You can tell that Fab had a lot more confidence than Rob, he was hurt too, but he didn't care about what people think or say about him. Poor Rob took everything to heart and it ruined his life to the point where he killed himself. None of this was their fault really, it wasn't their idea to do a scam, the producer found two naive kids and offered them a contract that meant money. They were living in poverty in Germany, and the contract offered them a way out, so they took it. It's sad that they became the scapegoats while the greedy producer who took advantage of them was never blamed for anything.
+Justin Brown no they didn't. the german one lost it after this and started drinking/drugs, got depression and then killed himself at 32. it's a really sad story i think
Yeah, and it was like Fab was sort of relieved the whole charade was finally over, and could stop trying to pretend to be something he wasn't, while no longer having to fool the public anymore. That was also why Fab put far more effort into the lone album where he and Rob worked on, and actually did the vocals, while Rob did very little with it. Rob on the other hand took what happened to heart, which he simply couldn't cope with, and led him down the dark path which ended up being his sad undoing in the end. Bummer he couldn't hang on for just a bit longer, when the band was just about to make a comeback, which unfortunately didn't happen as a result too.
Fab and Rob actually pleaded with Farian to allow them to use their own vocals but he refused. HE USED MILLI VANILLI LIKE LITTLE PUPPETS FOR HIS FINANCIAL GAIN!
I felt sorry for Rob Pilatus & Fab Morvan while watching this. Producer Frank Farian threw them to the wolves. Farian was the one who should have been at that press conference spilling his guts, as he made this particular bed, & he's the one who has to lay in it!!! Poor Rob & Fab. R.I.P., Rob Pilatus. :'(
+rudyjamesus . it is one thing to lip sync to your own singing but something totally different if you are lip syncing to someone else's voice. It boggles my mind that so many people can't tell see the difference.
For the record, I am not a MV fan. I'm just expressing outrage over two men (who could actually sing), who were basically exploited by one man for his own financial gain. R.I.P., Rob Pilatus.
It still breaks my heart this happened to them. Beautiful Rob is dead - as long as the industry gets its pound of flesh...they have the general public arguing over silly things... Did I mention it still breaks my heart that this happened to them?
Furthermore, Rob & Fab threatened to reveal Farian's hoax if their actual vocals weren't used on MV's next record, so Farian decided to reveal the hoax via a press conference with Rob & Fab stating "Can we give these (faux Grammies) back now?". It's a shame this pushed Rob Pilatus over the edge a few years later. R.I.P., Rob.
Fr that’s what I thought it sounded nearly identical Rob just needed vocal coaching to discover his range sad that they were blamed for the whole thing Frank Farian is the Criminal ! Rip Rob 💔 Rob and Fab FOREVER 🙌👑
I remember in school talent shows, particularly the ones I've been to, singing contestants could not even use instrumental backing tracks to perform songs. It HAD to be done in acapella. That's how asinine this whole chapter of music really was.
Many people "turned" on Fab and Rob after they found out the truth. The reason why their fans were so upset was b/c they loved "Milli Vanilli" and they felt betrayed. But to all those people who are still feeling resentment against them, think about if you were in their shoes. Also most people don't know the whole story.
I'll always be a fan. I liked them enough. They had presence. Charisma. Nothing funny about this matter. It's a tragic story about GREED. Fab, you're great! Keep at it. Rob, you are very much missed.
The truth was that Rob & Fab did not want to lip-sync anymore. Winning the Grammy made the press even more suspicious of them than before. They wanted to quit Milli Vanilli and sing for real, but were bound by the contract they were tricked into signing, under the premise that it was for them to sing. So they essentially pushed the producer into telling the press so they could be free of having to lie to the public and to their fans everyday.
The fact is they did not sing these songs.The Grammy should go to the next artists.Let me state Milli Vanilli where a great act and sensation.I enjoyed their preformance.
