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Bad Boys Blue are a multinational pop group that was formed in Cologne, Germany. The group performed many international hits including You're a Woman, Pretty Young Girl, I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat and Come Back and Stay.

History

Bad Boys Blue was formed in the summer of 1984 by German producer Tony Hendrik and his lyricist wife Karin van Haaren. The original trio was composed of American Andrew Thomas (born 25 May 1946 in San Francisco, USA - died on 21 July 2009 Cologne, Germany), British John McInerney (born 7 September 1957 in Liverpool, England), and Jamaican Trevor "Supa T" Taylor (born 11 January 1958 in Montego Bay, Jamaica - died on 19 January 2008 Cologne, Germany) — the original lead vocalist. The debut single L.O.V.E. In My Car failed to make an impression in the pop charts but the follow-up You're A Woman was a success, reaching the top 10 in many European countries.

The group became massively popular in Eastern Europe and South Africa, with the band performing to sell-out crowds in Russia and the Ukraine. In contrast, the group never charted in the UK, and their only charting USA singles were Save Your Love (1993) and Luv 4 U (1994) which became successful chart hits. Those singles were from two of their albums that were released Stateside. Those albums are Bad Boys Blue (1993) and To Blue Horizons (1994).

Charismatic Trevor Taylor provided his unparalleled lead vocal, which proved itself to become legendary, for the group's early, signature defining, hit singles including You're A Woman, Pretty Young Girl, and I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat, as well as for the entire first two albums. He essentially owns the credit for placing Bad Boys Blue on the "map" with his unique vocal presentation style. However, a second 1987 single Come Back And Stay, from the 3rd album, no longer featured him on lead vocal. Although the track was originally recorded as demo with Trevor Taylor's voice, the producers subjectively chose John McInerney's version. A major pretext which prompted the switch was the song by the Pet Shop Boys, called It's a Sin, which was released a few months prior to Come Back And Stay. The Bad Boys Blue producers made the sound of Come Back And Stay in the image of the Pet Shop Boys song. However, It's a Sin, which already at the time scored very high on many European charts was sung by a voice that was much higher than that of Trevor Taylor's. Hence came the idea to give the song to John McInerney, who also had a higher voice - in order to ensure a greater degree of similarity between the two songs. The Bad Boys Blue producers in a way hoped that it would create a greater chance of success for Come Back And Stay release. This, in turn, created tension within the group which ultimately lead to Trevor Taylor's departure, who understandably did not wish to accept the changes. A noteworthy fact is that Trevor Taylor did not leave the group right away following the switch, and stayed with the group for a whole year, during which he was incrementally phased out from his position of the front-man. During that transitional period his participation as the lead singer dropped first to 60% and then to 20% of songs sung on the 3rd and the 4th albums, respectively. That move was not incidental, for it was a key strategy implemented by the producers to ensure survivability and continuity of their project, that is to make sure in the public eye that both Taylor and McInerney were still present in the group, only that their respective positions had been switched, where the fans were now expected to become accustomed to seeing Taylor appear in the shadow of McInerney. Only after McInerney appeared on enough of new tracks as lead singer, Taylor could finally leave the group. This move was made possible by contractual obligations established by the Bad Boys Blue producers which legally prevented Trevor Taylor from exiting the band prematurely (that is, not until the transition period was completed), and therefore the producers were guaranteed to have a smooth continuation of their project. Had this transition been abrupt, namely if Trevor Taylor was allowed to leave the group right away as he intended to (in order to avoid a soon-to-be established stigma of him being perceived as demoted from his original role), the McInerney-lead collective would have experienced similar problems in the area of public acknowledgment that the formation of the late Andrew Thomas (see below) was facing. However, it is important to recognize that a mere substitution of vocalists on the release of Come Back And Stay was not the culprit itself, for it did not really account for Trevor Taylor's wish to promptly leave the group after a seemingly single substitution incident. That's because the release of the song was just an opportunity, an excuse so to speak, for the producers to remove Trevor Taylor for good from his being the front-man. This stems from the fact that, despite the group's massive popularity, the producers nevertheless were not particularly happy with Trevor Taylor's unique representation of the group as the lead singer, who was the only member of the original trio to regularly contribute his own material for the albums, and whose overall peculiar sound and singing style was broadcasting the group's image in a way that was different from the one subjectively envisioned for the Bad Boys Blue by the producers. In other words, the producers were determined to have their project portrayed solely as they saw fit, and the release of Come Back And Stay was their venue of implementation of the permanent switch - towards the singer who would be more conforming to their idiosyncratic ideas. Such an action on the producers' part was not uniformly accepted throughout the fan base, as it is generally believed that a significant portion of fans was lost following the switch of lead vocalists. After leaving Bad Boys Blue, Trevor Taylor had been involved at some point in various projects, such as Street Noise and Osazuwas, and more recently in Supa T and Umoya, whereas John McInerney went on to perform lead vocal on the majority of Bad Boys Blue's output.

