Bobby Farrel of Boney M's Great Days Will Always Be Memorable
Who doesn't like the group ‘Boney M’? The group was one of the best musical groups, that captivated the world with their catchy tunes. I remember how this musical ensemble was so beloved in Ghana at the time that you could hear people singing "By the Rivers of Babylon" everywhere you went.
Roberto Alfonso Farrel, better known on stage as Bobby Farrel, was one of the members of the group, with three female members of the Boney M. He was born on October 6, 1949, in Aruba, a country in the southern Caribbean Sea that belongs to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
He moved when he was 15 years old, finished his studies, and then spent two years at sea before settling in Norway. After leaving the Netherlands, he went to Germany in quest of better opportunities. While there, he temporarily worked as a DJ.
Bobby Farrel's dance influenced a lot of individuals all around the world, especially those in the United States of America.
He was mostly a DJ in Germany before being discovered by producer Frank Farian for his new Boney M. group. Farian did the male parts on the tracks in the studio, although later admitting that Bobby had only a minor vocal role in the group's recordings. Bobby soon took up the role of the group's lone male singer.
According to Liz Mitchell, Marcia Barrett, and Farian were the sole singers on the well-known recordings. Nevertheless, Farrell did perform live in a few of the song's numerous iterations, including the most well-known one from the 1970s. Farrell left the band in 1981 after having conflicts with Farian. He was replaced by a musician from Ghana named Reggie Tsiboe.
He returned in 1984 and remained a part of the group until its dissolution in 1986. According to Zanillya Farrell, Bobby's daughter, also a musician who lives in Holland, Frank Farian rejected her father's attempt to obtain the songs of Boney M., which resulted in him losing all of his money when the band split up.
She asserts that "Farian required her father to sign some documents when he asked for 100,000 marks from him. Her father lost everything even though the fact that he handed away numerous rights, including image rights and income. In the Netherlands, we were compelled to live on welfare and relocate with my grandmother."
"After that, Dad became quite furious, but Mum who is very clever recognized you can use a name if you own it. The world database of Farian does not include Boney M. As a result, Dad was allowed to perform in many countries."
He and his band went on tour as "Bobby Farrell's Boney M," performing the band's hits. According to Bobby Farrel's daughter, he also appeared as a dancer in the Turn on the Music by Roger Sanchez video before the end of 2005. Zanillya is the daughter Bobby had with his wife, Macedonian Romani Jasmine Shaban. They split in 1995.
Bobby Farrel's gravestone (Daddy Cool) at Zorgvlied cemetery, in Holland
I am familiar with Bobby Farrell's area, Bijlmer, which is situated in the Gaasperdam neighborhood of the Amsterdam-Zuidoost district, where I lived there for five years. Bobby Farrell lived in the same neighborhood for several years.
His dance influenced a lot of individuals all around the world, especially those in the United States of America. The quartet's music will be sold in excess of 100 million copies. Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, are from Jamaica and Maizie Williams is from Montserrat.
On December 30, 2010, in the early hours of the morning, Bobby Farrel succumbed to heart failure in a hotel in Saint Petersburg. Farrell reportedly told his agent, John Seine, that he was having breathing problems after performing with his band the night before. Farrell didn't respond to an alert call, and a hotel staff supposedly discovered his death. He was buried in Holland's Zorgvlied cemetery. He was 61.
Belgian‑Ghanaian journalist Joel Savage writes the column “A Mixture of Periodicals.” A former member of the Flemish Journalists Association, he has contributed to the Weekly Spectator, Ghanaian Times, Daily Graphic and The Mirror.
Disclaimer: "The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect ModernGhana official position. ModernGhana will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements in the contributions or columns here."