Milli Vanilli

Milli Vanilli
Fab Morvan (left) and Rob Pilatus (right) with NARAS president Mike Greene, February 1990
Background information
Origin	Munich, Germany
Genres	Contemporary R&B[1]
Years active	1988–1990 1997–1998
Labels	Arista Hansa
Spinoffs	The Real Milli Vanilli Rob & Fab
Past members	Fab Morvan Rob Pilatus

Milli Vanilli (/ˈmɪli vəˈnɪli/) was a contemporary R&B duo group from Munich, Germany, founded in 1988 by the producer Frank Farian.[2] The duo consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus.[3]

Milli Vanilli's debut album was All or Nothing in Europe and Girl You Know It's True in the United States. They achieved international success and earned a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1990.[4] They became one of the most popular acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with seven million records sold in the US alone and approximately 30 million singles internationally.[5]

Milli Vanilli attracted controversy when Farian confirmed that Morvan and Pilatus did not sing their vocals and lip-synced for performances. Their vocals were instead provided by Brad Howell, John Davis,[6] Charles Shaw, Jodie Rocco,[7] and Linda Rocco.[7][8] Their Grammy award was revoked.[9][10][11] In 1998, a comeback album, Back and in Attack, was canceled after Pilatus died.

In 1984, Rob Pilatus, from Munich, met Fab Morvan, from Paris, in Los Angeles at a disco and reconnected again in Munich.[11][13] They bonded over their experiences growing up in European cities;[14] Pilatus said, "Maybe it's because we're both black people who grew up in foreign cities that don't have too many blacks."[13] In Munich, they attempted to find work as backing singers, then formed their own act and recorded an album for a small German label that sold a few thousand records.[15] According to Pilatus, they struggled financially and lived in a housing project.[16]

The German music producer Frank Farian, who had previously created the disco group Boney M., invited Pilatus and Morvan to his Frankfurt studio to listen to a demo, "Girl You Know It's True".[15] They told him they could sing it. According to Pilatus, Farian said that he would make them multi-millionaires.[15] On January 1, 1988, the two signed a contract with Farian to record 10 songs a year.[14] They signed without understanding the terms and conditions.[15] As Farian was not impressed by their singing,[17] "Girl You Know It's True" was finished by studio performers—including Charles Shaw, John Davis, Brad Howell, and twin sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco[18]—in March and April.[15]

Farian named the duo after Milli, the nickname of his then-girlfriend Ingrid Segieth, and added "Vanilli" added to sound like the British band Scritti Politti.[19] In May, Pilatus and Morvan toured Spain, France and Italy, lip-syncing to the pre-recorded tracks and wearing spandex shorts, thigh-high boots and cornrow hair extensions.[20] According to Pilatus, Farian promised they would be allowed artistic input after they had done enough promotional work.[15]

"Girl You Know It's True" reached No. 1 on the German singles chart and No. 3 on the UK singles chart. It reached No. 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending 1 April 1989.[21] Farian wrote and produced most of the material on the album All or Nothing, released in Europe in November 1988. By December, Pilatus and Morvan had realized that neither of their voices would ever be heard on any Milli Vanilli tracks.[15] According to Pilatus, Farian told them he would "cover" for them and that "no one would find out". The duo went along with the plan as they had never had success before.[15]

All or Nothing reached the top 40 in several European countries and No. 1 in New Zealand. It originally reached No. 37 in the UK Albums Chart but was packaged together with The U.S.-Remix Album: All or Nothing in 1989 under the name 2×2 and reached No. 6. All or Nothing was subsequently expanded and repackaged as Girl You Know It's True for audiences in the US and released in March 1989. It was a major success, producing five singles, including the title track of the American version, that all entered the Top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100. Three singles, "Baby Don't Forget My Number", "Blame It on the Rain", and "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You", went to No. 1.[22]

In May 1989, Milli Vanilli performed at the first World Music Awards in Monte Carlo, where "Girl You Know It's True" was awarded Song of the Year.[23] In January 1990, Girl You Know It's True was certified six-times platinum by the RIAA after spending seven weeks atop the Billboard Top 200.[24] It spent 41 weeks in the Top 10 of the Billboard Top 200 and 78 weeks on the charts overall. It was also certified Diamond in Canada, denoting sales of over a million units there. Milli Vanilli won the Best New Artist award at the 32nd Grammy Awards and three awards at the 17th American Music Awards.[25] Rolling Stone named them "worst act of 1989" and Girl You Know It's True "worst album of 1989".[19]

