“Baccara” was a Spanish female musical duo active since the seventies. “Baccara” was composed of Mayte Mateos, born in Logroño on February 7, 1951 and María Mendiola, born in Madrid on April 4, 1952. In 1976, María Mendiola (prima ballerina of Alberto Portillo's Spanish television ballet) proposed to her colleague Mayte Mateos forming a separate song and dance duo called “Venus”. Mayte and María made their first television appearance as a duo in the Spanish program “Palmarès”, where they imitated the movements of the famous “Kessler twins” dancers. At the Hotel "Tres Islas" in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands) the meeting took place with Leone Deane (director of the German "RCA"), Patrick Krevitz and Fred Dieckmann, and there was an agreement for the recording of an album with the new name of "Baccara". The album, written and produced by Rolf Soja and Frank Dostal, surpassed the expectations of the record company and the two artists. In fact, in 1977 the "Baccara" sold more than 16 million copies of the single "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie", entering the Guinness Book of Records as the female musical group that had sold the most records up to that date. "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" was also the first single performed by a female duo to enter the Top 10 in the UK. They reached number one in almost all European countries including Germany, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and number three in France. The follow-up single, "Sorry, I'm a Lady", was also an international success, topping the charts in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium and entering the top ten in the UK, Sweden and Switzerland. In 1978, Baccara's second album, "Light My Fire," was released, and while it didn't match 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. Further recognition came in 1978 when "Baccara" received the prestigious German "Bambi Award". 1978 was the peak of the artistic and commercial success of "Baccara". In 1979, the album "Colors" and the separately recorded single "Eins plus eins ist eins" had disappointing sales. The fourth and last Baccara album was "Bad Boys", released in 1981. After recording the songs in the studio, the singers decided to pursue separate careers. Neither Mayte nor María achieved much success as soloists and, after a few years, they looked for new companions and recreated the duo separately. From that moment there were two formations with the same name "Baccara". Maria Mendiola died in Madrid on September 11, 2021, at the age of 69.
Album
1977 - Baccara
1978 - Light My Fire
1979 - Colours
1982 - Bad Boys
1999 - Made In Spain
2000 - Face To Face
2004 - Soy Tu Venus
2008 - Satin... In Black & White
2017 - I Belong To Your Heart
Singles
1977 - Yes Sir, I Can Boogie
1977 - Sorry I'm A Lady
1977 - Granada / Koochie Koo
1977 - Mad In Madrid
1978 - Darling
1978 - Cara Mia / Number One
1978 - Parlez-vous Francais?
1978 - The Devil Sent You To Lorado
1978 - Yummy Yummy Yummy
1979 - Ay, Ay Sailor
1979 - Eins Plus Eins Ist Eins
1979 - Body Talk
1979 - La Bamba
1980 - Sleepy-Time-Toy
1981 - Colorado
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