Boney M.
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40 free Boney M. trivia questions with answers — music quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Boney M. sold records by the tens of millions in the late 1970s, yet the story behind the group is stranger than any of its songs. A studio project became a touring act, a disco record about a Russian mystic became a history lesson, and a hymn of exile became one of the best-selling singles Britain has ever bought. This quiz covers the hits of Boney M. and the stories around them: where the songs came from, who wrote the originals, who really sang on the records, how the singles fared on the charts, and how tracks from the disco era keep finding new audiences through remixes, samples and viral dances. It is pitched for anyone who has ever danced to Rasputin or Daddy Cool, with easy openers for casual listeners and a few deeper cuts for fans who know the albums.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Whose studio voice sang the deep male parts that Bobby Farrell mimed on Boney M.'s biggest hits?
Frank Farian
Frank Farian, the producer who invented Boney M., recorded the male vocals himself and hired Farrell to dance and mime them on stage and television.
Q 02Boney M.'s producer borrowed the group's name from a TV detective series made in which country?
Australia
Australia produced Boney, an outback detective series of the early 1970s, and the producer liked the sound of the title when he caught its closing credits.
Q 03On the intro of Boney M.'s "Daddy Cool", the producer tapped a rhythm on his own teeth with what?
A pencil
A pencil clicked against his teeth gave the record its odd ticking opening, a percussion gimmick the group reused on "Ma Baker" a year later.
Q 04Bobby Farrell of Boney M. died in which Russian city, on the anniversary of Rasputin's death there?
St Petersburg
St Petersburg is where Farrell was found in his hotel room on 30 December 2010, the morning after a show and 94 years to the day after the mystic's murder.
Q 05The viral TikTok routine set to Boney M.'s "Rasputin" was copied from which video game series?
Just Dance
Just Dance 2 gave the song its high-kicking routine in 2010, and when users copied it on TikTok in early 2021 a single from 1978 went viral.
Q 06Which pop duo, built by Boney M.'s producer a decade on, lost a Grammy over lip-synced vocals?
Milli Vanilli
Milli Vanilli repeated the Boney M. formula of faces miming to other voices, but this time the fallout cost the duo their Best New Artist award in 1990.
Q 07The words of Boney M.'s chart-topper "Rivers of Babylon" are adapted from which book of the Bible?
Psalms
Psalms 137 and 19 supply nearly every line, a lament of exiles far from home that became one of Britain's best-selling singles.
Q 08Duck Sauce's 2010 club hit, built on Boney M.'s "Gotta Go Home", is named after which singer?
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand is both the title and the only words of the Duck Sauce track, whose whole hook was replayed from the 1979 Boney M. single.
Q 09Which carol, sung as a medley, gave Boney M. the UK Christmas number one of 1978?
Mary's Boy Child
Mary's Boy Child, joined to a new section called Oh My Lord, spent four weeks at number one and has sold more than 1.8 million copies in Britain.
Q 10Boney M. were barred from performing "Rasputin" at a December 1978 concert in which capital city?
Moscow
Moscow welcomed the group as rare Western guests, but Soviet authorities would not allow a disco song about the imperial court's notorious holy man.
Q 11Which singer had the first UK number one, in 1957, with the carol Boney M. revived for Christmas 1978?
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte's calypso original sold over a million copies in Britain and was the first UK number one to run longer than four minutes.
Q 12In which British sci-fi series does a villain disguised as the mad monk dance to Boney M.'s "Rasputin"?
Doctor Who
Doctor Who used the song in the special The Power of the Doctor, where the Master poses as the healer at the court of 1916 Russia and dances to it.
Q 13Boney M.'s "Rivers of Babylon" topped charts across Europe but stalled at number 30 in which country?
The USA
The USA never took to Boney M.: number 30 was the group's best showing there, for a single that sold two million copies in Britain.
Q 21Boney M.'s "El Lute" tells the true story of a jailed outlaw, later pardoned, from which country?
