The German producer Frank Farian, a notorious figure in pop history, has died. Farian founded the hugely successful groups Boney M and Milli Vanilli, and he’s famous for the kayfabe practice of hiring models to lip-sync vocals that were recorded by session singers. The BBC reports that Farian recently died at home in Miami, according to his agency. No cause of death has been reported, though Farian received a heart valve transplant in 2022. Farian was 82.

Frank Farian was born Franz Reuther in the German city of Kirn. As a teenager, he changed his name to Frank Farian, formed a band called Frankie Boys Schatten, and released a 1964 single called “Shouting Ghost.” Farian eventually moved on to a solo career, and his cover of the Dickie Lee song “Rocky” was a big German hit in 1976. That same year, Farian recorded “Baby Do You Wanna Bump,” a disco version of a Prince Buster reggae classic, and released it under the name Boney M.

Quickly, Farian put together a group of West Indian performers to act as the front for his Boney M songs. Farian generally sang the actual vocals, as well as writing and producing the tracks. But Farian wouldn’t perform the songs or appear on the album covers; that was the models’ job. Boney M became hugely successful across Europe, and their giddy, shameless bubblegum take on disco has made them a huge cult favorite over the years. The group’s 1978 banger “Rasputin” lives on as a TikTok meme, and Lady Gaga quoted liberally from their track “Ma Baker” on her hit “Poker Face.” Boney M broke up in 1986, and frontman Bobby Farrell, who went broke after the group’s breakup, died of heart failure in 2010.

Frank Farian also produced for people like Meat Loaf, Eruption, Precious Wilson, and a rock supergroup called the Far Corporation. In 1988, Farian put together a group of Black American session singers to record a cover of “Girl, You Know It’s True,” a track from the Baltimore group Numarx that was starting to take off in German clubs. Once again, Farian hired telegenic singers to lip-sync those vocals. He recruited Frenchman Fab Morvan and German Rob Pilatus, who were trying to make it on their own as a singing act, and he called them Milli Vanilli.

Milli Vanilli quickly found global success. They synthesized trends that were starting to take off in rap and club music and put them in service of bubbly, effervescent dance-pop. Farian produced Milli Vanilli’s 1988 album All Or Nothing, and he co-wrote many of its tracks. Clive Davis signed the group to Arista, and All Or Nothing, reworked and retitled Girl, You Know It’s True came out in America in 1988. That album went platinum six times over, and it sent three singles to #1. Farian was a writer on two of them, “Baby Don’t Forget My Number” and “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You.” In 1990, Milli Vanilli won the Best New Artist Grammy.

Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus both wanted to sing their own vocals and to have some control over their own material, but Frank Farian wouldn’t let that happen — not even after an embarrassing stage incident where the duo’s backing track malfunctioned. A few months after Milli Vanilli’s Grammy win, Farian, tired of clashing with the group, fired both members and told the press that they hadn’t sung on the record. Morvan and Pilatus called a press conference and confirmed those reports, putting the blame on Farian. The public backlash was immediate. The Grammys rescinded Milli Vanilli’s award — the only time that’s ever happened — and Girl, You Know It’s True went out of print. Morvan and Pilatus’ attempts to rebrand as Rob And Fab and to sing their own vocals went nowhere. Rob Pilatus died of an overdose in 1998.

Frank Farian somehow escaped most of the Milli Vanilli backlash, and he found further success as a producer for the ’90s Euro-dance group La Bouche. He also founded a Latin pop act called No Mercy. Daddy Cool, a jukebox musical of Farian’s songs, opened on London’s West end in 2006. Farian’s legacy is somehow funny, tragic, and complicated all at once. He found great financial success, while the frontpeople who he hired often suffered the consequences of his deception. Still, Farian was responsible for some really, really good pop songs. Check out some of his work below.