The group has experienced numerous line up changes. In 1988 Trevor Taylor left the group - a year after being gradually demoted from his role of the lead singer — but was asked to rejoin the group the following year just for recording sessions of Hungry for Love single that was to be featured on the group's first compilation album Bad Boys Best. Trevor Taylor's departure permanently secured John McInerney's position as the band's new lead vocalist. Trevor Taylor was replaced by Trevor Bannister (born 1965.08.05 Grimsby, England), whose function in the group was mainly to perform Trevor Taylor's hits on live gigs. It is during Bannister's tenure with the band that Bad Boys Blue began taking numerous tours to Eastern Europe and gained much popularity there. Trevor Bannister left in 1993 and the remaining two members performed as a duo. During its entire South African tour, the duo was briefly joined by Owen Standing, who left the group shortly after, and therefore was not considered to be a permanent band member. Multi-talented Irmo Russel (born 1956.03.15 Aruba, Caribbean sea) joined the group in 1995, who in addition to stepping into Bannister's shoes was instrumental in revitalizing the group's creative potential, by becoming a composer, a video director, and occasionally assuming the role of lead singer on some of the tracks. At the end of 1999 Kevin McCoy (stage name JoJo Max) replaced Irmo Russel by joining Bad Boys Blue full-time after being the group's rapper since 1998, but left in early 2003 leaving Bad Boys Blue as a duo again. However, in 2005, Kevin McCoy rejoined Andrew Thomas' Bad Boys Blue line-up.

In 2005 McInerney and Thomas split under less than amicable circumstances. Andrew Thomas went on to form an all-American version of Bad Boys Blue with a former member Kevin McCoy and the new lead singer Herbert McCoy (no relation), and they were said to be working on a new release, with Kevin McCoy being the trio's producer. John McInerney also formed a version of Bad Boys Blue, where he first performed as solo but in the following year he was joined by Carlos Ferreira, and this, presently Poland-based, duo set out to work on a new album, with the French producers MS Project. Between 2005 and 2009 Bad Boys Blue followed a path similar to that of Baccara and Boney M, in which more than one group formation coexisted simultaneously, since the question of who gets to officially use the Bad Boys Blue brand name had yet been resolved. Nevertheless, separate formations continued to tour extensively, with Andrew Thomas' formation once asserting itself as "The Real Bad Boys Blue", while John McInerney's formation is proclaiming itself to be "The Official Bad Boys Blue".

Trevor Taylor - the original lead singer of Bad Boys Blue - died of a heart attack in his home in Cologne on January 19th of 2008 at the age of 50.

Bad Boys Blue featuring John McInerney, in May 2008, released a brand new album called "Heart & Soul" with 13 new original songs. The album was supported by the release of two maxi-singles: "Still in Love" and "Queen of my Dreams". In May 2009 this formation resumed cooperation with its original label, Coconut, in addition to working with its current production team.

Bad Boys Blue featuring Andrew Thomas, in June 2008, experienced significant changes in personnel. This formation was essentially split in two when Herbert McCoy left the group to continue performing solo, in a way as yet another version of Bad Boys Blue. At the same time, Kevin McCoy became the new lead singer of the remaining duo, and a new member, Jerome Cummins, was added to this group's line-up. This version of the group completed recording of several brand new tracks, all penned and sung by Kevin McCoy.

Andrew Thomas died on 21 July of 2009 at the age of 63 following complications of pancreatic cancer at a hospital in Cologne. This effectively left Bad Boys Blue featuring John McInerney as the sole remaining version of the group to fully reclaim the title of Bad Boys Blue, since the other two formations had no legal right to use the brand name of Bad Boys Blue, and are henceforth legally prevented from similar attempts in the future.

Line-ups

Discography

Chart information from http://www.germancharts.com/.

Bad Boys Blue charted in many other countries but archive charts are not currently available.

