Eruption

There is a song that plays at every eighties party, on every disco compilation, on every radio on a Saturday night: "One Way Ticket", that danceable lament of the one-way ticket to loneliness. Almost nobody knows who sings it, and almost nobody knows the story behind it, which is one of those transatlantic alchemies only music knows how to assemble: a group of Britons of Caribbean descent who became famous in Germany singing songs born in the United States. Eruption is a crossing of three continents packed into three and a half minutes of dance floor.

From England to Germany, through Boney M's door

Eruption formed in the United Kingdom at the end of the sixties, with musicians of Caribbean roots. For years they were one more band fighting for a place. The turn came in 1977, and not in London but in Germany: playing over there, they were discovered by a talent scout working for Frank Farian, the German producer behind Boney M, one of the biggest phenomena of European disco. Farian signed them, and Eruption ended up as Boney M's support and opening band on their first European tour.

It is a lovely story of how talent finds its place by crooked roads. Some English musicians of Caribbean blood who were not taking off in their own country crossed the Channel and found, in the machinery of German pop, the springboard that never appeared at home. Sometimes the door to your greatness is in the country you least expected.

Two songs by other people, made their own

Like so many of the greats of disco, Eruption shone by transforming other people's material. Their first big hit, in 1977, was a version of "I Can't Stand the Rain", a soul number by the American Ann Peebles. They took it to the dance floor: number one in Belgium and Australia, top five in the United Kingdom, and an entry on the United States charts. And in 1979 they did the same with "One Way Ticket", an old fifties song by Neil Sedaka, which they turned into the disco anthem they are remembered for all over the world today.

There lay their gift: taking the soul of Memphis and the pop of New York and running them through the filter of the European dance floor until they became something else, bright and danceable. The voice holding it all up was that of Precious Wilson, a singer with a power that gave those versions a body the originals did not have in a disco key.

The voice that ended up owning the name

And there is a fair ending, one of those that are not common. Precious Wilson, the group's voice, left in 1979 to try a solo career, and without her the group gradually lost strength until it dissolved in the eighties. But history gave her back what was hers: years later, Wilson ended up as the legal owner of the Eruption trademark, and she is still touring under that name today.

Think about it: the singer who put the voice on the anthems ended up being, legally, the owner of the whole band. Rarely does the person who genuinely held a group up with her talent also end up owning it. It happened to Precious Wilson. The voice got everything, which is how it should always be.

What to remember

Eruption were a group of Britons of Caribbean descent who found fame in Germany, with the help of Boney M's producer. They turned a soul number by Ann Peebles and an old Neil Sedaka song into two disco anthems that still play at every party. And their singer, Precious Wilson, ended up owning the name they are remembered by.

Remember it like this: the next time "One Way Ticket" comes on and nobody knows who sings it, there you have the answer. Three continents, an enormous voice, and a band that found its place in the country it least expected.

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Sources

Eruption, British disco and soul group formed in the United Kingdom at the end of the 1960s (initially as Silent Eruption, renamed Eruption in 1974), made up of musicians of Caribbean origin. In 1977, while performing in Germany, they were discovered by a talent scout for Frank Farian, producer of Boney M, who signed them to Hansa Records; the group acted as Boney M's backing and opening band on their first European tour. Their version of "I Can't Stand the Rain" (originally by Ann Peebles), released in 1977, reached number one in Belgium and Australia, number five in the United Kingdom and number 18 on the American Billboard Hot 100. Their version of "One Way Ticket" (originally by Neil Sedaka, 1959), from 1979, reached number nine in the United Kingdom and number one in Switzerland. Singer Precious Wilson, who had joined in 1974, left the group in 1979 to begin a solo career; the band dissolved in the eighties. Wilson later acquired ownership of the Eruption trademark (1997) and remains active. Boney M. and Neil Sedaka have their own profiles in this series. Profile compiled for Rebobinados with fact-checking; interpretations of the meaning of the work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from Wikipedia and other coverage.