Boney M
http://youtu.be/6QskYr5xpNs
"Mary's Boy Child"
is a 1956 Christmas song, written by Jester Hairston. It is widely performed as a Christmas carol.
The song
had its genesis when Hairston was sharing a room with a friend. The friend
asked him to write a song for a birthday party.[1] Hairston
wrote the song with a calypso rhythm
because the people at the party would be mainly West Indians. The song's original title was He Pone and Chocolate Tea, pone
being a type ofcorn bread.[1] It
was never recorded in this form.
Some time
later Walter Schumann, at the time conducting
Schumann's Hollywood Choir, asked Hairston to write a new Christmas song for
his choir. Hairston remembered the calypso rhythm from his old song and wrote
new lyrics for it.[1]
Harry Belafonte heard the song being performed by the
choir and sought permission to record it.[1] It
was recorded in 1956 for his album An Evening with
Belafonte. An edited version was subsequently released as a
single,[2] reaching
#1 on the UK charts
in 1957. In 1962 the full-length version was added to a reissue of Belafonte's
previously released album To Wish You a
Merry Christmas.
The song
was also recorded by Mahalia Jackson in 1956 but titled "Mary's
Little Boy Child".[3]
From Wikipedia
Connie Talbot
Jose Mari Chan