@milackk7 I know right!!! They could have easily just said it was a one time deal and continued on that way. But again in the interview I watched with Rob I was under the impression that he was so frustrated with having to lip sync all the time that he just instinctively threw in the towel as soon as it happened so something must've pushed him to that point for him to say he's had enough. Guess he wasn't thinking because they for sure could've pulled it off lol. but is is sad he's gone
i agree big time with the commentator... it took guts and it was a very gracious thing that they did, they tried to do the right thing, but too much red tape got in the way... I STILL LOVE MILLI VANILLI! way to go, guys! *RIP* Rob
A lot of ppl don't realize that these guys were just as oblivious as anyone else at the start of becoming Milli Vanilli. As Fab explained in an interview he was 18 at the time straight from France signing a German contract, he had no manager or legal rep present and was obviously deceived. They were led to think they would be using their own talents. I think by the time they found out this was not the case it was too late to even think to get out. Also money probably looked good too. who knows
These two guys did a concert and then one of the tracks skipped, which indicated lip singing. the crowd didnt care, but critics did. the debut album got them a grammy, but the lip singing got it tooken away, an they went downhill, 10 years later one of the guys(4got wich one) ODed all their stuff was refunded and consumers got to keep the refunded stuff. Thats pretty much all i know
R.I.P., Rob Pilatus. We miss you. How can Frank Farian sleep at night? To be honest, Rob & Fabrice Morvan could actually SING! Sleep well, Rob Pilatus.
Again, people are showing their ignorance what the Grammys actually are: "The GRAMMYs are the only peer-presented award to honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position" So you are telling me that Rob and Fab, the producers and the real singers didn't combine artistic achievement and technical proficiency?
But basically the Recording Academy had been told that Milli Vanilli were Rob & Fab singing by Arista and that essentially made them ineligible in their view.
well damn the whole thing sucked but i wish he hadnt killed himself :/ people would have forgotten eventually, i'd never even heard of them until today. such a shame. :(
Les vrais coupables se sont enrichis sur leurs dos, en connaissant tout les secrets partagés par beaucoup de personnes !! Ce monde n'est qu'un mensonge dans lequel nous vivons tous, aussi nous devons rester constamment sur nos gardes !! car la seule vérité que beaucoup de personnes vénèrent est celle de l'argent !! cet argent qui sera très prochainement notre linceul à nous tous !!
@RocStarr913 What people don't understand is that they were young and Farian was giving them money left and right.What person in there early 20's wouldn't do the same thing.
@1108chuck Rob did not commit suicide. He became addicted to cocaine from when they became famous and went through rehab 11 times & finally OD'd from a toxic mixture of alcohol & prescription pills. He was very troubled though. He was biracial & adopted by very conservative Germans, ran away from home at 14 and his family completely wanted nothing to do with him when the scandal was revealed. Losing the fame & being mocked was hard for Rob because it was the only time he felt appreciated.
from my understanding Rob is the cuter one and the one who died... he was featured in a magazine called "gone too soon".. and has stories of celebrities' deaths... i had no idea he had died until i read the article...it shocked me
Sad that Rob and fab were blamed for everything Frank farian Is the criminal ! Fab could’ve definitely sang he does to this day and Rob just needed good real vocal coaching to discover his range Rip Rob poor soul💔
The funny thing is, this was a scandal back then, but it's business as usual now. And they don't revoke grammys anymore because the record industry owns the awards now.
Poor Rob and Fab, they got the shaft sooo badly. That crap wouldn't have happened if the same stunt was pulled today. In fact, lots of other groups do the same thing: that was Martha Wash singing on Black Box and C&C Music Factory- I've never seen her in a video before.
The producer essentially conned them into thinking they were going to be singing, while believing they sucked in private. He had them sign a record contract with no lawyers and gave them what ended up being recording advance money. He basically tricked them and forced them against their will into lip-synching after the fact. Having signed a contract, they couldn't get out of doing it, so they had to do what he wanted them to do, lest suing the two lip-synchers for breach of contract.
It proves people would rather see Fiona Apple with no vocal talent in a video rather than Rosie O'Donnell, no how great her voice would be! People like eye candy! Girls Gone Wild and Chippendale's come to mind! The record label gave fans beefcake (Rob and Fab) rather than aging but talented studio singers! Nonetheless, Rob and Fab were STILL entertainers and WELL DESERVED their pay! who can deny the fact they entertained the public with those videos?
I see a lot of people in the comments saying well this is no different from autotune today. That is wrong. The difference between what they did and today is today they’re taking the voice and making it into auto tune. Mili vanili people did not lay a single track. They did not add any vocals at all during their entire career. That’s not the same as adding your vocals and having an autotune onto it.
It's like that last Top 10 hit they recorded "All or Nothing." Rob and Fab had it all, and they later ended up with nothing. It's been 10 years since Rob passed away. Fab is doing OK now.
