Milli Vanilli were a German-French
R&B duo from
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
. The group was founded by
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 ...
in 1988 and consisted of
Fab 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 ...
and
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 ...
. Their debut album, ''
All or Nothing'' in Europe, reconfigured as ''
Girl You Know It's True
''Girl You Know It's True'' is a 1989 album that served as the North American debut of German contemporary R&B duo Milli Vanilli. It is a version of Milli Vanilli's Europe-only release '' All or Nothing'' reconfigured and repackaged for the US ...
'' in the United States, achieved international success and brought them a
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 21 February 1990.
They became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with millions of records sold. However, their success turned to infamy when it was discovered that Morvan and Pilatus did not sing any of the vocals on their music releases. They ended up returning their Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
They recorded a comeback album in 1998 titled ''Back and in Attack'', but its release was cancelled after Pilatus died at the age of 32.
Beginnings, 1988–1989
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 ...
met
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 ...
during a dance seminar at a club in Munich. The two bonded over their similar experiences growing up in European cities, Paris (Morvan) and Munich (Pilatus).
"Something clicked between us," Pilatus said. "Maybe it's because we're both black people who grew up in foreign cities that don't have too many blacks."
They reunited in Munich, where they attempted to find work as backing singers, then formed their own act and recorded an album for a small German label that sold a few thousand records.
Although they were focused on becoming famous, they struggled with poverty. "We lived in a project. We had no money. We wanted to be stars," explained Pilatus.
Music 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 ...
learned of the duo and invited them to his Frankfurt studio to listen to a demo. "We got a call to come to his studio and we said, 'All right that's it,'" Pilatus recalled. "We were just dumb little kids, so we said, 'Let's go.' When we got to the studio, "
Girl You Know It's True
''Girl You Know It's True'' is a 1989 album that served as the North American debut of German contemporary R&B duo Milli Vanilli. It is a version of Milli Vanilli's Europe-only release '' All or Nothing'' reconfigured and repackaged for the US ...
" was just a demo and he asked us our opinion of it and if we could sing it and we said, 'Yeah, we could sing it.' And he said, 'Oh beautiful, I believe it, but next week we have shows to do, so don't worry, I'll make you into a millionaire.'"
Farian signed the duo to a contract (which they both signed without either of them having really read it) on 1 January 1988,
obligating him to record 10 songs a year.
But the group's singing in the recording studio did not impress Farian. "These two guys came into the studio, they recorded, but they didn't have enough quality," Farian said.
The final mix of "Girl You Know It's True" was finished by studio performers—including
Charles Shaw,
John Davis,
Brad Howell
Brad Howell is an American keyboardist, pianist and singer, known as the singer who provided the vocals for German band Chilly and the actual vocals lip-synced by Rob Pilatus for the musical duo Milli Vanilli.
Career
When Howell became a keyboa ...
, Jodie Rocco and Linda Rocco
—in March and April.
Farian gave his new project the name "Milli Vanilli," with "Milli" taken from the nickname of Farian's then-girlfriend Ingrid Segieth, and "Vanilli" added to sound like the British band
Scritti Politti.
By May, Pilatus and Morvan were touring Spain, France and Italy, lip-syncing to the pre-recorded tracks and thrilling crowds with their distinct style — spandex shorts, thigh-high boots and cornrow hair extensions.
According to Pilatus, "We would ask Frank, 'When are we going to be allowed to give some (artistic) input?' And he would say, 'Yeah, yeah, but right now we need you to go out and do promotion. Of course, you'll get to do it, just work with us.' That's how he strung us along."
After "Girl You Know It's True" took off in Germany in the summer of 1988, Farian produced and wrote most of the material on the album ''
All or Nothing,'' which was released in Europe in November 1988.
"After Frank released the album, he told us that it was too late to stop now," Pilatus said. "Because the single was such a big success, he said, 'Now you have to go through with it. I'll cover you guys. Nobody will find out.' He said, 'Here, I'll give you $20,000 advance money.' We never had a hit before, so we went along with it. We played with fire and now we know, but it's too late." By December 1988, Pilatus and Morvan had both come to the realization that neither of their actual voices would ever be heard on any Milli Vanilli tracks.
''All or Nothing'' was repackaged as ''
Girl You Know It's True
''Girl You Know It's True'' is a 1989 album that served as the North American debut of German contemporary R&B duo Milli Vanilli. It is a version of Milli Vanilli's Europe-only release '' All or Nothing'' reconfigured and repackaged for the US ...
'' for audiences in the United States and released in March 1989. It was a major success, producing five singles, including the title track of the American version, that all entered the top five of the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. Three of these five singles, "
Baby Don't Forget My Number
"Baby Don't Forget My Number" is a song by German dance-pop group 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 ...
