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[electronic music]
♪ MTV
[VCR clicks]
[soft music]
♪
We shouldn't concentrate too much on superstar, you know?
♪
It's a very dangerous thing to talk about.
♪
I know--I know a lot of superstars...
- Yeah. - And I look back
and I see--I don't see them now, you know?
So the same could happen with us.
♪ Girl, you know it, girl, you know it ♪
♪ Girl, you know it's true
[dramatic music]
[cheers and applause]
Milli Vanilli, the striking European duo,
has made it big in America.
First album went six times platinum in 1989.
It's quite a weird story.
One minute, Milli Vanilli were there...
- Milli Vanilli. - Milli Vanilli.
- Milli-- - Milli--
- Vanilli!
And the next minute, they weren't.
[laughs]
♪
New weasel boys of the record world.
Everybody participated, but they were the scapegoats.
Record companies are oddly silent on the whole issue.
People don't understand
the machine that is underneath a pop act.
We want to say thank you to our producer.
The evil genius, I guess we could call him.
If it wasn't for him, this would not even take place.
You get something,
but for that, you make a pact with the devil.
♪
Imagine you have everything...
[crowd screaming]
The fame, the fortune.
They were in a dream.
And suddenly, everybody turns against you
and you have nothing. Overnight.
[indistinct shouting]
How do you handle that?
It cost them everything.
There is not another story like this
in pop music history.
♪
It's been a while.
Oh!
Yeah, man, we were young and fresh, man.
That's a normal tank top but I think he just pulled on it.
You know, I mean, we were fashion forward.
[laughs]
That was a big show in Germany.
Yeah, that was a cool vibe.
Hmm.
You know, Rob Pilatus doesn't look right in this photo.
I can see the decline.
'Cause that's not what Rob looked like
or was supposed to look like.
He was extremely strong,
but you can tell that life took a toll on him.
[soft music]
♪
Becoming friends was inevitable.
♪
I grew up in Paris.
♪
When I turned 18, I went to Munich, Germany,
ran out of money,
ended up being homeless for a couple weeks.
It was cold so I had to sleep in the train station,
but I was able to get some jobs
teaching classes with dance school,
'cause that was my background in Paris.
And then one day, I went to a party in Munich
and there he was, Mr. Rob Pilatus.
[hip-hop music]
He was a break-dancer.
He was onstage doing the helicopter.
♪
At the end,
when everybody gave him his props and everything,
he saw me and he was like,
"Who the hell are you? That's my turf!"
Because there were not many Black people
in Munich at the time.
[soft hip-hop music]
Rob and I were the only dark-skinned people.
There were none.
Rob was older than me by two years.
He had an infectious laugh--
[imitating laugh]
Like, really loud, you know?
I was socially awkward.
You know, I was shy and I was not fluent in German.
It was like big brother, little brother.
♪
He became my best friend.
But I felt like there was something inside of him
that was--that was missing.
[soft music]
Every time we talked about that period of his life,
it was kind of like taboo,
but I understood his pain.
Growing up, my family was so dysfunctional.
It was an abusive environment,
and I ran away.
So, just like me,
he was looking for a family.
[soft determined music]
We moved in together in an attic of a friend of his.
Rob would take the bed, I would take the sofa.
But there was, like, a stereo system,
and that thing was on all day.
[grungy hip-hop music]
Music always pulled us together.
♪
We both liked dancing,
we were very social people,
so we started throwing parties together.
[upbeat music]
And they were packed.
The girls were beautiful.
You know, we had a DJ,
and we brought the vibe.
♪
You know, a circle would be happening.
Rob doing break dancing, and when he was done,
I would come in and I would pop, lock,
bam, bam, bam!
And it brought a lot of attention.
So we started doing shows in this club, Piantz.
We loved to entertain people, like,
make people like, "Aw, yeah!"
We loved that energy, that roar,
and we wanna do more of this.
And the dream was to do what we did in the club,
sing, perform, live the life,
to become the biggest pop stars in the world!
♪ Hot girl, hot girl
♪ I'm satisfaction, baby
♪ Hot girl, hot girl
We started dancing for this TV show.
♪ Hot girl
We danced behind pop stars of the '80s.
We ended up modeling as well.
♪
We did some catalog.
We were making a lot of noise in Munich at that time,
but it was like, how do we get to the next level?
[upbeat curious music]
In order to become pop stars, we had to have the look,
so we had to study what makes a superstar.
And one thing we noticed was the hair.
♪
I know Elvis' hair.
I know Bob Marley's hair.
Marilyn Monroe. Michael Jackson.
You could put, like, a shadow, and you knew who that was.
We were like, "Hell yeah, we're doing this."
And the hair came...
[snaps] Like that.
Hoo! The reactions were amazing.
Every time we went to the clubs,
girls loved the hair, loved the clothing--
they loved Rob and Fab.
♪ Go to the dance floor, dansez ♪
♪ Voulez vous, dansez
We put a band together,
Empire Bizarre...
♪ Hey
And we played a few gigs.
We gave tapes to people.
We knew we were gonna be big.
♪ Dansez
Since we were spreading the word
of us getting into the music industry,
we were starting to get approached by people.
[soft music]
So one day, this guy came to Rob and said, "Hey, you know,
we're gonna connect you with Frank Farian."
♪
Rob played cool to the dude,
but to me, he was like, "Oh, my God!
Oh, Frank Farian! You know this?" I didn't know.
♪
Rob told me, "Hey, Frank Farian,
he did Boney M."
I was like, "Oh, wow, that's--that's big"
because Boney M., obviously, was a huge group.
[Boney M's "Rasputin" playing]
♪
♪ There lived a certain man in Russia long ago ♪
♪ He was big and strong, in his eyes a flaming glow ♪
Boney M. were a big hit disco group in the '70s...
Boney M.! [cheers and applause]
- And they were huge worldwide. - Huge!
♪ He could preach the Bible like a preacher ♪
♪ Full of ecstasy
Boney M. sold 80 million records.
They had a number of number one hits.
"Rivers of Babylon."
- "Daddy Cool." - "Sunny."
I love the song "Ma Baker."
Ra, ra, Rasputin.
♪ Ra, ra, Rasputin, lover of the Russian queen ♪
A bananas song and it's about Rasputin.
Mysterious figure in czarist Russia.
When you watch video of Boney M.
and you see Bobby Farrell, you're like,
"Wow, that dude is awesome."
It was on the radio, at parties.
Boney M. made music that you could dance to
and get drunk to and have fun. [laughs]
But how did you four people get together to form Boney M.?
Well, it all came about from our producer Frank Farian.
[soft tense music]
If you work with Frank Farian,
that's a high level guy.
We realized that this could be the one we've been waiting for,
so we went to Frankfurt.
♪
Frank Farian's compound was huge.
And when they opened the door,
we were greeted by all those gold records on the wall,
and it was amazing.
It was the kind of stuff that you saw with Quincy Jones.
♪
100 tracks, Neve console, microphones.
It was incredible!
Frank and his secretary, Ingrid Segieth,
they said, "We're working on a project
and we're thinking that you could be good for it,"
if we were interested.