No,I'm not saying that they were good for the industry ,what I'm saying is that so called artists to this day are still getting caught lip synching the biggest one since this scandal being Ashlee Simpson and Britney Spears had been caught also,What I'm saying is that they are still allowing it to happen and not much has changed.
in the music industry,it seems as though you have to have a gimmick,the look,and the talent. The managers just combined what the music industry wanted and they got all three! hahaha! now that's entertainment!!!!! lololololololololololololololololololololololololololol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@odinmp5 lol the truth is that the end of 80s, and 90s were 4 real compared to right now, every new artist get his voice revamp on computer, no one sings for real anymore, at least they had good intentions !
Frank took 2 naive & humble foreign guys, built them up and destroyed them all in under 5 years. Fake or not, Entertainment is that, entertainment. They were entertainers and they were enjoyed for being that. Having catchy tunes is not what people ultimately care for, it's the "appearance of being more than the next guy" and Milli Vanilli had that and did it well. Unfortunately, Rob couldn't take the backlash from what came after and it's sad really. End of story...
It doesn't matter. Most R&B and "singing" is the result of voices being processed so heavily by a computer, you can argue that most "singers" aren't really singing. But the quesion is, are they giving an award for the songs or for truthful marketing? Does it matter who is on the videos and "performing" at concerts if the music is the same? Isn't the grammy about the MUSIC?
They were not singing because they were not trained enough to sing. They also were not fluent enough in English. They were amazing dancers and put the stage on fire. It would have taken years for them to sing professionally. The best would have been to keep them as representative of the band, the nice dancers, and to bring the real ones with them. Drug addiction is harsh on fragile minds. RIP Rob.
yeah we're all haters now, but I bet all those haters were singing and dancing when they were in. LOL cracks me up I remember these guys were so cool when I was like 12! LOL
Now that you have resulted to name calling, as I expected I will bow out because you aren't understanding a word I am typing, but decide to start calling names. Again, Milli Vanilli was the producer, the "actors", and the real singers. They were collectively Milli Vanilli. They all got the award. Milli Vanilli, the collective earned the award. Did the music change when they found out they weren't singing? No. The music deserved the award. No matter who was in the videos.
Funny. I kinda feel sympathy for Fab and Rob. Apparently, they actually wanted to sing for real on their next album, but their producer refused. So really, this is at the fault of the record producer, managers, and record label executives.
@HotGirl696 That's pretty much why Farian had them lip-sync for over the original singers. Farian and the others in charge didn't feel like the people who really sang the record were marketable, that was where Rob and Fab came in.
@tnbf This was not Rob & Fab's fault. They were essentially conned by producer Frank Farian into signing a record deal without managers or lawyers. Farian had originally tried them out as singers, he felt they were terrible, but loved their look so much that he had use for them as lip-synchers for middle-aged studio singers. He did not tell the two until it was too late that they would just be lip-synching & the only reason they were exposed was the two of them did not want to lip-sync anymore.
Actually, Martha was tricked - she was hired as a backing vocalist but her voice was later used as lead vocals in the song Gonna Make You Sweat without her permission.
If I remember correctly they were getting a little full of themselves asking to sing their own songs and sing without lip synching at concerts. They were starting to believe their own lies so I think the manager burst the balloon.
It was a power struggle clearly. Rob & Fab also were doing drugs and that was making them even more out of control. The fame definitely got to their heads, but it didn’t help that they had to engage in a charade daily. That can really do numbers on a person emotionally and mentally. They probably felt that they could extrapolate themselves from Milli Vanilli and still do well in music.
It's sad man, Rob and Fab had the look and talent to be stars, but the damn record company and producer wouldn't let them sing and used a scheme to sucker someone into some hoax. And in the end, Rob and Fab became victims of it. I feel so sorry for them too, because I heard one time on Behind the Music they actually had talent and could sing. But the record label and producer were being the bullies and did something really bad by taking advantage of it.
Were they really that cuter than the original? LOL. Beside that, people loved the product (music, singing, performance, appearance, whatever). Some people are only model too. We sometime just find something to criticize. Here the problem is the lie. But creating a "product" can involve lot of thing (writer, dancer, singer, musicians, etc.), some [can] do all, some not, just like any job.
It's pretty sad that you can track Rob's life from living the star life, the train wreck, the aftermath, to the end all here on RUclips. All within a ten year period.
Now this is unrelated, but the Houston Astros did their press conference about what happened in 2017 because of sign-stealing. they admitted about what went down but..... WHERE'S THE TROPHY???! wtf.
1990 was certainly an awful year for me everything was going good until mid-summer then everything came upside down. So i can definitely relate to Milli Vanilli. 1990 was disastrous for both of us.
