I wasn't a fan of Milli Vanilli or much music at all during the years when they were popular or even when the scam came out. By the time I discovered music, the rumors were obviously confirmed by Frank Farian, when he spilled the beans. But suppose he hadn't done that, could the boys have kept up the lie with another album and more singles?

Were there lots of rumors going around that they didn't sing?
Did people still believe they were singing?

I remember awhile back watching a YouTube clip of them performing on
some awards show, and someone like Little Richard throwing his hand
in the air and cheering for them. Did people want to believe they were
the singers? Were they really crushed when they found out when they weren't?
Why else would so many people destroy tapes? I mean, maybe my view of entertainment is jaded, but these guys entertained their fans all the same,
so I don't get why the fans turned away. They got a raw deal. And just because they weren't singing doesn't take away for the music being good pop songs, and from the memories the fans probably have of the songs.

Thoughts?

I remember when the song "Girl You Know It's True" came out. I went to the store to buy the 12" single. When I saw the cover I thought 'These don't look like guys that would sing this song!' My instincts were correct.

DannyD5050 is right. There was something odd about the voices and the faces, but most people just liked the music. MV were wildly popular. The lycra outfits, the jumping around, their exotic look, their dreadlocks or braids....it was all very iconic. The songs were great too. Whether they were lip syncing or whatever, SOMEONE had to be singing those songs, and whoever it was did a good job.

Frank Farian was a weird character. He spilled the beans, but was also the first one there to pick up the pieces in the aftermath, and help the guys out. Rob and Fab both recorded a record on their own (as a duo), and they could sing. They weren't exactly belting out songs like Sinatra or Prince would, but they could hold their own. However, the damage had been done. Rob slipped into a huge depression over time, and eventually killed himself. Fab still makes music, and is good at it. I talked to him a couple of short times on Myspace ages ago. He was very supportive of the music I was making, and I enjoyed his.

It's not that people WANTED to believe they were singers, they just believed it because there was no other evidence otherwise. It's like finding out Prince can't play guitar, and this whole time we thought he could. We know what we're fed, and if there's nothing contrary to that, we believe it. I don't think MV performed again on a show except on Arsenio Hall. After the MV scandal, they went by "Rob & Fab", as a group name. Aresnio was very supportive to them back then, and was an advocate of letting go of the scandal and just letting them do their thing. They did set out for a while to prove they COULD sing. It was a 50/50 shot if people bought it or not.

I think people felt jipped a little bit, and it certainly was a surprise. In my lifetime, there hadn't been a music scandal like that EVER. No one had ever come out and said "We're fakes, take the Grammy back. We're sorry." It kind of left a lot of people's jaw agape. People destroyed their CDs and Tapes as a form of protest. People don't like being duped, and it was the same headset years later when people started burning Dixie Chick CDs because Natalie said she didn't like George Bush or something. It's a stupid mentality. People forget that, as I said before, SOMEONE was singing on those records, and they're still enjoyable to listen to.

You're right when you said they were entertaining. They put on a good, and very energetic show. But again, fans felt duped, and they were. Fans got a raw deal, and didn't care of Rob and Fab did. Rob & Fab were the enemy, and they took the whole brunt of the backlash, not Frank Farian (although within the industry, he probably got his share too).

I think if Frank hadn't spilled the beans, the whole thing still would have come out. Look how quickly people realized Britney Spears was a phony. Even though people hated boy bands, most of them COULD sing and hold a harmony. There have been boy bands since the days of The Ink Spots, and The Penguins. Nsync, Backstreet, etc are in the same category. If people think Motown wasn't throwing together girl and boy groups (ie: Manufactured), then they're blind to the truth of how the record industry has worked for years. Even Chili joining TLC was a fluke in that she was just pulled in, after Crystal left. But when you hear people like NSync harmonize and sing something live, you know they can sing. MV never let Rob & Fab sing, despite them WANTING to sing live, so they WOULDN'T be phonies. They knew it was going to crash, and I don't think it would have continued on much longer. Even back then, someone would have leaked the truth. Somehow it would have gotten out. And it did. Frank just confirmed the whole thing.

