The London Boys are a Hamburg pop duo that captivated the audience with incendiary shows. In the late 80s, the artists entered the top five most famous music and dance groups in the world. Throughout their career, the London Boys have sold over 4,5 million records worldwide.
The story of
Because of the name, you might think that the team was assembled in England, but this is not so. The pop duo first took to the stage in Hamburg.
Extravagant team decided to organize:
- a young man from London - Edem Ephraim;
- native of Jamaica - Dennis Fuller.
The first meeting of charismatic young people occurred while studying at the University of Greenwich. After completing their studies, friends moved to Germany. Already here in 1986, the guys nevertheless decided to try themselves on the singing stage.
Ralf Rene Maue became the producer and author-composer of the band. The team members came up with their name spontaneously. Acquaintances always teased friends with the nickname "these guys from London", thus inspiring the musicians for the future naming.
London Boys debut album success
The band's debut song "I'm Gonna Give My Heart" instantly drew the attention of fans to the work of outstanding artists. Pop artists were immediately called the followers of the incendiary Euro-disco. A year later, the musicians released the track "Harlem Desire", which reminded the audience of the earlier work of the "Modern Talking" ensemble. The song was not successful in Germany, but found positive responses from the public in Britain.
2 years after the formation, the band released their debut album. It included the main hit of the group "Requiem". It was this composition that fantastically made the group incredibly popular.
The entire circulation of the collection "The Twelve Commandments of Dance" was sold in Germany and the Land of the Rising Sun. Therefore, it was decided to create an additional circulation of the disc. It also sold out very quickly to European listeners. For aspiring stars, this was a real breakthrough. In addition, the appearance of the bonus track "London Nights" in the disc elevated the disc to 2nd place in the British hit parade.
Musical genre
The rising stars' performance style was a combination of the melodic genre of "soul" and the dance direction of "Eurobeat".
The men sang songs about:
- love experiences;
- strong friendship;
- racial tolerance;
- faith in God.
The artists had experience performing street dances on roller skates. In their youth, the guys worked part-time in the Roxy Rollers dance team. It was this stage experience that later became the main feature of the London Boys performances.
After suddenly gained popularity, the artists began to actively act in television programs. The musicians also gave enchanting performances in clubs.
The London Boys concerts were very memorable. Each number of men was not only a full-fledged concert, but also a bright choreographic number. Later, their manner of performances was adopted by numerous bands of the 90s. Video clips for the singles were also based on bright dance scenes.
Unsuccessful third album "Love 4 Unity"
The artists presented their next work in 1991. The tracks from "Sweet Soul Music" sounded very different from previously released songs. The collection includes works in the style of "house" and "reggae". Rap motifs sounded in almost all compositions. Only the ballad "Love Train" turned out to be the only successful one.
The third disc showed that another change in the style of performance did not do any good. Despite the fact that the melodies were also rhythmic, there were no really bright hits on the album.
Loss of London Boys popularity
All subsequent records could not achieve even half of the recognition of the debut collection. The group tried very hard to surprise the audience with unusual musical experiments, but only made it worse. The ensemble was rapidly losing popularity, like many performers of the 90s.
Despite the lack of wild popularity, the musicians continued to work on the next collection. Having changed their name to New London Boys, the artists presented their 4th album "Hallelujah Hits". It included songs in the style of church tunes and techno-rhythm.
The choice of arrangements turned out to be very unusual, so the album became the most unsold. Not a single song from the collection was remembered by the listener. After the release of this album, the band no longer got into the British top parades.
Tragic end of career
The end of the group's creative activity is perhaps the saddest event in the history of pop music of the 20th century. In January 1996, while relaxing in the mountains of Austria, the band members die. The cause of death is a car accident. A drunk Swiss driver crashed into the windshield of the musicians' car at full speed.
Not only musicians died in an accident on a dangerous high-mountainous section of the Alps. The accident also took the life of Edem Ephraim's wife and a mutual friend of the artists. The couple left a small son, and Dennis Fuller left an orphan 10-year-old daughter.
The London Boys have left a significant mark on the history of disco music, although they managed to release only 4 albums. The musicians are remembered as the most cheerful and vibrant group of the 80s. The duet was not forgotten, because their songs are still popular with listeners of those times.