Albums

• 1985: Hot Girls-Bad Boys
• 1986: Heartbeat
• 1987: Love Is No Crime
• 1988: My Blue World
• 1989: The Fifth
• 1990: Game Of Love
• 1991: House Of Silence
• 1992: Totally
• 1993: Kiss
• 1993: Bad Boys Blue (U.S. only)
• 1994: To Blue Horizons
• 1996: Bang! Bang! Bang!
• 1998: Back
• 1999: ... Continued
• 1999: Follow The Light
• 2000: Tonite
• 2003: Around The World
• 2008: Heart & Soul {a Bad Boys Blue feat. John McInerney release}

Singles

• 1984: L.O.V.E. in My Car
• 1985: You're a Woman
• 1985: Pretty Young Girl
• 1985: Amiga quartett EP DDR issued
• 1986: Kisses and Tears (My One and Only)
• 1986: Love Really Hurts Without You Billy Ocean cover
• 1986: I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat (Sunday Girl)
• 1987: Gimme Gimme Your Lovin' (Little Lady)
• 1987: Come Back and Stay
• 1988: Don't Walk Away, Suzanne
• 1988: Lovers in the Sand
• 1988: A World Without You (Michelle)
• 1989: Hungry for Love
• 1989: Lady in Black
• 1989: A Train to Nowhere
• 1990: The Official Bootleg Megamix vol. 1
• 1990: How I Need You
• 1990: Queen of Hearts
• 1991: Jungle In My Heart
• 1991: House of Silence
• 1992: Save Your Love
• 1992: I Totally Miss You
• 1993: A Love Like This
• 1993: Kiss You All Over, Baby
• 1993: Go Go (Love Overload)
• 1994: Luv 4 U
• 1994: What Else
• 1995: Hold You In My Arms
• 1996: Anywhere
• 1998: You're a Woman '98
• 1998: The Turbo Megamix
• 1998: From Heaven to Heartache
• 1999: The Turbo Megamix vol. 2
• 1999: Hold You in My Arms '99
• 1999: The-Hit-Pack
• 2000: I'll Be Good
• 2003: Lover on the Line
• 2008: Still in Love {a Bad Boys Blue feat. John McInerney release}
• 2009: Queen of my Dreams {a Bad Boys Blue feat. John McInerney release}

Tracks on Amiga Quartett EP: You're A Woman/For Your Love/Pretty Young Girl/Hot Girls - Bad Boys

Tracks on The Hit Pack: Hungry For Love '99 (Radio Edit) /Hungry For Love '99 (X-Tended Version) /Never Never (X-Tended Version) /Queen Of Hearts '99 (Album Version)

Compilations

• 1989: Bad Boys Best
• 1989: Super 20
• 1991: The Best of Bad Boys Blue
• 1992: More Bad Boys Best
• 1993: Dancing With Bad Boys Blue
• 1994: You're A Woman
• 1994: Completely Remixed
• 1998: With Love From Bad Boys Blue
• 1999: Pretty Young Girl
• 2001: Bad Boys Best 2001
• 2002: In The Mix - 80's Best
• 2005: Hit Collection Vol.1-You'Re A Woman
• 2005: Hit Collection Vol.2-The Best
• 2005: Hungry For Love
• 2005: Greatest Hits
• 2006: Hit Collection (3 CD boxset)

DVD

• 2005: Bad Boys Best 1985-2005

See also

• Euro Disco
• Italo Disco
• Hi-NRG
• Dance-pop
• Eurodance
• Discofox

Trivia

• Trevor Taylor, as Supa T, scored in 1997 a number 1 hit, "Love & Respect", in Spain. This track later appeared on his 1998 full length album, "Reggae in the Pop House & Soul".

• Songwriter Tony Hendrik went on to produce international acts Londonbeat and Haddaway.

• German actress Tina Ruland appeared in promotional videos for A World Without You and A Train To Nowhere.

• In 1991, the group performed at the "Children of Chernobyl" benefit concert in Russia.

• Bad Boys Blue performed in South Africa in 1994, where they supported a-ha.

• Andrew Thomas was the only member in the history of Bad Boys Blue to have any kind of formal musical education, with his area of training being piano.

• Irmo Russel, a stage actor by training, was the only Bad Boys Blue singer with a professionally developed vocal.

• The last song written by the Bad Boys Blue producers specifically for Trevor Taylor, whose reputation was damaged by their switch of lead vocalists, bears an ironic title of Bad Reputation. This song appeared on the group's 4th album, My Blue World.

External links

• Bad Boys Blue
• Trevor Taylor's final project - Umoya
• YouTube video tribute in memory of Trevor "Supa T" Taylor
• YouTube video tribute in memory of Andrew Thomas

• German musical groups
• German electronic music groups
• Sony BMG artists
• Eurodance groups
• Dance musical groups
• Boy bands