of work. Here they found that there was an audience for the performance of traditional Spanish music and dance in a form that was adapted to suit international tastes. The duo were spotted by Leon Deane, manager of the German subsidiary of record company RCA, whilst performing flamenco dance and traditional Spanish songs for mostly German tourists in the Tres Islas Hotel on the island of Fuerteventura. María, who was the only one who spoke English, served as a bridge between the promotion managers and the duo to reach an agreement. Deane invited them to Hamburg so they could do a voice test at the record company. He was the prime mover behind what became Baccara, developing their stage performance while recruiting their instrumental support. Mateos and Mendiola were retitled Baccara, after the name of the black rose, in reference to the women's dark Spanish appearance. Leon Deane is generally credited with the Baccara formula—consisting of breathy lyrics, lush backing, a disco beat and the striking image of two women (Mateos dressed in black, Mendiola in white) dancing. While drawing lightly on Spanish flamenco song and dance tradition, the formula was rooted in 1970s disco music. Baccara (1977–1981) Together with fellow writer Frank Dostal, Rolf Soja penned their début single "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and most of their other 1970s hits. Recorded in the Netherlands and released in 1977, "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" was an enormous pan-European hit and was a prime example of the phenomenon that is known as the "summer hit". It is also an example of the Euro disco genre, described in The Independent newspaper in 1999 as follows : This mind-bending Common Market melding of foreign accents, bad diction, bizarre arrangements and lightweight production, usually top-heavy with strings "Yes Sir, …" reached the top of the charts in Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Sweden, Belgium, and Switzerland, and number three in France. Baccara sold more than 16 million copies of "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie" and featured in the 1977 edition of the Guinness Book of Records as the highest-selling female musical duo to date. They were the first female duo to reach number one in the UK, and had the only number one by a Spanish artist in the UK until Julio Iglesias, four years later. Later that year, a self-titled album, written and produced by Soja and Dostal, was released. The album