," "
Blame It on the Rain
"Blame It on the Rain" is a song written by Diane Warren and performed by the German dance-pop group Milli Vanilli. It was released as a new track from the group's North American debut album, '' Girl You Know It's True'' (1989), and did not appe ...
," and "
Girl I'm Gonna Miss You
"Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" (sometimes listed as "I'm Gonna Miss You") is a song by German dance-pop group 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 Fa ...
," went to number one.
In January 1990, the album ''Girl You Know It's True'' was certified 6× platinum by the RIAA after spending seven weeks atop the ''Billboard'' Top 200.
It spent 41 weeks in the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Top 200 and 78 weeks on the charts overall. It was also certified Diamond in Canada, denoting sales of over a million units there. The duo won the
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 ...
award at the
32nd Grammy Awards, as well as three awards at the
17th American Music Awards. The duo was not without their detractors, as ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' Magazine named them "worst act of 1989" and ''Girl You Know It's True'' "worst album of 1989."
Lip-syncing exposure and media backlash, 1989–1991
Beth McCarthy-Miller
Beth McCarthy-Miller (born September 3, 1963, Elizabeth, New Jersey) is an American television director. Shows she has directed include ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''30 Rock''.
Early life
McCarthy-Miller was born on September 3, 1963, in El ...
, then an executive with
MTV, says the duo's English language skills, when they came in for their first interview with the channel, stirred doubts among those present as to whether they had sung on their records.
The first public sign that the group was
lip-syncing
Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.
Audio for lip syncing is generated th ...
came on 21 July 1989, during a live performance on MTV at the
Lake Compounce
Lake Compounce is an amusement park located in Bristol and Southington, Connecticut. Opened in 1846, it is the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States. It spans , which includes a beach and a water park called Crocodile ...
theme park in
Bristol, Connecticut
Bristol is a suburban city located in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States, southwest-west of Hartford. The city is also 120 miles southwest from Boston, and approximately 100 miles northeast of New York City. As of the 2020 census, th ...
. As they performed, a hard drive issue caused the recording of the song "Girl You Know It's True" to jam and skip, repeatedly playing the partial line "Girl, you know it's..." through the speakers. "I knew right then and there, it was the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli," recalled Pilatus of the incident. "When my voice got stuck in the computer, and it just kept repeating and repeating, I panicked. I didn't know what to do. I just ran off the stage."
Downtown Julie Brown ran after Pilatus and convinced him to finish the set. "With a bit of pushing and screaming, and a couple of F-words I think as well, I got them back out there," Brown explained on VH1's ''
Behind the Music
''Behind the Music'' is a documentary television series on VH1. Each episode profiles and interviews a popular musical artist or group. The program examines the beginning of their career, their road to success, and the hardships they may have ...
''. Despite the mishap, the concert audience seemed neither to care, nor even to notice, and the concert continued as if nothing unusual had happened.
In a March 1990 issue of ''
Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
'' magazine, Pilatus was quoted proclaiming himself to be "the new
Elvis
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...
," reasoning that by the duo's success they were more talented musically than
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
,
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
and
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
. This was denied by Fab Morvan in 2017, saying that Pilatus had never used those words and that the quote was taken out of context, likely due to Pilatus still not having a full grasp of the English language.
Unlike the international release of ''All or Nothing,'' the inserts for the American version of the album explicitly attributed the vocals to Morvan and Pilatus. This prompted singer
Charles Shaw to reveal in December 1989 that he was one of the three actual vocalists on the 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.
On the 21 April 1990 episode of ''
In Living Color
''In Living Color'' is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in ...
,''
Keenan Ivory Wayans
Keenen Ivory Desuma Wayans (born June 8, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers. Wayans first came to prominence as the host and the creator of the 1990–1994 Fox Broadcasting Co ...
and
Damon Wayans
Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. (; born September 4, 1960) is an American actor, comedian, producer, and writer. Wayans performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a year long stint on the sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live.' ...
parodied Milli Vanilli in a sketch, mocking the duo's accents, fashion sense, and dance moves. This led to further jokes on the duo, such as
David Letterman's top-10 list describing 10 jobs they could do other than music.
Because of growing public questions as to who sang in the group, as well as Morvan's and Pilatus's demand to Farian that they be allowed to sing on the next album, on 14 November 1990, Farian announced that he had fired them and confessed they did not sing on the records.
Confronted by ''Los Angeles Times'' reporter
Chuck Philips
Charles Alan Philips (born October 15, 1952) is an American writer and journalist. He is best known for his investigative reporting in the ''Los Angeles Times'' on the culture, corruption, and crime in the music industry during the 1990s and ...
