What a Coincidence

Bobby Farrell, the frontman of the 1970s disco group Boney M, died on the same day as Rasputin- the subject of one his biggest hits.

Farrell, just 61, had performed in St Petersburg midweek but had complained of breathing problems before and after his show, according to his agent.  Staff at his hotel discovered him after he failed to answer a wake-up call.  Coincidentally, the date of his death, 29th December, was the same as Grigori Rasputin, the infamous Russian mystic who was an adviser of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, who died in 1916.

Rasputin was the name of a 1978 Boney M hit, reaching number two in the British charts.