@milackk7 Ye that's true. I think if they were first presented with the fact that they were not going to, in any way, be actually singing they may have thought twice about it. On the other hand, that might not have been a concern for them but given that they didn't know ppl can't assume that this was, in fact, what they wanted. Obviously they went with it but really no one knows for what reasons. I just think they caught all of the blame which some could've fell elsewhere. But I totally agree.
@bijibadness Best comment here. Britney Spears is about as real as Milli Vanilli were, but somehow she has lasted more than a decade instead of the 15 minutes of fame she deserved.
the crazy thing is that Rob and Fab's real voices still sounded better than half of the auto-tuned chart-toppers from the 2000s. I still can't believe how many people fell for Britney Spear's hilariously cartoonish sounding voice when she first came out. Seriously, how can that NOT annoy you or make you break out into uncontrollable fits of laughter when you hear it? what about those nasal lead singers of emo/ pop-punk bands? This video just shows you how high the standards were 20 years ago...
@kirbygene What Milli Vanilli did isn't all that different from what a lot of pop stars do, tons of people lip synch, tons of people dance to music they didn't write. The difference is, as you say, they (by which I mean eveyrone involved) lied about it.
Britney Spears can sing. She’s just more of an entertainer on stage and merely sings in the studio. There are plenty of performers that are like that, always have been.
Girls you know it's... Girls you know it's... Girls you know it's... Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...
They were bound by a contract to their producer. If they broke that, they would have been unable to do anything in music and would have been unable to get out of it. Rob & Fab had been in a power struggle with their producer since Milli Vanilli won the Grammy. They didn’t want to keep lying, but the producer had a second album ready. So they rebelled against him, first by headlining an American concert tour against his wishes, and then missing a music video shoot for what had then been their current single “Keep On Running.” The producer had all the power, so it was up to him to free Rob & Fab from their obligations to him.
![Fab Morvan (Milli Vanilli) in the Markus Lanz Show [2015 Full Interview]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/nDRGRR9YU6o/mqdefault.jpg)
![Fab Morvan (Milli Vanilli) in the Markus Lanz Show [2015 Full Interview]](/img/tr.png)
You can tell that Fab had a lot more confidence than Rob, he was hurt too, but he didn't care about what people think or say about him. Poor Rob took everything to heart and it ruined his life to the point where he killed himself. None of this was their fault really, it wasn't their idea to do a scam, the producer found two naive kids and offered them a contract that meant money. They were living in poverty in Germany, and the contract offered them a way out, so they took it. It's sad that they became the scapegoats while the greedy producer who took advantage of them was never blamed for anything.
That idiot Frank still has his job sadly...
I'm with you. I blame the producer. Where is he now anyway?
+Justin Brown no they didn't. the german one lost it after this and started drinking/drugs, got depression and then killed himself at 32. it's a really sad story i think
Yeah, and it was like Fab was sort of relieved the whole charade was finally over, and could stop trying to pretend to be something he wasn't, while no longer having to fool the public anymore. That was also why Fab put far more effort into the lone album where he and Rob worked on, and actually did the vocals, while Rob did very little with it. Rob on the other hand took what happened to heart, which he simply couldn't cope with, and led him down the dark path which ended up being his sad undoing in the end. Bummer he couldn't hang on for just a bit longer, when the band was just about to make a comeback, which unfortunately didn't happen as a result too.
The music industry is so toxic
Fab and Rob actually pleaded with Farian to allow them to use their own vocals but he refused. HE USED MILLI VANILLI LIKE LITTLE PUPPETS FOR HIS FINANCIAL GAIN!
I felt sorry for Rob Pilatus & Fab Morvan while watching this. Producer Frank Farian threw them to the wolves. Farian was the one who should have been at that press conference spilling his guts, as he made this particular bed, & he's the one who has to lay in it!!! Poor Rob & Fab.
R.I.P., Rob Pilatus. :'(
R.I.P Rob. Funny how today most artist lip sing anyway.
+rudyjamesus . it is one thing to lip sync to your own singing but something totally different if you are lip syncing to someone else's voice. It boggles my mind that so many people can't tell see the difference.
Yeah. Did you see the weekend performed last night at the Grammys? I think that was a lip syncing
So true
Yeah but here for Milli Vanilli it was different, it wasn't their voice
Triste realidade 😔
they have the guts and the balls to show up at that press conference,, and make that funny buble gum comercial,, dont blame it on them...they rocks..