Hell, yeah, we were interested.
Ingrid brought in the recording contract,
and we never really attempted to read it.
We were not trying to say no to this powerful producer.
Also, we would get, like, 1,500 deutschmark each,
and we were like, "Oh, hell yeah. Where? OK."
[suspicious music]
When we signed that contract,
we toasted.
♪
We were, like, breaking bread.
♪
But then Frank leaned over to Rob and told him,
"Don't fuck with me.
Don't ever fuck with me."
[soft curious music]
♪
Several months went by.
They never gave us any information.
That was driving us crazy.
Like, why don't they tell us, like,
a date where we can come to do the vocals,
or like, when do we get started?
♪
Finally, Ingrid called.
"Come to studio. It's gonna be good."
Oh, man, we were pumped.
We went straight to the studio.
And then once everyone is in the room,
he plays a tune.
[machine clicks]
["Girl You Know It's True" playing]
♪
I couldn't believe that this music was for us.
♪
I saw colors.
I saw us onstage
singing in front of a crowd.
And then when the music stopped...
[music stops] It was like, wow.
You could still hear those bells--
ding, ding, ding, ding.
He turned, and then,
you know, "folgen Sie mir." You know, "follow me."
[soft tense music]
[speaking German]
It felt serious.
♪
And then we end up in this dark room.
Rob and Frank start talking really fast in German,
so I can't really understand everything,
but I can tell, like, it's getting intense.
Like, they raise their voices.
Rob is looking at me with his green eyes.
Like, he looks pissed.
♪
Frank leaves and screams,
and then Rob turns to me, saying,
"They don't want us to sing on this record."
And I'm like, like--
So, I'm trying to speak.
I'm trying to talk to him
and trying to get as much information,
but he was like, "Just wait, wait.
"They don't want us to sing!
They want us to lip-sync the song."
I'm like, "What?"
Why in the hell? Like, he's playing us a song.
I'm trying to understand, like, what do you mean?
I don't get it.
And that's where I--I-- I black out.
[music fades out]
[soft suspicious music]
I remember thinking, "This is weird.
Like, we don't want to lip-sync."
That's when Ingrid gave us the options.
What she conveyed to us clearly is that
we signed the contract, we got money--
if we didn't want to take part,
we have to pay them back.
But Ingrid said,
"It's not just the advance that we paid you,
"but also all the money that we gave you
through the months."
We developed a debt towards Frank Farian.
♪
We were scared as hell.
I was 21 years old and Rob was 24.
♪
We had nowhere to go.
So we thought, OK, it's one song.
You do that and you're out.
[water rushing]
[Boney M's "Sunny" playing]
♪
♪ Sunny
♪ Yesterday, my life was filled with rain ♪
♪ Sunny
♪ You smiled at me and really eased the pain ♪
♪ Sunny
♪
Hold on. [chuckles]
I should not be so funny.
Serious.
[laughs]
This is serious.
Thank you, schatzi. [kisses]
Interview, "Milli." Take one.
Camera A and B, mark.
I've heard that the name Milli Vanilli
is because of you.
- Oh. - Is that true?
That's true.
[soft music]
I was Frank's girlfriend.
I wrote the checks because I was the financial controller
of Frank's company.
When they came into the studio,
they looked fantastic.
I never saw people like that so well-dressed
and good-looking and braids,
and Rob's eyes, green-- [gasps]
You couldn't stop looking at him.
♪
But they were such good dancers.
Frank needed American singer like me.
He said, "I'm gonna make a project
and you'll be the lead singer."
I said, "OK, let's do it."
I'm from Houston, Texas.
Frank says, "I have a new project.
Can you rap it?"
He wrote me a check for $12,000.
Just keep your mouth shut.
Frank said, "Linda, we're gonna need backing vocalists."
So I brought in my twin sister Jodie.
And I looked at her, I said, "If this is 'oohs' and 'ahs'
and 'I love you,' I'm gonna shoot you."
I said, "Shut up."
He hits it, he says, "I want you to sing this."
both: * Ooh, ooh, ooh
- * I love you - I said, "Don't say it!"
[suspicious music]
The song is ready, and the two guys--perfect.
♪
When they're told they're gonna lip-sync,
what's their reaction?
No problem at all.
They agreed and said, "OK, when can we start?"
It was never an--an-- an argument.
Never ever. Never!
So you didn't have to convince them to lip-sync?
No! Why?
[soft dark music]
They want to have success and...
Was there ever a point you said,
give us the advance back that we gave you.
[sigh] Gosh. No.
- No? - No.
- You didn't ask-- - No, no, no.
This is not Frank's art-- artwork, yeah.
If they would refuse, they can go back to Munich
and can... [flaps lips]
go for...
or something like that.
[chuckles softly]
♪
Well, I, uh... [clears throat]
The first time I went to share my side, uh,
I was young.
And if you're a young artist,
you can only tell what they want you to tell.
But now, fuck it.
[laughs]
I ain't keeping my mouth shut for nobody.
♪
Frank Farian, he was just a--
a genius of his art of making money.
He knew exactly what he was doing.
You know, it's not the first time.
The same game was played with Boney M.
♪
Bobby was not a singer.
He was a dancer.
♪
He was a dancer.
And who sung?
Frank.
[distorted vocals]
And it sold
how many platinums, how many golds,
you know what I'm saying?
You're looking at him as a producer
that made most his money on Black artists,
and it worked.
Then years later, he came back
and did it again with Milli Vanilli.
♪
He took my voice,
he took their faces,
he put the project together,
he put it on the market,
and he got rich off it.
♪
Milli Vanilli was delivered by Frank Farian,
and we were the distributor.
We only saw the pictures of the both guys and the song.
Was nice-looking guys.
Internationally, they could be sold because they were colored
and everything was--every-- it fits together.
The product was great. The music was great.
The whole project is fantastic.
No, we didn't know it.
I got tapes where--
me, I was told that it's Rob and Fab singing.
[speaking German]
One day, we're at a friend's house
watching "Formel Eins," this TV show...
[speaking German]
And then we see Milli Vanilli.
Milli Vanilli, "Girl You Know It's True."
Our name on television on "Formel Eins."
We used to dance behind the stars
who would come on this show,
and suddenly, we're in the charts.
I mean, we went crazy.
Running, like, we even broke stuff.
The song starts to blow up,
and it happens so fast.
Like, every week, it was going up.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,
boom, boom, pow!
And the song just takes off.
It becomes a huge hit in Germany.
Nobody knew it was gonna be a hit.
Not even Frank.
But once he's seen it was rising,
then he started putting more promotion into it.
Suddenly, we were in "Bravo,"
a youth magazine in Germany, selling millions every week.
People that were not taking us seriously
were suddenly like, "Hey."
And now it's going through Europe.
So we travel up and down Europe on television.
We were nervous.
"Can you drop your mic a little bit?"
No, I'm gonna keep it there. [laughs]
♪
But nervousness translated into excitement.
♪
A minute ago, we didn't want to do this,
but now, we want more.
We were so pumped.
You're in Italy, you're in Spain,
you're in Holland.
