Editing Boney M. (section)

===1976–1979: ''Take the Heat off Me'' and international success===
Boney M.'s first album, ''[[Take the Heat off Me]]'', was released in 1976. It featured tracks that Marcia Barrett had already recorded with Farian, including the title track and "Lovin' or Leavin{{'"}}, both of which were previously recorded in German by another Farian act, [[Gilla (singer)|Gilla]]. As Maizie Williams' voice was not considered suitable for recording purposes by Farian, and a try-out with Bobby Farrell performing "[[No Woman, No Cry|No Woman No Cry]]" did not work, Farian decided to use only Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, along with his own studio-enhanced voice, to create the Boney M. sound.

The album's commercial performance was initially lukewarm. However, the group rigorously toured discos, clubs, and even country fairs to earn a reputation for themselves. The group's big break came at the end of the summer of 1976 when West German television producer Michael "Mike" Leckebusch of [[Radio Bremen]] requested them for his show ''[[Musikladen]]''. Boney M. appeared on the live music show on 18 September 1976, after 10:00&nbsp;p.m. and in their daring stage costumes, where they performed the song "[[Daddy Cool (Boney M. song)|Daddy Cool]]". The song quickly went to no.{{px2}}1 in [[West Germany]], with the album following the success of the single. Another single, "[[Sunny (Bobby Hebb song)|Sunny]]", a cover of the 1966 [[Bobby Hebb]] song, gave the group their second no.{{px2}}1 hit. The group's popularity had also grown throughout Europe, with "Daddy Cool" reaching no.{{px2}}1 in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, France, and Austria. Both singles were also Top 10 hits in the UK, which would become one of their biggest markets.

In 1977, Boney M. released their second album, ''[[Love for Sale (Boney M. album)|Love for Sale]]'', which contained the hits "[[Ma Baker]]" and "[[Belfast (Boney M. song)|Belfast]]". The group embarked on their first major concert tours with a live band of musicians called The Black Beauty Circus, given their name after Maizie Williams' first band, Black Beautiful People. ''Love for Sale'' was certified Gold a year after its release in the UK.<ref name="BPI certifications">{{cite web|url=http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx |title=Certified Awards Search |publisher=[[British Phonographic Industry]] |access-date=10 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924015932/http://www.bpi.co.uk/certifiedawards/search.aspx |archive-date=24 September 2009 }}</ref> Both singles from the album reached no.{{px2}}1 in West Germany and the UK Top 10.

1978 was the group's biggest year. They released a new double A-sided single, "[[Rivers of Babylon]]" / "[[Brown Girl in the Ring (song)|Brown Girl in the Ring]]", which was a hit all over Europe, reaching no.{{px2}}1 in several countries as well as becoming one of the biggest selling singles of all time in the UK. It also became their most successful single in the United States, peaking at no.{{px2}}30 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|U.S. pop singles chart]]. Following this came their biggest-selling album, ''[[Nightflight to Venus]]'', which spawned further hit singles with "[[Rasputin (song)|Rasputin]]" and "[[Painter Man]]". Continuing with their success, they released "[[Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord]]", which was the 1978 [[List of Christmas number one singles (UK)|Christmas number one single]] in the United Kingdom and became another of the biggest selling singles of all time there. The same year, Boney M. made a much-publicised promotional visit to the [[Soviet Union]], one of the very few Western acts along with [[Elton John]] to do so, although tracks like "Rasputin" were not released in the Soviet Union due to their subject matter.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Risch |first=William Jay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4bpBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA259 |title=Youth and Rock in the Soviet Bloc: Youth Cultures, Music, and the State in Russia and Eastern Europe |date=17 December 2014 |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Lexington Books]] |isbn=978-0-7391-7823-2 |language=en}}</ref>

While it had never been a secret that Bobby Farrell never sang on the group's records (Farian did the male vocals in the studio), in 1978 it became public knowledge that Maizie Williams did not sing on the studio recordings either, since "her voice wasn't suited for this kind of music" as Farian stated in an interview with German teen magazine ''[[Bravo (magazine)|Bravo]]''. Because this had become common practice within the disco genre of the late 1970s, few people cared{{px2}}{{mdash}}{{hsp}}unlike when Farian repeated the practice to much more severe backlash with [[Milli Vanilli]] in the late 1980s. While only two of Boney M.'s official members actually contributed to the sound of [[Boney M. discography|the band's records]], all four members of the group, including Williams and Farrell, performed the vocals live at Boney M. concerts.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fantasticboneym.com/ |title=Fantastic Boney M. |publisher=Boney M. |access-date=15 October 2011 |archive-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003125738/http://www.fantasticboneym.com// |url-status=live }}</ref> The band's live sound was also augmented by several [[backing vocalist]]s, which served to mitigate any vocal deficiencies the group may have had compared with the studio productions.

1979 saw Boney M. release a brand new single, "[[Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday]]", which became another Top 10 hit across Europe. Later in the year they released their fourth album, ''[[Oceans of Fantasy]]'', featuring two hit singles – [[El Lute / Gotta Go Home|"Gotta Go Home" / "El Lute"]] and [[I'm Born Again / Bahama Mama|"I'm Born Again" / "Bahama Mama"]]. The album also included lead and backing vocals credits for the first time. ''Oceans of Fantasy'' reached no.{{px2}}1 in the UK and was certified Platinum, though their run of Top 10 singles had now ended, with "Gotta Go Home" peaking at no.{{px2}}12 and "I'm Born Again" peaking at no.{{px2}}35.