Boney M

Other singles include:.
. To this day, along with ABBA, they are the most widely known western music acts in these regions. Cake's fifth album Pressure Chief, was released on October 5, 2004. Boney M, with their sensuous tunes and catchy rythms became one of the few western bands that became well-known in the non-European world including Africa, India and South-East Asia. Cake headlined the Unlimited Sunshine Tour festival in the summer of 2002 among an eyebrow-raising ecletic mix of bands including indie rock superstars Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips, De La Soul, Latin techno fusion band Kinky and bluegrass group The Hackensaw Boys. They are the only act to appear twice in the Top 10; not even the Beatles were able to achieve this. Their biggest hits include "The Distance", an alternative retake of Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive", "Never There", "Sheep Go to Heaven", and "Short Skirt/Long Jacket".

As of the list of the best selling singles in the United Kingdom, issued in 2002, Boney M appear 5th and 10th places respectively, with the two above singles. Todd Roper left the band after recording Comfort Eagle. They also achieved a second UK million seller with their version of calypso classic Mary's Boy Child which was previously a million seller for Harry Belafonte. Greg Brown left in 1998, replaced by Xan McCurdy. It sold 500 copies short of 2 million. Damiani left the band in 1997, replaced by Gabe Nelson. Rivers of Babylon became the second highest selling single of all time in the UK in 1978 when the B-side Brown girl in the Ring was given extensive airplay on radio. Their musical style is quite unique, and has been compared to They Might Be Giants and the Talking Heads, though a more accurate sound-alike would be Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass.

(The vocal contributions of Barrett and Williams are not in doubt.). Although their music is often classifed as alternative rock, Cake commonly combines multiple musical genres, such as funk, pop, jazz, rap, and country. Cake's music features droll lyrics rife with word play (laconically-voiced in a rap-like style by lead vocalist/guitarist John McCrea), catchy distorted guitar riffs (courtesy, until 1998, of guitarist Greg Brown and, until 1997, bass player Victor Damiani), and a solo trumpet (played by Vince DiFiore). He finally admitted to this on German television in 2003, saying that Farrell had been chosen for his personality and innovative dancing. Cake is a Sacramento, California band, formed in 1991, who have had several hits throughout the 1990s and 2000s from their five recorded albums. The mostly spoken male voice was that of Farian. Todd Roper - Drums, percussion (left after Comfort Eagle). Foreshadowing Farian's involvement in the Milli Vanilli controversy a decade later, Williams and Farrell sang very little, or not at all, on Boney M's records. John McCrea - Vocals, acoustic guitar, organ, vibraslap.

When Frank Farian first released "Baby Do You Wanna Bump?" in 1974, under the Boney M name, he did the singing himself (there were very few words), and only when the song became a hit he decided to hire a team of dancers and vocalists to 'man' the group. The line-up changed several times; only Maizie Williams was there from the very beginning. originally Victor Damiani (also left before "Prolonging the Magic" was recorded). The group was created by producer Frank Farian in 1976 and was composed of four West Indian artists working in London, Germany and Netherlands: singers Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell, model Maizie Williams and DJ Bobby Farrell. Gabe Nelson - Bass guitar