, Pilatus confirmed the deception. "It’s True: Milli Vanilli Didn’t Sing" read the newspaper's headline. "I feel like a mosquito being squeezed," Pilatus said. "The last two years of our lives have been a total nightmare. We've had to lie to everybody. We are true singers, but that maniac Frank Farian would never allow us to express ourselves."
The next week, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences revoked Milli Vanilli's 1990 Grammy for Best New Artist. Pilatus and Morvan gave a press conference for more than 100 journalists in Los Angeles where they stated their willingness to return their Grammy Award. The duo said they had "made a deal with the devil," and they sang and rapped for the room in order to prove that, although they had not sung on their records, they could, in fact, sing.
After these details emerged, lawsuits
were filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws
against Arista Records, Pilatus and Morvan. One such filing occurred on 22 November 1990, in Ohio, where lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit asking for refunds on behalf of a local woman in
Cuyahoga County who had bought ''Girl You Know It's True.'' When the suit was filed, it was estimated at least 1,000 Ohio residents had bought the album.
On 12 August 1991, a proposed settlement of a refund lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois, was rejected. This settlement would have refunded buyers of Milli Vanilli CDs, cassettes, records and singles. However, the refunds would only be given as credits for future Arista releases.
On 28 August, a new settlement was approved; it refunded those who attended concerts as well as those who bought Milli Vanilli recordings.
An estimated 10 million buyers were eligible to claim a refund, and they could keep the refunded recordings.
The refund deadline passed on 8 March 1992.
Adding to the controversy, in December 1990, singer-songwriter
David Clayton-Thomas
David Clayton-Thomas (born David Henry Thomsett, 13 September 1941) is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the American band Blood, Sweat & Tears. Clayton-Thomas has been inducte ...
sued Milli Vanilli for copyright infringement, alleging that the title song of ''All or Nothing'' used the melody from his 1968 composition "
Spinning Wheel
A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning f ...
," a hit for his group
Blood, Sweat & Tears
Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is a jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. In addition to original music, the group has performed popular songs by Laura N ...
.
The Real Milli Vanilli, 1991–1992
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 along with the real singers: Brad Howell and John Davis. In addition, the album featured rappers Icy Bro on "Hard as Hell" and Tammy T on "Too Late (True Love)". Original members and vocalists Jodie Rocco and Linda Rocco remained on 95% of the tracks. One of four
Diane Warren-penned songs that are included on ''The Moment of Truth'', "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 with Milli Vanilli and had the tracks re-recorded with Ray Horton on the majority of lead vocals. However, ''The Moment of Truth'' was never released in that format in the USA.
[*
*
*
*]
Try 'N' B
In 1992,
RCA
The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...
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
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show (shortened to Dr. Hook in 1975) is an American rock band, formed in Union City, New Jersey. The band had commercial success in the 1970s with hit singles "Sylvia's Mother", " The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" (both 1972) ...
's "
Sexy Eyes", and featured original Milli Vanilli vocalists Jodie Rocco and Linda Rocco. Because of significantly better sales under the name Try 'N' B in America, a slightly modified Try 'N' B debut album was released internationally. It featured guest singer Tracy Ganser, a Ray Horton lookalike named Kevin Weatherspoon, as well as Jodie Rocco and Linda Rocco.
Rob & Fab, 1990–1993
In 1991, Pilatus and Morvan appeared in a commercial for Carefree Sugarless Gum that parodied the lip-syncing scandal. They portrayed animated versions of themselves in an episode of ''
The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3'' and even signed with a PR firm in hopes of breaking into acting. As they told the ''
L.A. Times'', "We think we have the potential to become actors. After all, we got a lot of practice while we were in Milli Vanilli. But the most important thing to us now is the new album."
Morvan and Pilatus moved to Los Angeles, California, and signed with the Joss Entertainment Group.
Sandy Gallin
Albert Samuel Gallin, better known as Sandy Gallin, (May 27, 1940 – April 21, 2017) was an American producer and talent manager, winner of an Emmy Award. was their manager.
[Hollywood agent and producer Sandy Gallin dead at 76](_blank)
The Associated Press, 22 April 2017 They recorded the album
''Rob & Fab'', which was financed by Taj Records in 1992 and released by Joss Entertainment in 1993. Almost all the album's songs were written by Kenny Taylor and Fab Morvan, while Morvan and Pilatus provided the lead vocals. Werner Schüler, a German bassist and songwriter, was the producer.
[Milli Vanilli: Fr to Shame](_blank)
IMDb, 60min documentary, 23 July 2016 Due to financial constraints, Joss Entertainment Group was able to release the album only in the United States, the priority market to Milli Vanilli. A single, "We Can Get It On", was made available for radio play shortly before the album's release. However, the lack of publicity, poor distribution, and their steep fall from the height of pop-culture visibility after the lip-syncing scandal contributed to its failure. It sold only around 2,000 copies.
