Baccara

Baccara was a Spanish female vocal duo formed in 1977 by Spanish artists Mayte Mateos (born 7 February 1951) and María Mendiola (4 April 1952 – 11 September 2021).

The duo rapidly achieved international success with their debut single "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie", which reached number one across much of Europe and became the best-selling single of all time by a female group, eventually selling more than 16 million copies worldwide.

While drawing lightly on Spanish flamenco song and dance tradition, the formula was rooted in 1970s disco music.

Together with fellow writer Frank Dostal, Rolf Soja penned their début single "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and most of their other 1970s hits.

Touring in Europe during the late 1970s helped the duo establish a firm fan base in Germany (where their records continued to be produced) and the Scandinavian countries, and their Spanish-flavoured interpretation of the disco sound also brought them recognition in Japan and Russia.

In 1976, María Mendiola (prima ballerina of Alberto Portillo's Spanish Television ballet) proposed to her colleague Mayte Mateos the formation of a separate singing and dancing duo (using the title Venus).

After leaving the ballet company, the duo's initial act was simply that of variety show dancers.

Their first television appearance was on the Palmarés light entertainment programme and they were engaged at a nightclub in the Aragon city of Zaragoza, but their contract was cancelled when the club manager decided that they were "too elegant" for the style of the show.

Mateos and Mendiola relocated to the Canary Islands in search of work.

Here they found that there was an audience for the performance of traditional Spanish music and dance in a form that was adapted to suit international tastes.

The duo were spotted by Leon Deane, manager of the German subsidiary of record company RCA, while performing flamenco dance and traditional Spanish songs for mostly German tourists in the Tres Islas Hotel on the island of Fuerteventura.

María, who was the only one who spoke English, served as a bridge between the promotion managers and the duo to reach an agreement.

Deane invited them to Hamburg so they could do a voice test at the record company.

He was the prime mover behind what became Baccara, developing their stage performance while recruiting their instrumental support.

Mateos and Mendiola were retitled Baccara, after the name of the Black Rose, in reference to the women's dark Spanish appearance.

Leon Deane is generally credited with the Baccara formula—consisting of breathy lyrics, lush backing, a disco beat and the striking image of two women (Mateos dressed in black, Mendiola in white) dancing.

Recorded in the Netherlands and released in 1977, "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" was an enormous pan-European hit and was a prime example of the phenomenon that is known as the "summer hit".

Baccara sold more than 16 million copies of "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and featured in the 1977 edition of the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-selling female musical duo to date.

They were the first female duo to reach number one in the UK, and had the only number one by a Spanish artist in the UK until Julio Iglesias, four years later.

Later that year, a self-titled album, written and produced by Soja and Dostal, was released.

Baccara represented West Germany at the eighth World Popular Song Festival held in November 1977 – until it ended in 1989 the largest such contest in the world.

A successful follow-up single ("Sorry, I'm a Lady") and European tour led to a number of album releases, numerous television appearances and the duo's selection to represent Luxembourg in the Eurovision Song Contest 1978.

The album Baccara was the first platinum selling album—actually double platinum in 1978—by a foreign group in Finland.

In 1978 the second Baccara album, Light My Fire, was released across Europe, and while not matching the international success of the first, it spawned the single "Parlez-vous français?" which was selected as Luxembourg's entry in that year's Eurovision Song Contest.

Despite full marks from Italy, Portugal and Spain the duo finished in seventh place.

However high sales, particularly in Denmark, Sweden and Belgium, meant that the single was a commercial success.

Mendiola's Baccara has seen more international recognition, releasing a string of Hi-NRG club hits such as "Fantasy Boy" and "Touch Me" in the late 1980s and the later UK club hit "Wind Beneath My Wings".

Mateos' Baccara has released few new recordings, but has remained in demand for television and live appearances in countries such as Spain and Germany, where the original Baccara developed a loyal fan base, performing the duo's back-catalogue and modernised versions of traditional Spanish songs.

Despite a substantial following in Spain, Germany and Japan, by 1981 their blend of disco, pop and Spanish folk music was no longer fashionable, and by 1983 Mateos and Mendiola were both working on solo projects.

Achieving little success as solo artists, the two formed duos of their own: separate incarnations of the original Baccara appeared during the middle of the decade, with Mendiola fronting New Baccara and Mateos keeping the duo's original name.

During the 1990s, New Baccara reverted to Baccara and as a consequence both Mateos and Mendiola headed different duos with the same name.

Both principals subsequently had prolonged but separate legacy careers based on nostalgia and their earlier fame.

It is also an example of the Euro disco genre, described in The Independent newspaper in 1999 as follows :

"This mind-bending Common Market melding of foreign accents, bad diction, bizarre arrangements and lightweight production, usually top-heavy with strings"

"Yes Sir, …" reached the top of the charts in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Belgium, and Switzerland, and number three in France.

In 2013, the album still remains the sixth biggest selling album of all time in Finland.

A follow-up single, "Sorry, I'm a Lady", was also an international hit, peaking at the top of the charts in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium and reaching the top ten in the UK, Sweden and Switzerland.

Most of Baccara's recordings were sung in English although they also recorded in Spanish, German and French.

They recorded different language versions of some songs (see Discography below).

Their song, "Mad in Madrid", came 14th out of 37 participating countries.