The Marimba Solo That Carried a Band to Number Three

Starbuck's biggest hit has a marimba solo at its centre. The band formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1974 around keyboardist, vocalist and producer Bruce Blackman and marimba player Bo Wagner, and their debut single, “Moonlight Feels Right”, reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976, with a prominent marimba solo by Wagner.

Neither man was new to chart life. Blackman, Wagner and guitarist Johnny Walker had already had a Hot 100 hit in the summer of 1968 with “Mrs. Bluebird”, as members of the Mississippi sunshine-pop group Eternity's Children. Wagner had worked as a studio musician in Los Angeles in the early 1970s, appeared on The Lawrence Welk Show, and played drums for the pianist Liberace.

The follow-up never matched that debut, but the band did keep charting: “Everybody Be Dancin'” reached number 38 in 1977. From 1976 to 1980 they toured with acts such as Electric Light Orchestra, KC and the Sunshine Band, Hall & Oates, England Dan & John Ford Coley and Boston, and appeared on TV programmes including The Midnight Special, American Bandstand and Solid Gold. In the early 1980s they were briefly known as Korona and had one more Hot 100 hit, “Let Me Be”, which reached number 43 in April 1980.

Later chapters were quieter. Former members, including both founders, played Chastain Park in Atlanta in July 2013 and reunited for a final performance on 20 August 2016. Blackman told the story of the band in a 2018 book, The Road to Moonlight Feels Right, and in 2022 released an album of twelve new songs, recorded solo at his home in Atlanta under the Starbuck name. Wagner founded a performing arts school and later worked in health care for the entertainment industry as “Dr Bo”; he died in 2017 at the age of 72.