Baltimora

Chart positions Explanation of the data

Albums

Living in the background   US 49 01/18/1986 (17 weeks)

Singles

Tarzan boy   DE 3 05/20/1985 (23 weeks)   AT 2 08/01/1985 (12 weeks)   CH 4th 05/12/1985 (23 weeks)   UK 3  silver 08/03/1985 (13 weeks)   US 13 October 19, 1985 (38 weeks) Woody Boogie   DE 20th 09/16/1985 (12 weeks)   CH 15th 29.09.1985 (5 weeks) Living in the background   US 87 04/12/1986 (4 weeks) Tarzan Boy (Remix)   US 51 03/27/1993 (12 weeks)

Baltimora was an Italo-Disco - Act whose face the singer and dancer Jimmy McShane (* 23. May 1957 in Londonderry , † 29. March 1995 ibid) was. The vocals came from Maurizio Bassi , a producer from Milan , Italy , who also wrote the songs, but otherwise stayed in the background. Baltimora's biggest hit was Tarzan Boy in 1985 .

biography

Jimmy McShane trained as a dancer in London and got some small engagements in the theater and on television. Then he moved to Italy, where he performed as well, joining Dee D. Jackson's band as a background singer , who had a European hit in 1978 with Automatic Lover .

Baltimora's first single was Tarzan Boy . The title conquered the European charts in 1985 in the wake of the Italo-Disco wave and even became a top 20 success in the US pop charts , which was very unusual for an Italo-Disco act. The hit reached number 6 in the American Billboard Dance Charts. When the song was used in the 1993 film Turtles III (original title Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III ), it made it into the US pop charts again, this time at position 51.

The second single Woody Boogie was in the top 20 in Germany and Switzerland . Baltimora could no longer build on the success of Tarzan Boy .

McShane was gay . "Tarzan Boy" was therefore often used as a symbol for the gay movement. He died in 1995 of complications from AIDS . Maurizio Bassi continued to work as a producer, arranger and studio musician , a. a. for Eros Ramazzotti , Matia Bazar and Ricchi e Poveri .

Discography

Albums

• 1985: Living in the Background
• 1985: World Re-Mix
• 1987: Survivor in Love
• 2010: Tarzan Boy - The World of Baltimora

Singles

• 1984: Tarzan Boy
• 1985: Woody Boogie
• 1985: Living in the Background
• 1986: Juke Box Boy
• 1987: Survivor in Love
• 1987: Key Key Karimba
• 1987: Global Love (with Linda Wesley )
• 1987: Call Me in the Heart of the Night
• 1993: Tarzan Boy (Remix)

Awards for music sales

Golden record  France 1985: for the single Tarzan Boy  Canada 1986: for the single Tarzan Boy 1986: for the album Living in the Background  Spain 1984: for the single Tarzan Boy

Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.

Country / Region	silver	gold	platinum	Sales	swell
Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources)
France (SNEP)	-	gold1	-	500,000	infodisc.fr
Canada (MC)	-	2 × gold2	-	100,000	musiccanada.com
Spain (Promusicae)	-	gold1	-	25,000	mediafire.com
United Kingdom (BPI)	silver1	-	-	250,000	bpi.co.uk
All in all	silver1	4 × gold4th	-

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles UK US
2. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot Dance / Disco 1974-2003, ISBN 978-0-89820-156-7

literature

• Frank Laufenberg: Frank Laufenberg's Rock and Pop Lexicon Vol. 1 , ISBN 3-612-26206-8 .

Web links

• Baltimora at Allmusic (English)
• Baltimora at Discogs (English)
• Maurizio Bassi at Discogs (English)
• Biography at Taurus Press