Boney M: The Original Milli Vanilli
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
- The group that presented the world with classics such as ‘Ma Baker’, ‘Daddy Cool’ and ‘Rasputin’ was the idea of the same man who would cultivate the ill-fated infamous pop duo Milli Vanilli a decade later.
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Boney M was HUGE when I was a kid, my dad would play Rivers of Babylon, Ma Baker, Rasputin, etc.
I admit I was today years old when I learned that they were lip-synching all that time though 🤯🤯
Marcia and Liz did sing on the records. They did some great live performances. Marcia was a strong vocalist and a great live performer.
Lip-syncing was so what of normal in the 1960's/1970's even in the 80's. On the so called Live TV shows many singers lip-synced every time so they sounded exactly like on their recordings. It was to hibe record sales and nobody could say it wasn't sounding like on the "Live TV shows".
th-cam.com/video/XJ0AiFKa3LI/w-d-xo.html
The narrator just announced that they ddnt sing only on the records
Ma ma ma ma, ma baker! I love that song.
This is a pretty common thing in Disco/House music. Martha Wash (Two Tons O' Fun/The Weather Girls) was denied credit and royalties for so many hits; she singlehandedly carried 90's dance music on her back.
Right Black Box everybody everybody C&C Music Factory gonna make you sweat (everybody dance now)
@@jimmiesmith5811 and she rightfully put them in their place when she sued the hell out of them. They were nothing without her talent
I always hated house
@@everdinestenger1548
Ehh… To be fair that’s “Euro-House” music, with a Black female singer/s. Many times full of pure “🧀” and corniness but with great vocals that heavily uplifted those songs due to the soulful Black female singers who like Martha Walsh were came from Gospel backgrounds.
REAL “House” music is soulful.
@She-Wolf
BIG facts!
I literally had no idea that they didn’t sing most of my childhood, Boney M was quite a big part of it. My mom used to play the records when we were driving to France to visit family (I live in Germany).
Only the man did not sing
This video is not well researched. Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett did sing on the records.
Except they all, including Bobby Farrell, sang in REAL LIVE Concerts = where the playback/backing-track were not used, but instead there was a LIVE BAND playing.
For example: check their Concert in Dublin here in TH-cam... "Boney M in Dublin 1978"
@@tallulahdurand actually, in the video it was said that he used their voices.
They all sung. It was just some of the albums.
People tend to be a lot more lenient when it comes to lip syncing these days for some reason, now getting caught having a ghostwriter on the other hand, oh God That’s a different story
Well the ghost writer thing is mostly prevalent in Hip-Hop where not writing your own lyrics is frowned upon way more than in other genres.
I thought people only cared about about Ghostwriters if you were a rapper considering if someone's a rapper but can't write their own lyrics are they really a rapper? Personally to me as long as the music is good I don't care.
@@Juli_is_Online It has spread to other genres recently though, in fact an early 2010s Warped Tour era post hardcore band called Crown The Empire got caught using ghostwriters a few years ago and the scene was disgusted. They do write their own shit now though and last couple singles have been bangers, that’s character development
@@finnmckentyslanderaccount409 I guess that applies to the post hardcore scene since there are a lot of similarities to rap
@@dontrelate465 Yeah, There’s definitely a connection between fans of core music and hip hop, as a fan of groups like Knocked Loose and Counterparts, I’m also someone that thinks Kanye is an all time top 5 musician
Fun fact: Bobby Farrell died on the same date, in the same city, and same exact hotel where the actual Rasputin died.
Didn't Rasputin die in a body of water?
I thought Rasputin died in water lol
Source: the voices in my head
@@simphiwem9674 he was murdered with gunshot wounds in yusupov's home, however, his body was dumped into the river and that's where he was found. yusupov offered him tea, cakes, and wine with cyanide but it didn't affect him. he died when the 3rd bullet entered his forehead
Woah 😳
This explains Bobby Farrell's being able to still sing after all that frantic dancing
That was dancing???
