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Milli Vanilli
1988-1991
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Artistfacts:
| Milli Vanilli is Turkish for "Positive Energy." They needed as much of it as they could get. |
| Pilatus grew up in Munich, Germany. He was the son of a German exotic dancer and a US soldier. |
| Morvan was born in Guadeloupe, but grew up in Miami and Paris. He was an aspiring athlete until a neck injury sidelined him. |
| Rob and Fab met in an LA dance club, moved back to Munich and made money by appearing in videos and working in a post office. Producer Frank Farian, whose group Boney M sold millions of records worldwide, set them up to bring some of his musical creations to life. He used them only as the face, not the voice, for the songs. |
| In 1989, before they were exposed, Rapper Charles Shaw declared that Rob and Fab were frauds, but was reportedly paid a tidy sum of money to retract his statement. |
| Farian made an announcement on November 14, 1990 that Rob and Fab had never sung a note on any Milli Vanilli record. Five days later, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences retracted their Best New Artist Grammy, the first time a Grammy had been taken back. |
| In 1991, Farian released a record from "The Real Milli Vanilli," which featured vocals from Brad Howell and John Davis, who had performed the actual vocals on many of Milli Vanilli's hits. |
| In 1993, Pilatus and Morvan released a record as Rob and Fab. They performed a song from it on The Arsenio Hall Show, but It was a complete flop. According to one source, only 3000 copies were even pressed. |
| Pilatus died in 1998 after overdosing on a combination of drugs and alcohol. He was 32. (thanks to Brad Wind - Miami, FL for all above) |
| Milli Vanilli was the subject of one of the first episodes of VH1's Behind The Music. They produced it shortly before Pilatus died, and had to change the ending as a result. |
| The group sold over ten million records worldwide over the course of their career. |
| Pilatus had attempted suicide once before, in 1991, after a romantic breakup and the failure of his career. |
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Comments:
| I agree,they did have minds of their own and could have told Frank Farian to kiss their butts,but we still can't blame Rob and Fab for everything.They wern't the only lip syncers in the 80's,just the ones who got the wistle blown on them.i think the media blew it out of prportion because many people were in the dark about so mnay lip syncers there really were.(and maybe their wasn't any new,mind blowing stories out there at the time)I'm not taking up for these guys,but I don't point my finger soley at them. - jessica, newton, NC |
| guys i think u over reacting,the whole matter got too far. it was just a human mistake of 2 adult people. and hey mistakes are human. everybody say lies every day big or small.They just had to admit it and apologised. In nobody deserve this humiliating treatment.The press is like a monster who shallow you slowly...any famous person know that well. Press is responsible for the death of princess diana and so many other cases. people u should be stronger! - thora, athens, Greece |
| Teresa, don't forget: these guys (supposedly) had brains of their own. No one was holding a gun to their heads forcing them to stick around & release fake albums. They were adults, they had a CHOICE; they could have said to Frank Farian "hey man, up yours." Millions of people adored these guys and spent so much money on their records. They LIED to the entire world. The fact that you're saying crap like "who cares whether these guys sang the songs" and "they were gorgeous!" just shows how shallow you are. You're right about one thing, though...they WERE Milli Vanilli...and Milli Vanilli were complete FRAUDS. - K, Toronto, Canada |
| Joe I have to agree with Kelly. The other bands that you listed actually sang their vocals. In the case of the Monkeys though, they didn't play their own instruments, at least at first. - Stefanie, Rock Hill, SC |
| Well, the difference is that the artists you have listed actually performed the vocals on the records they sell. Although they often lip sync for public performances (which is lame beyond belief, don't get me wrong) they are still lip syncing to their own voices.
Maybe Milli Vanilli should have marketed themselves as a dancing duo.... - Kelli, Cedar Rapids, IA |
| Why is this story any different to the countless other manufactured pop stars.. or artists caught out miming.. in the history of music?
(Do the names Stock Aitken Waterman, Spice Girls, Ashlee Simpson, Betty Boo, and the original pre-fab four: The Monkees, ring any bells?)
Sad that a man lost his life over it though. - Jo, Newcastle, Australia |
| blame the record company, not the the two fakes, hell, they were rakin' in cash. and i would probably do the same thing. the producer was an idiot for doing what he did. the album is really not that bad is it? it sold 30 million copies didn't it? - ass, holy waters, UT |
| Who cares whether these guys sang the songs themselves? They WERE Milli Vanilli, their videos were great, the music was fun and they were gorgeous. The way the press hunted them down like dogs, ultimately driving Rob Pilatus to suicide, was absolutely obscene. They should have gone after the "inventor" of the whole fraud, producer Frank Farian. - Teresa, GijÃ?n, Spain |
| OK, I suppose this whole thing should bother me more than it does or ever has, but I don't know... I liked their recordings and I thought their videos were pretty cool. The fact that the guys who appeared on stage and in the videos didn't sing on the recordings didn't change that I thought their dancing was cool or that the recordings were excellently produced, well sung, and fund to listen to. - NickC, Ft. Wayne, IN |
| pilatus and morvan appeared in a bubblegum commercial after they exposed as frauds as an atempt to revive their careers. - rod, davao city, Other |
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