On November 12, 1990, Frank Farian, Milli Vanilli’s music producer, publicly admitted that its two members, Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, did not sing their songs, but were only the faces behind the songs. playback on themes that other artists had originally recorded. It was at that moment that the Franco-German duo, revered and admired throughout the world, were rejected by an industry that left them on the sidelines.

Since then, the name of this cartoon group has been hopelessly associated with the word “scam.” Now, more than 30 years later, there is a documentary called: Milli Vanilli: The biggest scandal in the world of music looks at the history of the group that ushered in a new era in pop music. In it, the protagonists of the phenomenon tell how they survived the experience, recalling their role as victims in a new example of the frivolity with which the music industry operates.

In the late 80s, Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus were two friends who lived in the same apartment in Munich and dreamed of becoming big stars. They met on the Munich nightlife scene, they had charisma, they dressed well and danced better, and they regularly performed at the parties to which they were invited. Morvan came from Paris and wanted to pursue a modeling career in Germany, but could barely pay the rent. Pilatus, the son of an African-American soldier and a stripper mother, was adopted by a foster family after spending the first three years of his life in an orphanage. None of them had an easy start, but their ambitions were considerable.

They were barely twenty when a man knocked on their door who could offer them everything they had always dreamed of. The duo attracted the attention of Frank Farian, one of Germany’s most successful producers. The same man who was the architect of Boney M, a band with whom they achieved a total of 18 platinum records, 15 gold records and nearly 150 million copies sold worldwide, all under the leadership of Bobby Farrell, a singer who couldn’t sing.

Fab Morvan says in the documentary that when Farian asked them to work together, they saw the great opportunity they were looking for. They signed the contract almost blindly and waited to be called into the studio. Some time later, when the product arrived, the product had already been created, all they had to do was practice the choreography and lip movements to present themselves during the performance. playback.

According to Morvan, the only survivor of the group, when they realized that the contract they had signed did not allow them to put their voices to music, they wanted to leave. Ingrid Segit, Farian’s secretary, warned them that to do this they would need to return not only the 1,500 mark advance, but also everything they had invested in them (she denies these conversations).

It was from this moment that a spiral of fame, lies and envy began to spin around a music industry marketing product called Milli Vanilli. His first single: Girl you know it’s truereleased in 1989, reached the top of the charts and in less than a year the French-German duo had already become a global phenomenon, continuing to rack up hits with songs such as Blame it on the rain And I’ll miss you baby and this meteoric rise culminated in a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1990.

Meanwhile, platinum records, advertising campaigns, television interviews and public events. And also rumors after interviews in which they choked on English, envy of the original artists demanding their share(Charles Shawthe main voice of the recordings, exposed the scam in an interview and eventually received 150 thousand dollars for silence), notorious mistakes playback live (1989 MTV tour concert in Bristol, Connecticut).

However, as strange as it may seem, none of this shook the project enough to destroy it. The industry was on their side, and as long as the money kept coming in, no one involved was interested in closing the business. In fact, the problems arose due to internal conflicts. For Morvan and Pilatus, the burden of lies and the belief that they would live a dream that was about to expire became more and more pressing. The constant accusations hurt, and, feeling as if they were as much owners of the project as Farian himself, they wanted to rebel and use their original voices on the second album, which the German producer did not like at all. Believe it or not, they didn’t fall because of their own weight, they collided with their “maker” and lost the battle.

That’s when Farian betrayed them, leaving them alone to face the stoning of public opinion, which felt betrayed by two young, handsome black boys who had “taken advantage” of the work of others. Both were the visible face of deception and all the punishment fell on them.

“Me and Rob were treated unfairly. We were the only ones who were examined. “The security guards, the record company, the managers, the public relations company, the producer, they all ran into the woods to protect themselves.” Morvan complains in the documentary.

The scandal was devastating. Milli Vanilli lost their Grammy Award and the music industry looked at them and cast them out. Class action lawsuits have emerged alleging fraud and deception. Artistic integrity became the epicenter of a debate that reverberated through the corridors of the industry. Meanwhile, the more unstable of the two, Rob Pilatus sought refuge in his drug addiction, and his life became a series of problems with the justice system. After several failed attempts at rehabilitation, Pilatus was found dead of an overdose in 1998, a tragic epilogue to Milli Vanilli.

The story of Milli Vanilli is not just a chapter in the history of pop music, but also a powerful reminder of the dangers lurking in the unbridled pursuit of fame. The duality between perception and reality in the music industry remains a hot topic as we reflect on the transience of fame and the lessons learned from the duo who rose to the heights of fame only to fall from grace.