He was 61 years old.
In 2006, a jukebox musical called Daddy Cool, based on the songs of Boney M, opened in London to mixed reviews and sluggish ticket sales. It closed in February 2007 after less than a year, but touring versions appeared in various other territories, including a production that played in a specially designed mobile theater in Berlin from April to July 2007.

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