I still enjoy listening to "Blame It On The Rain", or "Girl You Know It's True"

Everyone knows "Oh....ooh.....ooh.....I love yoooouuuu".

You know, these guys were REALLY HUGE and if the scandal hadn't surfaced, they could have been as big as Britney or any of these half-ass singers that are out today.

I found it odd when I saw the video for "Girl You Know It's True" for the first time and thought like you guys that they couldn't sing with that much soul and power. I also remember seeing them in an interview on BET (or MTV...can't remember) and remember the interviewer asking them to sing. They then looked like a deer in headlights and (I think it was) Rob said he was sick.

Another thing that threw me off was that they used the same tracks every time they performed. Sure, the music may have been a bit different, but they vocals were exactly the same.

I thought their album and remix album was really good. There was only one track that I didn't care for and that was "Dreams To Remember". The rest, I loved. I find it interesting that Dianne Warren wrote "Blame It On The Rain", but it never comes up when people mention the hits she's written. I would love to see some AI contestant sing that song during Dianne Warren week.

Does anyone know why the scandal broke? Was it because the producers wanted notoriety? Did Rob and Fab get big heads and pissed the wrong people off?

dannyd5050 said:

You didn't think these guys could BLOW?!?!

daPrettyman said:

No. They didn't look rappers or R&B singers of any sort.
[Edited 10/31/09 18:19pm]

I heard Fabrice Morvan (the brown-skinned one) and his real voice and he can sing. Rob Pilatus (God rest his soul) couldn't tho, compared to Fab, lol. I mean he was OK, but not like Fab.
[Edited 10/31/09 13:40pm]

daPrettyman said:

Do you remember that MTV tour video? Julie Brown talked about it a lot. She was there. They were performing and the tape got stuck on "Girl you know it's.....girl you know it's.....girl you know it's....." Rob ran off stage, and Julie Brown pushed him back out there. That was the first hint that something was off, and very wrong. When Farian was interviewed at the end of the next year, that's when he finally confessed about it. During the summer of 1989 and the winter of 1990 (Farian's confession), that's when comics started to take huge jabs at them. In Living Color's Wayans brothers used to put mops on their head and mock them in skits. Rob said when he saw that, it's when he knew the end was coming for them.

After that MTV incident, Rob and Fab asked Farian to sing on the next album, so they could keep any credibility they had. It never happened, and Farian confessed finally.

Oddly, I don't remember many fans questioning the MTV performance. No one in the audience seemed to care. It was the critics who sniffed it out.

Although the narrator is in a different language, herein lies the infamous performance. This is from Behind The Music. It's what set the wheels of distrust in motion.

daPrettyman said:

The thing was, they COULD sing. Fab was more blessed than Rob though. I hate that this whole thing sent Rob into such a depression that he killed himself.

I remember Rolling Stone doing an article about the rumours that they were miming.

I understand they went to Farian and demanded that they perform on the next record so he went public. People were mad but it's a shame Rob Pilatus couldn't find a way through his depression.

I can't help but feel badly for Rob. I mean, what young person, even today, wouldn't make the same choice Rob and Fab made back then? Dance, pretend to sing, have a little fun, make some money, get lots of women, have your 15 minutes of fame and that will be it. It really was, kind of like, "the offer you can't refuse." Especially since, fame was the dream Rob was chasing for so long. It was what he wanted. It is sad to think when his dream fell apart, it was the beginning of the end for Rob's life.

It was my understanding (as a fan and someone who has looked into their history) that originally it was for one single, and that the boys had no idea Frank had intentions of following up the single with an album.
[Edited 10/31/09 14:30pm]
[Edited 10/31/09 14:30pm]

Vanilli said:

Well you have to factor in that this wasn't just some random silly pop act (although they had their silly moments w/ the costumes, and some of the choreography that looked like they were in football camp). This one thing, the outting of the fakery, haunted these two guys for their whole life. People will STILL bring up MV to Fabrice today, given the chance. It's something they'll never, ever, live down. That became too much for Rob, unfortunately.