When Milli Vanilli gave their first MTV interview, their limited English ability caused the crew to wonder if they had sung on their records.[26] In July 1989, Milli Vanilli performed on the Club MTV tour alongside Was (Not Was), Information Society, Paula Abdul, Tone Loc, Downtown Julie Brown and the Club MTV dancers.[27][28][29][30][31]

On July 21, during a performance on MTV at the Lake Compounce theme park in Bristol, Connecticut, a malfunctioning hard drive caused "Girl You Know It's True" to jam and skip, repeatedly playing the partial line "Girl, you know it's...".[32] Pilatus panicked and ran off stage; he said later he knew this was "the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli".[15] Brown ran after Pilatus and convinced him to finish the set. The audience appeared not to notice.[33]

In a March 1990 issue of Time, Pilatus was quoted proclaiming himself "the new Elvis", reasoning that by the duo's success they were more talented than Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney and Mick Jagger.[34] Morvan denied this in 2017, saying that Pilatus had never used those words and that the quote was taken out of context, likely due to Pilatus's lack of English skills.[35][19]

The American version of Girl You Know It's True credited the vocals to Morvan and Pilatus. This prompted Charles Shaw to reveal in December 1989 that he was one of the three vocalists and that Pilatus and Morvan were impostors. Farian reportedly paid Shaw $150,000 to retract his statements, though this did not stem the tide of public criticism.[36] On the 21 April 1990 episode of In Living Color, Keenen Ivory Wayans and Damon Wayans parodied Milli Vanilli in a sketch, mocking their accents, fashion sense, and dance moves.[37][38] On the talk show Late Night with David Letterman, David Letterman jokingly suggested alternative jobs for them.[19]

Because of growing public questions about who sang in the group, as well as Morvan's and Pilatus's demands to Farian that they be allowed to sing on the next album, on 14 November 1990, Farian announced that he had fired them and confessed that they did not sing on the records.[11][39] Confronted by Los Angeles Times reporter Chuck Philips, Pilatus confirmed the deception. "It's True: Milli Vanilli Didn't Sing", read the newspaper's headline on 16 November 1990.[11] "I feel like a mosquito being squeezed", Pilatus said. "The last two years of our lives have been a total nightmare. We've had to lie to everybody. We are true singers, but that maniac Frank Farian would never allow us to express ourselves."[11]

Arista Records dropped Milli Vanilli and deleted Girl You Know It's True from their catalog, making it one of the highest-selling albums ever to be deleted.[40] On 19 November 1990, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences revoked Milli Vanilli's Grammy award.[41] It is the only time a Grammy has been rescinded. The next day, Pilatus and Morvan gave a press conference in Los Angeles, where they stated their willingness to return their award. They said they had "made a deal with the devil", and sang and rapped for the room.[14]

Lawsuits were filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws against Arista Records, Pilatus and Morvan.[42][43] On 22 November 1990, in Ohio, lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit asking for refunds on behalf of a woman in Cuyahoga County who had bought Girl You Know It's True. It was estimated that at least 1,000 Ohio residents had bought the album.[42] On 12 August 1991, a proposed settlement of a refund lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois, was rejected. This settlement would have refunded buyers of Milli Vanilli CDs, cassettes, records, and singles. However, the refunds would only be given as credits for future Arista releases.[43] On 28 August, a settlement was approved refunding those who attended concerts and those who bought Milli Vanilli recordings.[44] An estimated 10 million buyers were eligible to claim a refund without returning the recordings.[44] The refund deadline passed on 8 March 1992.[45]

In December 1990, the British-Canadian singer-songwriter David Clayton-Thomas sued Milli Vanilli for copyright infringement, alleging that "All or Nothing" used the melody from his 1968 composition "Spinning Wheel" by his group Blood, Sweat & Tears.[46] In an interview from the 2023 documentary film Milli Vanilli, Pilatus and Morvan said they had accepted worked from Farian to escape poverty. The film, without describing them as innocent, points out that a great many people knew about the deception, but the singers became the scapegoats; the popular narrative was incomplete and misdirected at the two public faces of a much larger operation. In an interview about the film, Morvan said: "People thought they knew the story, but they didn't."[47][48]