For the record, I am not a MV fan. I'm just expressing outrage over two men (who could actually sing), who were basically exploited by one man for his own financial gain.
R.I.P., Rob Pilatus.
It still breaks my heart this happened to them. Beautiful Rob is dead - as long as the industry gets its pound of flesh...they have the general public arguing over silly things...
Did I mention it still breaks my heart that this happened to them?
What happened to them
Furthermore, Rob & Fab threatened to reveal Farian's hoax if their actual vocals weren't used on MV's next record, so Farian decided to reveal the hoax via a press conference with Rob & Fab stating "Can we give these (faux Grammies) back now?". It's a shame this pushed Rob Pilatus over the edge a few years later.
R.I.P., Rob.
They gave them back, they weren't stripped from them.
The Recording Academy beat them to it. They didn’t want to give Rob & Fab any satisfaction.
I can't tell the difference when fab was singing at :20. Sounds like the original.
May the awards go to best performance...rob and fab!!!!!
Fr that’s what I thought it sounded nearly identical Rob just needed vocal coaching to discover his range
sad that they were blamed for the whole thing
Frank Farian is the Criminal !
Rip Rob 💔
Rob and Fab FOREVER 🙌👑
I remember in school talent shows, particularly the ones I've been to, singing contestants could not even use instrumental backing tracks to perform songs. It HAD to be done in acapella. That's how asinine this whole chapter of music really was.
Rob was so fine, beautiful eyes!
rest in peace rob !!!!!!!!
Many people "turned" on Fab and Rob after they found out the truth. The reason why their fans were so upset was b/c they loved "Milli Vanilli" and they felt betrayed. But to all those people who are still feeling resentment against them, think about if you were in their shoes.
Also most people don't know the whole story.
I think it didn’t help that plenty of people didn’t think much of their music to begin with and the group had become overexposed.
"-we are not Milli Vanilli.
-you are not Milli Vanilli?
-no, we don't.
-who are Milli Vanilli?
- hmm... uff.. Frank Farian!!"
damn it
Why does it look like they gave that press conference in someones garage?
There were probably very few venues that were willing to associate themselves with Rob & Fab.
Yeah, they put on one hell of a performance.
And fab can actyally sing. He's good!
I'll always be a fan. I liked them enough. They had presence. Charisma. Nothing funny about this matter. It's a tragic story about GREED.
Fab, you're great! Keep at it.
Rob, you are very much missed.
Que bellas las voces de ambos!
The truth was that Rob & Fab did not want to lip-sync anymore. Winning the Grammy made the press even more suspicious of them than before. They wanted to quit Milli Vanilli and sing for real, but were bound by the contract they were tricked into signing, under the premise that it was for them to sing. So they essentially pushed the producer into telling the press so they could be free of having to lie to the public and to their fans everyday.
they are GREAT artists !!!!
The fact is they did not sing these songs.The Grammy should go to the next artists.Let me state Milli Vanilli where a great act and sensation.I enjoyed their preformance.
this is interesting thanks for putting this up! i wanna see the rest though :0(
@milackk7 I know right!!! They could have easily just said it was a one time deal and continued on that way. But again in the interview I watched with Rob I was under the impression that he was so frustrated with having to lip sync all the time that he just instinctively threw in the towel as soon as it happened so something must've pushed him to that point for him to say he's had enough. Guess he wasn't thinking because they for sure could've pulled it off lol. but is is sad he's gone
i agree big time with the commentator... it took guts and it was a very gracious thing that they did, they tried to do the right thing, but too much red tape got in the way... I STILL LOVE MILLI VANILLI! way to go, guys! *RIP* Rob
thanx for the information..... i really appreciate it...=D have a nice day my friend...!!!!!!
'They were only, a pawn in the game'
A lot of ppl don't realize that these guys were just as oblivious as anyone else at the start of becoming Milli Vanilli. As Fab explained in an interview he was 18 at the time straight from France signing a German contract, he had no manager or legal rep present and was obviously deceived. They were led to think they would be using their own talents. I think by the time they found out this was not the case it was too late to even think to get out. Also money probably looked good too. who knows
this was sad, all they wanted was to perform yet those in charge had a diferent vision and who suffered these guys I know they were so sad.
These two guys did a concert and then one of the tracks skipped, which indicated lip singing. the crowd didnt care, but critics did.
the debut album got them a grammy, but the lip singing got it tooken away, an they went downhill, 10 years later one of the guys(4got wich one) ODed
all their stuff was refunded and consumers got to keep the refunded stuff.