He could have parlayed that whole thing into something better for himself, and to their credit, they did try that by singing live, and (I think) releasing an album w/ their own voices. However, the public, and moreso the press, was very unforgiving. It was a dark cloud for a very long time. Today we don't think a lot of someo fakery in music because there's so bloody much of it w/ Britney leading the way of never-singing-live mantras. But back then, it was very unheard of...to the point that it never got as big as the MV incident.

I remember that New Kids On The Block suffered a lot of negative attention for it because the press, and the public, targeted them next. Of course they always sang live, and held their own in concert, and on record. That quickly dispelled, thankfully. It was a damn near witch hunt after MV, and Rob and Fab became jokes, punch lines, and despised for what they did. It's a fickle beast, and it wasn't kind to MV after the fact.

I almost remember the original singers coming out and trying to make a go of it in the press, but even if they could sing, they were seen as part of the whole shenanigan, and quickly dismissed. "birds of a feather..." type thing.

PS This is a great thread!
[Edited 10/31/09 14:36pm]

All I know is that their cd goes for a lot of bucks now. Hell, I even purhased it a few years ago even with all of the these years of the scandal and such. Blame It On The Rain is my shit

I think they would have been excellent male skrippers!

Im curious what folks mean when they say that MV didnt "look" like they could sing? What does that mean? How does someone look who can blow? Honestly, I didnt think the singing was that extraordinary anyway, just some nice pop ditties and average voices and dancing.
In any case, the whole case was really was a shame for the two young men.

mcw00 said:

The voices didn't fit their faces, and didn't fit their speaking voice either.

Rob was so good looking!
And Fabrice really can sing...

girl you know, girl you know, girl you know LOL, poor things! And to think how much lip synching goes on in the industry anyway.

"Industry rule number 4080, record company people are shady"

ernestsewell said:

Im not trying to argue with you, just curious because I find this very interesting. How does a voice "fit a face"? Can you give me an example of someone? Does Stevie Wonder's voice fit his face?

I still like the album. "All or Nothing" is my favorite, but I still quite like "It's Your Thing", "More Than You'll Ever Know", "Girl, I'm Gonna Miss You", "Girl You Know It's True" and "Baby Don't Forget My Number"!

I had to post this cause I haven't seen it in forever

That "bubba ooh bubba cha bubba abuwa cha" of the "Girl You Know It's True" remix is great!

I was really young when this happened, but I remember my mom buying their album and me ducking out of the record store cause I was embarrassed. I just thought there was something off about them from jump, although I couldn't put my finger on it. What perplexes me is how this scandal got so big and why people took it so personally. No one likes to be made a monkey of, but I think this whole thing got blown out of proportion. It's kinda on par with that destroying Disco record thing.

scriptgirl said:

It was blown out of proportion. People were hating on the pretty fellows

scriptgirl said:

I never understood the personal backlash either, I felt sorry for them.

Timmy84 said:

That always bothered me, i mean they werent like political figures lying about a war, they were two "model like" guys that were used to sell a product....hmmm isnt that what is done most of the time now? Sure they werent singing, and i feel that the producers should have been the ones taking the press first and foremost, another GUILTY party that no one ever mentions, are clivilles and cole who did alot of this shit, C&C was nothing but a model out front over someones voice. What ended up happening during this period was a stigma put on others because of their association with these producers

lastdecember said:

I notice that too with C&C. After the squabble with Martha Wash, they fell out.

I thought C&C got it bad and deservedly so. Didn't they get sued by Martha Wash and hounded out of the industry

scriptgirl said:

Yeah that's what I meant. When they got busted with that shit, no one wanted to work with them anymore. They fell out after 1995.

Timmy84 said:

They were still sought after in the early 90's by people in needing remixes. I have always heard a rumour that on The Cover Girls "Funk Boutique" which was done very early 1989-90 when it was first demo'd, that they were using vocals of a member that left, and on a version released to avoid it being known he sped up the vocals. Evelyn Escalara who joined in 1990 had to quickly be rushed into the studio to over-do the vocals because she was being used as the new singer.

lastdecember said:

Oh I see...