Bobby Farrell , the lead singer of the chart topping 1970s disco group 'Boney M', has died at the age of 61 while on a tour in Russia.
He was found dead in his hotel room in St Petersburg on Thursday , according to his agent John Sein.

‘The Daddy Cool’ singer was known for his flamboyant costumes and energetic dancing. Bobby Farrell had performed with his band on Wednesday. The ‘Life News” tabloid reports that Farrell felt unwell after a small fight during his show and later died of a heart attack.

The St Petersburg’s police said a “probe into his death is underway.”

Boney M has many hits to its credit like ‘The Rivers of Babylon’, ‘Rasputin’ ‘Sunny’ and ‘Bahama Mama’. Boney M songs personify the disco era of the 70s and 80s are still played whenever there is a disco night at a club, party or gatherings.

The original group was made up of Maizie Williams, Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell along with Farrell. The group was put together by German singer and song writer Frank Farian and Farrell joined in 1974. It is a well known fact that most of the studio recordings of the group were not done by all four singers of the group. Most of the time Farian replaced Bobbyy’s vocals with his own and other female singers were used. But all live performances were done by the group backed by back-up singers.

The group broke up in 1985 and Farrell chose to go single.

Boney M also has the distinction of the first western group invited by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev to perform in the USSR in 1978, although their song ‘Rasputin’ was banned in the Soviet union.

It is believed that Liz Mitchell was accompanying Bobby Farrell on this tour, but could not be reached by the media for her comment.

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