The music I listen to the most is by the following artists, and here is some information about them.
Boney M
Are the biggest disco group of the seventies, with a string of hits still remembered to this day, including Daddy Cool, Sunny, Ma Baker, Belfast, Rivers Of Babylon, Brown Girl In The Ring, Rasputin, Mary's Boy Child, Hooray! Hooray! It's A Holi-Holiday and Gotta Go Home.
Boney M were formed in November 1975 by Frank Farian a German producer who needed a dancing group to promote the single Baby Do You Wanna Bump, released under the name Boney M. With the small success of this single, Frank went on to release Daddy Cool as their next single, and while this did not have any initial success, every disco in town wanted Boney M. They got their big break when they were asked to appear on the German TV show Musikladen, and straight after this TV show they made number 1
Several hit singles followed, with Rivers Of Babylon becoming their biggest hit, with Brown Girl In The Ring on the B side, remaining in the UK charts for 40 weeks. In the UK Boney M are the only group to have 2 singles in the top 10 sales of all time, with Rivers Of Babylon at no 5 and Mary's Boy Child at no 10, beating more well known artists such as Abba and the Beatles. Along with their hit singles they had hit albums, including Take The Heat Off Me, Love For Sale, Nightflight To Venus, Oceans of Fantasy and The Magic Of Boney M. After 30 years they are still going strong, and this year sees the launch on the West End stage of Daddy Cool the musical, based on their songs.
Find out more at www.themagicofboneym.co.uk
James Last
My second favourite artist after Boney M that I like to listen to is James Last. James Last's music is, in my opinion, brilliant. Not only is he a great recording artist but his concerts are something else - he really engages with the audience.
James Last started recording his own style of music in 1964, when Bert Kaempfert signed him with the Polydor record label. In order to get his music more widely accepted, Polydor changes his first name, from Hansi to James, thinking that James sounded better, although many fans prefer to call him Hansi.
James Last has a musical style all of his own. From 1964 to the early eighties he produced 2 non-stop dancing albums a year, featuring 25 or so hits of that year, recorded in a party setting - his orchestra and choir would perform while a party was going on. He is also famous for his A GoGo albums, Beach Parties, Classical Albums, Concert Recordings, and his James Last plays series.
James last is known the world over, and he has performed in many different countries, including China & Russia (he was one of the first western artists to perform there), and his musical style is something all his own. Over the years he has had loads of different people in his orchestra bringing their own playing style to his arrangements, and its interesting to listen to different versions of the same songs as its fun to hear how different musicians made their mark on the music. Visit James Last’s website at www.jameslast.com
Whilst I listen to the above a lot, I also listen to the following artists as well:
Andre Rieu
Abba
The Beatles
Kylie
Carpenters
Eruption
Kai Warner
Klaus Wunderlich
Goombay Dance Band
Cliff Carpenter
Gilla
Susan Boyle