Frank Farian (born Franz Reuther in Kirn, Germany, on 18 July 1941; died in Miami, Florida, on 23 January 2024) was a German schlager singer and record producer who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the dance music groups Far Corporation, the Latin pop band No Mercy, and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequently created vocal groups in which the publicised members merely lip-synced to songs sung by session members. Farian owned the record label MCI and several subsidiaries. Over the course of his career, Farian sold over 850 million records and earned 800 gold and platinum certifications. In April 1967, he released a cover of Otis Redding's "Mr. Pitiful" under the name "Frankie Farian". After signing a recording contract as a solo performer, he moved into pop and appeared on the TV programme Hitparade. In 1976, Farian's German-language cover of Dickey Lee's "Rocky" stayed at No. 1 for four weeks and received gold certification. His 1973 single "Was kann schöner sein?", a German language cover of the Lynsey de Paul/Ron Roker song "When you've Gotta Go", was listed as one of the Top 100 all time "Schlagerlieder" by German magazine "Popkultur". He went on to found the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the dance music groups Far Corporation, the Latin pop band No Mercy, and the pop band Milli Vanilli. Following the Milli Vanilli controversy, Farian developed similar Eurodance groups La Bouche and Le Click. He also produced the 1997 version of "Tic, Tic Tac" by Chilli Feat. Carrapicho. Some other groups Farian was involved with include Eruption (whom he managed in 1977), singer Precious Wilson and Latin pop band No Mercy based in Germany. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Frank+Farian">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.