Boney M. were a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. 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 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 differing personnel.
"Ma Baker" is a song by disco group Boney M., released as a single in 1977. It was the first single off their second album Love for Sale and their third consecutive chart-topper in Germany.
Nightflight to Venus is the third studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M., and was released in July 1978. The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the second half of 1978 and also became their first UK number one album. In Canada, it received a nomination for a 1980 Juno Award in a category 'International Album of the Year'.
Gold – 20 Super Hits is a 1992 greatest hits album by group Boney M. Shortly after record label PolyGram had acquired the rights to the ABBA back catalogue and had issued the multimillion-selling hits package Gold: Greatest Hits, BMG and producer Frank Farian followed suit with Boney M.'s Gold - 20 Super Hits which resulted in their best chart entry in the UK and most other European countries since 1980's The Magic of Boney M. - 20 Golden Hits.
The Magic of Boney M. – 20 Golden Hits is a greatest hits album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M., issued in 1980, which contained all their biggest hits up until that point, including non-album singles "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord" and "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", album tracks from Take The Heat Off Me, Love for Sale, Nightflight to Venus and Oceans of Fantasy as well as their most recent double A-side single release "I See a Boat On the River"/ "My Friend Jack".
The Best of 10 Years – 32 Superhits also known as 32 Superhits - Non-Stop Digital Remix is a remix album by Boney M. released in 1986.
The Greatest Hits is a greatest hits album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG in the United Kingdom in late 2001.
Greatest Hits of All Times – Remix '88 is a remix album by Boney M. released in 1988. Boney M.'s new manager at the time, Simon Napier-Bell, succeeded in persuading the four original members to briefly reunite and promote this remix album. The man employed to re-arrange the original hits and create new interest in the band was PWL's Pete Hammond, who previously had remixed many of the Stock Aitken Waterman stable's chart-topping hits with Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley and Bananarama. Five of the tracks also feature new lead vocals by Liz Mitchell. In early 2021 Hammond recalled the following about the '88 remix project, explaining the new vocals: "The 2inch 24 track multi-track tapes were sent to PWL by Frank Farian of Far Music. Apparently, they had lost some of the original recordings—four songs if I remember correctly—and had to record four new versions; they were musically incomplete but good enough for me to overdub and remix". The remix project spun off three fairly successful single releases, "Rivers of Babylon ", "Rasputin " and the 1988 "Megamix", which would appear on the follow-up album issued a year later, and created the first wave of Boney M. nostalgia in Europe.
20th Century Hits is a remix album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG in 1999. This remix project which was credited as 'Boney M. 2000' spun off a series of new single releases; "Ma Baker – Somebody Scream" in early 1999 and previously included on French compilation Ultimate, "Daddy Cool '99" featuring Mobi T., "Caribbean Night Fever / Hooray! Hooray! It's A Holi-Holiday" and "Sunny".
Eye Dance is the eighth and final studio album by the vocal group Boney M., released in 1985. The cover artwork was symbolic of the state the group was in at that time, as neither the famous "Boney M." logo nor the group members appeared on the cover, and were replaced by an anonymous drawing.
The Best of Boney M. is a compilation album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG UK's midprice label Camden in 1997.
The Collection is a compilation album of recordings by Boney M. released by label BMG-Ariola in 1991.
The Collection was part of BMG's first mid-price CD campaign, the company released many Collections containing back-catalogue material by artists ranging from Modern Talking, Imagination and Amanda Lear to Chuck Berry, Glenn Miller and Elvis Presley.
The majority of the tracks on this release are taken from 1980 compilation The Magic of Boney M. - 20 Golden Hits, subsequently most of them appear in slightly edited form.
BMG-Ariola France has re-issued this compilation with new artwork as Cristal Collection in 1994 and as Sunny, Daddy Cool, Rivers Of Babylon and L'Essentiel, both in 2001.
Daddy Cool – Star Collection is a compilation of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG-Ariola's mid-price label Ariola Express in Germany in 1991.
The Complete Collection is a compilation album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG/CMC Records in Denmark in late 2000.
Norske Hits is a compilation album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG-Ariola in Norway in late 1998.
Christmas with Boney M. is a Christmas compilation by Boney M., released on 16 November 2007. It is a reissue of The 20 Greatest Christmas Songs with a reordered tracklist that restores the two songs from the original Christmas Album which were originally excluded, and a 2007 recording by the Daddy Cool Kids as a bonus track. This compilation follows the 2007 re-release of Boney M.'s original studio albums.
"Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord" is a 1978 Christmas single by Boney M., a cover of Harry Belafonte's 1956 hit "Mary's Boy Child", put in medley with the new song "Oh My Lord".
"Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday" is a 1979 single by German Euro disco band Boney M. as an adaptation of nursery rhyme Polly Wolly Doodle. Despite breaking their row of 7 consecutive German #1 singles, peaking at #4, the single was a big hit all over Europe, peaking at #3 in the UK. The song and its B-side, "Ribbons of Blue", were taken from the movie Disco Fever. "Ribbons of Blue" has a strong country feel with the addition of a pedal steel guitar. Even though the single cover announced the arrival of the next Boney M. album, Oceans of Fantasy, it would still be another six months before the album was released, and of the two songs, only "Ribbons of Blue" was included and just in a one- or two-minute edit, depending on the pressing.
"Megamix" is a 1988 single by German band Boney M. The single peaked at #1 in the French charts and was a minor success in the UK where it peaked at #52. The megamix is a medley of remixed Boney M. hits, "Rivers of Babylon", "Sunny", "Daddy Cool" and "Rasputin", the 12" version being extended with "Ma Baker" and "Gotta Go Home".
"Brown Girl in the Ring" is a traditional children's song to the islands of the West Indies. Originally part of the children's game of the same name, thought to have originated in Jamaica, its lyrics instruct the game's performance: a girl enters the ring, formed by children holding hands, and performs a dance.
