Charles Shaw (born July 4, 1960) is an American

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

and singer who, in 1988, performed on recordings credited to

Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli were a German-French R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. Their debut album, ''All or Nothing'' in Europe, reconfigured as ''Girl You Know It's True'' in ...

Controversy

Shaw, a U.S.

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

veteran, was reportedly paid $6,000 to perform the rap on Milli Vanilli's hit single " Girl You Know It’s True". In December 1989, Shaw disclosed to ''

New York Newsday ''New York Newsday'' was an American daily newspaper that primarily served New York City and was sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The paper, established in 1985, was a New York City-specific offshoot of '' Newsday'', a Long Island ...

'' writer John Leland that he was one of three singers on Milli Vanilli's hit debut album, and that Milli Vanilli frontmen

Rob Pilatus Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Ro ...

and

Fabrice Morvan Fabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan (born 14 May 1966) is a French singer, songwriter, rapper, dancer, and model. He was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, along with Rob Pilatus, selling multi-platinum albums around the world. However, he was later i ...

were impostors. Milli Vanilli producer

Frank Farian Frank Farian (born Franz Reuther; 18 July 1941) is a German record producer, musician, singer and songwriter, who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the Latin pop band No Mercy and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequently created voc ...

reportedly paid Shaw $150,000 to retract his statements. Morvan and Pilatus went on to win the

Grammy Award for Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

on February 22, 1990, but rumors about Shaw's involvement persisted. Eventually, the true story of Milli Vanilli was exposed later that year, when Farian broke the story himself, and the duo's Grammy Award was withdrawn. Farian re-launched the group in 1991 as

The Real Milli Vanilli The Real Milli Vanilli was a pop music group that consisted of some of the original singers from Milli Vanilli, Brad Howell and John Davis, as well as new singers Gina Mohammed and Ray Horton and several "special guests," including Tammy T, Icy ...

, using Shaw with Brad Howell and John Davis, the singers from the original studio sessions. This group lasted for one album, ''The Moment of Truth''. A revised version of this album was later released in the United States with the group renamed ''Try N B''. In August 1998, Shaw was arrested in

Cologne, Germany Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

as part of an embezzlement investigation. Shaw had been sought for allegedly pocketing money that was meant to be invested in a 1996 Real Milli Vanilli tour of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

.Staff report. (August 14, 1998). Jail songbird. ''Hollywood Reporter''.

New recordings

In 1994, Shaw released the single "I'm Feeling" featuring vocals of Sandra Chambers and in 1995 the single "Gotta Fever". In 2000 he released an updated version.

References

External links

Milli Vanilli biography
via MTV.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Shaw, Charles (Singer) Milli Vanilli 1960 births Living people American fraudsters American rappers United States Army soldiers 21st-century American rappers