Boney M

Boney M
Origins	West Germany
Year(s) active	1974-1986
Genre(s)	Eurodisco
Label(s)	{{{label}}}
Members	Bobby Farrell Liz Mitchell Marcia Barrett Maizie Williams

Boney M was a German-Caribbean Eurodisco group from the 1970s. Their hits included "Rasputin," "Belfast," "Ma Baker," "Daddy Cool," Bobby Hebb's "Sunny," Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry," Neil Young's "Heart of Gold", "Gotta Go Home," "Rivers of Babylon," and "Hooray, Hooray, It's a Holi-Holiday."

History

The band formed in 1976. It was created by Frank Farian. Farian had previously recorded the song "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" under the name "Boney M" in 1974. He released a follow-up single that no one remembers called "Ew, No, That's Not What I Meant. You People are Sick!"

Bobby Farrell was hired to lip sync Farian's baritone vocals and dance around on stage like an idiot wearing outlandish costumes and fake beards. Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett of Jamaica, and Maizie Williams of Montserrat were hired to actually sing... in the studio. Farian mandated that all vocals be lip synced during live performances. This formula proved so successful that Farian formed another band based on the same gimmick -- Milli Vanilli.