Marcia Barrett
Celebrated Artist; Lead Singer of Boney M
read - A Speech by Marcia Barrett »
Marcia Barrett was born in 1948 in St. Catherine, Jamaica. At the age of thirteen, she moved to Britain to live with her mother and to continue her education. She began to seriously pursue her passion for singing and dancing at the age of eighteen. Barret's early years as a performer in Germany during the late 1960's gave her the opportunity to tour with popular artists and gain stage experience. Barrett's professional career began in 1971 when she was signed to Metronome Records and released her debut single "Could Be Love". She was asked to join the group Boney M. in 1975, though the group was not well known at that time.
After a performance on the German TV show Musikladen in support of the group's first album "Take the Heat Off Me", Boney M. suddenly began to top charts all over Europe.
The next decade saw major international success and fame for the band and its members. Ms. Barrett was a member of Boney M. until the group split up in 1990. As a solo artist, Ms. Barrett saw success with her albums "Survival and "Come Into My Life", which were released in 1999 and 2005, respectively. She also founded her own record label, Xoah Records, in 2009.
Ms. Barrett was an ardent opposer of the U.S. military intervention in Iraq and released a benefit EP entitled "No War! Peace and Love." The proceeds from the EP went to the War Child charity organization. Her touring schedule has taken her to many conflict ridden countries.
She and her band strive to convey messages of peace and reconciliation through their music and their concert experiences. In October 2007, Ms. Barrett and her Boney M. lineup made headlines when they were invited by President Mikheil Saakashvili to perform in South Ossetia in the country of Georgia.
President Saakashvili said of this venture, “We hope that we'll lure out people from their trenches, force them to drop [their] Kalashnikovs, come here and dance with the others and understand that nothing is as nice as peace, nothing is as nice as reconciliation.”
Currently, Ms. Barrett is touring with her own Boney M. group and has recently performed on various international stages, including India, Georgia, Greece and Kazakhstan. She lives in Germany with her husband Marcus James.
Marcia Barrett (World Renowned Lead Singer of Boney M) has dedicated her song "You can't Fight while You Are Dancing” to the Field of Cultural Diplomacy.
In the framework of the ICD "Music as Cultural Diplomacy” program, international artists from around the globe are dedicating songs and speeches to the field of cultural diplomacy as efforts to contribute to promoting global peace and stability.