Farrell did sing on stage but not on the records.
That... or cocaine
"A white singer singing black music wouldn't work in America." Ironic considering Bobby Caldwell and the Bee Gees won a lot of success singing black music (I know the Bee Gees are Australian, but still).
Exactly, I don't get it.
Also Elvis???🤔
@@TheLoveweaver Please, Elvis didn't quite sound as black as people claim. Nowhere near Bobby and Bee Gees style of vocal soulness. He was just explicit more-so than the average white singer.
What about Rick Astley or doesn't he count?
@@krislatoya7556 I have to listen to more of his music. The "Never Gonna Bring You Up" song that I am very familiar with certainly doesn't scream black music.
IDK but i actually vibe with the lip synching idea for Boney M. It brought performers together and allowed somebody to make different music. There was still a cultivated performance, and it wasnt like an artist praised for their vocals was lip synching and not performing. Milli Vanilli had more focus on good vocals, and that's why the lie hit so much harder
Boney M did sing. Liz and Marcia both sung on the records and live. Bobby sometimes sung during live preformces. It was only Maizie that never contributed vocally - Marcia actually tried to give her singing lessons at one point. Both Bobby and Maizie signed up to the group as dancers. There are a few videos on TH-cam with them singing live th-cam.com/video/XJ0AiFKa3LI/w-d-xo.html
So strange to hear people outside of Germany not knowing about the inner workings of this band. It's the most open secret of the music industry.
The post-soviet countries know everything too, because the love for Boney M stands still and to infinity
Your name is in Runics - are you Icelandic 🇮🇸?
Same thing with Milli Vanilli. It was known they don't sing. Actual singers of the group would have TV appearances while being introduced as such. However, as soon as Milli Vanilli started to have success in the UK and the USA, it wasn't talked about anymore; another open "secret".
I don't think it was even supposed to be a secret, at least not at first. There was at least one interview where the three clearly stated they were dancers, not singers, although they did of course do a little bit of both.
It's all hypocrisy. Most of the prominent critics of pre-recorded showmanship are musical hacks who write the same pedestrian formulaic garbage for their corporate mega-labels over and over, but call it "original" because they wrote it themselves. It takes more talent to put on these shows than it does to write their songs, by a wide margin, and they're just jealous of success.
Fab and Rob were terrific performers. They danced and were physically active on the stage and had the looks for fame. The bottom line is they entertained people and who cares if someone else sang.
That they could've done those vocals themselves, especially Fab. Things would've been so much different if they had worked with people gave a fraction of a shit.
I LOVE this older historical content! i learned a lot I did not know in this video. More please!
I loveeee Boney M's, "Mary's Boy Child"....wouldn't be Christmas without that song!🥰🎄
Yes, I love that song too. It's really the only Boney M song I know.
I live in Eastern Europe, and Boney M is till this day one of the most beloved and iconic bands here. We go wild for their music! Every event. Also ABBA
I'm so jealous of you guys. Boney M and Abba are 2 examples of fine music that hasn't aged at all. Up here in N.America we get Drake :(
I don't always agree with honests opinions, but I respect these videos. Soooo incredibly happy that someone is showing these amazing artists.
Boney M was huge in England in the 70's
Boney M are hugeee in my state, almost every family owns a copy of their Christmas album. It's not Christmas if you're not playing Boney M. I remember there back in 2007, there was a school house singing competition where they made us sing 'By the rivers of Babylon'
World wide almost
You know its legendary when a state from india called mizoram knows their albums
wait I had no idea Boney M did this
Sameeee 😭
Me too they still sound good just hits different
They didn’t it was just bobby who didn’t sing, the girls did sing the songs.
Liz and Marcia did sing both on the records and live. th-cam.com/video/XJ0AiFKa3LI/w-d-xo.html
My mom is going to love this lmao she loves Boney M
sidenote: the members of this group were absolutely gorgeous, my gosh. Particularly the women
Crazy fact Bobby Farrell the lead singer died in Saint Petersburg on same date and in the exact same town as Rasputin
I never knew in the 70s that they didn’t sing on the albums! Still, they had great stage presence and the ladies were impossibly elegant to my preteen eye.
i still listen to boney m to this day, they really are THAT iconic!
