Boy Meets Girl
Encyclopedia
Boy Meets Girl is an American duo
consisting of keyboardist
and vocalist George Merrill
and singer Shannon Rubicam
. They are perhaps best known for their hit song
"Waiting For a Star to Fall
" from 1988.
, "How Will I Know
" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
". They also wrote the songs "Don't Tell Me We Have Nothing" and "Haunting Me" for Deniece Williams
and the song "I Know You By Heart", which Bette Midler
performed on the Beaches
soundtrack
. The duo also performed backing vocals on Deniece Williams
's number one hit, "Let's Hear It For The Boy". Merrill also sang backing vocals on Bette Midler's Some People's Lives album
.
Despite writing and composing songs for other artists, Boy Meets Girl usually produces a demo version, or, in some such cases as that of "Don't Tell Me We Have Nothing", a studio version, before Merrill and Rubicam hand the song to the intended artist.
The duo's first album was self-titled, and its lead-off song, "Oh Girl", a bitter tale of a failed relationship was released as a single by A&M Records
. The song reached #39 on the Billboard
Hot 100 singles chart in May 1985. The Boy Meets Girl album peaked at #76 on the album charts
.
Three years later, the group released their follow-up album, Reel Life
, which featured the single "Waiting for a Star to Fall
". With this selection, after years of writing and composing songs for other artists, the duo earned mainstream success in their own right. In the United States
, "Waiting For a Star to Fall" peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The song reached #9 in the UK and was also a top ten Australian hit in April 1989. It was featured in the movie
Three Men and a Little Lady. Reportedly, the song was inspired by an actual falling star that Merrill and Rubicam had seen at one of Whitney Houston
's concerts at the Greek Theatre
. The duo submitted the song to Houston for consideration on her next album, but she rejected it. The song was also recorded by Belinda Carlisle
for her 1987
release Heaven On Earth at the insistence of her label. But Carlisle disliked the song, and she ultimately refused to include it on the album, though it has circulated in her trading circles for years on a disc of that album's outtakes.
Boy Meets Girl's follow-up single, "Bring Down the Moon", peaked at #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #28 Adult Contemporary). The Reel Life
album contained both singles and spent several weeks at #50 in the United States and peaked at #74 in the United Kingdom.
Boy Meets Girl's third album, New Dream, was scheduled for release in 1990, but RCA Records
shelved it during a label reorganization. It was finally released through the band's own website in 2004.
In the early-2000s, the couple divorced, but continued their musical collaboration. In 2003, they released their fourth album, The Wonderground, on their own label, and arranged for RCA Records to re-release their two RCA albums. Their debut album recorded for A&M Records
was also re-released. In the works are new versions of the demonstration tapes they originally recorded for Whitney Houston. The various artists album Number One With a Bullet also contains their original demo tape for "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)".
In 2005, "Waiting For a Star to Fall
" was involved in a "sample battle". Two electronic music
groups, Cabin Crew
and Sunset Strippers
, wanted to sample the song and remix it to become a hit again. Sunset Strippers, from the UK
, won the right for the sample
s from the band's record label
, releasing "Falling Stars". However, Cabin Crew, from Australia
, had met Boy Meets Girl, and vocalist George Merrill re-recorded the vocals for the remixed song, entitled "Star To Fall" or "Star2Fall". In the same year, Scottish
electronic
musician
Mylo
had also used samples of the song, mixing it with Kim Carnes
's cover of "Bette Davis Eyes
", for his song entitled "In My Arms
".
Duet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
consisting of keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
and vocalist George Merrill
George Merrill (songwriter)
George Merrill is an American songwriter whose work mostly dates from the mid to late 1980s.He wrote "How Will I Know," which was a hit for Whitney Houston in 1986, as well as Houston's 1987 hit "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."...
and singer Shannon Rubicam
Shannon Rubicam
Shannon Rubicam is an American female singer/songwriter who is best remembered for being half of the mid to late 1980s pop duo Boy Meets Girl....
