








Bobby Farrell, frontman of the 1970s pop group Boney M, was found dead in his hotel bed in St. Petersburg on Thursday while on tour in Russia. He was 61.
Farrell was discovered by hotel staff after he failed to respond to a wakeup call. He had given a concert in St. Petersburg on Wednesday evening.
His agent, John Seine, said he had complained of breathing problems, but the cause of death has yet to be determined.
Boney M was put together by German singer and songwriter Frank Farian in 1974, and had a huge following in Europe, including the Soviet Union, in the 1970s.
Farrell, who was more a dancer and showman than a singer, was the male face of the group, which included three other West Indian session singers — Marcia Barrett, Liz Mitchell and Maizie Williams.
Farian had a hit with Baby Do You Wanna Bump? and created Boney M to support the song.
The group went on to have hits such as Daddy Cool, Sunny, By the Rivers of Babylon and a favourite in North America, Rasputin'.
Boney M had 38 top-10 hits, including 15 that hit No. 1 in Germany, where they were then based, including Brown Girl in the Ring and Mary's Boychild.
Farrell was born Alphonso Farrell on Oct. 6, 1949, in Aruba. He left home at 15 as a sailor, then worked as a DJ in Germany before being picked by Farian to front Boney M.
In 1978, Boney M was the first Western music group to perform in the Soviet Union. They sang for an audience of 2,700 Russians in Red Square after being invited by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev.
The original group broke up in 1986. Williams is also touring with a group referred to as Boney M.
Farrell had been performing as Bobby Farrell of Boney M with three female backup singers. He continued to perform Boney M hits, and a mixture of calypso and disco songs.
Farrell, who made his home in Amsterdam, had been scheduled to perform a New Year's Eve concert in Rome.
Richie's 1982 self-titled debut contained three hit singles: the U.S. #1 song "Truly," which launched his career as one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980s, and the Top Five hits "You Are" and "My Love." The album hit #3 on the music charts and sold over 4 million copies. His 1983 follow-up album, Can't Slow Down, sold over twice as many copies and won two Grammy Awards, including Album Of The Year, propelling him into the first rank of international superstars. The album contained the #1 hit "All Night Long," a Caribbean-flavored dance number that was promoted by a colorful music video produced by former Monkee Michael Nesmith.
Several more Top 10 hits followed, the most successful of which was the ballad "Hello" (1984), a sentimental love song that showed how far Richie had moved from his R&B roots. Richie had three more Top Ten hits in 1984, "Stuck on You" (#3), "Running with the Night" (#7) and "Penny Lover" (#8). Now described by one critic as "the black Barry Manilow," in 1985 Richie wrote and performed a suitably soothing theme song, "Say You, Say Me," for the film White Nights, winning an Oscar for his efforts as well as reaching #1 on the U.S. charts and staying there for four weeks, making it the #1 song of 1985 according to Billboard's year-end Hot 100 chart. He also collaborated with Michael Jackson on the charity single "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, another #1 hit.
In 1986, Richie released Dancing on the Ceiling, his last widely popular album, which produced a run of US and UK hits including "Say You, Say Me" (U.S. #1), "Dancing on the Ceiling" (U.S. #2), "Ballerina Girl" (U.S. #7), and "Se La" (U.S. #20), Richie's most recent U.S. Pop Top Twenty hit. The title selection was accompanied by a video directed by Stanley Donen, which drew inspiration from Royal Wedding,[citation needed] a 1951 Fred Astaire film Donen had directed. The critical consensus was that this album represented nothing more than a consolidation of his previous work, though Richie's collaboration with the country group Alabama on "Deep River Woman" did break new ground. By 1987, Richie was exhausted from his work schedule and after a controversial year laid low taking care of his father in Alabama. His father, Lionel Sr., died in 1990. Richie made his return to recording and performing following the release of his first greatest-hits collection, Back to Front, in 1992.
Since then, his ever-more-relaxed schedule has kept his recording and live work to a minimum. He broke the silence in 1996 with Louder Than Words, on which he resisted any change of style or the musical fashion-hopping of the past decade, sticking instead with his chosen path of well-crafted soul music, which in the intervening years has become known as Contemporary R&B.
Richie's albums in the 1990s such as Louder Than Words and Time failed to match the commercial success of his earlier work. Some of his recent albums, such as Renaissance, have returned to his older style and achieved success in Europe but only modest notice in the United States. Since 2004, he has produced a total of six Top 40 singles in the UK. On February 1, 2010, Richie made a remix of "We Are The World" in which Justin Bieber sings Richie's original part in the song. Lionel Richie is to tour Australia next year and is scheduled to perform at several winery events in March 2011.
