MILLI VANILLI (from Wikipedia)
The first sign that the group was
lip-synching happened in late 1989 during a live performance on
MTV at the
Lake Compounce theme park in
Bristol, Connecticut. As they performed onstage live in front of an audience, the recording of the song "Girl You Know It's True" jammed and began to skip, repeating the partial line "Girl, you know it's…" over and over on the speakers. They continued to pretend to sing and dance onstage for a few more moments, then they both ran offstage. According to the episode of
VH1's
Behind the Music which profiled Milli Vanilli,
Downtown Julie Brown stated that fans attending the concert didn't seem to care or even notice and the concert continued as if nothing unusual had happened.
Unlike the international release of
All or Nothing, the inserts for the American version clearly attributed the voices on the album to Morvan and Pilatus. This prompted Shaw to disclose to
New York Newsday writer
John Leland in December 1989 that he was one of three singers on Milli Vanilli's hit debut album, and that Pilatus and Morvan were impostors. Farian reportedly paid Shaw $150,000 to retract his statements, though this did not stem the tide of public criticism.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference">
[3]</sup> Because of rising public questions regarding the source of who actually sang in the group, as well as the insistence of Morvan and Pilatus to Farian that they be allowed to sing on the next album, Farian confessed to reporters on November 12, 1990, that Morvan and Pilatus did not actually sing on the records. As a result of American media pressure, Milli Vanilli's Grammy was withdrawn four days later (however, their three
American Music Awards were never withdrawn because the organizers felt the awards were given to them by music consumers),<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference">
[4]</sup> and Arista Records dropped the act from its roster and
deleted their album and its masters from their catalog, taking
Girl You Know It's True out of print.
After these details emerged, at least 26 different lawsuits<sup id="cite_ref-nyt_4-0" class="reference">[5]</sup> were filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws<sup id="cite_ref-ohio_5-0" class="reference">[6]</sup> against Pilatus, Morvan and Arista Records. One such filing occurred on November 22, 1990 in Ohio, where lawyers there filed a class action lawsuit asking for refunds on behalf of a local woman in Cuyahoga CountyGirl You Know It's True; at the time the lawsuit was filed, it was estimated at least 1,000 Ohio residents had bought the album.<sup id="cite_ref-ohio_5-1" class="reference">[6]</sup> On August 12, 1991, a proposed settlement to a refund lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois was rejected. This settlement would have refunded buyers of Milli Vanilli CDs, cassettes, records, or singles. However, the refunds would only be given as a credit for a future Arista release.<sup id="cite_ref-nyt_4-1" class="reference">[5]</sup> On August 28, a new settlement was approved; it refunded those who attended concerts along with those who bought Milli Vanilli recordings<sup id="cite_ref-refund_6-0" class="reference">[7]</sup>. An estimated 10 million buyers were eligible to claim a refund and they could keep the refunded recordings as well<sup id="cite_ref-refund_6-1" class="reference">[7]</sup>. The deadline to claim refunds passed on March 8, 1992.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference">[8]</sup> who had bought
[edit] The Real Milli Vanilli and album The Moment of Truth
The material for Milli Vanilli's second album had been recorded and finalized in Spring 1990. In the autumn, the first single "Keep on Running" was released for radio play, shortly before Farian revealed the truth about Milli Vanilli. At the last minute, Farian had the artwork to the second Milli Vanilli album changed to depict the actual singers instead of Morvan and Pilatus, changed the album's title from
Keep on Running (the name had been meant to correspond with the first single), and changed the artist name to
The Real Milli Vanilli. However, the graphic artist who performed the change forgot to update the album cover's spine, so the second album still had the original artist and album name on the spine ("Milli Vanilli — Keep On Running").
The resulting album, released in Europe in early
1991, was renamed
The Moment of Truth and spawned three singles, "Keep On Running," "Nice 'n Easy" and "Too Late (True Love)." A Morvan/Pilatus lookalike named Ray Horton was depicted on the cover and provided vocals on four tracks. In addition, the album featured rappers Icy Bro on "Hard As Hell" and Tammy T on "Too Late (True Love)." A
Diane Warren-penned song, "When I Die," has been covered by several other artists, including Farian's
No Mercy. For the American market, Farian chose to avoid any association to Milli Vanilli and had the tracks re-recorded with Ray Horton on the majority of lead vocals.
[edit] Try 'N' B
In 1992,
RCA signed on to release the album as the debut of the newly created group
Try 'N' B. The self-titled release included three additional tracks not on The Real Milli Vanilli release: "Ding Dong," "Who Do You Love," and a remake of
Dr. Hook's "Sexy Eyes." Because of significantly better sales under the name Try 'N' B in America, a slightly modified Try 'N' B debut album was released internationally.
