Bobby Farrell

Bobby Farrell
Bobby Farrell with Boney M
Background information
Birth name	Roberto Alfonso Farrell
Born	(1949-10-06)6 October 1949 San Nicolaas, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles
Died	30 December 2010(2010-12-30) (aged 61) Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
Genres	Pop, disco
Occupation(s)	Dancer, entertainer
Years active	1975–2010
Labels	Hansa Records, Sony-BMG
Associated acts	Boney M.

Roberto "Bobby" Alfonso Farrell (6 October 1949 – 30 December 2010) was a Dutch dancer and performer from Aruba, best known as the male member of the successful 1970s pop and disco group Boney M.

Farrell was born and raised on the island of Aruba in the Lesser Antilles. He left after finishing school at 15 and was a sailor for two years before moving to Norway. He then went to the Netherlands, where he found occasional work as a DJ before finding better opportunities in Germany.

In Germany, he worked mostly as a DJ until producer Frank Farian spotted him for his new Boney M. group. He became the sole male singer in the group, although Farian later revealed that Bobby made almost no vocal contributions to the group's records, with Farian himself performing the male parts on the songs in the studio. Liz Mitchell claimed that only she, Marcia Barrett and Farian had sung on the hit recordings. Farrell did, however, perform live in some of the various incarnations of 'Boney M', including the main 1970s incarnation. Farrell left the group in 1981, after clashes with Farian. He was replaced by Reggie Tsiboe. He re-joined in 1984, and continued as a member until it finally split in 1986.

Farrell's daughter Zanillya Farrell claims that Farian deprived Farrell of his rights over Boney M.'s hits, which caused her father to lose all his income after the band split.

When Dad asked Farian for 100,000 marks he was told to sign some papers. He signed away everything – image rights, royalties, the lot. My father lost everything. We had to move in with my grandmother in the Netherlands and live on welfare. After that, Dad started getting angry a lot. But Mum was very smart and realised if you own the name you can use it. Farian had not registered Boney M all over the world. So that’s why Dad could perform in certain countries.

He subsequently toured with his own group performing the band's hits under the name "Bobby Farrell's Boney M.". He also appeared as a dancer in late 2005 in the Roger Sanchez video clip of Turn on the Music.