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Milli Vanilli Information
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'Milli Vanilli' was a pop vocal duo composed of Fabrice Morvan (born May 14, 1966) and Rob Pilatus (June 8, 1965 “ April 2, 1998) that formed in Germany in the mid-1980s. They are infamous for being the only recording act to have their Grammy Award stripped from them in 1990 after it was revealed that they had not been involved in the creation of their breakthrough album, Girl You Know It's True, and instead had simply appeared on the album cover, and had lip-synched to pre-recorded studio singers in music videos and in concert.
Despite the scandal, the Milli Vanilli sound created by Frank Farian was ground-breaking in pop-music, as it combined (American) hip hop rhythms with Eurodance melodies. In fact, some of melodic influence in today's hip-hop may be attributed to the Milli Vanilli sound's influence.
The "Beginning"
Farian used Pilatus and Morvan to front a studio project featuring the vocal talents of Charles Shaw, Johnny Davis, and Brad Howell. Farian felt that those musicians were talented but unmarketable. The first Milli Vanilli album was All or Nothing (see 1988 in music). Despite critical pans, Milli Vanilli's fame continued to grow worldwide. All or Nothing was repackaged and retitled Girl You Know It's True for U.S. release, and spun four hit singles: the title track, and the group's three #1 hits, "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You", "Baby Don't Forget My Number", and "Blame It On the Rain". Milli Vanilli won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on February 22, 1990 for Girl You Know It's True (1990 in music).
The duo were a frequent target of jokes by late-night television host Arsenio Hall, whose lambasting of the group only increased as rumours and allegations of on-stage lip-synching and studio trickery circulated amongst the music media. Charles Shaw told a reporter the truth about Milli Vanilli, but he later retracted his statement after Farian paid him off. Pilatus was ridiculed in the press for comparing himself to Paul McCartney, Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, and Bob Dylan; he also developed a cocaine problem.
The Truth Unveiled
During a "live" performance recorded by MTV at the Lake Compounce theme park in Connecticut, the recording of the song "Girl You Know It's True" jammed and began to skip, resulting in one of the most embarassing moments in popular music history.
When Morvan and Pilatus pressured him to let them sing on the next album, Farian revealed the truth to reporters on November 15, 1990 that Morvan and Pilatus did not actually sing on the records and their voices were dubbed. Milli Vanilli's Grammy was withdrawn four days later, and Arista Records dropped the act from its roster and deleted their album and its masters from their catalog, making Girl You Know It's True the largest-selling album to ever be taken out of print. A court ruling in the U.S. allowed anyone who had bought the album to get a refund.
Farian released the group's second album under the name 'The Real Milli Vanilli', and the resulting LP Moment of Truth spawned two singles, "Keep On Running" and "Too Late (True Love)". The album included three of the original singers from All or Nothing/Girl You Know It's True: Brad Howell, John Davis, and Gina Mohammed, while replacing Brad Howe from the previous album with newcomer and Rob/Fab lookalike Ray Horton on four tracks. In addition, the album featured rapping from Icy Bro on "Hard As Hell" and Tammy T on "Too Late (True Love)". A single from this album by Diane Warren, "When I Die", was re-released by several other artists, including Farian's No Mercy.
The album experienced distribution problems with the BMG label, causing limited availability and low sales. Farian chose to re-record the album with Ray Horton singing all lead vocals, in 1992, as Try 'N' B. The US version (self-titled) included three additional tracks: "Ding Dong", "Who Do You Love", and a remake of Dr. Hook's "Sexy Eyes". The album received extensive distribution on RCA Records and was also released globally outside Europe, including Russia. The Russian version, titled Sexy Eyes, leaves off "Keep On Running", "Body Slam", "The End of Good TImes", "Nice 'N' Easy" from the US release and replaces them with "Cherish Your Love", "Keep On Pushing Me", "Family Affair", "Tell Me Why" and "Good Time".
The Ill-Fated Redemption
Insisting that they could sing their own music, Rob and Fab were signed to Kenny & Ricki Taylor's Joss Entertainment label to release their self-titled Rob & Fab album in 1993. The album featured all original songs, mostly written by Kenny Taylor and Fabrice Morvan, and a remake of Cheap Trick's "I Want You To Want Me". Lead vocals on the album were performed by Fabrice Morvan. Unfortunately, Pilatus' unstable mental state and several suicide attempts constrained the creative abilities of the duo.
There were many references to Milli Vanilli in the album, and the cover art was designed to look like previous Milli Vanilli albums in an attempt to play off previous popularity. Fewer than 3000 Rob & Fab albums were manufactured, significantly limiting availability to most markets. The album was never released outside the US. Following the album's lacklustre popularity, Pilatus began a series of criminal acts and was arrested for assault (including one man he attacked with a metal lamp base) and vandalism, among other crimes, in Los Angeles in 1995. He was sentenced to several months in jail in 1996, and began the first of several treatments in drug rehabilitation centers.
In 1997, Milli Vanilli had a chance to tell their side of the story of their musical fiasco in the premiere episode of VH1's Behind The Music. In April, Rob & Fab signed to Farian's studio again to record a new album using their own voices. Pilatus and Morvan took voice lessons from Mario Bellefonte, lead voice instructor for the Metropolitan Opera Company. They also received training from English pronunciation experts to perfect their language skills (the singers were chastised during interviews for the Girl You Know It's True album due to their thick German accents, which were obviously absent on the album tracks recorded by the studio singers). Pilatus continued to battle drug addiction during the album's creation, and Farian paid for his drug rehabilitation.
Tragic Epilogue
Rob & Fab began the promotional tour for their comeback album, Back and in Attack, on 3 April 1997. Exactly one year later, in 1998, and shortly before the new album's release, Pilatus was found dead from an alcohol and drug overdose in Frankfurt, Germany. He was 32.
Today, Fabrice Morvan is pursuing a solo career and released his first solo album, Love Revolution, in 2002. He also performs light alternative music in clubs throughout the U.S.
The word milli means "national" in Turkish, and was picked up by the artists while visiting Turkey on one of its national days.
Discography
| 'Year' | 'Title' | 'Label' | 'Chart positions' | | 1988 | All or Nothing | BMG | #6 UK | | 1989 | Girl You Know It's True | Arista | #1 US | | 1989 | All or Nothing [The US Remix Album] | Hansa | | | 1990 | Quick Moves: The Remix Album | Arista | #32 US | | 1991 | Moment of Truth | Hansa/BMG | |
Hit singles
* 1988 Girl You Know It's True #3 UK, #2 US
* 1988 Baby Don't Forget My Number #16 UK, #1 US
* 1989 All or Nothing #4 US
* 1989 Blame It On the Rain #1 US
* 1989 Girl I'm Gonna Miss You #2 UK, #1 US
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