Thats pretty much all i know
R.I.P., Rob Pilatus. We miss you. How can Frank Farian sleep at night? To be honest, Rob & Fabrice Morvan could actually SING!
Sleep well, Rob Pilatus.
Vdd
i'm sure their contracts are bulletproof, and probably stipulates they can't SAY they are not the real singers!
Again, people are showing their ignorance what the Grammys actually are:
"The GRAMMYs are the only peer-presented award to honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position"
So you are telling me that Rob and Fab, the producers and the real singers didn't combine artistic achievement and technical proficiency?
But basically the Recording Academy had been told that Milli Vanilli were Rob & Fab singing by Arista and that essentially made them ineligible in their view.
They should've kept that grammy. Grammy winners today don't do half of what they did
I think they were gorgeous and lots of musicians worse than them are famous and with a lot of money !
well damn the whole thing sucked but i wish he hadnt killed himself :/ people would have forgotten eventually, i'd never even heard of them until today. such a shame. :(
Les vrais coupables se sont enrichis sur leurs dos, en connaissant tout les secrets partagés par beaucoup de personnes !! Ce monde n'est qu'un mensonge dans lequel nous vivons tous, aussi nous devons rester constamment sur nos gardes !! car la seule vérité que beaucoup de personnes vénèrent est celle de l'argent !! cet argent qui sera très prochainement notre linceul à nous tous !!
oui
Eric Fischer exact
@RocStarr913 What people don't understand is that they were young and Farian was giving them money left and right.What person in there early 20's wouldn't do the same thing.
@1108chuck Rob did not commit suicide. He became addicted to cocaine from when they became famous and went through rehab 11 times & finally OD'd from a toxic mixture of alcohol & prescription pills. He was very troubled though. He was biracial & adopted by very conservative Germans, ran away from home at 14 and his family completely wanted nothing to do with him when the scandal was revealed. Losing the fame & being mocked was hard for Rob because it was the only time he felt appreciated.
who fuckn cares if they lip sync to all of it, that was the shit back in the day and still kicks ass!
thanks....!!!!...=D
from my understanding Rob is the cuter one and the one who died... he was featured in a magazine called "gone too soon".. and has stories of celebrities' deaths... i had no idea he had died until i read the article...it shocked me
The ending of this story is bitter sweet
One took the path of redemption
But the other kept self-destructing
Sad that Rob and fab were blamed for everything Frank farian Is the criminal !
Fab could’ve definitely sang he does to this day and Rob just needed good real vocal coaching to discover his range
Rip Rob poor soul💔
The funny thing is, this was a scandal back then, but it's business as usual now. And they don't revoke grammys anymore because the record industry owns the awards now.
They ARE Milli Vanilli...!!
Poor Rob and Fab, they got the shaft sooo badly. That crap wouldn't have happened if the same stunt was pulled today.
In fact, lots of other groups do the same thing: that was Martha Wash singing on Black Box and C&C Music Factory- I've never seen her in a video before.
The producer essentially conned them into thinking they were going to be singing, while believing they sucked in private. He had them sign a record contract with no lawyers and gave them what ended up being recording advance money. He basically tricked them and forced them against their will into lip-synching after the fact. Having signed a contract, they couldn't get out of doing it, so they had to do what he wanted them to do, lest suing the two lip-synchers for breach of contract.
I just saw it right before New Year's at WalMart, but I'm pretty sure other stores carry it.
It proves people would rather see Fiona Apple with no vocal talent in a video rather than Rosie O'Donnell, no how great her voice would be! People like eye candy! Girls Gone Wild and Chippendale's come to mind! The record label gave fans beefcake (Rob and Fab) rather than aging but talented studio singers! Nonetheless, Rob and Fab were STILL entertainers and WELL DESERVED their pay! who can deny the fact they entertained the public with those videos?
these guys wer great, dnt care if they lip snyced, ther songs much better than todays!
fuck all u haters, u dont kno wt good music is
Irony- very few artists use their own voice in this day in age. Autotuners everywhere.
I totally loved them no matter what.
I see a lot of people in the comments saying well this is no different from autotune today. That is wrong. The difference between what they did and today is today they’re taking the voice and making it into auto tune.
Mili vanili people did not lay a single track. They did not add any vocals at all during their entire career. That’s not the same as adding your vocals and having an autotune onto it.
