<TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Bad Boys Blue are a multinational pop group that was formed in Cologne, Germany. The group performed many international hits including You&apos;re a Woman, Pretty Young Girl, I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat and Come Back and Stay.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="12" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"><B>History</B></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Bad Boys Blue was formed in the summer of 1984 by German producer Tony Hendrik and his lyricist wife Karin Van Harren. Hendrik was looking to create an alternative to the hugely successful German group Modern Talking. Ironically, Dieter Bohlen, mastermind and song writer of Modern Talking, is often incorrectly credited with developing their signature sound and being their producer.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The original trio was composed of American Andrew Thomas (born 1946.05.25 San Francisco, USA) British John McInerney (born 1957.09.07 Liverpool, England), and Jamaican Trevor Taylor (born 1958.01.11 Montego Bay, Jamaica) — 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&apos;re A Woman was a massive success, reaching the top 10 in many European countries.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">Trevor Taylor provided the lead vocal for the group&apos;s early, signature defining, hit singles including You&apos;re A Woman, Pretty Young Girl, and I Wanna Hear Your Heartbeat. The 1987 single Come Back And Stay was the first to feature John McInerney on lead vocal. Although the track was originally recorded as demo with Trevor Taylor&apos;s voice, the producers subjectively chose John McInerney&apos;s version. This created tension within the group which ultimately lead to Trevor Taylor&apos;s departure, who understandably did not wish to accept the changes. Such an action on the producers&apos; 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 has been involved at some point in various projects, such as Street Noise and Ozazuwas, and presently in Supa T and Umoya, whereas John McInerney went on to perform lead vocal on the vast majority of Bad Boys Blue&apos;s output.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">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).</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">The group has experienced numerous line up changes. In 1988 Trevor Taylor left the group - a year after being practically demoted to backup 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&apos;s first compilation album Bad Boys Best. Trevor Taylor&apos;s departure permanently secured John McInerney&apos;s position as the band&apos;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&apos;s hits on live gigs. It is during Bannister&apos;s tenure with the band is when 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 shorly after, and therefore was not considered to be a permanent band member. Mo Russel (born 1956.03.15 Aruba, Caribbean sea) joined the group in 1995, who in addition to stepping into Bannister&apos;s shoes was instrumental in revitalizing the group&apos;s creative potential, by becoming a composer 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 Mo Russel by joining Bad Boys Blue fulltime after being the group&apos;s rapper since 1998, but left in early 2003 leaving Bad Boys Blue as a duo again. However, in 2006, Kevin McCoy rejoined Andrew Thomas&apos; Bad Boys Blue line-up.</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0"></FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT><TEXTFORMAT LEADING="2"><P ALIGN="LEFT"><FONT FACE="Verdana" SIZE="10" COLOR="#0B333C" LETTERSPACING="0" KERNING="0">In 2005 Thomas and McInerney split under less than amicable circumstances. Carlos Ferreira joined John McInerney in 2006 and new album, called &quot;Heart &amp; Soul&quot; with 12 new original songs produced by French Producers MS Project, is expected to be forthcoming in 2008 from this, presently Poland-based, duo. Andrew Thomas also formed a version of Bad Boys Blue with former member Kevin McCoy and singer Herb McCoy (no relation), and they are also said to be working on a new release. It appears now that Bad Boys Blue will follow a path similar to that of Baccara and Boney M, in which more than one group formation coexists simultaneously, since the question of who gets to officially use the Bad Boys Blue brand name has yet to be resolved. Nevertheless, in the mean time, both formations continue to tour extensively, with the formation 1 proclaiming itself to be &quot;The Official Bad Boys Blue&quot;, while the formation 2 is asserting itself as &quot;The Real Bad Boys Blue&quot;</FONT></P></TEXTFORMAT>