And then all of a sudden, it hits the States.
Bam.
[loud explosion]
[rock music]
♪ I'm in love with you, girl, 'cause you're on my mind ♪
♪ You're the one I think about most every time ♪
♪ And when you pack a smile in everything you do ♪
♪ Don't you understand, girl, this love is true ♪
They came in, braids swinging...
Chest bumping...
with tights on.
It was two Black dudes with dreads coming into pop.
That alone was the shock factor.
♪ Girl, you know it's true
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love you
The hair and the bandannas and the shoulder pads.
♪ Yes, you know it's true
It was a totally different style.
both: ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love you
- That's all we knew. - They had it all.
Like, their visuals were on point.
I mean, they were just eye candy.
It was yummy, yummy, yummy.
[upbeat funk music]
"Girl You Know It's True" becomes the number two hit
in the United States.
"Girl You Know It's True," number two.
Oh, my God.
It became a top five hit in 23 countries around the world.
That's Michael Jackson level success.
Ah!
[energizing music]
Great music, it just rises.
When those special ones come, they come.
As much as it wasn't the right thing to do,
the power of "Girl You Know It's True"...
♪ I'm so in love, girl
Was pulling on us.
♪ I'm so in love, girl
♪
This energy, this hype... - Do you want to party?
The love... [loud cheering]
So from that point on,
we embraced the lie.
- What's up? - Running.
Yeah.
Number one. [music playing]
Every time we were around people
or, like, taking pictures...
OK.
We knew, you know, you know.
They don't know. Do they know? I don't know.
But it was too difficult to say no to this new life.
[music playing]
"Girl You Know It's True" just unveiled the beast in us.
Yeah.
♪
We came from nothing and now we were tasting
this pop star life.
To be adored, to be loved,
that became very addictive.
I was nervous.
Being caught was something that was always, always very aware.
So, when will we have your LP?
Gonna come out in two weeks.
It's just like very pop dance orientated music.
Are you ready here? [cheers]
For us, it was a surprise that it developed immediately.
It was worthwhile thinking about what you can do.
Do we need an album? Yes, we need an album.
Do we need a second single? Yes, we need a second single.
[soft dark music]
I get the call.
"Frank needs to talk to you."
So I goes up to the studio,
Ingrid opened the door, I go in.
Sit in the kitchen and wait.
♪
He came out--took his time, fixed him a coffee--
and then he said,
"I told you, keep your mouth shut."
♪
He says to me, um, "They found out in Munich,
"from your promotion manager or whoever,
"that you're the voice.
Don't want to see you here anymore."
We didn't talk anymore.
That's it.
I was kicked to the curb.
[mysterious music]
One night, Frank Farian called me up.
He said, "John, I've got a project I'm working on."
"I had a rapper, Charles Shaw, who tried the situation
and he was not good so can you come to the studio?"
♪
So that's what I did.
He said, "You got 10,000 D-marks,"
and I said, "Wow."
He said, "You're gonna do the whole album with me."
Frank said, "We're gonna be doing more songs."
We always asked, "Where is Rob and Fab?
When are they gonna start singing?"
Frank said, "They're gonna record in the evening
when you guys are done."
I used to have to go through the back door
because Frank didn't want nobody know
I was the lead singer.
This is run like a tight military operation.
It's on a need-to-know basis.
It was smoke and mirrors.
David Copperfield couldn't have done it better.
We like it hot, don't we? [cheers and applause]
You want to get down with Milli Vanilli?
They're coming. It's a hit. Shake your booty.
"Girl You Know It's True."
[energetic music]
♪
- One, mark. - Mark.
[boards click]
Make sure everyone's phone's on silent.
That's a good idea.
♪
Clive is a-- is a gift-seeker.
He is like the Yoda of talent.
He knows.
He just knows.
With Milli Vanilli, Clive saw dollar signs.
"Girl You Know It's True" is big now.
How can we cash in on the immediate moment?
Well, we moved everything up as fast as possible.
Clive would say every week that we're missing,
we're missing, like, a million dollars.
So we had to put an album in motion.
But the album that's out in Europe, "All or Nothing,"
was not strong enough to release in America.
Clive called up Diane Warren.
Diane Warren is one of the biggest songwriters
there are in the country.
I had written "Blame It On The Rain"
when I was scheduled to see Clive,
and he goes, I want you to hear this new group I have.
And he played me "Girl You Know It's True."
I'm like, "This is so crazy
"'cause the song I'm bringing you
really sounds like the follow-up to that."
It's even the same rhythm.
"Girl You Know It's True," "Blame It On The Rain."
I played him the song and he loved it.
He sent it to Frank Farian and they recorded it.
♪
Normally, when you've given the producer
some repertoire for them to record,
you want to be there to make sure it gets done.
In the case of Frank, though,
he didn't want anyone in the studio.
[mysterious music]
It was very weird for us to find the songs,
send them to Frank,
and then have them produce it without any of our presence.
But the speculation that we were somehow aware of
what was going on behind the scenes in Germany
is simply not the case.
If an outside producer sends in all the album credits,
you have to take it on faith
that represents what actually happened in the studio.
There was no reason to think not.
Ah, there it is.
So this is the European version of the album "All or Nothing."
You see Rob and Fab on the cover, the first album.
That's their, like, running man logo.
There they are on the back,
shirtless, of course, 'cause why not?
And let's see who's credited on this album.
So it says musicians here,
and I don't see Rob and Fab on here at all.
So, backing vocals, Jodie and Linda Rocco, Charles Shaw--
produced by Frank Farian.
But this is the truth in advertising version
that doesn't have them on it.
If I'm at a record label and I'm putting out this record,
and I look at the vocalists and the guys who are on the cover
are not listed in the liner notes,
I'm gonna have some questions, you know?
Like, that is a giant red flag for me.
That was the name of the European album.
Really? OK. I didn't know that.
- So that's-- - [chuckles]
[laughs] I--
I don't know what to say to that.
Yeah, but we didn't release that record, so--
Really? I forgot about that.
["Blame It On The Rain" playing]
♪
♪ Woo, blame it on the rain
- * Rain - * Yeah, yeah
♪ Blame it on the stars
- * Stars - * Ooh
Rob Pilatus, my brother,
he loved "Blame It On The Rain" because that was--
that was his thing.
♪ You said you didn't need her ♪
"Blame It On The Rain" is number one hit in 1989.
They released "Baby Don't Forget My Number," number one.
"Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" is the third number one song.
They have three number one smashes off that record.
That feels impossible.
♪ To satisfy your pride
And once you have three big hit singles,
you're gonna sell a lot of albums.
If an artist sells 500,000 and went gold, that's terrific.
[crowd screaming]
♪ You let her walk away
If an artist sells a million albums, that's something.
♪ Got to blame it on something ♪
But 8 million?
It's one of the biggest debuts of all time.
♪ Blame it on the rain that was falling, falling ♪
♪ Blame it on the stars that didn't shine that night ♪
To just come out of nowhere
and have a number one debut album for seven weeks,
well, that just was unheard of at the time.
♪ Blame it on the rain, yeah, yeah ♪
Debut album, hot right out of the gate.
