Farewell to Bobby Farrell

Alphonso 'Bobby' Farrell, one of the original members of Boney M, died December 30 in St Petersburg, Russia. The Associated Press reported that the Aruba-born singer was 61 years old.

Farrell was found dead in his hotel room. Staff went there after he did not respond to a wake-up call.

No cause of death was given, but Farrell's agent said he had recently suffered breathing problems. He had been performing as leader of Bobby Farrell's Boney M, a spin-off of the quartet that shot to fame in the 1970s with a string of disco hits.

Boney M, which was based in West Germany, also included Jamaicans Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett and Maizie Williams of Montserrat.

They rode the disco wave of the early and mid 1970s, to score with hits like Brown Girl In The Ring and By The Rivers of Babylon, a cover of a hit song by Jamaican rocksteady trio, The Melodians.

The group was massively popular in Europe but had a much smaller following in the United States.