Frank Farian, the dance music producer who found stardom with Boney M and earned notoriety as the mastermind of Milli Vanilli, died Tuesday at his home in Miami. His death was confirmed by Farian's publicists. He was 82 years old. Farian specialized in gaudy, glitzy disco, patenting a formula with Boney M's 1970s hits "Daddy Cool," "Rasputin," and "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord." Each of these songs was a cornerstone of Eurodisco but only "Rivers of Babylon" -- a number-one hit throughout the continent -- cracked the American Top 40, so he adapted his formula for the age of MTV with Milli Vanilli. Hiring a pair of models as frontmen for his studio singers, Farian kept his focus on big beats and melody, a standard practice for Farian that nevertheless created a huge controversy when it was brought to the spotlight by Los Angeles Times reporter Chuck Philips in 1990. The duo's Grammy for Best New Artist was revoked, sending Farian into a temporary silence that he'd later break by producing No Mercy, whose "Where Do You Go" became a Top Ten hit in 1996.
Frank Farian, Milli Vanilli mastermind, RIP
Frank Farian, Milli Vanilli mastermind, RIP
Frank Farian, Milli Vanilli mastermind, RIP
Frank Farian, the dance music producer who found stardom with Boney M and earned notoriety as the mastermind of Milli Vanilli, died Tuesday at his home in Miami. His death was confirmed by Farian's publicists. He was 82 years old. Farian specialized in gaudy, glitzy disco, patenting a formula with Boney M's 1970s hits "Daddy Cool," "Rasputin," and "Mary's Boy Child/Oh My Lord." Each of these songs was a cornerstone of Eurodisco but only "Rivers of Babylon" -- a number-one hit throughout the continent -- cracked the American Top 40, so he adapted his formula for the age of MTV with Milli Vanilli. Hiring a pair of models as frontmen for his studio singers, Farian kept his focus on big beats and melody, a standard practice for Farian that nevertheless created a huge controversy when it was brought to the spotlight by Los Angeles Times reporter Chuck Philips in 1990. The duo's Grammy for Best New Artist was revoked, sending Farian into a temporary silence that he'd later break by producing No Mercy, whose "Where Do You Go" became a Top Ten hit in 1996.