. They are perhaps best known for their hit song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
"Waiting For a Star to Fall
Waiting for a Star to Fall
Waiting For a Star to Fall is a song released by the pop duo Boy Meets Girl in 1988. A worldwide hit, it became the duo's signature song.-Background:...
" from 1988.
Career
The members of Boy Meets Girl, George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam, wrote and composed a number of songs for other artists. Most famous are their two number one hits written for Whitney HoustonWhitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, "How Will I Know
How Will I Know
"How Will I Know" is a song recorded by American recording artist Whitney Houston for her debut album, entitled Whitney Houston, which was released in February 1985. It was released by Arista Records in November that year, as the album's third single. Composed by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam,...
" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)
I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
"I Wanna Dance with Somebody " is the first single from Whitney Houston's second studio album Whitney. It was produced by Narada Michael Walden, and written by George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam of the band Boy Meets Girl, who had previously written the number-one Whitney Houston hit "How Will I...
". They also wrote the songs "Don't Tell Me We Have Nothing" and "Haunting Me" for Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
and the song "I Know You By Heart", which Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
performed on the Beaches
Beaches (film)
Beaches , is a 1988 American comedy-drama film adapted by Mary Agnes Donoghue from the Iris Rainer Dart novel of the same name...
soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
. The duo also performed backing vocals on Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams
June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
's number one hit, "Let's Hear It For The Boy". Merrill also sang backing vocals on Bette Midler's Some People's Lives album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
.
Despite writing and composing songs for other artists, Boy Meets Girl usually produces a demo version, or, in some such cases as that of "Don't Tell Me We Have Nothing", a studio version, before Merrill and Rubicam hand the song to the intended artist.
The duo's first album was self-titled, and its lead-off song, "Oh Girl", a bitter tale of a failed relationship was released as a single by A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
. The song reached #39 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100 singles chart in May 1985. The Boy Meets Girl album peaked at #76 on the album charts
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
.
Three years later, the group released their follow-up album, Reel Life
Reel Life (Boy Meets Girl album)
Reel Life is the second album released by the duo Boy Meets Girl. Released in 1988 by RCA Records/BMG, the album featured the band's sole top ten hit, "Waiting For a Star to Fall," as well as the minor follow-up, "Bring Down the Moon."...
, which featured the single "Waiting for a Star to Fall
Waiting for a Star to Fall
Waiting For a Star to Fall is a song released by the pop duo Boy Meets Girl in 1988. A worldwide hit, it became the duo's signature song.-Background:...
". With this selection, after years of writing and composing songs for other artists, the duo earned mainstream success in their own right. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, "Waiting For a Star to Fall" peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at #1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The song reached #9 in the UK and was also a top ten Australian hit in April 1989. It was featured in the movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Three Men and a Little Lady. Reportedly, the song was inspired by an actual falling star that Merrill and Rubicam had seen at one of Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
's concerts at the Greek Theatre
Greek Theatre (Los Angeles)
The Greek Theatre is a 5,700-seat amphitheater, located at Griffith Park, in Los Angeles, California. It was built in 1929, opening on September 29 of that year...
. The duo submitted the song to Houston for consideration on her next album, but she rejected it. The song was also recorded by Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Carlisle
Belinda Jo Carlisle is an American singer who gained worldwide fame as the lead vocalist of the Go-Go's, one of the most successful all-female bands and the first such group whose members wrote their own songs and played their own instruments...
for her 1987
1987 in music
This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1987.See also:Record labels established in 1987-January-February:*January 3 – Aretha Franklin becomes the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
release Heaven On Earth at the insistence of her label. But Carlisle disliked the song, and she ultimately refused to include it on the album, though it has circulated in her trading circles for years on a disc of that album's outtakes.
Boy Meets Girl's follow-up single, "Bring Down the Moon", peaked at #49 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and #28 Adult Contemporary). The Reel Life
Reel Life (Boy Meets Girl album)
Reel Life is the second album released by the duo Boy Meets Girl. Released in 1988 by RCA Records/BMG, the album featured the band's sole top ten hit, "Waiting For a Star to Fall," as well as the minor follow-up, "Bring Down the Moon."...
album contained both singles and spent several weeks at #50 in the United States and peaked at #74 in the United Kingdom.