Lol hey. I found out about you from your Scream reactions
Never heard of this crap until the 80s.
1) I wish the video was longer 2) I still play boney m's songs.
I learned this through my own digging and when I learned that these guys were basically the porthole for the same producer, I didn’t care. I was like, “These guys got stage presence. I’m down for their music!” And thus, I listen to them regularly
I'm glad people like you are bringing a more nuanced perspective to these music "scandals." I could easily see Boney M (or Milli Vanilli) being defended on the basis of it being good theater and entertainment. That is was an act, not a band. I suppose it was deceptive, but popular entertainment has a long history of audience deception, and we usually don't have a problem with it.
Frank Farian was the voice behind Bobby Farrell the ladies all sang with their real voices
Exactly! I have heard
the ladies sing live!
Yea so this is bullshit,it was only bobby who didn’t sing.
@@gerardhiggins4827 What I thought!
@@gerardhiggins4827 Actually 90% of the music was sung by Frank Farian and Liz Mitchel. The other 10% was sung by Marcia Barrett. Bobby Farrell and Maize Willams did not sing on any studio albums during the 1970s but Bobby did do some vocals on the song Happy Song. However they all sung at live concerts.
@@gerardhiggins4827 yeah Frank Farian couldn't sing the female vocals also, but still this is is shockingt o me
I can't tell you how Happy I am that this video and Boney M are on my feed. I have requested Rasputin from every radio station in every town I've ever lived in. I absolutely love that song and at least once a month I Google it and watch the video. It brings me such Joy. Thanks for doing this video I super D duper appreciate it !
Dude! A few months ago on Facebook, their videos kept popping up relentlessly while surfing through videos. I was definitely vibing🤣
1:26 Wow, those women are absolutely beautiful. I never noticed just how pretty they are.
Everyone collaborating on a song should get their appropriate credit unless they’re cool with being anonymous. That would take away a lot of stigma .
Pardon me for not remembering her name, but a session bassist who is in her senior years now commented on not getting credited for work with Brian Wilson on some Beach Boys material. She said something to the effect that she and others she worked with at the time had a rather team mentality and THEY knew they were part of Brian Wilson's team of musicians and didn't really care about getting credit.
I am nowhere near that level of producing art, but when I did behind the scenes work in music, theater, and art- I've gotten way more satisfaction than being in the spotlight. Some of my favorite graphic art chores are inking and digital editing, especially when my wife or eldest kid gives me material to work with. I get it.
I've always loved Rasputin and was always curious about the band that sung this. Thanks for making this video.
If ''this isn't my final form'' was a producer! The greatest catfish in music of all time?
In fact an amazing producer, a genius because he create all those songs
@Oscar Soto yes he did!
i love boney m so much, bobby's son is carrying the boney m legacy for his father now his name is zanin farrell he released an updated version of Brown Girl In The Ring last year. In 1989 marcia barrett and bobby farrell along with others made a new boney m song called Everybody Wants To Dance Like Josephine Baker, this is what caused the legal issues mainly because it generated a lot of interest in boney m at the time, it had a signature italo disco sound of the time and sounded exactly like boney m even with bobbys vocals, this infuriated frank because he had failed to create a hit after '82
Boney M where big here in Australia. I saw them about 6 years ago. They're touring here in Melbourne again this April. I'm not sure of the line up but these days they actually sing instead of lip synching
This would be Maizie Williams' "Boney M". I can't say how these shows will be but in the past she has been lip synching to the original recordings (with Liz Mitchell's and Marcia Barrett's voices clearly heard on it) with some of her band mates ad libbing over it. At least Maizie was in the popular line-up even if she isn't heard on the records. Prior to Farian settling on the line-up of Liz, Marcia, Bobby and Maizie there were a number of other men and women whom he hired to represent Boney M for promotional gigs and one of them, Sheyla Bonnick, has also been touring with her own Boney M line-up despite her ties to the band being a mere footnote.
