The Milli Vanilli hoax is extremely fascinating to me. I stumbled across it a few years ago by accident, I had a lot of down time during college so I’d do a lot of research about politics and the dark side of Hollywood and the music industry.
In this post I want to take it back to the late 80’s and discuss the hoax that rocked the music industry.
Milli Vanilli were a German pop duo founded by German producer Frank Farian in 1988. The group members were Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, their most notable single was Girl you know it’s true.
Fab Morovan originally from France and Rob Pilatus originally from Germany were two dancer- models who hadn’t yet found their success, they met in Munich on the dance scene. Fab and Rob met Frank Farian on a trip to turkey and Milli Vanilli was born.
Frank Farian had an entire album written and recorded but the singers weren’t marketable enough. Farian wanted a fresh face for the music, recruiting Rob and Fab while the real voices stayed behind the scenes.
Fab claimed that the two were given an advance before signing the contract, Farian later told the duo that the contract stated that they had to lip sync to prerecorded music and if they did not comply they would have to pay back the money they had already spent, the two initially agreed to this entrapment hoping they could pay the money back so they could leave the group.
Their debut single Girl you know it’s true was released in 1989 and gained worldwide success, the song also appeared on their American debut album with the same name and their European album All or nothing. Their new found success made it difficult for the duo to leave the group.
The pair certainly looked the part but were met with scepticism, they were suspected of lip syncing in 1989 when the backing track began to skip during a performance which resulted in Rob running off the stage, they were also suspected of lip syncing due to their poor English skills. Charlie Shaw one of the real voices came forward exposing the two for not being the voices on the album but later recanted his statement when Farian paid him off.
Fab and Rob went on to win a Grammy for best new artist in February 1990.
Fab and Rob urged Farian to let them sing on their next album which Farian of course didn’t want. The two demanded Farian to let them sing or to come clean, so in November 1990, Farian admitted to reporters that the European pair were not the voices behind the music. Rob and Fab were stripped from their Grammy thus came their downfall.
27 Lawsuits were filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws against Arista Records and Fab and Rob, they were dropped from their label Arista Records and their discography was deleted from their catalogue. In 1991 a court issued that those who attended a Milli Vanilli concert and purchased their recordings would be refunded, 10 million customers were eligible for a refund even being able to keep their refunded record.
The real voices behind Milli Vanilli released an album but were not met with the same success as Fab and Rob.
In 1997 Farian agreed to produce Fab and Rob once more; but this time they would be using their own voices, some of the original Milli Vanilli members came back to back their performances.
Unfortunately Rob Pilatus encountered some personal problems during production he turned to drugs and crime and was arrested for attempted assault and armed robbery, he was sentenced to six months in jail and three months in a rehabilitation centre, Fab paid for Rob’s bail and his rehab. Sadly Rob Pilatus died of an accidental overdose on the day of their promotional comeback tour in 1998. The tour was cancelled and the recordings were destroyed.
Fab Morvan now has a solo career, he released an album in 2003 called Love revolution dedicating It’s your life to Rob Pilatus. Fab also has a career as a DJ.
Frank Farian produced the musical Daddy cool on west end in 2006, the songs were based on the songs of Boney M a musical group created by Farian, Farian was the voice behind the group and in Farian style: found performers to be the front men/women for the group it was no secret that Bobby Farrell the “lead vocalist” wasn’t doing any of the singing unlike the Milli Vanilli Scandal. The musical also features songs by Milli Vanilli and No Mercy another band produced by Frank Farian. A second show was opened in Berlin and Germany, the show also toured in the Netherlands from 2011-2012, Spain in July 2012, Switzerland from November 2015- January 2016 and had an anniversary tour in Germany 2016.
Everyone involved in this scandal excluding Frank Farian of course, got the shit end of the stick, these two European models were looking for fame but unfortunately signed a deal with the devil, the original voices wanted to be heard but were told that they weren’t marketable enough, imagine not being able to showcase your talent due to not being attractive enough or being too attractive so you’re not being taken seriously. It’s sad how all of this ended but perhaps it will show others to not trust everyone in the music industry and to really read contracts fully.
Lena Turtle 