Following the scandal, Farian formed a new group, the Real Milli Vanilli, with Davis and Howell as the singers. He reconfigured the songs planned for Milli Vanilli's second album as The Moment of Truth. It was never released in America.[49]

Pilatus and Morvan appeared in an episode of the animated series The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, produced before the scandal and first broadcast in January 1991.[50] They also appeared in a commercial for Carefree Gum which parodied their lip-syncing.[51] Pilatus told the L.A. Times that "when you make a mistake, sometimes humor is the best way to help you put it behind you".[50] Pilatus said he and Morvan were interested in becoming actors.[50] In 1993, Pilatus and Morvan released an album as Rob & Fab, which sold only 2,000 copies.[49][52]

Farian agreed to produce a new Milli Vanilli album with Morvan and Pilatus on lead vocals in 1997, leading to the recording of the 1998 Milli Vanilli comeback album Back and in Attack. Some of the original studio singers even backed the duo in their attempt to recover some of the fame that had been lost so quickly.[53]

In 1990, Pilatus was charged with sexual assault. In 1996, after he assaulted two people and broke into a car, he was sentenced to three months in jail and six months at a drug treatment facility in California.[54] Pilatus made several suicide attempts.[49] In late 1997, he entered drug rehabilitation in Germany.[49] That November, a Californinan judge issued a warrant for his arrest after he failed to attend a probation violation hearing; he had been charged with grand theft, felony forgery and four 1996 misdemeanors.[49] That December, Morvan said he was "going his own way" and had no relationship with Pilatus.[49] On the eve of the new album's promotional tour on 3 April 1998, Pilatus was found dead, aged 33, of a suspected alcohol and prescription drug overdose in a hotel room in Frankfurt, Germany.[55][56] His death was ruled accidental.[49]

Morvan spent the following years as a session musician and public speaker while working on writing and performing his new music. In 1998, he was a DJ at radio station KIIS-FM. During this period, he also performed at the station's sold-out 1999 Wango Tango festival concert before 50,000 people at Dodger Stadium. He spent 2001 on tour before performing in 2002 as the inaugural performer at the brand-new Velvet Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando, Florida. In 2003, Morvan released his first solo album, Love Revolution.[57]

In April 2011, Morvan released the single "Anytime" on iTunes.[58] In 2015 TMZ reported that Morvan was working on an album with John Davis, one of the original Milli Vanilli singers, called Face Meets Voice.[59] In 2016, he appeared in a documentary-style KFC commercial that focuses on his life and music career after Milli Vanilli.[60][61] Davis died on 24 May 2021 from complications of a COVID-19 infection.[62]

Morvan was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards due to be held in February 2026 for the audiobook of his memoir You Know It’s True: The Real Story of Milli Vanilli.[63]

In January 2014, the actual Milli Vanilli singers—Jodie Rocco, Linda Rocco, Charles Shaw, John Davis and Brad Howell—filmed an in-depth interview with the producers of Oprah: Where Are They Now for OWN TV.[64] The documentary Milli Vanilli: From Fame to Shame, directed by German Oliver Schwehm and produced by Hannah Lenitzki from Bremedia Produktion, was released in 2016.[65] Previous attempts to produce a film had all failed:

• On 14 February 2007, it was announced that Universal Pictures was developing a film based on the true story of Milli Vanilli's rise and fall in the music industry. Jeff Nathanson, a screenwriter known for Catch Me If You Can, was to write and direct the film. Morvan was supposed to serve as a consultant, providing his and Pilatus's point of view.[66][67] However, the project was never completed.
• In 2011, German director Florian Gallenberger declared that he was reviving the project and would be rewriting the script.[68][69]
• Director Bret Ratner attempted to make his version of a Milli Vanilli biopic, but the project was eventually canceled in 2021 after numerous Time's Up sexual harassment allegations against Ratner became public.[70] For this project, Morvan had sold his exclusive life rights to Ratner's production company RatPac Entertainment,[71] which is why Morvan could not be involved in any competing project in development.

