''Girl You Know It's True'' is a 1989 album that served as the North American debut of German R&B duo

Milli Vanilli Milli Vanilli ( ) was a German duo R&B music act from Munich. The act was created in 1988 by Frank Farian, founder of Boney M., and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus as the lip-syncing performers, with the two actual main studio sing ...

. It is a reconfigured and repackaged version of the group's first album '' All or Nothing'' with several of the original album tracks replaced and/or remixed for the North American market. The album was a major success in the US, producing five singles that entered the top 5 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, three of which reached the top position. In January 1990, ''Girl You Know It's True'' was certified 6× platinum by the RIAA after spending seven weeks atop the ''Billboard'' Top 200. Additionally, the album spent 41 weeks within the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Top 200 and 78 weeks within the charts overall. The album was also certified Diamond in Canada, denoting shipments of over one million units. The success of the album earned the duo a

Grammy Award for Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since the 2nd Annual Grammy Awards in 1960 (except in 1967) "for a new artist who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording which establishes the public identity of that art ...

on 22 February 1990. On 16 November 1990, ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' reporter

Chuck Philips Charles Alan Philips (October 15, 1952 – January 2024) was an American writer and journalist. He was best known for his investigative reporting in the ''Los Angeles Times'' on the culture, corruption, and crime in the music industry during the ...

reported that the group, which consisted of reputed vocalists

Rob Pilatus Robert Pilatus (8 June 1964 or 1965 – 3 April 1998) was a German singer, dancer, and model. He was a member of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli with Fab Morvan. Biography Early life Pilatus was born in Munich, West Germany, on 8 June 1964 or ...

and

Fab Morvan Fabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan (born 14 May 1966) is a French singer, dancer, rapper, and model who was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, along with Rob Pilatus. It was later revealed that the two had not actually sung on any of their recordin ...

, did not sing a single note on the album.

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

dropped the act from its roster and deleted their album and its masters from their catalog, making it one of the largest-selling albums to ever be deleted. In addition to this, their Grammy Award was revoked, marking the only time a Grammy was ever rescinded from an artist. According to producer

Frank Farian Franz Reuther (18 July 1941 – 23 January 2024), known professionally as Frank Farian, was a German record producer and singer who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the pop band No Mercy, and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequent ...

, the decision to repackage ''All or Nothing'' as ''Girl You Know It's True'' was made by Arista Records president

Clive Davis Clive Jay Davis (born April 4, 1932) is an American record producer, A&R executive, record executive, and lawyer. He has won five Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a non-performer, in 2000. From 1967 to 1 ...

. In addition to including five of the tracks that originally appeared on ''All or Nothing'' ("I'm Gonna Miss You", "All or Nothing", "Baby Don't Forget My Number", "Dreams to Remember" and "Girl You Know It's True"), ''Girl You Know It's True'' featured several new tracks, including "

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 appea ...

", which would go on to be a worldwide hit single, reaching number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In Europe, the track later appeared in an extended version on the album '' All or Nothing - The U.S. Remix Album''.Milli Vanilli- ''All Or Nothing _ The U.S. Remix Album'' (released in Germany) @Discogs.com
Retrieved 8 August 2015.

Track listing

Personnel

Milli Vanilli

– visual performance (credited with "vocals") *

– visual performance (credited with "vocals")

Session musicians

* John Davis – lead vocals (credited with "

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

") *

Brad Howell Brad Howell is an American keyboardist, pianist, composer 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 becam ...

– lead vocals (credited with "backing vocals") * Charles Shaw – lead vocals (credited with "backing vocals") * Linda Rocco – backing vocals * Jodie Rocco – backing vocals * Joan Faulkner – backing vocals * Felicia Taylor – backing vocals * The Jackson Singers – backing vocals * Charles Christopher – backing vocals * Herbert Gebhard – backing vocals * Bimey Oberreit – backing vocals * Peter Rishavy – backing vocals * Peter Weihe – guitars *

Jens Gad Jens Gad is a German Record producer, producer, songwriter and guitarist of Denmark, Danish parents. He started making music at a young age. Gad produces music for many artists (Sandra Cretu / Sandra Gambino) and was previously co-producer for the ...

– guitars * Ike Turner – guitars * Bruce Ingram – guitars * P. G. Wilder – keyboards,

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing Composition (music), composition. Differences from the original composition may include Harmony (music), reharmonization, Musical phrasing, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or M ...

* Pit Loew – keyboards, arrangements * Volker Barber – keyboards, arrangements *

Mel Collins Melvyn Desmond Collins (born 5 September 1947, Isle of Man) is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician. Collins has played in several progressive rock groups, having been a member of King Crimson on two occasions (the first from ...

– saxophone * Dino Solera – horns, horn arrangements * Felice Civitareale – horns * Franz Weyerer – horns *

Curt Cress Curtis Cress (born 11 August 1952), known by his stage name Curt Cress, is a German musician, singer and songwriter. Life and work Curt Cress began his career in 1965 in Hanau with the band Load. Later also in Hanau he played with the bands I ...

– drums, percussion

Production

– producer,

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

programming * Tobias Freund – engineering * Bernd Berwanger – engineering * Norbert Janicke – engineering * Jens Seekamp – engineering

Charts

Weekly charts

Certifications

References

External links

Breaking stories about the Milli Vanilli lip-synching scandal archived at the LA Times
{{Authority control Milli Vanilli albums 1989 albums Albums produced by Frank Farian Juno Award for International Album of the Year albums Arista Records albums