MARY'S BOY CHILD
by BONEY M

Boney M were the German-based quartet of singers Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett from Jamaica, Maizie Williams from Montserrat, and Bobby Farrell from Aruba, who were put together by German producer and songwriter Frank Farian, although only Mitchell and Barrett sung – along with Farian – on the majority of the group’s releases. Mary's Boy Child/ Oh My Lord was a hybrid of the Harry Belafonte song, the Jester Hairston-written Mary’s Boy Child – making it the second time the song had been a Christmas Number 1, following Belafonte’s 1957 success – combined with the newly composed Oh My Lord written by Farian. Undoubtedly THE act of 1978, having already sold over 2.04 million copies of 1978’s biggest-seling single Rivers Of Babylon/ Brown Girl In The Ring earlier in the year, the quartet crowned the year as the UK Official Singles Chart Christmas Number 1 selling 1.90 million copies to end up as the fifth in the biggest-selling singles of the decade, as well as fifth in the biggest-selling Christmas Number 1s of all-time.