Milli Vanilli’s Fab Morvan remembers lip-syncing controversy as new doc is released

Last Updated on November 3, 2023

Girl you know it’s – girl you know it’s – girl you know it’s –. Milli Vanilli’s lip-syncing scandal was one of the biggest pop culture controversies of the 1990s, which is really saying something. That it happened so early in the duo’s career made them both a blip and a punchline in the music world. Now, surviving member Fab Morvan is reflecting on the most trying time of his career ahead of the release of the aptly titled documentary Milli Vanilli this month.

Speaking with The Messenger, Morvan said the public perception turned incredibly fast on Milli Vanilli. “We were not what people thought we were, which is the puppet master of everybody and everything. We were the front people, but behind, there was so much more. Unfortunately, the journalists didn’t investigate properly.” As it turns out, the decision to have both Morvan and Rob Pilatus not sing was the idea of producer Frank Farian, who unveiled the ruse in 1990, not long after the infamous incident where their hit single “Girl You Know It’s True” skipped during a concert. Describing Farian as a “big bad wolf” who didn’t think the duo’s heavy accents could sell records, Morvan said, “What I learned from the music industry is that, you think that you enter a family, that you become a family member. And you are a family member, as long as you sell.”

But it’s much easier to go after the faces on the stage than the man in the office, resulting in a complete shaming of Milli Vanilli. “People forgot that we were human beings. They bullied us so hard. We became a punchline. And it was to a point where we couldn’t go out, so we had to go out separately. And then even going out by myself, people recognized me. And if I would hear people laugh, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, how am I going to keep on going?’” They would try, however; unfortunately, Rob Pilatus passed away in 1998 prior to the promotional tour for a Milli Vanilli comeback album.

The real vocalists – John Davis, Brad Howell, Charles Shaw, and Gina Mohammad – would get credit on subsequent releases of the album All or Nothing, while Morvan and Pilatus would be credited with “visual performances.” Milli Vanilli would also have their Best New Artist Grammy revoked.

Milli Vanilli’s story was almost brought to the screen by Brett Ratner in 2021, but this doc is directed by Luke Korem, whose previous credits include Dealt, about blind magician Richard Turner, and Showtime’s Action, about legalizing sports gambling. It arrives on Paramount+ on October 24th.