Milli Vanilli
Encyclopedia
Milli Vanilli was a pop
/dance music
project formed by Frank Farian
in Germany
in 1988, visually fronted by Fab Morvan
and Rob Pilatus
. The group's debut album achieved international success and earned them a Grammy Award
for Best New Artist
on Feb. 21, 1990. Milli Vanilli became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, their success turned to infamy when their Grammy was revoked after it was revealed that the lead vocals on the record were not the actual voices of Morvan and Pilatus.
The material intended for Milli Vanilli's second album was released under the names of the actual singers, dubbed "The Real Milli Vanilli
". Although Morvan and Pilatus later released an album using their actual voices, it was a commercial failure. On the eve of a potential comeback tour in 1998, ten years after Milli Vanilli's initial debut, Rob Pilatus was found dead in a Frankfurt
hotel of an apparent drug overdose. Fab Morvan went on to pursue a solo career with mixed results.
, John Davis, Brad Howell, and twin sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco; however, he felt that those singers lacked a marketable image. He then recruited Robert Pilatus
and Fabrice Morvan
, two younger model/dancers he found dancing in a Munich dance club, to front the act. Milli Vanilli's debut album All or Nothing
was released in Europe in mid-1988, with Rob and Fab's pictures on the front and center of the albums, but no mention of who actually sang the songs. The success of the record caught the attention of Arista Records
who signed the duo. Arista deleted several tracks from the original album, added several new ones (including a new track written by Diane Warren
, "Blame It on the Rain
"), remixed many of the tracks and renamed the album to Girl You Know It's True
for release in the American
market in early 1989.
This version of the album went six times platinum
and led to the re-release of the title track
, which peaked at number 2 on the Hot 100 in April of that year and was certified platinum. (The song was a cover version of a Numarx track published in 1987 on the US Bluebird label.) The U.K. release featured the original first album and the remix album together as "2 X 2
". Even greater commercial success followed, as the pair's next three singles "Baby Don't Forget My Number
", "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You
" and "Blame It on the Rain
" all reached number 1. A fifth and final single "All or Nothing
", also made the Top 5 in the beginning of 1990 in a remixed form which sampled the "Keep On Movin'" beat from UK soul act Soul II Soul
. Milli Vanilli's meteoric rise to pop music superstardom culminated with a Grammy Award
for Best New Artist on February 22, 1990.
at the Lake Compounce
theme park in Bristol, Connecticut
. As they performed onstage live in front of an audience, the recording of the song "Girl You Know It's True" jammed and began to skip, repeating the partial line "Girl, you know it's..." over and over on the speakers. They continued to pretend to sing and dance onstage for a few more moments, then they both ran offstage. According to the episode of VH1
's Behind the Music
which profiled Milli Vanilli, Downtown Julie Brown
stated that fans attending the concert seemed neither to care nor even to notice, and the concert continued as if nothing unusual had happened. In a March 1990 issue of Time Magazine, Pilatus was quoted proclaiming himself to be "the new Elvis
", reasoning that by the duo's success they were musically more talented than Bob Dylan
, Paul McCartney
and Mick Jagger
.
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. This prompted Shaw to disclose to New York Newsday writer John Leland
in December 1989 that he was one of three singers on Milli Vanilli's hit debut album, 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. Because of rising public questions regarding the source of who actually sang 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 confessed to reporters on November 12, 1990, that Morvan and Pilatus did not actually 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 because the organizers felt the awards were given to them by music consumers. Arista Records then dropped the act from its roster and deleted
their album and its masters from their catalog, taking Girl You Know It's True out of print.
After these details emerged, at least 27 different lawsuits 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 on behalf of a local woman in Cuyahoga County
who had bought Girl You Know It's True; at the time the lawsuit was filed, it was estimated at least 1,000 Ohio residents had bought the album. On August 12, 1991, a proposed settlement to a refund lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois was rejected. This settlement would have refunded buyers of Milli Vanilli CDs, cassettes, records, or singles. However, the refunds would only be given as a credit for a future Arista release. On August 28, a new settlement was approved; it refunded those who attended concerts along with those who bought Milli Vanilli recordings. An estimated 10 million buyers were eligible to claim a refund and they could keep the refunded recordings as well. The deadline to claim refunds passed on March 8, 1992.
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
.
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.
