Boney M frontman Bobby Farrell dies, aged 61
Bobby Farrell, the lead singer of Boney M, the chart-topping 70s group, has died while on tour in Russia aged 61, his agent has said.
John Seine says Farrell was found dead in his hotel room in St Petersburg today by hotel staff after he failed to respond to a wake-up call.
Seine said Farrell performed as scheduled on Wednesday night, but complained of breathing problems before and after his show.
He was leading a group called Bobby Farrell and Boney M, with three women back-up singers.
The original Boney M, which was based in Germany, disbanded in 1986 after scoring Europe-wide hits with “Daddy Cool” and “By the Rivers Of Babylon”.
Farrell was born Alfonso Farrell in Aruba and lived in Amsterdam.
Farrell, who lived in Amsterdam, was more a dancer and showman than singer when he headlined Boney M in the 1970s.
Their version of “By the Rivers of Babylon” sold nearly two million records in Britain alone in 1978, keeping it number one for five weeks.
Alphonso “Bobby” Farrell left his home on the Caribbean island of Aruba at 15 to work as a sailor, then drifted to Norway and Germany to pursue a career as a DJ, according to his official biography.
He was chosen in 1974 to front the Caribbean group Boney M, put together by German singer and songwriter Frank Farian, who did much of the recorded singing.
Boney M had 38 top-10 hits, including 15 number ones in Germany. They included “Brown Girl in the Ring” and “Mary’s Boychild”.
In 1978 Boney M was the first Western music group invited by a Soviet leader, Leonid Brezhnev, to perform in the Soviet Union. A Soviet military plane flew the performers from London to Moscow, where they sang for an audience of 2,700 Russians in Red Square.
The original group of Farrell and three women broke up in 1986 and Farrell continued on his own or with various female back-up singers, maintaining his flamboyant style and glittering costumes. In recent years he toured under the name Bobby Farrell’s Boney M, melding disco and Calypso music.
Seine said the cause of death was not known, but Farrell had suffered health problems off-and-on for 10 years.