Comeback attempt and death of Rob Pilatus, 1997–1998
The duo were featured and interviewed for the premiere episode of
VH1 ''
Behind the Music
''Behind the Music'' is a documentary television series on VH1. Each episode profiles and interviews a popular musical artist or group. The program examines the beginning of their career, their road to success, and the hardships they may have ...
'' in 1997. To restore their careers, Farian agreed to produce a new Milli Vanilli album with Morvan and Pilatus on lead vocals in 1997, leading to the recording of the 1998 Milli Vanilli comeback album ''Back and In Attack''. Some of the original studio singers even backed the duo in their attempt to recover some of the fame that had been lost so quickly. However, Pilatus encountered a number of personal problems during the album's production. He turned to drugs and crime, committing a series of assaults and robberies, and was sentenced to three months in jail and six months in a drug rehabilitation facility in California.
On the eve of the new album's promotional tour on 2 April 1998, Pilatus was found dead of a suspected alcohol and prescription drug overdose in a hotel room in Frankfurt, Germany.
His death was ruled accidental.
Morvan's solo career
Morvan spent the following years as a
session musician and
public speaker
Public speaking, also called oratory or oration, has traditionally meant the act of speaking face to face to a live audience. Today it includes any form of speaking (formally and informally) to an audience, including pre-recorded speech deliver ...
while working on writing and performing his new music. In 1998, he was a
DJ at famed L.A.
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
KIIS-FM
KIIS-FM (102.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Los Angeles, California, United States, and broadcasts to the Greater Los Angeles area. The station airs a top 40 format. Owned by iHeartMedia, KIIS-FM is the origin of the conglome ...
. During this period he also performed at the station's sold-out 1999
Wango Tango festival concert before 50,000 people at
Dodger Stadium
Dodger Stadium is a baseball stadium in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home stadium of Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Dodgers. Opened in 1962, it was constructed in less than three years at a cost of ...
. He then spent 2001 on tour before performing in 2002 as the inaugural performer at the brand-new Velvet Lounge at the
Hard Rock Hotel
Hard Rock Cafe, Inc. is a British-based multinational chain of theme restaurants, memorabilia shops, casinos and museums founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton in London. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and ro ...
in Orlando, Florida. In 2003, Morvan released his first solo album, ''
Love Revolution''.
In April 2011, Morvan released the single "Anytime" on iTunes.
In 2015
TMZ
TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...
reported that Morvan was working on an album with John Davis, one of the original Milli Vanilli singers, called ''Face Meets Voice''. In 2016, he appeared in a documentary-style
KFC commercial that focuses on his life and music career after Milli Vanilli. John Davis died on 24 May 2021 from complications of a
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
infection.
Film
In 2000, Fab Morvan was featured in the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
''It Takes Two: The Story of the Pop Duo'' about musical duos.
In January 2014, the actual Milli Vanilli singers—Jodie Rocco, Linda Rocco, John Davis and Brad Howell—filmed an in-depth interview with the producers of ''Oprah: Where Are They Now'' for
.
The documentary ''Milli Vanilli: From Fame to Shame'', directed by German Oliver Schwehm and produced by Hannah Lenitzki from Bremedia Produktion, was released in 2016.
Previous attempts to produce a film about ''Milli Vanilli'' all had failed:
* On 14 February 2007, it was announced that
was developing a film based on the true story of Milli Vanilli's rise and fall in the music industry.
'', was to write and direct the film. Morvan was supposed to serve as a consultant, providing his and Pilatus's point of view. However, the project was never completed.
* In 2011 German director
declared that he was reviving the project and would be rewriting the script, which also didn't eventually happen.
* Director
attempted to make his version of a Milli Vanilli biopic, but the project was eventually cancelled in 2021 after numerous
allegations against Ratner became public. For this project, former Milli Vanilli performer Fab Morvan had sold his exclusive life rights to Ratner's production company
, which is why Morvan could not be involved in any competing project in development.
Between 2021 and 2022,
directed and wrote the Milli-Vanilli biopic ''Girl You Know It's True'', which was filmed in
. The film was produced by
as the theatrical distributor, due to be released in cinemas 2023. The movie stars
as Farian. One of the
" by his Baltimore DJ crew Numarx in 1986. Associate producers are Jasmin Davis, daughter of the late John Davis, and Brad Howell. Carmen Pilatus, sister of the late Rob Pilatus, Milli Vanilli’s former assistant Todd Headlee, and Ingrid Segieth a.k.a. Milli, are also attached as associate producers.
On his
fanpage, Fab Morvan announced on 4 July 2022 that there's also a new documentary film about Milli Vanilli in the works, which he is involved in.