Spain
Spain pardoned Eleuterio Sánchez soon after the single came out, and on a promotional visit the group handed him a gold record for its sales.
Q 22Which 1978 Boney M. album, their best seller, carried both "Rasputin" and "Rivers of Babylon"?
Nightflight to Venus
Nightflight to Venus was the group's first UK number one album, and its title track runs straight into the song about the Russian mystic.
Q 23Which Cole Porter standard, covered on the record, gave Boney M.'s second album its title?
Love for Sale
Q 14Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, the two women who sang on Boney M.'s records, were both born on which island?
Jamaica
Jamaica was home to both singers until their families emigrated to England, and each had moved on to West Germany well before the group existed.
Q 15The real woman behind Boney M.'s "Ma Baker" died in a 1935 shootout with agents of which organisation?
The FBI
The FBI killed Kate "Ma" Barker and her son Fred at a Florida hideout, and the song changed her surname because the new one sounded better.
Q 16Boney M.'s "Ma Baker" stalled at number two in Britain behind "I Feel Love" by which disco star?
Donna Summer
Donna Summer kept the single off the top in 1977, though it still became the group's third straight number one in West Germany.
Q 17Boney M.'s label first wanted the "Daddy Cool" single led by a cover of which reggae star's song?
Bob Marley
Bob Marley's "No Woman, No Cry" was the label's pick, until the producer tested both tracks in his own discotheque and the crowd chose the other one.
Q 18Boney M.'s "Brown Girl in the Ring" began as a traditional children's ring-game song from which region?
The West Indies
The West Indies gave the group more than a tune: Liz Mitchell had already recorded the song in 1975, three years before it became a hit B-side.
Q 19Bobby Farrell, the dancing frontman of Boney M., was born and raised on which Caribbean island?
Aruba
Aruba was Farrell's home until he left at 15 to spend two years as a sailor, passing through Norway and the Netherlands before he settled in West Germany.
Q 20Boney M.'s second German number one, "Sunny", was a cover of a 1966 hit written by which soul singer?
Bobby Hebb
Bobby Hebb wrote the song after his brother was killed outside a Nashville nightclub, and it went on to become one of the most recorded songs in pop.
Love for Sale also became known for its sleeve: Atlantic Records found the chained cover photo too raunchy and swapped it for the back-cover shot.
Q 24Before Boney M., Liz Mitchell moved to West Berlin to join the German cast of which rock musical?
Hair
Hair took Mitchell from England to Germany, where she stepped into a part just vacated by a future queen of disco.
Q 25Boney M.'s hit "Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday" reworks the tune of which old folk song?
Polly Wolly Doodle
Polly Wolly Doodle gave the single its singalong tune, and although it ended a run of seven straight German number ones it still reached number three in Britain.
Q 26Daddy Cool, a stage musical built on the songs of Boney M., had its 2006 premiere in which city?
London
London's Shaftesbury Theatre staged the show, a Romeo and Juliet story of rival music crews, until it closed the following February and moved on to Berlin.
Q 27What was Bobby Farrell's regular job in Germany before Boney M.'s producer hired him as a frontman?
A DJ
A DJ in German clubs, Farrell was hired for his moves rather than his voice: on television he danced to full playback of vocals recorded by someone else.
Q 28What was Maizie Williams's profession when an agent recruited her for Boney M. in a Hanover restaurant?
A model
A model who had won the title Miss Black Beautiful in 1973, Williams was hired to dance and mime, and never sang on the studio recordings.
Q 29Boney M.'s producer re-released their song "Felicidad" with new words saluting which newly elected leader?
Barack Obama
Barack Obama inspired the 2009 single "Felicidad America", recorded with two new vocalists and released under the Boney M. name in the month he took office.
Q 30Boney M.'s "Rivers of Babylon" was a cover of a 1970 song by which reggae vocal group?
The Melodians
The Melodians saw their original briefly banned at home for its Rastafarian references, wording the disco cover removed before release.