Boy Meets Girl

After crossing paths while performing at a wedding celebration, Seattle natives George Merrill and Shannon Rubicam launched the pop duo Boy Meets Girl. Their self-titled 1985 debut included the single “Oh Girl,” yet it was their composition of two Whitney Houston smashes that cemented their reputation as songwriters. “How Will I Know” ascended to the summit of both the pop and R&B charts, and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody [Who Loves Me]” captured the Grammy for Song of the Year. Shifting focus back to Boy Meets Girl, the pair delivered Reel Life in 1988; “Waiting for a Star to Fall” climbed into the U.S. top five and reached number one across Europe, while follow-up “Bring Down the Moon” also registered on the charts. They completed the 1991 album New Dream, though it remained unreleased at the time. Throughout the 1990s Merrill and Rubicam concentrated primarily on outside songwriting, supplying hits to the U.K. dance-pop acts OTT and Girlthing. In 2003 they reactivated Boy Meets Girl for the independently issued Wonderground. The understated, engaging collection reflected on their history as soft-rock hitmakers, the end of their marriage, and their present circumstances. Two years later the duo issued fully remastered editions of Boy Meets Girl’s catalog, encompassing the previously unheard 1991 set New Dream.