Frank Farian obit

Frank Farian, creator of Boney M and Milli Vanilli, dies aged 82

German singer and producer behind hits such as Daddy Cool and Rasputin shaped the eurodisco genre and later steered Milli Vanilli to fame

 He was not on the list.

Frank Farian, the German singer, songwriter and producer behind eurodisco hit-machine Boney M, pop duo Milli Vanilli and numerous other chart-topping acts has died aged 82, his agency has announced.

Born Franz Reuther in Kirn, western Germany, he started his career as a solo musician, and enjoyed a hit with a schlager version of the country song Rocky in 1976. Around the same time, he came up with the idea for Boney M, a disco group of four West Indian singers and dancers that he masterminded.

The band charted worldwide with such songs as Daddy Cool (1976), Ma Baker (1977), Rasputin (1978) and Rivers of Babylon (1978) – Farian sang the deep-voiced male vocal parts in the studio, with Bobby Farrell the male face of the group who performed the songs live.

Farian later also produced the pop duo Milli Vanilli, who became embroiled in a major scandal when it emerged that they had merely lip-synced their hits’ vocals.

With an estimated 800m records sold worldwide, Farian was one of the most successful pop producers of the 20th century.

In April 1967, he released a cover of Otis Redding's "Mr. Pitiful" under the name "Frankie Farian". After signing a recording contract as a solo performer, he moved into pop and appeared on the TV programme Hitparade. In 1976, Farian's German-language cover of Dickey Lee's "Rocky" stayed at No. 1 for four weeks and received gold certification. His 1973 single "Was kann schöner sein?", a German language cover of the Lynsey de Paul/Ron Roker song "When you've Gotta Go", was listed as one of the Top 100 all time "Schlagerlieder" by German magazine "Popkultur"

In late 1974, he recorded "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" (a remake of Prince Buster's song "Al Capone" from 1967), released in 1976 as a single and on the album Take the Heat off Me under the pseudonym Boney M. He recruited a line-up which included vocalists Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett along with a front-man, Bobby Farrell, and a female dancer, Maizie Williams. Under the name Boney M., he achieved his biggest success in Europe as well as world-wide with songs including "Daddy Cool", "Rivers of Babylon", "Rasputin" and a remake of "Mary's Boy Child". As later with Milli Vanilli, Farrell did not actually sing; in performances, he lip-synced to Farian's own vocals.

Farian also started the supergroup Far Corporation (named after the first syllable of his last name), which featured Steve Lukather, David Paich, Bobby Kimball, Simon Phillips (all from Toto fame) and Robin McAuley. Far Corporation were the first act to chart with a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven"; their cover was a top 10 hit in the UK, reaching number 8 in October 1985.

In 1986, Farian produced and mixed the Meat Loaf album Blind Before I Stop. He also sang backing vocals on the album's lead single, "Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries", which was credited to Meat Loaf featuring John Parr.