I love Boney M. They are my favourite group of the 70s! They’re hits are just so catchy and feel good.Rivers of Babylon was on repeat fro Christmas this year.
The surprised gasp that I made when I read the title has never been so long
Disco never went away, it just evolved. Once Travolta moved on, the form returned to its urban (not suburban) roots, with its Euro influences (Cerrone, Moroder). Today it's known as EDM.
I guess the German record industry never heard of Hall & Oates, Todd Rundgren, the Righteous Brothers or a dozen other successful blue eyed soul acts.
I heard Liz Mitchel sing in a club in London in the 90s - she the most amazing voice.
The two that didn't sing at all on any record were Maizie Williams and Bobby Farrell. Liz and Marcia were the main vocalists with Frank Farian himself providing the male vocals.
Bobby did give some vocals but only on their last album Eye Dance. (listen to the vocal bridge in Happy song (thats bobby))
Great video! It's interesting how Milli Vanilli drew attention to this practice, when it's been common place in Italo-disco and some Euro-disco for decades. Some of the play-singers have even become delusional, believing they are the true talent, not naming any names. There was supposed to be a documentary about one of those play-singers, not sure if it came out. It's a bit like pro-wrestling, you know Jimmy McShane isn't singing Tarzan Boy because a North Irish lad doesn't usually get an Italian accent when they sing.... the suspension of disbelief is our participation in the music, in a way.
I want to know who these delusional singers are😄
Frank Farian ist wirklich ein besorgniserregend spezieller typ, wow. Rah-Rah-Rasputin....
Wow I had no idea! Thank you for educating us King! 👑
I was just listening to Daddy Cool!!!!🤯
So why did Milli Vanilli became such a disaster when it was reavealed they didn't sing their own songs, and not Boney M?
I am guessing it's because Boney M did have members in the group that sang, it was just the male singer who was Frank Farian. 2/3(?) back up singers actually sang. Also Boney M debuted in a different time.
@@VolumePerfection Its bc the media at the time blew it up. The media was overexaggerating as usual.
Nikki Vanilli is just really tragic because lip syncing was done before and after. I think it was how it went down. MV came out of nowhere making hits, showing up on TV show guest spots. Then the way the backing track just slipped during a live performance when it was being recorded for MTV. I think it wouldn’t have been so bad if they didn’t rise so fast and have such a weird tumble downward. They were given a Grammy that they gave back in a press conference.
Also I think it was the genre to, because dance/disco is expected to be a producer playground (IE how Black Box could do the same thing a few years later without the insane level of blow up). Whereas MV was doing pop/R&B- but really pop music. And with pop music it’s really reliant on the persona of the singer.
MV didn’t fit the persona that was put out there.
America handled lip synching differently. Still kinda do. But we are more turned off by ghost writers.
To the people commenting above. Lip syncing to your own vocals is different from lip syncing to OTHER people's vocals. People weren't mad that they were lipsyncing but that it wasn't their own voice. People were mad at Milli Vanilli because in their eyes it meant that they could not sing AT ALL. Hippolyte is talking about Boney M's main act not even lipsyncing to their own voice so I am not sure why people are turning it into not singing live when other performers at least did it to their own voice...
Nobody ever got mad at Britney Spears for lipsyncing and other acts because at least we knew they could sing. There aren't many examples in the industry like Boney M and Milli Vanilli that we know off... except for Martha Wash who was also a "ghost" singer like the original singers of Milli Vanilli songs
Man my parents LOVED them. And so do I!!! Boney M music was euro funk at it's best!!
Without Boney M or Frank Farian, Lady Gaga might not be the pop idol that we know of today.
ma ma ma ma 🤣 i feel like so many people don't know that part of poker face is from ma baker
what?