"Here's Milli Vanilli.
What do you want to do with it?"
Well, we want to play it. We want to dance to it.
We want to have fun with them.
Can we get them in the studio? We want to meet them.
♪ Blame it on the rain that was falling, falling ♪
♪ Blame it on the stars
At that point, what are we gonna do?
Should we bring them over? Should they do the MTV tour?
Then that all kicks in.
♪ Blame it on the rain
Labels saw we were growing in the charts in America.
♪ Blame it on the rain
Our presence was needed.
[soft dark music]
But Frank didn't want us to go to America.
Frank was apprehensive
because of the big secret, obviously.
Frank was concerned that they would go to America
and fuck up everything.
America had our heart.
"We want to go to the US. USA! USA!"
[Tone Loc's "Funky Cold Medina" playing]
♪
Coming to LA for us was like
we're living the dream, we're doing things.
- A'ight? - Kick it.
Hollywood, Malibu.
The girls are hot there, too. Oof.
♪
♪ Cold coolin' at a bar
We got a manager, Sandy Gallin...
♪ But like Mick Jagger said ♪
He was like a big player.
♪ I can't get no satisfaction ♪
He had Michael Jackson at the time,
Dolly Parton--tons of people.
That's why he had us,
to handle people like Milli Vanilli.
♪ Funky Cold Medina
I was truly, in the beginning, a fan.
I said to them, "You know, I've never been
a manager before,"
and Rob said, "Well, we've never been pop stars before."
I was like, "OK, here we go."
[laughs]
My first job was putting them on the MTV tour.
It was gonna be our first tour in America--
a 107 city tour in eight months--
so we had to put a band together.
♪
I was the band leader then.
We had rehearsed, we were flawless.
Everybody was really invested in this gig
'cause it was the new hottest shit, you know?
After we had been approved,
Rob and Fab disappeared. They were gone.
So we were just rehearsing with no artist.
And I start going, "These guys must be really, really good.
"They don't rehearse, they don't fucking do nothing.
They-- what the hell's going on?"
We started asking more questions.
We got to realize, this musical director at the time
is programming this Oberheim. There's where the vocals are.
And then we understood, "Oh, they're lip-syncing."
So we said, "OK, we're in a lip-sync band."
[laughs]
They said, "Don't say anything about this to anybody else."
"Fine."
[hip-hop music]
The show would play to packed arenas.
Rob and Fab were two sexy performers selling hits,
and they did a really bloody good job at it.
[wild cheers and applause]
["Girl You Know It's True" playing]
♪
[screams]
Yeah!
♪ Girl, you know it's true
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love you
♪ Yes, you know it's true
[wild cheers and applause]
The audience loved them.
Yeah!
It was very powerful.
♪ Girl, you know it's, girl, you know it's ♪
♪ Girl, you know it's true
♪ Girl, you know it's, yes, you know it's ♪
♪ Girl, you know it's true
Performing is a drug.
That euphoric feeling allowed us to just forget everything.
♪
[wild cheering]
Milli Vanilli, the European duo,
now one of the hottest groups in America,
made a special trip to the Disney MGM Studios theme parks
where we arranged for them to have
an exclusive interview session
with some of their most loyal fans.
Wherever you've performed,
has anything really embarrassing happened to you?
Yeah.
[laughter]
[tense music]
♪
It was super hot that day.
"Downtown" Julie Brown introduces us as usual.
I decided to take a break--
the show had been going now for a few months--
and it was while I was in my trailer
I heard the crowd, like, getting a little bit rowdy.
[crowd shouting and booing]
The vocals that were being cued from the emulator
started repeating.
♪ Girl, you know it's--
girl, you know it's-- ♪
♪ Girl, you know it's--
It was like-- [imitating heartbeat]
Shit!
[crowd shouting and booing]
As I open my door, I saw Rob go flying by.
Rob and Fab were gone, and I'm onstage still with
the guitar player and the drummer going "What the fuck?
Do we continue the song on or what are we doing here?"
[crowd booing]
So, of course, there was outrage.
I was furious.
"What the fuck, you know? Find him!"
Rob was pissed. He was like, "Fuck that!"
He lost his cool.
Rob had gotten hold of me to say,
"I don't know what to do."
You know, he was scared.
♪
He kind of exploded.
It was the moment where it just burst open.
And at that time, we didn't know
what pressure he was feeling because we didn't know
the load they were carrying.
♪
[radio tuning]
♪ On the rain that was falling ♪
When Milli Vanilli blew up,
I was a program director at
WILD radio station, Boston. 1090 on the AM dial.
The only Black station within miles
of Boston, Massachusetts.
[hip-hop music]
The guys came to our radio station for our morning show.
And I remember them sitting there,
and when I heard them talk for the first time,
I'm like, "Oh, they sound very different
than they do on the record."
[laughs and claps]
Please welcome Milli Vanilli.
[wild cheering]
Once they started doing promotional dates,
it became pretty clear that something was strange.
Fab, how are you finding Australia?
You enjoying it?
Sydney? [laughter]
Syd-ney. Syd-ney.
Melbourne. Melbourne. [laughter]
It just seemed that they weren't comfortable
communicating in English.
Who inspired you the most, Rob?
Uh, diff--difficult.
You could tell they were sweating bullets.
People were starting to, you know,
giggle a little bit on the sides.
Fab, you speak English, right?
- Yeah, I can, too. - Who are your--[laughs]
And it was easy to kind of latch on to that
and make them a joke.
You are Germany, and I'm from French.
Oh. [laughter]
[explosion]
There's a way that I think some people knew.
[mocking] ♪ Blame it on the rain
Arsenio Hall is someone who had been around the business
a long time and had seen a lot.
Man, I think Milli Vanilli doing crack.
I don't think-- [laughter]
It seemed bad to a lot of these folks.
Those pants too tight. They going--
They knew something was up.
[cheers and applause]
Privately, I thought, like,
you know, "Did they really sing everything?"
Girls! crowd: Girls!
Hey, boys! crowd: Hey, boys!
Yeah! crowd: Yeah!
♪ Girl, you know it's-- girl, you know it's true ♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh
♪ I'm in love with you, girl, 'cause you're on my mind ♪
♪ You're the one I think about most every time ♪
We didn't sing on those records.
♪ Don't you understand, girl, this love is true ♪
We didn't even sound like those records.
♪
We were lying.
[soft dark music]
[speaking French]
Lies are taking the elevators
while the truth takes the stairs.
♪
I knew that at some point, the truth would rise.
♪
They were gonna catch us at some point or another.
♪
This load on our shoulders,
it was getting heavy and heavy and heavy.
[wild cheering]
I was a little bit tired by it, yeah.
We drank more, took more drugs,
to be able to, like, numb out.
I think next time, next time, maybe--
should we ask them to sing next time?
[wild cheering]
Um...
This, uh...
[soft music]
♪
[shouts]
They got double platinum. They got gold records.
♪
Everybody else got a gold record of my voice
on their walls.
♪
That's my voice!
You end up drinking,
you end up taking drugs to not think about
what's really happening in reality.
