Boney M. are a disco group that specialises in R&B, reggae, 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.
Elizabeth Rebecca Pemberton-Mitchell is a Jamaican-British singer, best known as one of the original singers of the 1970s disco/reggae band Boney M.
"Rivers of Babylon" is a Rastafari song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970. The lyrics are adapted from the texts of Psalms 19 and 137 in the Hebrew Bible. The Melodians' original version of the song appeared on the soundtrack album for the 1972 movie The Harder They Come, which made it internationally known.
Nightflight to Venus is the third studio album by Euro-Caribbean group Boney M., and was released in June 7, 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 20 Greatest Christmas Songs is a compilation/remix album by Boney M. In 1986 producer Frank Farian took the master tapes from 1981's Christmas Album, added six recordings by Liz Mitchell, Reggie Tsiboe and two session singers from 1984, remixed them and created Die 20 schönsten Weihnachtslieder der Welt, internationally released as The 20 Greatest Christmas Songs. The 1986 version of the Boney M. Christmas album has since been re-issued as The Most Beautiful Christmas Songs of the World (1992), A Wonderful Christmas Time (1998) and Christmas Party.
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.
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".
The Best of Boney M. is a compilation album of recordings by Boney M. released by BMG UK's midprice label Camden in 1997.
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.
"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 the song, "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.
"The Summer Megamix" is a 1989 single by German band Boney M. The single peaked at #11 in the French charts and #3 in Norway. In the UK, the single barely reached the top 100, peaking only at #92. The megamix is a medley of remixed Boney M. hits, "Sunny", "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday", "Kalimba de Luna", "Ma Baker" and "El Lute".
"Mega Mix" is a 1992 single by German band Boney M. It returned the group to the UK Top 10 for the first time since 1979, peaking at #7, and was also a hit single in the rest of Europe and launched a Boney M. revival with the subsequent compilation album Gold – 20 Super Hits. The German 12" and CD single included a new remix of the 1983 recording "I Need a Babysitter" while the UK edition was backed by the new remix of the group's 1978 chart-topper "Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord". While the original members were no longer together, lead singer Liz Mitchell's line-up with Carol Grey, Patricia Foster and Curt Dee Daran did the promotion for the single and album. The promotion video however showed old imagery of the well known Boney M. edition.
"6 Years of Boney M. Hits " is a greatest hits medley by Boney M., inspired by the success of the hit medleys by Stars on 45. Originally released on the B-side of the band's 1981 Christmas single "Little Drummer Boy", the single was flipped over in January 1982 with the medley as an A-side. While failing to chart in Germany, the medley reached #6 in the Spanish charts and was also an A-side release in France and Japan. The 12" version featured a faded version on the German pressing and an unfaded version on the French pressing, while the UK version was extended with their Christmas chart-topper "Mary's Boy Child – Oh My Lord".
"Sex on the Phone" is a song recorded by German eurodance project E-Rotic. It was released in June 1995 as the third single from their debut album Sex Affairs. As the title suggests it, the main theme of the song is phone sex. The single reached number six in the German Singles Chart and was ranked for 14 weeks. It was also a hit in Austria where it reached number two and totaled 14 weeks in the top 30. In other European countries, it achieved a minor success, failing the top 20 in most of them. The song was later included on E-Rotic's compilations Greatest Tits and Dancemania presents E-ROTIC Megamix.