@@JalenLeee listen to ma baker by boney m and then poker face by lady gaga, her use of the ma ma ma ma is the exact same tone and rhythm, she even confirmed they were an inspiration for the song back in 2009, she said she was listening to a lot of 70s music during the recording of The Fame
Well thanx to that Germán producer actually
@@oscarsoto9512 Frank Farian is the German producer.
Back when Milli Vanilli was hittin I was a pop DJ. I did an interview with Olivia D’Abo and off the air she told me Milli Vanilli were fake.
She said that they weren’t the first and that kind of thing happened all the time in Europe. A few weeks later Milli Vanilli got found out.
It was kinda sad. People actually believed that two models defrauded the world. The record label made all the money and the two guys got nothing and the real band got nothing as well.
Their Christmas record was classic.
keep up the good work, honest ! 🇨🇦
Got into boney m & milli vanilli a few days ago after hearing about the story on a fantano video. Your video got the story done pretty well
These videos are really well done.
Not surprised. They were put together by Frank Farian who also masterminded Milli Vanilli. My parents bought their records back in the 70's and Milli Vanilli were a thing in my earlier years.
Omg! You are blowing my mind, how did I not know this before now?
Nice to see some content regarding Boney M. absolutely one of my favourite 70’s singing groups
Regardless of Lip syncing or not. Their music is absolutely beautiful. Christmas 1978 my mother gave Nightfight to venus to our family as a present.Still one of my favourite albums. Funny that Milli Vanilli's album All or nothing features their own cover of Boney M's Ma Baker.
There is some validity to Frank Farian's quote considering he said it around 1973-74. The US was not embracing soul music coming from across the pond in those days. And disco was in its infancy. Boney M was not a hot commodity in the US because they sounded closer to Eurodisco than soul.
You are more and more becoming my favorite TH-cam music historian, man. You cover more and more acts that clearly music fans such as you and I (obviously!) have found interesting even though success was minimal here in the U.S (compared to elsewhere, where they were HUGE!) Boney M, Bananarama, and Kylie Minogue were a few of you your video subjects that I've seen. I have British family, so I've been going over there since I was little, so I know this group well. The only times (prior to this video) that I've seen them referenced in America was hearing "Sunny" playing in ne of the nightclub scenes in "Boogie Nights", "Gotta Go Home" as the prominently featured sample hook in the club banger "Barbara Streisand" by Duck Sauce from 2012 or 2013, and on the show 'Glee" when they performed "Mary's Boy Child/O' My Lord" in the exact style/look/arrangement that Boney M. had...to a T.
The ladies in Boney M sang their own songs.. the male voice didn’t have much singing. Boney M music is iconic. It’s as famous as Michael Jackson’s music abroad. Lip syncing is no big deal abroad, people don’t care as long as the music is good & performance is good. But Frank Farian did exploit black people & it was racist.
It was racist?
You have any Boney M songs you recommend?
The male voice did do quite some singing in some of the songs.
Who is Boney M? Yes everyone knows Michael Jackson all around the world. Even kids to this day old folks.
@@codychavarria6088 If that new cartoon series is to be believed they already start to forget Prince, everybody will be forgotten sooner or later (in case of Bach and Beethoven maybe later).
RIP Bobby Farrell. He died in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2010. Boney M had so many hits and they were popular in Yugoslavia as much as ABBA at that time.
1st thing I can recall as music from my earliest memories were BonnieM and Police (Sting’s band)
Wait I had LITERALLY no idea. This is wild.
The girls in boney m could actually sing big difference the only one who didn't sing was bobby but he was very charismatic it worked very well they were a great band
I didn't know they lip synced. Fabulous group! There performances were always so joyfilled!!!
I’m glad I was raised on their music 💝
i literally watched ur milli vanilli video yesterday 😭
Coming here after the death of Frank Farian 😢 Say whatever you want to say about his ideas and control behind the scenes, but the man was responsible for so many iconic and brilliant hits over the years. A truly brilliant mind who understood the inner workings of how to make catchy memorable music.
