If you google search for “what is the biggest scandal in the music industry” the answer will invariably be: Milli Vanilli. As this obviously happened 34 years ago, the chances are also that a good part of the public has never heard of this German duo of black “singing” dancers who dominated MTV and radio in the late 1980s with hits like Girl You Know It’s True, Girl Don’t You Lose My Number or Blame it on The Rain.

Mega stars from one day to the next, the German Rob Pilatus and the French Fab Morvan, handsome and stylish, broke the still existing pop barrier and were so big that no one was surprised when they won the Grammy for New Artists in 1990. There was a big problem: they dubbed on stage as in music videos, leaving a lot of people suspicious. Soon after the award came the surprise: in fact, Rob and Fab never sang a note, therefore Milli Vanilli was a fake.

Forced to apologize and return the prize, the pair were massacred, humiliated, and embarked on a drug journey that would only end, as it did, with Rob’s tragic death, at age 32. Of course, in times when Lip Sync Battle is a successful program, it is a bit confusing to talk about the shame that Milli Vanilli was, but the difference is that they pretended to actually sing, which constitutes a farce, not a joke. Today a real singer, Fab Morvan has already given interviews from the duo’s perspective, but finally, the world is ready to realize that what they said – that they were also victims – was more true than false and that the real ones “ culprits” emerged from the situation unscathed.

All of this is in the Paramount Plus documentary, Milli Vanilli, with moving testimonies and a distance that allows us to reevaluate the facts. Rob and Fab met as dancers in Germany, still poor and children of immigrants, dealing with racism and lack of opportunities. Beautiful and good dancers, they were chosen by producer Frank Farian for a new project.

Farian had already been famous since the 1970s, when he created the pop group Boney M. and the Latin band No Mercy, but in 1988 he had a new project: Milli Vanilli. Here begins the controversy that would only explode two years later. Until then official version was that Frank Farian didn’t like Rob and Fab’s voices, so he ordered them to dub the version of Girl You Know It’s True with the voices of Brad Howell and Charles Shaw, who worked at the studio. The two say that the idea was never to hear them sing, a contract where they did not understand the terms and conditions. Somehow, they felt ‘trapped’ even though it is always alleged that they were greedy.

The truth is in the middle of everything. The duo was certainly fascinated by the immediate fame and life of millionaires, with drugs, adulation, and lots of exposure, but the malice of the record executives is undeniable and neither of them paid the price. So it’s very exciting to revisit the story, with great archive footage and Fab Morvan’s frank testimony, who is honest about Rob’s personal and personal flaws and weaknesses. They sold over 30 million singles worldwide and were mega-famous.

Believing themselves invincible, the two opposed Farian and insisted that they would sing on the second album. To their surprise, on November 14, 1990, the producer announced to the world that he had fired them both and that they were frauds. His participation in the scam was not even questioned, but Fab and Rob were left without money and with all the blame on their shoulders.

Rob Pilatus was found dead from an overdose of alcohol and prescription medication in a hotel room near Frankfurt. He was only 32 years old. Today Fab Morvan performs, singing, including the hits that made them famous for dubbing. It’s a tale of overcoming that’s worth revisiting (or discovering). After all, now we know the truth.

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