Bobby Farrell, the frontman for Boney M, was found dead in his hotel room at the Ambassador Hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia on Thursday morning. He was 61.
Farrell's agent John Seine told Reuters "He did a show last night as part of Bobby Farrell's Boney M and they found him this morning dead in his hotel room. He did not feel well last night, and was having problems with his breathing, but he did the show anyway."
The cause of death is currently be investigated by the St. Petersburg branch of Russia's investigative committee.
Farrell was born on Aruba and, at 15, went to work as a sailor, eventually settling in Norway. He went on to DJ both in the Netherlands and, eventually, Germany.
In 1975, German singer Frank Farian recorded the song Baby Do You Wanna Bump under the name Boney M. When the song went on to become a hit in Europe, he needed to put together a group who could perform at shows and lip-synch to his recordings. After some initial changes in personnel, the final group was made up of Farrell, Liz Mitchell, Maizie Williams and Marcia Barrett.
The group's first album, Take the Heat Off Me, only included the voices of Farian, Mitchell and Barrett; however Farrell sang live at some of the shows. The album produced the singles Daddy Cool, which hit number one in five European countries, and Sunny (a cover of the Bobby Hebb hit) which did the same in three.
The group continued to have major hits for the balance of the 70's from their albums Love For Sale (containing Ma Baker and Belfast), Nightflight to Venus (Rivers of Babylon, Rasputin, Mary's Boy Child) and Oceans of Fantasy (Gotta Go Home). Overall, they had eight number ones in Germany, six in Austria and two in the U.K.
The band was also brought in to play shows in the U.S.S.R. in 1978, one of the few acts that were allowed to do so. That same year, there was some controversy over the fact that only two of the members sang on the recordings; however, all four performed in concert (as a side note, Farian would later go on to produce the recordings of the most notorious of lip synchers, Milli Vanilli).
Over the years, Farrell had become a liability to the group and, during the extended recording sessions for the album Boonoonoonoos during 1980 and 81, Farian finally got fed up and fired him from the group. That was followed in 1985 by the group splitting apart, although the original members would reform to record Greatest Hits of All Times - Remix '88.
Over the years, the various members have fronted new versions of Boney M with Farrell recorded under the names Boney M Featuring Bobby Farrell and Bobby Farrell's Boney M along with solo records under his own name.
VVN Music
