Milli Vanilli’s surviving member Fab Morvan is speaking out against the media he feels sensationalized the group’s lip sync scandal that eventually led to partner Rob Pilatus’ death.
It’s been over 30 years since Milli Vanilli’s infamous lip sync scandal that resulted in the group’s Grammy getting revoked and becoming a laughingstock of the music industry. In 1989, Milli Vanilli was performing live when their track skipped, revealing the European duo as models whose vocals weren’t their own.
Record executive Frank Farian admitted Morvan and Pilatus sang none of their hit songs. In response, the Recording Academy revoked their 1990 Grammy for Best New Artist.
Milli Vanilli rose to fame following their 1988 debut album, Girl You Know It’s True, which had three number-one hits in the U.S., but the dream came crashing down following the lip sync scandal. Morvan continued his music career with his natural singing skills Rob Pilatus died at 32 from an apparent drug overdose.
Now amid the release of a Milli Vanilli documentary on Paramount+, Morvan is speaking out against the media’s treatment of the band and partially blaming them for Pilatus’ death.
“When I look back I realize when a scandal occurs it gets people to watch TV, it’s a business,” he shared
on The Project. “Journalists are meant to be impartial and investigate but that was not done.”
“These two kids were being bullied and one of them died of a broken heart as a result,” he continued. “But the other one managed to go through with his passion.”
Morvan, 57, now realizes how young and inexperienced he and Pilatus were when they signed their recording contract without legal representation.
“I didn’t know what a recording contract looked like so I signed it without an attorney,” he said.
“We each got paid and when it came time for us not to sing we said we are not doing this. But we were told money is not free so we had to pay back what we were paid by working.”
The Milli Vanilli documentary premiered on Paramount+ on Tuesday, October 24.
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