Then my manager that I had at that time said,
"Well, you know what?
We're gonna do interviews. You're gonna go live."
I was singing before Milli Vanilli
even thought about becoming stars.
I went abroad and said it in a TV show,
it's my voice.
Music is from Frank Farian and not from Milli Vanilli.
♪
And Frank denied it all.
His words were--I can remember them to the day--
"This artist is a liar.
"Look the way he's dressed.
"The Black guy.
He's just trying to make money."
♪
Ingrid!
She said, "Frank don't want you to be
"talking out there to nobody. Keep your mouth shut."
"How could you say that?
You're just trying to get publicity."
Milli Vanilli fans? Oh, man.
Death threats.
"Your next show, this and this is gonna happen to you."
The phone rang and it was Charles Shaw.
And I didn't know who he was,
and he said, "I'm the real singer of Milli Vanilli
and you have to help me."
So I called Sandy right away
and I said, "I just got this weird call from this guy.
He says he's the real voice."
"Ah, just a crazy person. Just ignore it."
It didn't interest anybody.
You get tired of trying to
lead a jackass to water
and make him drink it.
[crowd cheering]
People wanted to believe
they are really singing these songs
because it was a good production.
It was entertainment.
It's a magic trick pulled off in front of you onstage,
and the audience usually wants to be deceived
in a magic show.
So if everyone benefits from a scam like that,
including the audience,
it's very easy to look the other way.
Everyone got his bonus,
everyone was happy to be successful,
and the people are happy to have this record.
We all together were in a very nice flow of success.
["Money" playing]
♪ Mo-mo-mo-money rules the world ♪
♪ It's still the same old greed ♪
Successful music is a great money machine.
Their videos are hot, their songs are hot.
Singles, albums, maxi singles...
Buy it now.
The album made $580 million.
They had sold approximately 46 million records, global.
There was merchandise, keychains,
ticket sales to the concerts.
It's Milli Vanilli. Milli Vanilli!
What a show. What a night.
We're going to a Milli Vanilli concert.
They could've recorded the alphabet, the phonebook.
You name it, they were selling it.
Their logo is the running man
and it symbolizes the pursuit of success.
If they do any better next year,
they're gonna have to find a new logo.
At that time, Frank Farian was worth
almost half a billion.
♪ Money rules the world and don't you love that cash? ♪
They continued to steamroll through the end of the year.
And the winner is... Milli Vanilli.
They won three American Music Awards...
Milli Vanilli.
Milli Vanilli!
This train was moving.
Thank you to our producer, Frank Farian,
to our manager, Sandy Gallin.
We'd like to thank Clive Davis.
♪ Money rules the world
Arista, BMG,
they were cashing in the bucks.
♪ Money, money
And the whole thing with Milli Vanilli
would have kept going if
they had not been nominated for the Grammys.
Well, because-- no, but, see,
most everybody knew the secret, and I didn't.
They never told me this,
so I just assumed they sang, you know?
[hip-hop music]
So we're at a conference meeting and I said,
"I think Milli Vanilli could get nominated for a Grammy."
I thought "Blame It On The Rain" was a Grammy song.
They laughed at me and they're like, "Trust me,
Milli Vanilli's never gonna get nominated for a Grammy."
So I called National Academy of
Recording Arts and Sciences.
They put me right through to Mike Greene's office,
the president of NARAS.
I had no idea how somebody actually does get nominated,
and he said, "Oh, you just put it on
"your management company letterhead,
'please consider Milli Vanilli for a Grammy.'"
So I typed it up and faxed it off to the Academy.
Never thought another thing about it.
So when that ballot came out and Milli Vanilli was on it,
like, just everything hit the fan.
Clive called Sandy and threw a hissy fit,
and then Sandy called me absolutely furious,
like, "Look what you've done!"
I'm like,
"why doesn't anybody want them to have a Grammy award?"
[laughs]
[suspicious music]
If Milli Vanilli had been nominated for
the lip-sync awards, that would've been fine,
but they got nominated for this prestigious musical award
and they were up against people who produce music
and write music and sing.
They were up against the Indigo Girls...
♪ Closer I am to fine
This incredible folk duo who sang
these beautiful, deep songs.
[Tone Loc's "Funky Cold Medina" playing]
They were up against Tone Loc.
♪ Funky Cold Medina
Tone Loc made brilliantly constructed records,
full of incredibly clever rhythmic artifice.
- * Sweetness - Neneh Cherry, who had
a really interesting debut album and had a lot to say.
♪ We always hang in a buffalo stance ♪
♪ Back to life
Soul II Soul changed the way R&B music sounded.
They changed the way music moved.
And so, if I'm one of those artists,
I'm like, "These guys?"
♪
We knew that the Grammys were the highest standard.
[resonant music]
Then here we were, you know, Rob and Fab.
Not only that, they want us to perform live.
I thought, how the hell are they going to do the Grammys
when it's all live?
Live-sing.
Michael Greene was the head of NARAS at the time.
I remember taking a picture with him, and him saying,
"Be sure you do it right tonight."
[whistles]
Money, money, money makes the world go 'round.
[tense music]
We're at the Shrine.
I remember getting out of the car and going in.
On that day, it was pressure.
[applause]
Ladies and gentlemen,
Mr. Mike Greene. - Thank you.
This is a great night for music!
[applause]
Yeah, boy!
All the stars are in the building.
Woo-hoo!
Finally, it was our turn to be on that stage.
Cold sweat. [whistles]
Well, girl, you know it's true.
It can only mean Milli Vanilli.
[fanfare]
Hit it!
["Girl You Know It's True" playing]
♪
♪ I'm in love with you, girl, 'cause you're on my mind ♪
♪ You're the one I think about most every time ♪
♪ And when you pack a smile in everything you do ♪
Performing in front of the Grammys
with all those artists, that was nerve wracking.
- * And this is true - * Girl, you know it's true
All those people who spent years of their lives
to get to this point,
and we got here pretty fast.
♪
[cheers and applause]
I remember sitting there,
and I think the entire industry knew at that time
that it wasn't them singing.
[clears throat] That was great.
I was actually--I was supposed to be in that number.
I don't know what-- [laughter]
When he called out the nominees,
you know, it was like, "Man."
This year, the nominees for Best New Artist
are making all kinds of music.
Each one of them express themself in a unique way
that commands attention.
Now, the nominees for Best New Artist are...
Do Rob and Fab deserve the Grammy?
Neneh Cherry.
That's a tough one.
We didn't sing on the record, so...
Indigo Girls.
No.
But...
[tense music]
[cheers and applause]
Milli Vanilli.
For the pain and everything that we suffered...
Soul II Soul.
And the hard work that we put into,
do we deserve it?
Tone Loc.
♪
A very small part of me says yes.
♪
And the Best New Artist is...
Rob and Fab deserved the Grammy.
Milli Vanilli.
[cheers and applause]
"Oh, my God."
Frank goes, "Now, everybody's watching."
[cheers and applause]
Uh, we want to say thank you very much,
but we want to say there are a lot of artists
here in this room,
there are a lot of artists outside in the world
who could achieve the same award that we achieved today,
and it's an award for all artists in the world.