It's like that last Top 10 hit they recorded "All or Nothing." Rob and Fab had it all, and they later ended up with nothing. It's been 10 years since Rob passed away. Fab is doing OK now.
No,I'm not saying that they were good for the industry ,what I'm saying is that so called artists to this day are still getting caught lip synching the biggest one since this scandal being Ashlee Simpson and Britney Spears had been caught also,What I'm saying is that they are still allowing it to happen and not much has changed.
in the music industry,it seems as though you have to have a gimmick,the look,and the talent. The managers just combined what the music industry wanted and they got all three! hahaha! now that's entertainment!!!!! lololololololololololololololololololololololololololol!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@odinmp5 lol the truth is that the end of 80s, and 90s were 4 real compared to right now, every new artist get his voice revamp on computer, no one sings for real anymore, at least they had good intentions !
Frank took 2 naive & humble foreign guys, built them up and destroyed them all in under 5 years.
Fake or not, Entertainment is that, entertainment. They were entertainers and they were enjoyed for being that. Having catchy tunes is not what people ultimately care for, it's the "appearance of being more than the next guy" and Milli Vanilli had that and did it well.
Unfortunately, Rob couldn't take the backlash from what came after and it's sad really.
End of story...
RIP Rob...
It doesn't matter. Most R&B and "singing" is the result of voices being processed so heavily by a computer, you can argue that most "singers" aren't really singing. But the quesion is, are they giving an award for the songs or for truthful marketing? Does it matter who is on the videos and "performing" at concerts if the music is the same? Isn't the grammy about the MUSIC?
They were not singing because they were not trained enough to sing. They also were not fluent enough in English. They were amazing dancers and put the stage on fire. It would have taken years for them to sing professionally. The best would have been to keep them as representative of the band, the nice dancers, and to bring the real ones with them.
Drug addiction is harsh on fragile minds. RIP Rob.
yeah we're all haters now, but I bet all those haters were singing and dancing when they were in. LOL cracks me up I remember these guys were so cool when I was like 12! LOL
Now that you have resulted to name calling, as I expected I will bow out because you aren't understanding a word I am typing, but decide to start calling names.
Again, Milli Vanilli was the producer, the "actors", and the real singers. They were collectively Milli Vanilli. They all got the award. Milli Vanilli, the collective earned the award. Did the music change when they found out they weren't singing? No. The music deserved the award. No matter who was in the videos.
Funny. I kinda feel sympathy for Fab and Rob.
Apparently, they actually wanted to sing for real on their next album, but their producer refused.
So really, this is at the fault of the record producer, managers, and record label executives.
@HotGirl696 That's pretty much why Farian had them lip-sync for over the original singers. Farian and the others in charge didn't feel like the people who really sang the record were marketable, that was where Rob and Fab came in.
Not only did they lose their Grammys, but Arista
dropped the group from the label and erased the master copies of their songs.
Luckily, their producer Frank Farian kept the original masters of their albums released in Germany and they’re still available online to this day.
@tnbf This was not Rob & Fab's fault. They were essentially conned by producer Frank Farian into signing a record deal without managers or lawyers. Farian had originally tried them out as singers, he felt they were terrible, but loved their look so much that he had use for them as lip-synchers for middle-aged studio singers. He did not tell the two until it was too late that they would just be lip-synching & the only reason they were exposed was the two of them did not want to lip-sync anymore.
Répondre à cette vidéo...
i totally agree with you.
Actually, Martha was tricked - she was hired as a backing vocalist but her voice was later used as lead vocals in the song Gonna Make You Sweat without her permission.
They were not lead vocals though. They were backing vocals. But Wash felt she was a big part of why “Gonna Make You Sweat” was a hit.
If I remember correctly they were getting a little full of themselves asking to sing their own songs and sing without lip synching at concerts. They were starting to believe their own lies so I think the manager burst the balloon.
It was a power struggle clearly. Rob & Fab also were doing drugs and that was making them even more out of control. The fame definitely got to their heads, but it didn’t help that they had to engage in a charade daily. That can really do numbers on a person emotionally and mentally. They probably felt that they could extrapolate themselves from Milli Vanilli and still do well in music.
who cares if they lip synched? the music was good and these days everyone does it anyway
hell yeah!
What's funny Milli Vanilli would make billions today because if they kind of sing, all they need is a sampler and some autotune and they got a record.
It's sad man, Rob and Fab had the look and talent to be stars, but the damn record company and producer wouldn't let them sing and used a scheme to sucker someone into some hoax. And in the end, Rob and Fab became victims of it.