In 2002, Richie's song "Running with the Night" was featured on the Rockstar North video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City though the song was removed from later versions of the game. In 2004, he appeared on Canadian Idol as his songs were featured during a Canadian Idol week.
Later in 2004, he also appeared on the British motoring television series Top Gear in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment where he was interviewed by host Jeremy Clarkson. During his lap, the Suzuki Liana he was driving lost a wheel due to hard cornering.
In November 2005, Lionel Richie performed with Kenny Rogers on a CMT Crossroads special. The show gave an informative insight into their friendship both in and out of the music world. Richie was also the headliner at a 2000 Fourth of July tribute concert with Fantasia Barrino at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On May 7, 2006, Richie performed on the main stage (Acura Stage) at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, replacing Antoine "Fats" Domino, who had fallen ill. Richie released his eighth studio album entitled "Coming Home" on September 12, 2006. The first single of the album was "I Call It Love" and was premiered in July 2006, becoming his biggest hit in the U.S. in ten years. The album was an incredible success for Richie in the United States, peaking at #6. His adopted daughter Nicole Richie stars in the music video for this track.
On December 9, 2006, Richie hosted and performed live on the British television show An Audience with Lionel Richie. Two months later, he performed "Hello" on the 49th Grammy Awards show.
On November 25, 2007, he made a surprise appearance on the Australian Idol grand finale performing "All Night Long (All Night)" at the Sydney Opera House. Richie donated to Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign.
On May 2, 2008, Lionel Richie was the 21st recipient of the George and Ira Gershwin Lifetime Achievement Award at UCLA's annual Spring Sing. In accepting the award, Richie said: "Forget about surviving 30 some odd years in the music business, Lionel Richie survived 27 years of Nicole Richie."On December 31, 2008, Richie performed in Times Square for the New Year's Eve celebration and ball drop. He also performed on the 2009 season finale for American Idol with Danny Gokey.
A new album, Just Go was released in spring 2009 - around the time Lionel confirmed there is to be a Commodores reunion in the near future.
On July 7, 2009, Richie performed "Jesus is Love" at Michael Jackson's memorial service.
On May 30, 2010, Richie performed at the National Memorial Day Concert in Washington D.C., singing "Stuck on You"and "America the Beautiful."Richie himself is from a military family.Richie helped to raise over $3.1 million for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. He was the featured performer at the Foundation's Soirée Bouquet, the annual spring gala.
Richie told the crowd that his grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her 80s, but survived and lived until she was 104 years old. He stated that she was his enduring symbol of hope and his reason for becoming a breast cancer activist.Year | Film | Role | Language | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2002 | Jayam | Sujatha | Telugu | Winner, Telugu Filmfare Award for Best Actress |
2003 | Praanam | Kathyayani / Uma | Telugu | |
Naaga | Telugu | |||
Jayam | Sujatha | Tamil | ||
2004 | Donga Dongadi | Vijji | Telugu | |
Aethiree | Priya | Tamil | ||
Monalisa | Monalisa / Spandana | Kannada | ||
Leela Mahal Center | Anjali | Telugu | ||
Varnajaalam | Abhirami | Tamil | ||
2005 | Avunannaa Kaadannaa | Aravinda | Telugu | |
Anniyan | Nandini Raghuram | Tamil | ||
Priyasakhi | Priya Santhanakrishnan | Tamil | ||
2006 | Chukkallo Chandrudu | Shravani | Telugu | |
Thirupathi | Priya | Tamil | ||
Mohini 9886788888 | Sumana | Kannada | ||
Veerbhadra | Chandramukhi | Telugu | ||
2007 | Janmam | Malayalam | Special appearance | |
Unnale Unnale | Jhansi | Tamil | ||
Classmates | Raaji | Telugu | ||
Shankar Dada Zindabad | Sandhya | Telugu | Guest appearance | |
Takkari | Priya | Telugu | ||
2008 | Novel | Priya Nandini | Malayalam | |
2009 | Love Khichdi | Sandhya Iyengar | Hindi | |
A Aa E Ee | Ramya | Telugu | ||
2010 | Click | Sonia | Hindi | |
Huduga Hudugi | Maya | Kannada | Guest appearance | |
Mylari | Anitha | Kannada | ||
2011 | Dil To Deewana Hai | Anamika | Hindi | Filming |
Puli Vesham | Tamil | Filming | ||
Naan Aval Adhu | Ashwini | Tamil | Delayed | |
Khalbali | Sheetal | Hindi | Delayed |
Starring: Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, Crystal Reed
Release Name: Skyline 2010 BRRip XviD Feel-Free asttas
Quality: 720×384, 1499 Kbps, AC3 5.1 Audio 384 kbps
Runtime: 94 minutes
Filename: Skyline.2010.BRRip.XviD.Feel-Free.avi