Thank you very much.
[cheers and applause]
Thank you.
It was a joke that went too far.
And once they crossed that line into
something that people really care about,
that was the beginning of the end for Rob and Fab.
Once they won the Grammy...
♪
Once they won the Grammy,
they hung they selves.
[cheers fading]
[mysterious music]
♪
The afterparty for the Grammys,
oh, man, we were already faded.
♪
I remember having to listen to Mr. Clive Davis.
♪
We were so high
that it took a lot of energy
to just keep the stuff together.
♪
Frankly, Rob and Fab didn't do themselves any favors.
♪
They were just acting arrogant and, frankly, obnoxious.
"I have no time. Who's Paul McCartney?"
[hip-hop music]
When they won, Rob and Fab were way up here,
these big stars that just won a Grammy.
And the bigger they got,
the more celebrity they became.
They had to have Avión in the limousine,
sushi in the dressing room.
They wanted for nothing.
The stardom made them crazy.
Rob said, "Oh, can you turn on my voice?"
And Frank said, "It's not your voice!"
Believe it. It's Brad Howell's voice.
He was singing with my voice during playback
and believing that's his own voice.
They were believing this.
They started to forget the reality
that they didn't sing.
[tense music]
So they were doing this interview one time
and they said they were better than The Beatles.
♪
Think about waking up every day and knowing that
you don't sing any of the vocals,
and then saying you're better than The Beatles.
♪
I mean, that takes, like, giant stones.
You've really gotta believe your own bullshit to say that.
They got caught up in it.
At that point, they thought they had the power,
and they did, to some degree.
They said, you know, "We're in control now."
♪
Millions and millions of dollars were at stake
and people depended on them.
Frank depended on them.
Clive depended on them.
Everybody depended on Milli Vanilli doing their job.
♪
Frank Farian was already preparing album number two,
"Keep On Running," and they wanted us
to get back to Germany to go promote the second album.
But Rob and Fab were done.
We wanted to sing.
We wanted to come out as singers.
[soft dark music]
At Arista, we had a weekly luncheon
in the conference room.
One day, Clive got a call and he walked into the kitchen.
And then came back out and he goes,
"They want to sing on the second album."
And I remember him saying, "That's not gonna happen."
"Oh, but I would like to sing."
"Yeah, Rob, it's impossible.
"You cannot sing and Fab cannot sing,
so please stop talking."
We couldn't continue to be his marionette.
Hey, listen. [flaps lips]
Done with this.
So we started to lawyer up,
and then that's when we found out
we signed a contract for multiple albums.
We had no clue.
So to get out of under the thumb of Frank Farian,
we played a game of cat and mouse.
♪
Our MO was to hurt him.
Let's push him to a brink where he's gonna break,
and then he's gonna say, "You know what? I'm tired.
Go away."
You know, we didn't show up to the video of
"Keep On Running."
And we told him, "More money. More money."
He's like, "No, I'm not doing that!
What else do you want?"
They told Frank, "If you don't give us 150,000,
"we will go to the producer and telling them that
we are not the guys who singing on the tape."
["Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" playing]
♪
The story broke in "The Los Angeles Times"
and all hell broke loose.
♪
Frank threw Rob and Fab under the bus.
♪ I knew it from the start, you would break my heart ♪
♪ But still, I had to play this painful part ♪
♪ You wrapped me around your little bitty finger ♪
He basically brushed it off and said,
"You know, yeah, they didn't sing..."
♪ I just don't know what I should do ♪
"And who cares?"
Very quickly after that,
the whole train came off the tracks.
♪ It's a tragedy for me to see the dream is over ♪
♪ And I never will forget the day we met ♪
♪ Girl, I'm gonna miss you
[ominous music]
The pop music world's in shock tonight--
With the revelation that pop duo--
Milli Vanilli didn't sing.
So, girl, you know it's not true.
Well, I am shocked. [audience laughs]
It was the lead-in story on all the news.
More embarrassment today
for the pop singing group Milli Vanilli.
Milli Vanilli turns out to be a lot of phony baloney.
And it didn't just hit America;
it hit worldwide.
One pop group this week has been involved in
a feverish controversy.
And then NARAS got involved.
There's too many doubts that have been cast now
for us not to go forward and try to find out the truth.
The credibility of the Grammy depends on it.
Having to give back their Grammy,
it's the only time that has happened in music history.
There was no recovering from that.
The only way that that could be ridden was to own it.
[indistinct chatter]
Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan.
Come together. Come together.
- Come together, guys! - Right here! Right here!
- Right here. - Straight ahead.
Fabrice and me, we lived together in a project
with two other musicians in Munich.
We--we had nothing to eat. We weren't happy.
We wanted to be stars. We want to get up on top.
So suddenly, this guy gave us a chance and we took it.
He gave us a little bit money.
We were young, naive, and we believed him.
It was an opportunity for us.
We feel really, really sorry about our fans,
but we just hope that they understand that we were young,
that we just wanted to live the life the American way.
Of course. Yeah.
You're absolutely right. I was seduced.
You have to understand we were seduced,
we were abused, and we felt very guilty,
and we're happy that it's over, you know?
We don't understand that it's us,
the two little guys from Germany,
the victims who has to play suddenly
the crux of a trial that we are not.
I will describe it like this.
You get something,
but for that, you make a pact with the devil.
I think you should go with this tape.
We give you each a tape.
You can take it to a scientist--
But you could--
OK, I demonstrate!
Fuck it. I do it. Let's do it.
♪ Girl, you know it's true
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love you
♪ I'm in love with you, girl, 'cause you're on my mind ♪
♪ You're the one I think about most every time ♪
♪ When you crack a smile in everything you do ♪
Yeah, I understand-- I really understand them.
I have to say I understand them.
- That's a good question, but-- - A lot of your fans--
a lot of your fans will be very upset by the fact
that the only way you can explain the charade,
the farce, the fakery of the last year, two years,
is money. - It's not.
This is fame-- - There's no other reason.
That's the only pressure that Farian put on you,
was financial-- - Do you live in a project?
Did you live in a project?
We had no money, we wanted to be stars.
We think we are talented. We love to be onstage.
That's our first aim. It wasn't money.
If we wouldn't have accept that at the start,
we knew we would be still in Munich.
I would still work at the McDonalds.
OK, thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
[indistinct chatter]
They ate 'em up like sharks.
They were the town spectacle.
New weasel boys of the record world.
Did you know they were exposed for not actually appearing on
their Grammy-award winning record album?
They do not sing...
- Do not sing on it at all. - On their own record.
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, you are through ♪
[laughter]
The response was swift and it was harsh.
They stopped playing on radio,
Arista Records took it out of circulation,
and then, to top it all off,
there were, like, two dozen class action lawsuits
from fans who were just pissed.
A California woman who bought the album for her son
is suing to get a refund.
When I listened to the music,
I would sort of picture them singing,
and that's--that's how I looked up to them.
They sued them for fraud and racketeering.
Listen carefully to this important message
about a pending Milli Vanilli lawsuit
that may affect your rights.