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." Because of significantly better sales under the name Try 'N' B in America, a slightly modified Try 'N' B debut album was released internationally. It featured guest singer Tracy Ganser, and a Ray Horton lookalike named Kevin Weatherspoon.
, 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
, while Morvan and Pilatus provided the lead vocals. Because of financial constraints, Joss Entertainment Group was only able to release the album in the United States, 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. However, the lack of publicity, poor distribution and their steep fall from the height of their pop-culture visibility after the lip-synching scandal contributed to its failure.
and public speaker while working on his musical abilities. In 1998, he was a DJ at famed L.A. radio station
KIIS-FM
. During this time, he also performed at the station's sold-out 1999 Wango Tango
festival concert before 50,000 people at Dodger Stadium
. Morvan then spent 2001 on tour before performing in 2002 as the inaugural performer at the brand-new Velvet Lounge at the Hard Rock Café
Hotel in Orlando, Florida
. In 2003, Morvan released his first solo album, Love Revolution. He marketed the album through his website and CD Baby
.
In April, 2011, Morvan released the single Anytime on iTunes.
documentary
on Milli Vanilli. He was also featured in the premiere episode of VH1
Behind the Music
. On February 14, 2007, it was announced that Universal Pictures
was developing a film based on the story of Milli Vanilli's rise and fall in the music industry. Jeff Nathanson
, screenwriter from Catch Me If You Can
, Producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall and Producer Executive Adam Yoelin
were supposed to write and direct the film while Fab Morvan serves as a consultant. However, in February 2011, it was announced that Milli Vanilli movie will be rewritten and directed by Florian Gallenberger.
Individual artists involved
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
/dance music
Dance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
project formed by Frank Farian
Frank Farian
Frank Farian , is a German record producer and songwriter. He started out as a trained cook before moving into the music industry...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1988, visually fronted by Fab Morvan
Fab Morvan
Fabrice "Fab" Morvan is a French singer-songwriter, dancer and model. He was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, with Rob Pilatus, selling multi-platinum albums around the world. However, he was later involved in one of the largest scandals in pop music history when it was revealed that neither he...
and Rob Pilatus
Rob Pilatus
Robert "Rob" Pilatus was a German-American model, dancer and singer. Pilatus was best known as half of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli.-Early life:...
. The group's debut album achieved international success and earned them a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best New Artist
Grammy Award for Best New Artist
The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967...
on Feb. 21, 1990. Milli Vanilli became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. However, their success turned to infamy when their Grammy was revoked after it was revealed that the lead vocals on the record were not the actual voices of Morvan and Pilatus.
The material intended for Milli Vanilli's second album was released under the names of the actual singers, dubbed "The Real Milli Vanilli
The Real Milli Vanilli
The Real Milli Vanilli was the name of a music group which contained some of the original singers from Milli Vanilli - Brad Howell, John Davis, Jodie Rocco, Linda Rocco and Charles Shaw...
". Although Morvan and Pilatus later released an album using their actual voices, it was a commercial failure. On the eve of a potential comeback tour in 1998, ten years after Milli Vanilli's initial debut, Rob Pilatus was found dead in a Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
hotel of an apparent drug overdose. Fab Morvan went on to pursue a solo career with mixed results.
Beginnings
When Frank Farian developed the concept of Milli Vanilli, he chose to feature vocals by Charles ShawCharles Shaw (singer)
Charles Shaw is a rapper and singer who, in 1988, performed on recordings credited to Milli Vanilli.Shaw, a US Army veteran, was reportedly paid $6,000 to perform the rap on Milli Vanilli's hit "Girl You Know It’s True"...
, John Davis, Brad Howell, and twin sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco; however, he felt that those singers lacked a marketable image. He then recruited Robert Pilatus
Rob Pilatus
Robert "Rob" Pilatus was a German-American model, dancer and singer. Pilatus was best known as half of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli.-Early life:...
and Fabrice Morvan
Fab Morvan
Fabrice "Fab" Morvan is a French singer-songwriter, dancer and model. He was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, with Rob Pilatus, selling multi-platinum albums around the world. However, he was later involved in one of the largest scandals in pop music history when it was revealed that neither he...