I listened to all the top NYC AM radio stations from the '60s to early '90s and never heard of them till TH-cam. The stations never played them or I automatically switched the channel when I heard their music. This video explains the phenomenon.
omg im actually so shocked rn 😭 also somewaht confused... did the women sing the songs but bobby was lipsyncing to farian's vocals??
Yes! Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett did all the female lead and backing vocals for all the 70s albums. In the 80s, Farian had hired some session singers to add onto Liz and Marcia's vocals . However, all their biggest hits were fully done by Farian, Liz (doing most leads) and Marcia.
The Milli Vanilli story hurts my heart !
i grew up on them since my dad would always play their songs in the car when i was younger, especially during the holidays.
I had no idea until today.
But I refuse to believe it🙂.
Boney M was a big part of my music growing up…and that’s a big thing for me as I grew up in Apartheid South Africa.
Boney M was cool and I still listen to their music.
I have all the albums on my NASdrive and listen often.
Wow! Didn't know any of this. Good job.
They're Jamaican! ^_^
The Vietnamese are still mad for Boney M - lol - so it was my job to learn the basslines... but in the process, I learned what a DEEPLY funky AF band he had there.
It's up there with Chic, Bernard, and Nile.
Boney M was huge growing up in Nigeria.
It's like a FULL DRY BODY HEAVE SET TO MUSIC!!! SWEET FANCY MOSES!!
Fascinating!
Till this day my friend from junior college calls me Boney m. Boney is part of my childhood. I remember when my dad brought boney CD plate the first song in it was "kill the world" I sing almost all boney m song to my classmates each time we talk about music.
Don't forget to include Black Box including Technotronic
I had no idea who they were until I saw their record in a bookstore. I started to get it, but left it and was shocked when I looked for it like a day after and it was already gone. I realize now, they were apparently a very well known group (?) lol.
I'm 50 plus years old and I'm just learning about this. Whtie man singing black music, they thought wouldn't work. Have they ever heard of a singer named Elvis!
I had no idea they didn’t sing! I’ll still listen love their songs
They did sing. Liz Mitchell was a member of The Les Humphries Singers for years. Its clickbait rubbish.
@@michaelkenny8540 ah, thank you for filling me in I appreciate it
Omg I didn’t know boney m was connected to milli vanelli 😁. I loved both groups. I wasn’t mad at milli I actually was hoping they would recover.
? - I have been fans of both these groups for my entire life (born in 1971). This is the first I have ever heard of this.....
Wow, I'm shocked i never heard of them until now. Learned something new. 😳🎶🕺🏽
I love these blast from the past.
Frank Farian is a shady dude…
I've had Rasputin stuck in my head for the last week 😂
Awesome!!!! I never even heard of Boney M???? Great content!!!
I saw this years ago. Girl I'm gonna miss u is one of my all time favorite songs don't care who wrote or sang it.
Those girls have British accents. I never realised
I loved when Samantha Fox sampled the opening line of Ma Baker on her Naughty Girls Need Love Too remix back in 1988. I swear I thought she originally sang that part until I found out years later. I still play Ma Baker from time to time.
Full Force are incredible producers!!!
I just love boney m still 💖
It's mentioned in this piece that music had to be either black or white until the late '70's. Did the commentator forget about the legendary Sly & the Family Stone?
There’s live footage of them all singing including Bobby, stellar performances if you ask me 🔥
I'd never really noticed how pretty these ladies were😍
I still love Boney M Gold!
Way more than that!!fucking iconic group and hooray it’s a holiday was second song I remember hearing in my life
Love Boney M music! They are lively, you can dance with, kinda campy☺️. Rasputin was my fav. And that Xmas song " Mary's Boy Child"
OMG never in my dreams could I imagine a video by Honest about theeee legendary Boney M ❤️
Imagine tryna go to sleep only to realize your whole childhood was a lie