I remember being surprised by the animosity,
and the amount of anger behind that
seemed outsized for what happened.
I mean, Milli Vanilli, to be clear,
had a largely white audience,
so a part of the betrayal that was felt was,
"I can't believe I listened to these Black guys
singing these songs and it really wasn't them."
You're gonna have a movie now,
"The Milli Vanilli Story." Is that beautiful?
I play Fab, one of the dudes in Milli Vanilli.
- * Girl, I love you - * I love you
It was really ugly to see that sort of hostility
directed at Rob and Fab.
Rob Pilatus told "The LA Times" that
his family back in Germany was getting harassed as well.
Management was gone.
Label was gone.
No representative of a major record company
would discuss them with CNN on camera.
Frank came out of it unscathed.
Rob and Fab deserved to be called out, certainly.
But it was weird that people didn't come down on
Frank and Arista and Clive
in the way that you would think.
There was plausible deniability, I think,
for Arista, anyway.
I mean, it was easy for them to say, "We didn't know,"
and nobody could prove that they knew it,
so they got off the hook.
I mean, I just know personally,
that we knew before the Grammys,
so there's no--there was no question about it.
Yeah, maybe six months before.
[soft tense music]
♪
"Why didn't anybody from the label speak out,"
is that what you're asking me?
Yeah.
That's a-- that's a good question.
I mean, I can't--
I have to answer truthfully,
and I would have to say that,
that, yeah, I believe that Clive felt that this
not only wasn't good for Arista,
but wasn't really good for his reputation
and for his, you know, history.
The record company and industry has all of the power,
so they're gonna use everything they can
to point the direction at Rob and Fab.
"Don't look at, we sold these million records.
"Don't look at the fact that someone inside of our industry
"had to have known this was going on.
"No, it's these two guys who barely speak English.
It's their fault."
Not only did Frank have no problem
exploiting Rob and Fab,
but he also seemed to think them foolish
and beneath him.
And just like his lineage of
treating Black artists as disposable,
he chose to get what he needed and disposed of them.
- We regret it. - We regretted it...
200,000 times.
Lying in front of my mom,
lying in front of the job.
- Everybody. - Lying in front of everybody.
They were young, just like me,
looking to achieve something
in the music branch,
just like me.
So what do you do?
[soft resonant music]
You followed the light, but it's the wrong light.
At the end of the tunnel, the light goes out,
and what happens?
Don't nobody care.
♪
It's just another scandal.
And the number one new job for Milli Vanilli, "Who cares?
Just as long as we don't hear from them ever again."
[soft music]
♪
Just when you thought there couldn't possibly be
another twist to the story--
So, you know, the thing about Frank,
he's always a step ahead of everybody, right?
[funky pop music]
He had already recorded the second record,
and he dropped it,
like, right after this whole thing blew up.
♪
Frank Farian called me up and said,
"John, now you and Brad are gonna be stars of the show."
♪ Elaborate on the microphone
♪ Pumping some knowledge 'cause my brain ain't stoned ♪
It's called The Real Milli Vanilli,
"The Moment of Truth."
But again, it's all another facade.
This guy was never in the band.
He's just another guy who Frank recruited.
That girl had nothing to do with the first album,
she had nothing to do with the second album.
We are still on that album, Jodie and I.
But Frank said, no touring, no video, no being seen.
♪ Listen to what he says
"Linda, hope you understand.
"I have a certain look that I want.
You're not Black."
♪ I'm not into bragging, strutting, or bigotry ♪
♪ Or bigotry
Don't ask me how I felt. Well, go ahead, ask me.
- Yeah, how did you feel? - I felt horrible!
Oh, I was incensed.
♪ Keep on running, baby
You've got to be kidding me.
It was almost as big a lie as the first Milli Vanilli.
♪ Keep on running
- This was Frank's MO. - * Baby
He already did Boney M.,
and then Milli Vanilli, and he's like, "Hey, man,
this is my 'Fast and Furious 10'."
I'm just gonna keep making these things
because you love 'em,"
so why would he change his stripes?
[applause]
Do you know what they are doing now, Rob and Fab?
Well, they have a new single out--
- It's not out yet. - It's not out actually.
They don't-- they don't have a label.
A lot of record companies are scared to touch them right now
because, well, if you know somebody can't sing,
why produce them?
So you want to sing a little bit for us?
Yeah, we come in here with our live band
and we would love to sing.
No, how about right now?
Sing something off your album.
- Um... - [clears throat]
Some of the verse from the first single?
Uh, yeah, OK.
♪ Girl Back together.
♪ Girl
both: ♪ Do you want to get it on
♪ Then tell me now
Now Rob and Fab are courageously trying to
make a comeback, real voices and all.
both: * I just want to be your everything ♪
For the last year, they've been working on a new album,
on the dance steps, and on the singing.
They've got a new sexy video.
♪ Girl, can you tell me now
♪ Straight up what's up
♪ So what's a man supposed to do ♪
♪ Oh - * Do you want to get it on
So this is the "We Can Get It On"
12 inch LP single by Rob & Fab.
They're just, like, badasses, you know?
They're like, "Yeah, we're hot. We know it."
[laughs]
The expectation of the record was based on curiosity alone
they could sell a million copies of the record.
But the Rob & Fab album sold 2,000 copies worldwide,
which is not good.
By the time the Rob & Fab record came out,
people were just not that interested
in the spectacle anymore.
♪
That's when we... grew apart.
Rob was going in his own tunnel
and didn't want to come out, really.
The team Rob and Fab had fractured.
He didn't see me as-- as his brother anymore.
And that hurt.
Now, where have you been for the past six years?
Well, the past six years, I was in Los Angeles
undercover, you know, doing my thing.
You have an accent. Where are you from?
I'm from Paris. I'm French.
- From Paris. - Yeah.
Now, listen, you've got some new music...
That's true, yeah.
And you are actually singing on this damn thing.
- That's right. - Yeah.
Put it together for Fabrice Morvan.
["Love Revolution" playing]
♪ Come on, children
both: ♪ If you see what I see
♪ And you know what I feel
For me, performing was vindication.
both: ♪ And we'll find a solution
I was able to, like, blossom as a singer
and do what I was supposed to do in the first place.
♪ Everybody, join the love revolution ♪
[cheers and applause]
- Lovely! - Come on.
- Hi, baby. - Hi.
Hey, listen. Do you ever see Rob anymore?
Well, we don't talk as much as we used to
because he's doing his own thing,
I'm doing my own thing, you know?
We kind of went apart, you know?
Bands broke up and they do their own thing.
- Sure. - That's what happened.
You done joined the love revolution.
- That's right. - Where do I sign up?
[soft dramatic music]
♪
I was at The Viper Room.
I was outside.
I see a dude stumbling across the way.
As he was falling, his body turned
and I looked into his eyes and I was like,
"Oh, my God. This is not true."
I'm looking at Rob Pilatus.
So I crossed the street,
I picked him up,
and I said, "Hey, Rob. It's Fab."
"Rob, it's Fab.
Where do you live?"
And then he said, "There.
So we ring the doorbell.
