Frank Farian

Frank Farian, born Franz Reuther (18 July 1941, Kirn, Germany — 23 January 2024, Miami, Florida) was a German songwriter, composer, producer, and vocalist. Founder of Far Music Production GmbH and IMP, owner of FAR Musikverlag and. He was most renowned for creating a disco-pop ensemble Boney M., pop band No Mercy, and controversial duo Milli Vanilli. Farian pioneered a now-commonplace practice of pop idols lip-syncing to pre-recorded ghost singers; after Milli Vanilli's infamous fallout, he launched several Eurodance projects in similar fashion, such as La Bouche and Le Click. Frank also managed Eruption in 1977, and the band's lead singer, Precious Wilson. In 1985, he established a producer's "supergroup" Far Corporation, briefly known as Frank Farian Corporation, which had a curious distinction as the first pop act that charted with a cover of Led Zeppelin's Stairway To Heaven, peaking at №8 in the UK Singles Chart. (Eight years later, in 1993, an Australian singer and TV presenter, Rolf Harris, likewise broke at №7 in UK charts with his take on Stairway To Heaven.)