, two younger model/dancers he found dancing in a Munich dance club, to front the act. Milli Vanilli's debut album All or Nothing
All or Nothing (Milli Vanilli album)
All or Nothing was the debut album by the dance pop duo Milli Vanilli, released only in Europe on the BMG label in November 1988. In 1989, it was repackaged and retitled Girl You Know It's True for release in the United States on the Arista label, with several of the original album tracks replaced...
was released in Europe in mid-1988, with Rob and Fab's pictures on the front and center of the albums, but no mention of who actually sang the songs. The success of the record caught the attention of Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
who signed the duo. Arista deleted several tracks from the original album, added several new ones (including a new track written by Diane Warren
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren , is a US songwriter. Her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win and seven Grammy Award nominations, including one win. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001...
, "Blame It on the Rain
Blame It on the Rain
"Blame It on the Rain" is a song recorded by Milli Vanilli and written by hitmaker Diane Warren. Released during the summer of 1989, it became their last Billboard Hot 100 number one hit before their scandal broke out. The club mix version of the song was included on the "All or Nothing "Blame It...
"), remixed many of the tracks and renamed the album to Girl You Know It's True
Girl You Know It's True
Girl You Know It's True is a 1989 album that was the U.S. debut of pop group Milli Vanilli.In 1989, the majority of songs from Milli Vanilli's Europe-only release All or Nothing were repackaged and retitled Girl You Know It's True...
for release in the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
market in early 1989.
This version of the album went six times platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
and led to the re-release of the title track
Girl You Know It's True (song)
"Girl You Know It's True" is a song written by Bill Pettaway, Sean Spencer, Kevin Lyles, Rodney Holloman, and Ky Adeyemo. They recorded it as Numarx, but the song failed to make much impact until it was covered by Milli Vanilli and released as their lead single from the album Girl You Know It's...
, which peaked at number 2 on the Hot 100 in April of that year and was certified platinum. (The song was a cover version of a Numarx track published in 1987 on the US Bluebird label.) The U.K. release featured the original first album and the remix album together as "2 X 2
2 X 2
2 X 2 is a double album by Milli Vanilli which was released in the U.K. in 1989 . Disc one of the album contained the original European "All or Nothing" while disc two contained the American remix album All or Nothing ....
". Even greater commercial success followed, as the pair's next three singles "Baby Don't Forget My Number
Baby Don't Forget My Number
"Baby Don't Forget My Number" is a song by Milli Vanilli and the second U.S single release from their album Girl You Know It's True. It became the first of their three number one hits in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1989.-Track listings:7"-Single...
", "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You
Girl I'm Gonna Miss You
"Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" is a song recorded by Milli Vanilli which was released as a single in the middle of 1989 off the album Girl You Know It's True...
" and "Blame It on the Rain
Blame It on the Rain
"Blame It on the Rain" is a song recorded by Milli Vanilli and written by hitmaker Diane Warren. Released during the summer of 1989, it became their last Billboard Hot 100 number one hit before their scandal broke out. The club mix version of the song was included on the "All or Nothing "Blame It...
" all reached number 1. A fifth and final single "All or Nothing
All or Nothing (Milli Vanilli song)
"All or Nothing" is a song by Milli Vanilli. It was their final top 10 single, peaking at #4 in the United States.-Track listings:CD maxi# "All or Nothing" – 4:04# "Dreams to Remember" – 4:03# "All or Nothing" – 8:547" single...
", also made the Top 5 in the beginning of 1990 in a remixed form which sampled the "Keep On Movin'" beat from UK soul act Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British group that was created in London in 1988. They are best known for their 1989 UK chart-topper and U.S. Top 5 hit, "Back to Life ".-Career:...
. Milli Vanilli's meteoric rise to pop music superstardom culminated with a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best New Artist on February 22, 1990.
Media backlash
The first sign that the group was lip-synching happened in late 1989 during a live performance on MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
at the Lake Compounce
Lake Compounce
Lake Compounce is an amusement park located in Bristol, Connecticut, United States and a part of the neighboring town of Southington, Connecticut; the lake itself lies completely in Southington. It is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in North America, having operated every year...
theme park in Bristol, Connecticut
Bristol, Connecticut
Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States southwest of Hartford. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 61,353. Bristol is primarily known as the home of ESPN, whose central studios are in the city. Bristol is also home to...
