Milli Vanilli’s Fabrice Morvan Opens Up About Lip-Syncing Scandal: ‘My Story Has Never Been Told’ (Exclusive)

Milli Vanilli’s rise and fall was swift.

The R&B duo, fronted by Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus, climbed the charts in the late ’80s with hits like “Girl You Know It’s True” and “Blame It on the Rain.”

But then it was revealed that the two stars were not singers on any of Milli Vanilli’s songs. The Recording Academy rescinded their Grammy Award for Best New Artist — the only such case in the organization’s history — and the pair were effectively canceled.

More than three decades later, Morvan, 57, shares the truth about the dubbing scandal in a Paramount+ documentary Milli Vanilli, published on Tuesday. “People always thought they knew the story,” Morvan tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, “but my the story has never been told.”

Fabrice Morvan.

Luke Korem/Paramount+

The film contains interviews with Morvan, as well as several people from the music industry, who are involved in the machine behind Milli Vanilli. Filmmaker Luke Korem was inspired to make the documentary after learning that there were cracks in the version of the story he had previously known.

“I was watching a YouTube video of Fabrice telling his story at The Moth in New York, and he was singing at the end,” says Korem. “He had a beautiful voice and I thought, ‘Wait a minute. I thought the story was that the two guys were untalented con artists. I didn’t know he could sing.’”

Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus.

Michel Linssen/Redferns/Getty

Raised in Paris by a construction worker father and a pharmaceutical laboratory assistant mother, Morvan moved to Munich, Germany at the age of 18, where he met Pilatus, a fellow dancer who shared his dream of performing. In 1987, record company executive Frank Farian, who fronted Boney M. and produced for Meat Loaf, offered them a record deal. “We said, ‘Man, that guy is powerful,'” Morvan recalls.

Attracted by the gold records in Farian’s studio, they signed the contract without reading it, and Milli Vanilli was born. Soon after, Morvan says they realized Farian wasn’t planning on them singing. Already under contract, they agreed to dub songs recorded by American vocalists Charles Shaw, John Davis and Brad Howell—who were kept separate from Morvan and Pilatus.

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Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus from Milli Vanilli.

CBS via Getty

“Every time we came to the studio we tried to look for people. There was no one there,” says Morvan. “They made sure we never came in contact.”

The secret was huge for the rising stars, who feared being exposed because their accents didn’t match the voices of real singers. “It’s always been this heavy,” adds Morvan. “That was nerve-wracking.”

Still, Milli Vanilli rose to stardom, earning three No. 1 hits on their 1989 debut album, along with a Grammy win the following year. They performed at the awards show, which generally prohibits lip syncing. In the new film, Farian’s then-assistant Ingrid Segeith claims that Milli Vanilli manager Sandy Gallin (who died in 2017) paid the Recording Academy to circumvent the rules.

Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus from Milli Vanilli.

Bill Nation/Sygma via Getty

“During that, I was not informed,” says Morvan about all the alleged dealings behind their performance at the Grammys, which he found out about only through Korem’s documentary.

Morvan and Pilatus wanted to sing on their second album, but Farian apparently refused, causing the duo to threaten to reveal the secret themselves. Farian (who was not involved in the documentary and did not comment on Morvan’s claims) beat them to the punch, revealing the fraud in November 1990. “I knew it would change everything,” says Morvan.

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Fans quickly turned on them, and many destroyed their albums. “We went from being beloved characters to being ridiculed and ridiculed,” recalls Morvan. “We were the subject of all the jokes and easy targets.” They also faced racism. “It was ugly,” he adds. “Rob took it very personally.”

They tried to revive their career as a singing duo, but the audience was not interested – and Pilatus turned to drugs and alcohol. “He went too deep with his addiction to get out of the hole,” says Morvan. In 1998, Pilatus died of a suspected overdose. “When Rob died, I thought, ‘Wow, no one will ever know what that was like.'”

Fabrice Morvan, Tessa van der Steen and children Solange, Sacha, Vince and Paris.

courtesy of Fabrica Morvan

Today, Morvan lives in Amsterdam with his partner Tessa van der Steen and their four children: Sacha, 10, Solange, 7, and twins Paris and Vince, 2. Fatherhood has brought light into his life. “It healed me, because they suddenly became a focal point,” he says.

He is still devoted to music — this time he writes, sings and plays instruments himself. “I said to myself, ‘Hey, let’s go for it. You have nothing to lose,’ he says. “I saw the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The performer also found peace with Milli Vanilli’s complicated legacy: “Without this music and this journey, I wouldn’t be who I am today.”

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Source: HIS Education