Boy Meets Girl is an American pop-music 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 and for writing two of Whitney Houston's number one hits: "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)".[1]
Boy Meets Girl | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Genres | Pop rock, adult contemporary |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Labels | A&M, RCA, Boy Meets Girl |
| Members | George Merrill Shannon Rubicam |
| Website | www.boymeetsgirlmusic.com |
Career
editThe members of Boy Meets Girl, George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam,[2] wrote and composed a number of songs for other artists. Most famous are their two number one hits written for Whitney Houston, "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)".[1] 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 was recorded by Dolly Parton and Smokey Robinson for Parton's 1987 Rainbow album, and later covered by Bette Midler for 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.
Boy Meets Girl usually produced a demo version, or, in some cases such as "Don't Tell Me We Have Nothing", a studio version, before Merrill and Rubicam handed the songs to the intended artists.
The duo's first album as a recording act 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.[2] The song reached number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in May 1985. The Boy Meets Girl album peaked at number 76 on the album chart.[3]
Three years later, the group released its follow-up album, Reel Life, which featured the single "Waiting for a Star to Fall".[2] 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 number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 1 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[3] The song reached number 9 in the UK Singles Chart[4] and was also a top 40 Australian hit in April 1989.[5] It was featured in the 1990 movie Three Men and a Little Lady.[2] 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 her producer at the time, Clive Davis, rejected it.
Boy Meets Girl's follow-up single "Bring Down the Moon" peaked at No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 (and No. 28 Adult Contemporary).[3] Reel Life contained both singles and spent several weeks at No. 50 in the United States[3] and peaked at No. 74 in the United Kingdom.[4]
Boy Meets Girl's third album, New Dream, was released in the UK & Europe in 1990,[6] but RCA Records chose not release it in the US during their label reorganization. It was finally remastered and released in 2005.[1]
In the early 2000s, the couple, who had married during the 1980s, divorced, but continued their musical collaboration. In 2003, they released their fourth album, The Wonderground,[1] 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. 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. Sunset Strippers, from the UK, won the right for the samples from the band's record label, releasing "Falling Stars". However, Cabin Crew, from Australia, and vocalist George Merrill re-recorded the vocals for the remixed song, entitled "Star to Fall" or "Star2Fall".[7] A year earlier, 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".
In January 2021, the duo released "More Deeply (In Love with You)", the first single from their EP 5.
Discography
editAlbums and EPs
edit| Year | Album | Chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [3] |
UK [4] | ||||
| 1985 | Boy Meets Girl | 76 | — | ||
| 1988 | Reel Life | 50 | 74 | ||
| 1991 | New Dream | — | — | ||
| 2003 | The Wonderground | — | — | ||
| 2021 | 5 (EP) | — | — | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||
Singles
edit| Year | Song | Peak chart positions | Certifications | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [3] |
US AC [3] |
AUS [5] |
UK [4] | ||||
| 1985 | "Oh Girl" | 39 | — | — | — | Boy Meets Girl | |
| "The Touch" | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1986 | "Heartbreaker" | — | — | — | — | single only | |
| 1988 | "Waiting for a Star to Fall" | 5 | 1 | 35 | 9 | Reel Life | |
| 1989 | "Bring Down the Moon" | 49 | 28 | — | 92 | ||
| "Stormy Love" | — | — | — | — | |||
| 1991 | "Waiting for a Star to Fall" (re-issue) | — | — | — | 76 | ||
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||
References
edit- ^ a b c d Demalon, Tom. "Boy Meets Girl Biography". AllMusic. Retrieved August 1, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 310. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Boy Meets Girl - Awards". AllMusic. Archived from the original on July 9, 2013. Retrieved July 31, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Boy Meets Girl - Official Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved December 6, 2009.
- ^ a b Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
- ^ "Boy Meets Girl - New Dream (1990, CD) - Discogs". Discogs.
- ^ Masterton, James. Chart Watch UK - Hits of 1989. James Masterton. ISBN 9780463138571.
- ^ "British certifications – Boy Meets Girl – Waiting for a Star to Fall". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved December 18, 2022.