Boy Meets Girl's third album, New Dream, was scheduled for release in 1990, but RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
shelved it during a label reorganization. It was finally released through the band's own website in 2004.
In the early-2000s, the couple divorced, but continued their musical collaboration. In 2003, they released their fourth album, The Wonderground, on their own label, and arranged for RCA Records to re-release their two RCA albums. Their debut album recorded for A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
was also re-released. In the works are new versions of the demonstration tapes they originally recorded for Whitney Houston. The various artists album Number One With a Bullet also contains their original demo tape for "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)".
In 2005, "Waiting For a Star to Fall
Waiting for a Star to Fall
Waiting For a Star to Fall is a song released by the pop duo Boy Meets Girl in 1988. A worldwide hit, it became the duo's signature song.-Background:...
" was involved in a "sample battle". Two electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
groups, Cabin Crew
Cabin Crew
Cabin Crew are a dance music duo from Sydney, Australia, that consists of Ben Garden and Rob Kittler.-Career:...
and Sunset Strippers
Sunset Strippers
Sunset Strippers are an electronic music group from the UK. They are known for their 2005 song "Falling Stars", which is a remix of the 1988 hit song "Waiting For a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl, and was involved in a sampling battle with Cabin Crew...
, wanted to sample the song and remix it to become a hit again. Sunset Strippers, from the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, won the right for the sample
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
s from the band's record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
, releasing "Falling Stars". However, Cabin Crew, from Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, had met Boy Meets Girl, and vocalist George Merrill re-recorded the vocals for the remixed song, entitled "Star To Fall" or "Star2Fall". In the same year, Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
electronic
Electronic musician
An electronic musician is a musician who composes or plays music from synthetic sounds generated with synthesizers, samplers, drum machines or music sequencers....
musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
Mylo
Mylo
Myles MacInnes , better known by the stage name Mylo, is a Scottish electronic musician and record producer.-Career:...
had also used samples of the song, mixing it with Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes
Kim Carnes is an American singer-songwriter. She is a two-time Grammy Award winner noted for her distinctive raspy vocal style. Some people have called her "The Female Rod Stewart" due to her raspy voice....
's cover of "Bette Davis Eyes
Bette Davis Eyes
"Bette Davis Eyes" is a song written in 1974 by Donna Weiss and Jackie DeShannon and made popular by American singer-songwriter Kim Carnes.-History:...
", for his song entitled "In My Arms
In My Arms (Mylo song)
"In My Arms" is a dance track recorded by Mylo. The song appears on the album entitled Destroy Rock & Roll and was released as a UK single in 2005. It contains samples from "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, and "Waiting for a Star to Fall" by Boy Meets Girl.-Trivia:The video was shot in Los...
".
Albums
- Boy Meets GirlBoy Meets Girl (Boy Meets Girl album)Boy Meets Girl is the debut album by American pop singer-songwriters George Merrill & Shannon Rubicam, also known as Boy Meets Girl. It was released on A&M Records in 1985, and was their only disc for the label...
(1985) #76 US - Reel LifeReel Life (Boy Meets Girl album)Reel Life is the second album released by the duo Boy Meets Girl. Released in 1988 by RCA Records/BMG, the album featured the band's sole top ten hit, "Waiting For a Star to Fall," as well as the minor follow-up, "Bring Down the Moon."...
(1988) #50 US, #74 UK - New Dream (1990)
- The Wonderground (2003)
Singles
| Year | Song | US Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US AC | UK Singles UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | "Oh Girl" | 39 | - | - | Boy Meets Girl |
| 1985 | "The Touch" | - | - | - | |
| 1986 | "Heartbreaker" | - | - | - | Japanese single only |
| 1988 | "Waiting for a Star to Fall" | 5 | 1 | 9 | Reel Life |
| 1989 | "Bring Down the Moon" | 49 | 28 | 92 | |
| 1989 | "Stormy Love" | - | - | - | |
| 1991 | "Waiting for a Star to Fall" (reissue) | - | - | 76 | |