Milli Vanilli

Milli Vanilli
Country	Germany
Years active	1988–1990
Genres	Dance, Pop
Labels	Hansa Records, BMG, Arista Records
Members	Fab Morvan, Rob Pilatus

Milli Vanilli was a pop and dance music ensemble formed by Frank Farian in Germany in 1988 and fronted by Fab Morvan (b. May 14, 1966) and Rob Pilatus (June 8, 1965 – April 2, 1998). The group’s debut album achieved high sales internationally and garnered them a Grammy award for Best New Artist in 1989. However, their success turned to infamy when the award was revoked after it was revealed that the purported singers did not actually sing on the record.

Beginning

Farian chose Pilatus and Morvan to front a studio project featuring the vocal talents of Charles Shaw, John 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, remixed and retitled Girl You Know It’s True for its 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 the 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 rumors 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

Public backlash

In July 1989, 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, repeating the line “Girl, you know it’s-” over and over. This was not unusual, as many popular artists used the same technique. The fame of this event may have been amplified by the fact that the word “true” was poetically omitted by the whim of the playback device. This was a prime example of the kind of happenstances that could make Milli Vanilli poster boys for the entire range of misrepresentation in the music industry.

Unlike the international release of All or Nothing, the inserts for the American version clearly attributed the voices on the album to Morvan and Pilatus, “brothers of soul”. Due to rising public questions regarding the source of talent in the group, as well as the insistence of Morvan and Pilatus to Farian that they be allowed to sing on the next album, Farian confirmed to reporters on November 15, 1990, that Morvan and Pilatus did not sing on the records. As a result of American media pressure, Milli Vanilli’s Grammy was withdrawn four days later (however, their three American Music Awards were never withdrawn due to the fact the organizers felt the awards were given to them by music consumers^[1]), 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. (Record stores were also not allowed to return copies of the albums to Arista, and many used stores completely refused to buy copies of the album from others.)

After the details emerged, at least 26 different lawsuits^[2] were filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws against Pilatus, Morvan and Arista Records. One such filing occurred on November 22, 1990 in Ohio, where lawyers there filed a class action lawsuit asking for refunds for at least 1,000 local citizens who had bought Girl You Know It’s True.^[3] On August 12, 1991, a proposed settlement to a refund lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois was rejected. This settlement would have refunded buyers of a Milli Vanilli CD $3.00 (USD), a cassette or L.P. $2.00 (USD), and a single $1.00 (USD). However, the refunds would only be given as a credit for a future Arista release.^[2] On August 28, a new settlement was approved. The same pricing structure was approved, along with a $2.50 (USD) refund to be given for concerts. A proof of purchase or ticket stub was required to take advantage of the refunds.

A Detroit radio station offered to give the first 1000 people who showed up with a copy of the album a shirt saying “Screw Milli Vanilli”.

Follow-up albums

Keep On Running (Second Album)

The material for Milli Vanilli’s second album had been recorded and finalized in spring 1990. In the autumn, the first single, “Keep On Running”, was released for radio play, shortly before Farian revealed the truth about Milli Vanilli.

Farian was forced to reveal his secret because Morvan and Pilatus would not go on promoting the second album.^{[citation needed]} The public had received the single with enthusiam, and it would have been another hit for the group, as indicated by unusually high chart entries in countries like Germany. At the last minute, Farian had the artwork to the second Milli Vanilli album changed to depict the actual singers instead of Morvan and Pilatus, changed the album’s title from Keep on Running (the name had been meant to correspond with the first single), and changed the artist name to The Real Milli Vanilli. However, the graphic artist who performed the change forgot to update the album cover’s spine, so anyone with the second album still has the original artist and album name on the spine (“Milli Vanilli – Keep On Running”).

The resulting album, released in Europe in early 1991, was renamed The Moment of Truth and spawned three singles, “Keep On Running,” “Nice ‘n Easy” and “Too Late (True Love).” A Morvan / Pilatus lookalike named Ray Horton was depicted on the cover and provided vocals on four tracks. In addition, the album featured rappers Icy Bro on “Hard As Hell” and Tammy T on “Too Late (True Love).” A Diane Warren-penned song, “When I Die,” has been covered by several other artists, including Farian’s No Mercy.

Rob & Fab

For the American market, Farian chose to avoid any association to Milli Vanilli and had the tracks re-recorded with Ray Horton on the majority of lead vocals. In 1992, RCA signed on to release the album as the debut of the newly created group Try ‘N’ B. The self-titled release included three additional tracks not on The Real Milli Vanilli release: “Ding Dong,” “Who Do You Love”, and a remake of Dr. Hook’s “Sexy Eyes.” Due to significantly better sales under the name Try ‘N’ B in America, a slightly modified Try ‘N’ B debut album was released globally.

Meanwhile, Morvan and Pilatus moved to Los Angeles and signed to the Joss Entertainment Group, where they recorded their follow-up album under the name Rob & Fab. Almost all the songs on the album were written by Kenny Taylor and Fabrice Morvan. Morvan provides the lead vocals, while Pilatus presents self-written rap punch-ins. Morvan’s voice was considered by critics to be overly nasal and whiney. Due to financial constraints, Joss were only able to release the album in the U.S., the most critical of all markets to Milli Vanilli. A single, “We Can Get It On”, was made available for radio play shortly before the album’s release.

Attempted comeback

In order to restore their career and prominence after a series of failures, Farian agreed in 1997 to produce a new Milli Vanilli album with Morvan and Pilatus on lead vocals. On Farian’s tab, the performers took extensive vocal training to enhance their singing voice and went to elocution experts to improve their English pronunciation. This all led up to the recording of the 1998 Milli Vanilli comeback album Back and in Attack.^[4] Even some of the original studio singers backed the performers in their attempt to bring back some of the fame that had been shed so quickly.

However, Pilatus encountered a number of mental roadblocks during the production of the new album. He turned again to drugs and a life of crime, committing a series of robberies and ultimately serving three months in jail in California. Farian paid for Pilatus to attend six months of drug rehabilitation and plane tickets for him to fly back to Germany. On the eve of the new album’s promotional tour on April 2, 1998, Pilatus was found dead of a drug overdose in a Frankfurt hotel at the age of 32. The record was never released.