Frank Farian was 82 years old. Here he is at a book release in Berlin in 2004.
Photo: FRITZ REISS / TT NEWS AGENCY
Boney M dominated the disco dance floors in the 1970s with songs like “Daddy cool”, “Ma Baker” and “Rivers of Babylon”. The group was fronted by artists from the Caribbean, but it was the German Frank Farian who held the strings, recruited the singers and wrote most of the songs.
It later emerged that frontman Bobby Farrell did not sing himself at all. Everything was pre-recorded.
Just over ten years later, Frank Farian did the trick again with Milli Vanilli. The two dancers Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan were recruited into a duo, which had a huge impact all over the world and, among other things, received the award for best newcomer at the American Grammy Awards in 1991.
But then the scandal broke. The singers had not sung at all themselves, they had only mimed to pre-recorded music. Pilatus and Morvan had to return their Grammy and had to run street races in the media. Rob Pilatus died in 1998.
Frank Farian later also worked with artists such as Far Corporation and Meat Loaf. Before his time as a producer, he was also a popular hit singer.
