Boney M.

Boney M. is a vocal group created by German record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Jamaican-born singers Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, 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 different personnel.

History

1970s

German singer-songwriter Frank Farian (real name Franz Reuther) 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. The Katja Wolfe booking agency found model-turned-singer Maizie Williams (originally from Montserrat) and her Jamaican singer friend Sheyla Bonnick for him, along with a dancer known only as "Mike" for the first gigs. Also during 1975, a girl named Nathalie joined but was soon replaced by Jamaica-born Claudja Barry. Then Bonnick and Mike left, and Maizie Williams brought in Bobby Farrell, a male exotic dancer from Aruba. Singer Marcia Barrett (also from Jamaica) joined the group, which then went through another change in line-up when Claudja Barry left in February 1976 to pursue a solo career as a disco singer. Finally Liz Mitchell, former member of the Les Humphries Singers, stepped in. The line-up was finalised with Liz Mitchell, Maizie Williams, Marcia Barrett, and Bobby Farrell.

20th Century Hits

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".

Track listing

Personnel

Dancing in the Street

"Dancing in the Street" is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.

Martha and the Vandellas original

Produced by William "Mickey" Stevenson and written by Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter and Marvin Gaye, the song highlighted the concept of having a good time in whatever city the listener lived. The idea for dancing came to Stevenson from watching people on the streets of Detroit cool off in the summer in water from opened fire hydrants. They appeared to be dancing in the water. The song was conceived by Stevenson who was showing a rough draft of the lyrics to Gaye disguised as a ballad. When Gaye read the original lyrics, however, he said the song sounded more danceable. With Gaye and Stevenson collaborating, the duo composed the single with Kim Weston in mind to record the song. Weston passed on the song and when Martha Reeves came to Motown's Hitsville USA studios, the duo presented the song to Reeves. Hearing Gaye's demo of it, Reeves asked if she could arrange her own vocals to fit the song's message. Reeves recounted that she initially regarded the song as too repetitive.

Dancing in the Streets

Dancing in the Streets: A History of Collective Joy is a book authored by Barbara Ehrenreich.

The author coins the term "collective joy" to describe group events which involve music, synchronized movement, costumes, and a feeling of loss of self. There is no precise word in English to describe the phenomenon.

The book describes cycles of creation and suppression of collective joy events. The events generally arise spontaneously and are regarded as dangerous (see Collective hysteria, Riot). The powerful elements of society gradually convert the participants into spectators. This conversion drains the events of their power, and the cycle begins anew. The author describes Western Society as particularly lacking in such events and describes current and recent examples of Collective Joy events.

Well-known examples of Collective Joy

Historical

Current