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MusicGermany

German music producer Frank Farian dies aged 82

January 23, 2024

Farian was known for producing the pop group Milli Vanilli and founding the disco outfit Boney M. Through working with numerous artists he sold more than 800 million records worldwide.

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A black-and-white portrait shot of Frank Farian
Frank Farian passed away at his home in MiamiImage: Karlheinz Schindler/dpa/picture alliance

German music producer Frank Farian died aged 82, his agency announced on behalf of his family on Tuesday.

He passed away peacefully at his home in Miami, Florida.

Farian achieved international success in the 1970s and sold more than 800 million records with various artists throughout his career.

The man behind worldwide hits

As the producer of Boney M., Farian was responsible for hits including "Daddy Cool," "Rasputin" and "Brown Girl in the Ring." The group sold more than 150 million records worldwide.

He would also work with the likes of Stevie Wonder and Meat Loaf.

Farian went on to found the duo Milli Vanilli, this caused one of the biggest scandals in music history when it was later revealed that the two performers did not sing themselves.

But he continued to foster new artists and produced music for years after the scandal had passed.

"The success was a huge surprise," Farian once told German news agency DPA.

"I had always thought I wouldn't make it. It didn't look like it at first," he once told the German Press Agency.

zc/wmr (dpa, AFP)