Frank Farian - Biography

Biography

In the early days of his career, Farian was keen to attain success as a solo artist but made little impact on the popular music scene until his song "Baby Do You Wanna Bump" (a remake of Prince Buster's song "Al Capone" from 1967), published under the pseudonym Boney M., became successful. Shying away from the spotlight, he hired performers to front for public performances. The lead vocals for songs on Boney M. albums were sung by Farian, Marcia Barrett and Liz Mitchell, who quickly became synonymous with the group. Boney M.'s frontman, Bobby Farrell, was only allowed to record vocals in the 1980s (although all four members of the group did sing live for all their concert tours). Bobby Farrell was fired from the group in 1981.

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 and Robin McAuley, many of Toto fame. Far Corporation is notable for being the first act to chart with a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", barely making the charts in the US, but becoming 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 first single from the album, "Rock 'n' Roll Mercenaries", which was credited to Meat Loaf featuring John Parr.

In 1990, he admitted orchestrating the events which led to the Milli Vanilli scandal, a musical equivalent of ghostwriting. As a producer, he had assembled a group from German session musicians, fronting it with two visually attractive dancers. The story broke when Farian confirmed to the press that someone else had sung on the records.

Some other groups that Farian has been involved with are Eruption (he became a manager in 1977) and No Mercy. Following the Milli Vanilli controversy, Farian went on to develop similar Eurodance groups La Bouche and Le Click.

On the 15 August 2006, the musical Daddy Cool opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End. The line-up included Michelle Collins, Michael Harvey, Javine Hylton and singer/songwriter Darvina Plante. The £3 million show was produced by Farian and Robert Mackintosh. The story, written by Stephen Plaice with Amani Naphtali, is predominantly based on the songs of Boney M., but also features songs by Milli Vanilli and No Mercy. A second show opened on 23 April 2007 in Berlin, Germany. Tour in Holland and Belgium (September 2011 - January 2012).

Also in 2006, Farian was credited as co-writing a new song, entitled "Doin' Fine", with British producers, Nathan Thomas and Carl M. Cox. (Other writers involved in this song were, Chris Rudall, Baz Qureshi, Peter Wilson, Chris Richards and George Reyam). Described as paying tribute to the 'sound' of Boney M., the song was essentially a brand new composition, which featured the string arrangement from Boney M.'s 1976 Number 1 hit, "Daddy Cool". The song was recorded by Australian pop singer, Peter Wilson. It was initially released in the UK in its extended format, entitled "Daddy's Cool 12" Mix", on 16 April 2007 on the album, Mad About the Boy, where it charted at Number 1 on Euro Dance Hits, EuroNRG Top 40 in May 2007. The original version of "Doin' Fine" featured on Peter Wilson's debut album, Follow Me, which was released in the UK on 8 October 2007. The song was also recorded in 2008 by Amanda Lear. Other projects: Les Falcons, Benny, Gilla, La Mama, Precious Wilson, Chilli, Gift, Daniel Lopes, Daddy Cool Kids, Norissa, ZZ Queen etc.