Artist:Milli Vanilli
Song:Baby Don't Forget My Number
Album:Girl You Know It's True: The Best of Milli Vanilli
Baby Don't Forget My Number was the first of three number one hits for Milli Vanilli. Things were going great until it was discovered that the two guys you saw in their videos weren't actually singing. It was a big scandal. Everyone was shocked. Well, maybe not everyone. I'm sure many in the music industry thought that Milli Vanilli were phonies. I certainly did. If you know about the music business, you can tell when something seems fishy. The guy behind Milli Vanilli was German producer Frank Farian. He was behind the 70s group Boney M and it was well known that they didn't sing on the records. Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan were dancers who met at a club in Munich. They attempted to get work as background singers. Farian wondered if they could sing. The problem was he signed them before listening to them. He thought their look and dancing would make them a success. When he got them into the recording studio, Farian didn't like them. So he brought in studio singers Brad Howell and John Davis to sing the lead vocals. He called them Milli Vanilli. Milli was Farian's girlfriend's name. The name is based on the British band Scritti Politti. They lip synced to backing tracks. Audiences loved their look. And that's what Farian was counting on. After the first single Girl You Know It's True was a hit in Europe, Arista Records picked up Milli Vanilli for US release. The song reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. This was followed by Baby Don't Forget My Number, Blame It on the Rain and Girl I'm Gonna Miss You. All three topped the Billboard Hot 100. The 1989 album Girl You Know It's True was certified 6XPlatinum. Farian wrote and produced everything. So Milli Vanilli was riding high. They even won a Best New Artist Grammy. Things went sour when Milli Vanilli showed up for an interview at MTV and their English wasn't very good. They went on the 1989 Club MTV tour. On July 21, 1989 at the Lake Compounce theme park in Bristol, CT, there was a hard drive malfunction and the recording skipped. Pilatus knew that was the end and ran off the stage. They ultimately finished the set. But they were a laughing stock after that. This comp has all their hits. Of course Pilatus and Morvan blamed Farian. Plenty of lawsuits followed. Pilatus and Morvan released a 1992 album as Rob & Fab but they couldn't get the distribution to go anywhere with it. Milli Vanilli reunited with Farian in 1997. An album was recorded. But after Pilatus died on Apr. 3, 1998 due to an accidental drug overdose, the album was never released. Morvan released a solo album in 2003. He currently lives in Amsterdam. There are two Milli Vanilli documentaries. Attampts to make a Milli Vanilli biopic have been unsuccessful to date. This is certainly not the only occasion when phony singers have been sold. Remember Black Box? But it's certainly the most notorious. Here's the video for Baby Don't Forget My Number by Milli Vanilli.
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