Goombay Dance Band is a German band created in 1979 by

Oliver Bendt Oliver Bendt (born Jörg Knoch on 29 October 1946 in Potsdam) is a German singer and actor. Knoch grew up the son of an actress in Munich, where he played children's roles in several films, including '' Königswalzer'' (1955) and ''Weil du ar ...

, named after a small bay on the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

island of

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia ( acf, Sent Lisi, french: Sainte-Lucie) is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. The island was previously called Iouanalao and later Hewanorra, names given by the native Arawaks and Caribs, two Amerindian ...

. Their music has a distinctive sound (somewhat similar to

Boney M. Boney M. was a German-Caribbean vocal group that specialized in disco and funk created by German record producer Frank Farian, who was the group's primary songwriter. Originally based in West Germany, the four original members of the group's o ...

), which is a mixture of soca, calypso and western pop. The group enjoyed greatest commercial success at the beginning of the 1980s, spawning such number 1 hits as "

Sun of Jamaica "Sun of Jamaica" is a song performed by German group Goombay Dance Band, written by Ekkehard Stein and Wolfgang Jass. The song was released at the end of 1979, and subsequently included on their debut album, '' Sun of Jamaica''. The lyrics recount ...

", "

Seven Tears ''Seven Tears'' is an album by Dutch rock band Golden Earring, released in 1971. The album was not issued in the U.S. Track listing All songs written by Kooymans except where noted. #"Silver Ships" - 5:40 #"The Road Swallowed Her Name" - 4:0 ...

" and "Aloha-Oe, Until We Meet Again". Goombay Dance Band built up a fan base across Europe and proved very popular in South Africa too, where "Sun of Jamaica" and "Aloha-Oe" entered the charts.

History

The band released the song "

" at the end of 1979. It topped the German single charts for nine weeks in 1980. Their next single was "Aloha-Oe, Until We Meet Again", based on a Liliuokalani's composition " Aloha ʻOe". The song charted within the top 5 in European charts, including the number 1 spot in Austria. The group's debut album ''

Zauber der Karibik ''Sun of Jamaica'', also known as ''Zauber der Karibik'' (English: ''Magic of the Caribbean''), is the debut studio album by the German group Goombay Dance Band, released in 1980 by CBS Records. The album achieved commercial success across Europe ...

'', internationally known as ''

'', was met with commercial success, reaching the top 5 in several countries. The second album, ''Land of Gold'', performed much worse, only charting outside the German top 40, but spawned hits "Eldorado" and "Rain". In 1981, the band released the album ''Holiday in Paradise'', which featured the song "

". When released in the UK next year, "Seven Tears" became the band's breakthrough hit on the British market, where it topped the singles chart for three weeks and was also a million-seller. This success was followed by the release of the compilation ''Seven Tears'', which was well received in the UK, while in mainland Europe, the band released the retrospective ''Tropical Dreams'' to a modest success. However, the group's subsequent releases did not draw as much attention. The next studio album, ''Born to Win'', failed to chart and did not produce any impactful hits. In 1984 and 1985, Goombay Dance Band released several non-album singles, which were commercial failures. In the 1990s, the band released several albums, including the ''Christmas Album'' and the compilation ''Island of Dreams'', which was met with moderate chart success and featured a new version of "Sun of Jamaica". The band celebrated their 30th anniversary with a collection of new songs and re-recorded hits in 2009. The following year, they recorded "Is This the Way to the World Cup" to celebrate the

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Band members

*Alicia Bendt *Dorothy Hellings *Wendy Doorsen *Dizzy Daniel Moorehead *Mario Slijngaard

Discography

Studio albums

* A ^ In German speaking countries, the album ''Sun of Jamaica'' was released as ''

'', and in Spain, as ''Sol de Jamaica''. * B ^ ''Von Hawaii bis Tomé'' was re-released as ''Sommer, Sonne, Strand'' and ''Montego Bay'' in 1993. * C ^ ''Christmas Album'' was re-released as ''Christmas by the Sea'' in 1997.

Compilations

Singles

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Eurodisco groups German dance music groups German world music groups Musical groups established in 1979 Musicians from Hamburg CBS Records artists