. As they performed onstage live in front of an audience, the recording of the song "Girl You Know It's True" jammed and began to skip, repeating the partial line "Girl, you know it's..." over and over on the speakers. They continued to pretend to sing and dance onstage for a few more moments, then they both ran offstage. According to the episode of VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
's Behind the Music
Behind the Music
Behind the Music is a television series on VH1. It originally ran from 1997 to 2006, before it was stopped and only aired new episodes sporadically. The series places its generality on documentation of musical artists or groups who are interviewed and profiled, and discuss how their careers became...
which profiled Milli Vanilli, Downtown Julie Brown
Downtown Julie Brown
Julie Dorne Brown, also known as Downtown Julie Brown , is an English actress and former MTV VJ.Of mixed race, Brown's father, Valentine Brown, was Jamaican and her mother, Doreen, is white...
stated that fans attending the concert seemed neither to care nor even to notice, and the concert continued as if nothing unusual had happened. In a March 1990 issue of Time Magazine, Pilatus was quoted proclaiming himself to be "the new Elvis
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
", reasoning that by the duo's success they were musically more talented than Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
and Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
.
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. This prompted Shaw to disclose to New York Newsday writer John Leland
John Leland (journalist)
John Leland is an author and has been a New York Times journalist since 2000. During a stint in 1994, he was editor in chief of Details magazine...
in December 1989 that he was one of three singers on Milli Vanilli's hit debut album, 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. Because of rising public questions regarding the source of who actually sang 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 confessed to reporters on November 12, 1990, that Morvan and Pilatus did not actually 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 because the organizers felt the awards were given to them by music consumers. Arista Records then dropped the act from its roster and deleted
Deletion (music industry)
Deletion is a music industry term referring to the removal of a record or records from a label's official catalog, so that it is out of print, but usually at a record artist's request....
their album and its masters from their catalog, taking Girl You Know It's True out of print.
After these details emerged, at least 27 different lawsuits 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
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
, where lawyers there filed a class-action lawsuit asking for refunds on behalf of a local woman in Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County, Ohio
Cuyahoga County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. It is the most populous county in Ohio; as of the 2010 census, the population was 1,280,122. Its county seat is Cleveland. Cuyahoga County is part of Greater Cleveland, a metropolitan area, and Northeast Ohio, a...
who had bought Girl You Know It's True; at the time the lawsuit was filed, it was estimated at least 1,000 Ohio residents had bought the album. On August 12, 1991, a proposed settlement to a refund lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois was rejected. This settlement would have refunded buyers of Milli Vanilli CDs, cassettes, records, or singles. However, the refunds would only be given as a credit for a future Arista release. On August 28, a new settlement was approved; it refunded those who attended concerts along with those who bought Milli Vanilli recordings. An estimated 10 million buyers were eligible to claim a refund and they could keep the refunded recordings as well. The deadline to claim refunds passed on March 8, 1992.
The Real Milli Vanilli
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. 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 the second album still had the original artist and album name on the spine ("Milli Vanilli — Keep On Running").The resulting album, released in Europe in early 1991
1991 in music
See also:* 1991 in music Record labels established in 1991-Summary:The year 1991 is the year that grunge music made its popular breakthrough. Nirvana's Nevermind, led by the surprise hit single "Smells Like Teen Spirit", becomes the most popular U.S. album of the year...
, was renamed The Moment of Truth
The Moment of Truth (The Real Milli Vanilli album)
The Moment of Truth is the only studio album by the pop group The Real Milli Vanilli, released in 1991. It is also considered the second album by the controversial group Milli Vanilli.-History:...
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
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren , is a US songwriter. Her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win and seven Grammy Award nominations, including one win. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001...
-penned song, "When I Die," has been covered by several other artists, including Farian's No Mercy
No Mercy (band)
No Mercy is an American pop and dance music group formed by Frank Farian in Florida in 1995, consisting of Marty Cintron , and twin brothers, Ariel and Gabriel Hernández , from Miami, Florida.-Career:In 1996, No Mercy released their debut album titled No Mercy, later re-released in Europe retitled My...
.
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.
Try 'N' B
In 1992, RCARCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
signed on to release the album as the debut of the newly created group Try 'N' B
The Real Milli Vanilli
The Real Milli Vanilli was the name of a music group which contained some of the original singers from Milli Vanilli - Brad Howell, John Davis, Jodie Rocco, Linda Rocco and Charles Shaw...