On March 13, 2021, Variety announced a feature documentary was in the works directed by Luke Korem and produced by Korem, Bradley Jackson, Keep on Running Pictures and MRC. Korem said that "the truth of what happened is more bizarre than anyone knows...there are so many layers, characters, and twists that have never before been revealed".[72] On his Facebook fanpage, Fab Morvan announced on 4 July 2022 the new documentary film about Milli Vanilli in the works, which he was involved in.[73]

On June 1, 2023, it was announced Paramount+ had acquired the film.[74] It then premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 10, 2023.[47] The documentary film received positive critical reviews, including Variety calling it a "captivating and moving documentary" and that it "brings off something at once strategic, artful, and humane".[48] The Hollywood Reporter released the trailer on September 13, 2023, and the documentary had a global release on October 24, 2023.[75]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 100% of 24 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "With clarity and compassion, Milli Vanilli reframes one of pop's most infamous scandals as a sobering cautionary tale."[76] The documentary was selected as a critic's pick by both The New York Times and Variety.[77] Both The Telegraph and The Times gave the film four out of five stars.[78][79] Variety named Milli Vanilli one of the best documentaries of 2023.[80]

Between 2021 and 2022, Simon Verhoeven wrote and directed the biopic Girl You Know It's True, which was filmed in Munich, Berlin, Cape Town, and Los Angeles. The film was produced by Wiedemann & Berg Film, with Leonine as the theatrical distributor, due to be released in cinemas 2023.[81] The movie stars Tijan Njie and Elan Ben Ali as Pilatus and Morvan as well as Matthias Schweighöfer as Farian.[82] One of the executive producers is R&B music producer and performer Kevin Liles who composed the original version of "Girl You Know It's True" by his Baltimore DJ crew Numarx in 1986.[83] The film's North American premiere took place at the 2024 Berlin & Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco with Morvan in attendance. In June 2024, Vertical acquired North American distribution rights to the film, planning a day-and-date release on August 9, 2024.[84]

Milli Vanilli

• Fab Morvan
• Rob Pilatus (died 1998)

Session members

• Charles Shaw – vocals
• Brad Howell – vocals
• John Davis – vocals; died 2021
• Jodie Rocco[8] – vocals
• Linda Rocco[85] – vocals
• Frank Farian – producer; died 2024

• All or Nothing (1988)
• Girl You Know It's True (1989)

• The Moment of Truth (1991) (as the Real Milli Vanilli)

• Germany portal
• Pop music portal

• Coddington, Amy (26 September 2023). How Hip Hop Became Hit Pop: Radio, Rap, and Race (PDF). University of California Press. doi:10.1525/luminos.165. ISBN 978-0-520-38392-0.

• Coddington, Amy (August 2017). "Rap on the Radio: Making Hip Hop into Hit Pop, 1986-1994". Music - Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Virginia. doi:10.18130/V36N47. A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Music University of Virginia

• Warner, Andrea (6 March 2014). "Girl You Know It's True: The rise and fall of Milli Vanilli 25 years later". CBC/Radio-Canada. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
• "15 Outrageously Faked Musical Performances". Rolling Stone. 6 February 2014.
• "Milli Vanilli was tanked by a lip syncing scandal. Then music changed". The Independent .co.uk. 24 October 2023. Retrieved 1 November 2023.
• Reesman, Bryan (14 November 2020). "Opinion: 30 years after Milli Vanilli hoax was exposed, we owe them an apology". NBC News. Retrieved 1 November 2023.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Milli Vanilli.

• Park Rovers (18 February 2023). "The Milli Vanilli Lip Sync Incident • Lake Compounce July 21, 1989". youtube. Retrieved 1 November 2023.

Metadata

• Milli Vanilli Artist Arena: MTV
• Milli Vanilli Allmusic
• Milli Vanilli discography at Discogs
• Milli Vanilli at IMDb

Individual artists involved

• Frank Farian official website
• The Real Milli Vanilli official website
• John Davis Archived 6 June 2021 at the Wayback Machine official website
• Fabrice Morvan official website
• stories about Fab Morvan at the Los Angeles Times