I feel so sorry for them too, because I heard one time on Behind the Music they actually had talent and could sing. But the record label and producer were being the bullies and did something really bad by taking advantage of it.
truly a fine example of the cut throat money driven music industry
Were they really that cuter than the original? LOL. Beside that, people loved the product (music, singing, performance, appearance, whatever). Some people are only model too. We sometime just find something to criticize. Here the problem is the lie. But creating a "product" can involve lot of thing (writer, dancer, singer, musicians, etc.), some [can] do all, some not, just like any job.
that'S funny as shit, now EVERY artist does that ahhahaha
It's pretty sad that you can track Rob's life from living the star life, the train wreck, the aftermath, to the end all here on RUclips. All within a ten year period.
AYA!! ok.....gracias!! la verdad estaba confundia....gracias por la informacion!!!
Now this is unrelated, but the Houston Astros did their press conference about what happened in 2017 because of sign-stealing. they admitted about what went down but..... WHERE'S THE TROPHY???! wtf.
I love the song but c'mon..... Looking back on this can't anyone see that the Grammys are a joke? It's still the case today.
1990 was certainly an awful year for me everything was going good until mid-summer then everything came upside down. So i can definitely relate to Milli Vanilli. 1990 was disastrous for both of us.
one of those guys was tottaly wrecked after the milli vanilli story. He lost himself in drugs and died a few years ago./....sad
@milackk7 Ye that's true. I think if they were first presented with the fact that they were not going to, in any way, be actually singing they may have thought twice about it. On the other hand, that might not have been a concern for them but given that they didn't know ppl can't assume that this was, in fact, what they wanted. Obviously they went with it but really no one knows for what reasons. I just think they caught all of the blame which some could've fell elsewhere. But I totally agree.
@bijibadness
Best comment here.
Britney Spears is about as real as Milli Vanilli were, but somehow she has lasted more than a decade instead of the 15 minutes of fame she deserved.
this was my generations version of watergate or the kennedy assassination, there were a lot of upset girls at school the next day lol
the crazy thing is that Rob and Fab's real voices still sounded better than half of the auto-tuned chart-toppers from the 2000s. I still can't believe how many people fell for Britney Spear's hilariously cartoonish sounding voice when she first came out. Seriously, how can that NOT annoy you or make you break out into uncontrollable fits of laughter when you hear it? what about those nasal lead singers of emo/ pop-punk bands? This video just shows you how high the standards were 20 years ago...
Go MajorMustang117
Milli Vanilli or notMilli Vanilli.. those guys rock!
You can't Never trust a pirate and you guys dress up like pirates during the Grammy interview 😄
Rob is Johnny Depp
@kirbygene What Milli Vanilli did isn't all that different from what a lot of pop stars do, tons of people lip synch, tons of people dance to music they didn't write. The difference is, as you say, they (by which I mean eveyrone involved) lied about it.
And what about Britney Spears' awards being revoked?! We've all heard the rough version of Alien. #WhitePrivilege
Alexander Enahoro yup and I'm a big fan of hers but I've never heard her sing live at all.
Britney Spears can sing. She’s just more of an entertainer on stage and merely sings in the studio. There are plenty of performers that are like that, always have been.
I don't blame them, they were just pawns.
Girls you know it's... Girls you know it's... Girls you know it's... Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...Girls you know it's...
@livingsilver9 Oddly enough, that whole Martha Wash thing was a year after this.
She used this to try to take advantage of the situation to create her own career.
@nycgemini7222 oh so u love Frank Farian then? I hate what he did to them, they were talented !
Exactly. Very sad story, though...
Still, I agree the Grammy should have gone to the original performers.
The Recording Academy likely felt that the session singers were just as guilty in the whole charade as Rob & Fab were.
looking back at it right now, indeed they've been victims and they did the right thing to confess it, poor schmucks
Back when MTV was all music and art. Then “The Real World” happened and the whole thing went to shit.
They didnt say they were playbacking because they didnt want to keep up the cherade anymore
They were bound by a contract to their producer. If they broke that, they would have been unable to do anything in music and would have been unable to get out of it. Rob & Fab had been in a power struggle with their producer since Milli Vanilli won the Grammy. They didn’t want to keep lying, but the producer had a second album ready. So they rebelled against him, first by headlining an American concert tour against his wishes, and then missing a music video shoot for what had then been their current single “Keep On Running.” The producer had all the power, so it was up to him to free Rob & Fab from their obligations to him.