We're like, "Hey, we're there with Rob.
Like, this is where he live, yes?"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Bring him in.
"It's our boy, man. We--you know,
he--sometimes, he just wanders."
And I'm like, "Oh, that looks like
a crack house to me, man."
♪
They were doing heavy drugs in that--in that room.
I'm not surprised 'cause I heard
that's what he's been doing for a long time.
But to actually see
my brother in the street
looking like this,
and looking back at my dude in his prime...
♪
Man, it was like, "Phew."
I didn't know what to say.
[soft dramatic music]
♪
What'd they do? They just pulled you over?
Yeah, they pulled me over, man.
Unfortunately.
He was lost. Everything had failed.
He had not been satisfied with anything that he'd ever done.
♪
He came back from Oberberg Clinic
and he stayed at a hotel close to my house.
Next morning, 10:00, I called, no answer.
11:00, no answer.
12:00, no answer.
At 2:00, I said, "I'm going to the hotel right now."
And we go to his door
and the chain was from inside,
so the house master has to open it.
And--and he was laying there on--on the floor,
just with shorts.
Yeah.
And I was...
The call came in.
"Rob is dead."
I was like, "Wow."
And then I went into, like, a state of shock.
And I didn't move for a long time.
[somber music]
♪
I lost a family member.
♪
I lost a brother.
♪
I lost someone that was there with me, walking in my shoes.
♪
[softly] You know?
[sniffles, chuckles softly]
That's it.
When I went to Holland,
I was running away from my past.
He'd introduced himself as Fabrice,
but I didn't know who he was.
He had such short hair,
and he has a different face when he has short hair.
So in the beginning, actually, when we were dating,
people were like, "Hey, Tessa, hey, Tessa."
"Hey, I'll see you tomorrow," and, you know,
I was the one being recognized.
So there was no signs that he was Milli Vanilli.
[soft music]
We had just fun together,
and we were working out together,
and we had those dates.
I start to really like this guy,
and you talk with your friends about,
you know, your new dating experience.
One of them said, "Dude, that's Milli Vanilli.
Hello." [chuckles]
And I was like, "Well, OK.
"If that's Milli Vanilli, fine,
because I like Fabrice, so..."
I didn't think she would, like, want to be with me.
I had to tell her, "Listen, my life is not great."
I was like, "Well, don't worry, you know?
I got you."
[pan sizzling]
You already, Sach?
Drum roll.
One, two, and three.
Flip! - Oh!
When Sacha came,
when Solange came,
and now Vince and Paris came,
then things started flourishing all around me.
What? - Hey, Sacha, look!
He's holding the bottle. - [giggles]
That's a first.
Look at that. - Cute.
[laughter]
It's amazing
to realize that there is another side
at the end of the tunnel.
- Together. - Together?
- Pink. - You want pink? OK.
It changed everything for me,
and that part was like, "Hey..."
Well done, Sach.
"You don't have to be ashamed about nothing."
♪
Because of the way human beings and
their minds are built,
Milli Vanilli's legacy is they deceived the public
and tried to get away with it, and then they didn't.
But what it should be is a cautionary tale.
♪
All of the answers about how pop music is made
rest in this story.
What we want to believe our pop musicians to be
versus what they actually are.
♪
Show business is all part of an illusion.
But that is what pop music is supposed to do.
It's supposed to take us to an elsewhere.
♪
Even if we say, "These people deceived the public,"
so fucking what?
[cheers and applause]
Who was this harming?
♪
♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, I love you
I've met people that told me,
"Because of your voice,
my daughter's here today." [chuckles]
It was such a big thing for a lot of people.
So many people went to their high school prom with that.
That was good music,
and it's good music today.
[cheers and applause]
There's no real crime here,
if we're being honest.
♪
But it cost a life.
♪
It also cost both of them lives that they could have had.
♪
And the heartbreaking thing is that their legacy then became
that of a punch line.
♪
There was a time when I would avoid going in public
because when I heard someone laugh,
I always thought it was directed to me.
♪
But now I've reached a point where I've embraced the past.
I'm proud of being Milli Vanilli.
I'm proud of being who I am.
♪
We're going back down memory lane with some more.
["Blame It On The Rain" playing]
♪ Woo
♪
♪ Got to blame it on something ♪
♪ Got to blame it on something, come on ♪
♪ Blame it on the rain that was falling, falling ♪
♪ Blame it on the stars that didn't shine that night ♪
♪ Whatever you do, don't put the blame on you ♪
♪ Blame it on the rain, yeah, yeah ♪
When people think of Milli Vanilli...
♪ You can blame it on the rain ♪
The one thing I want people to think of is that
when you fall...
♪ And the rain don't care
You can stand back up.
♪ You got to blame it on something ♪
♪ Blame it on the rain
And Rob is part of that.
I am honoring his name every time I perform onstage.
♪ Whatever you do, don't put the blame on you ♪
You fall, you stand back up, and you reinvent yourself.
♪ Yeah, yeah
That's the legacy.
♪ Blame it on the rain that was falling, falling ♪
crowd: ♪ Blame it on the stars
♪ That didn't shine that night ♪
♪ Whatever you do, don't put the blame on you ♪
♪ Blame it on the rain
♪ Yeah, yeah
["Baby Don't Forget My Number" playing]
♪
♪ Baby, don't be shy when you're holding my hand ♪
♪ 'Cause as time goes by, you got to understand ♪
♪ It's you
♪ That it's with you
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba baby, in your eyes I see it so clearly ♪
♪ That our love is so strong and you never go wrong ♪
- * Baby - * I did the best for you
♪ So when you're in doubt and you're needing someone ♪
♪ Baby, call my line, call me anytime ♪
- * Baby - * I'll be there for you
♪
♪ I've been searching high - * High
♪ I've been searching low
♪
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba baby
♪ Don't forget my number
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba baby ♪
♪ Love is stronger than thunder ♪
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba baby ♪
♪ Don't forget my number
♪ Love will see you through
♪ I've been searching high
♪ I've been searching low
♪ Want to spend my life
♪ With you
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ And I dance with you
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Love will see you through
♪ Ba-ba-ba baby, in your eyes I can it so good ♪
♪ That our love is so strong and you never go wrong ♪
- * Baby - * I do my best for you
♪ So when you're in doubt and you're needing someone ♪
♪ Baby, call my line, call me anytime ♪
- * Baby - * I'll be there for you
♪ You, you
♪ I've been searching high - * High
- * I've been searching low - * Low
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba baby
♪ Don't forget my number
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba baby
♪ Love is stronger than thunder ♪
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba baby
♪ Don't forget my number
♪ Love will see you through
♪ I've been searching high
♪
♪ I've been searching low
♪ Want to spend my life
♪ With you
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba ba-ba
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba
♪ Love will see you through
♪ [vocalizing]
♪ Baby, call my line, baby, call my line ♪
♪ [vocalizing]
♪ Call me anytime
♪ [vocalizing]
♪ Ba-ba-ba-ba baby
♪ Don't forget my number
♪ Love will see you through
- Is Eddie OK? - I don't know.