. 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." Because of significantly better sales under the name Try 'N' B in America, a slightly modified Try 'N' B debut album was released internationally. It featured guest singer Tracy Ganser, and a Ray Horton lookalike named Kevin Weatherspoon.
Rob & Fab
Meanwhile, Morvan and Pilatus moved to Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, and signed to the Joss Entertainment Group, where they recorded their follow-up album under the name Rob & Fab
Rob & Fab
Rob & Fab was a US pop and dance music project formed and fronted by Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan in 1990 after their participation in the commercially very successful but ill-fated Milli Vanilli band project....
. Almost all the songs on the album were written by Kenny Taylor and Fabrice Morvan
Fab Morvan
Fabrice "Fab" Morvan is a French singer-songwriter, dancer and model. He was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, with Rob Pilatus, selling multi-platinum albums around the world. However, he was later involved in one of the largest scandals in pop music history when it was revealed that neither he...
, while Morvan and Pilatus provided the lead vocals. Because of financial constraints, Joss Entertainment Group was only able to release the album in the United States, 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. However, the lack of publicity, poor distribution and their steep fall from the height of their pop-culture visibility after the lip-synching scandal contributed to its failure.
Milli Vanilli comeback and death of Rob Pilatus
In order to restore their career, Farian agreed in 1997 to produce a new Milli Vanilli album with Morvan and Pilatus on lead vocals. This all led up to the recording of the 1998 Milli Vanilli comeback album Back and in Attack. 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, Rob Pilatus encountered a number of personal problems during the production of the new album. He turned to drugs and 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 suspected alcohol and prescription drug overdose in a Frankfurt hotel room. Pilatus' death was ruled accidental.Fab Morvan's solo career
Morvan spent the following years as a session musicianSession musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
and public speaker while working on his musical abilities. In 1998, he was a DJ at famed L.A. radio station
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
KIIS-FM
KIIS-FM
KIIS-FM is a Los Angeles, California, USA-based radio station with a partial Top 40 musical format. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications. KIIS is also simulcasted on KVVS in Rosamond, at 105.5 MHz...
. During this time, he also performed at the station's sold-out 1999 Wango Tango
Wango Tango
Wango Tango is an annual day-long concert produced on by local Los Angeles radio station KIIS-FM. The concert series has been staged at various venues around southern California including Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Angel Stadium in Anaheim, Verizon Wireless...
festival concert before 50,000 people at Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium, also sometimes called Chavez Ravine, is a stadium in Los Angeles. Located adjacent to Downtown Los Angeles, Dodger Stadium has been the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers team since 1962...
. Morvan then spent 2001 on tour before performing in 2002 as the inaugural performer at the brand-new Velvet Lounge at the Hard Rock Café
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...
Hotel in Orlando, Florida
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
. In 2003, Morvan released his first solo album, Love Revolution. He marketed the album through his website and CD Baby
CD Baby
CD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...
.
In April, 2011, Morvan released the single Anytime on iTunes.
Later developments
In 2000, Fab Morvan was featured in a BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
on Milli Vanilli. He was also featured in the premiere episode of VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
Behind the Music
Behind the Music
Behind the Music is a television series on VH1. It originally ran from 1997 to 2006, before it was stopped and only aired new episodes sporadically. The series places its generality on documentation of musical artists or groups who are interviewed and profiled, and discuss how their careers became...
. On February 14, 2007, it was announced that Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
was developing a film based on the story of Milli Vanilli's rise and fall in the music industry. Jeff Nathanson
Jeff Nathanson
Jeff Nathanson is an American film writer, film producer, and director.He is best known for his work on the Rush Hour series, Catch Me If You Can, The Terminal, and The Last Shot, and has also co-written a story draft for the film Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with George Lucas...
, screenwriter from Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can
Catch Me If You Can is a 2002 American biographical comedy-drama film based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., who, before his 19th birthday, successfully performed cons worth millions of dollars by posing as a Pan American World Airways pilot, a Georgia doctor, and a Louisiana parish prosecutor...
, Producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall and Producer Executive Adam Yoelin
were supposed to write and direct the film while Fab Morvan serves as a consultant. However, in February 2011, it was announced that Milli Vanilli movie will be rewritten and directed by Florian Gallenberger.
External links
Individual artists involved