Boney M's Bobby Farrell Dies In Russia On the Same Day as Rasputin

Farrell, 61, had performed in St Petersburg on Wednesday but had complained of breathing problems before and after his show. Staff at his hotel discovered him after he failed to answer a wake-up call.

Coincidentally, the date of his death, December 29, 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 however met a more brutal demise, as he was poisoned, shot four teams and thrown in the river before he eventually drowned.

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