German music producer Frank Farian “ founder of the disco band Boney M “ has died at the age of 82, according to his family.

They released a statement on Tuesday via Farians agency saying he had passed away at his home in Miami.

Boney M, which formed in 1976, had a string of hit singles including Daddy Cool, Rasputin and Rivers of Babylon.

Farian also went on to found the duo Milli Vanilli, who were involved in a lip-synching controversy.

He was born Franz Reuther in 1941 in Kirn, south-western Germany, and trained as a chef while also pursuing a musical career “ first as a singer and then as a producer.

He also worked with the likes of Meat Loaf and Stevie Wonder and is reported to have sold an estimated 800 million records worldwide.

In 1990, Farian was embroiled in a scandal surrounding Milli Vanilli when he confessed they had not sung on their records.

The duo - who scored a clutch of hits in the late 1980s “ later had their Grammy Award for best new artist revoked.

In 2022, Farian revealed he had undergone heart surgery and had a pig heart valve inserted, which he said saved his life. (BBC)