Sheyla Bonnick

Published Friday 1 July 2005 at 11:30 by Nuala Calvi

One of the original members of Boney M, Sheyla Bonnick, has been travelling the world performing her mix of Euro-disco, pop and gospel for 30 years.

Sheyla started out with the band in 1975, after being discovered in a club in Germany, where she was dancing and modelling.

“I was in the band for nine months and it was a whirlwind of TV appearances and parties - a real buzz,” she says. “But I left after that because I was very young at the time, and impatient.”

Sheyla went on to travel the world for more than 12 years with fellow Boney M star Maizie Williams. “We played every single country in the world, from 100,000 capacity stadiums to Bill Gates’ party in New York in 2002.”

She now performs with her husband as Sounds of Boney M featuring Sheyla, and has just got back from a successful tour of Australia. The pair also have their own production and record company, BNN Music, and Sheyla writes and produces songs for other artists.

“I’m always on the lookout for talented new performers,” she says. “We’ve put out records for a few girl bands and various singers, and what I’d really like to do is set up a school for young talent. We’ve got everything they need here - the songwriters, the equipment and the video cameras.”