London Boys were a German-based Britishdance-popduocomposed of Edem Ephraim and Dennis Fuller. They are best remembered for the UKTop 5 hits Requiem and London Nights. The duo were killed when their car was hit by a drunk driver in the Eastern Alps, Austria, on 21 January 1996. Ephraim's wife also died in the accident, leaving their three-year-old son orphaned and leaving Fuller's 10-year-old daughter without a father.
Musical career
Although they had lived near Hamburg, Germany, since 1981, the pair had actually met when they were at school in Greenwich, London, Ephraim having been born in London and Fuller in Jamaica. They were formed in 1986 as a vehicle for songwriter and record producer Ralf-René Maué. They signed with Teldec. Their musical style was a mix of soul and dance music or Eurobeat dance music. Spinning on their heads was combined with choreography, acquired during their experience as Rollerblade dancers prior to forming the duo. Dennis Fuller was a former member of the Roxy Rollers rollerskating disco act, which released a single called I Need a Holiday in May 1979.
The duo's most notable songs were London Nights and Requiem, which were initially released in 1988. Requiem eventually became their breakthrough single in April 1989, reaching No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. Subsequently, the re-released London Nights and the albumThe Twelve Commandments of Dance, both peaked at No. 2 in the UK singles and album charts, respectively. Another single, Harlem Desire, reached No. 17. A fourth single from the album, a remixed version of their 1987 release My Love, also reached No. 46. After that, their last two UK Singles Chart entries were with Chapel of Love in 1990 and "Freedom" in 1991. The music videos for their singles were largely based around dance sequences and relationship/love storylines. After this, their later recordings had little commercial success, with no further UK chart entries. However, in total, the London Boys sold 4.5 million records worldwide. After being dropped by their record label, the band effectively split up. In 1995, shortly before their deaths, a reformed version of the group, through Polydor, made a crossover album called Hallelujah Hits, which incorporated Eurodance arrangements into traditional religious compositions. A campaign began in 2020 to re-release I’m Gonna Give My Heart as the official England Euro 2021 song.
Death
Ephraim, Fuller and Ephraim's wife all died in a car crash on 21 January 1996. They were travelling in the Austrian Alps on a mountain road on their way to a skiing holiday and along the route, met a car driven by a drunk driver who was trying to pass on the opposite side of the road. The Swiss driver had reportedly been overtaking other cars in dangerous places along the road for a couple of miles beforehand, in bad weather conditions, and he hit their car head on. Fuller, Ephraim, Ephraim's German wife Bettina, a Hamburg DJ and the Swiss driver all died in the accident. Ephraim and his wife left behind a son, Stevie, who was 3 years old at the time. Fuller had a daughter, Laura, who was 10.
