Pilatus, Robert

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    ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ Review: Milli Vanilli, Fictionalized. Again.

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    This film, based on the lives of the duo who lip-synced their way to stardom and downfall, fills in many of the details behind the facade.The true story of the 1980s German musical duo Milli Vanilli could be seen by cynical observers to have begun as farce and ended as tragedy. But despite this fictionalized film’s arguably goofy direct-address narration — from the actors playing the duo — it takes its subjects and their convoluted, unfortunate circumstances seriously.The movie, written and directed by Simon Verhoeven (the German director is the son of the filmmaker Michael Verhoeven, and no relation to the Dutch director Paul Verhoeven), depicts the difficult childhood of Rob Pilatus. He was adopted by a white German couple, and he is first seen as a boy whose Afro all the neighbors want to touch.The film follows Rob as he takes up dancing and forms a breaking team with the Paris-born Fab Morvan. They develop an eye-catching longhaired, leather-clad look and are discovered by the producer Frank Farian, a Svengali who convinces them that they don’t need to actually sing to reach the top of the charts.They can just lip-sync, though that isn’t the only illusion: Farian pilfered the track that gives this film its title, from a Maryland R&B group whose outrage at getting ripped off is also depicted in this eventful movie.Those events are consistently eyebrow raising, if not jaw dropping. The worm turns when a backing tape they use for lip-syncing glitches during an ostensibly live concert. Soon the duo is forced to face up to the fact that they were willing — albeit self-deceiving — patsies. In 1998, Pilatus died from a drug and alcohol overdose.The lead actors — Elan Ben Ali is Morvan, Tijan Njie is Pilatus — bear uncanny resemblances to their real-life models and are better-than-capable performers. (Other cast members are put at a disadvantage by bad wigs.) Viewers who press play with intent to scoff may be surprised with how genuinely caught up they become.Girl You Know It’s TrueNot Rated. Running time: 2 hours 4 minutes. In theaters. More

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      Frank Farian, the Man Behind Milli Vanilli, Is Dead at 82

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      He had worldwide success with the disco group Boney M. He was better known for a duo that had hit records but, it turned out, only pretended to sing.Frank Farian, the hit-making German record producer who masterminded the model-handsome dance-pop duo Milli Vanilli and propelled them to Grammy-winning heights — until it was revealed that they were little more than lip-syncing marionettes — died on Tuesday at his home in Miami. He was 82.His death was announced by Philip Kallrath of Allendorf Media, a spokesman for Mr. Farian’s family.Mr. Farian was no stranger to the pop charts in the late 1980s, when he brought together Rob Pilatus, the son of an American serviceman and a German dancer, and Fab Morvan, a French singer and dancer, to create one of pop music’s most sugary bonbons.He was born Franz Reuther on July 18, 1941, in Kirn, Germany. His father, a furrier turned soldier, was killed during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, leaving Franz and his older siblings, Hertha and Heinz, to be raised by their mother, a schoolteacher.Coming of age on a steady diet of American rock ’n’ roll records, Mr. Farian eventually became a performer himself. He rose to the top of the West German charts in 1976 with “Rocky,” a bouncy, German-language interpretation of a hit by the American country artist Dickey Lee.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      John Davis, a Voice Behind Milli Vanilli, Dies at 66

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      The singer was one of the voices behind the pop duo Milli Vanilli, fronted by Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus, who later admitted that they did not sing on their albums or in concert.This obituary is part of a series about people who have died in the coronavirus pandemic. Read about others here.John Davis, one of the real voices behind the lip-syncing duo Milli Vanilli, died in Nuremberg, Germany, on Monday. He was 66.His daughter, Jasmin Davis, who confirmed the news of his death on Facebook, said he had Covid-19.While living in Germany, Mr. Davis started unknowingly singing for Milli Vanilli in the 1980s after he met Frank Farian, a German music producer. Mr. Farian asked Mr. Davis to work on a project, but he did not disclose that his voice would be used for others to lip-sync, Mr. Davis told The Hustle podcast on an episode posted in April.Only later would he discover that his voice was being used by Fabrice Morvan, one-half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, with Rob Pilatus.“The truth is, I signed a contract with Frank Farian before I even knew who Milli Vanilli was,” Mr. Davis said. “One evening, I was sitting at home watching my TV, and I saw Fab singing ‘Girl I’m Gonna Miss You.’”Milli Vanilli was best known for hits like “I’m Gonna Miss You” and “Girl You Know It’s True,” and won the Grammy for best new artist in 1989.By 1990, Milli Vanilli’s work had sold more than seven million copies, but after Mr. Morvan and Mr. Pilatus admitted that they did not actually sing on Milli Vanilli’s albums or in concerts, they were stripped of the award.Mr. Morvan and Mr. Pilatus then told The Los Angeles Times that they wanted to give the award to those who actually voiced their work, including Mr. Davis, Brad Howell and Charles Shaw.“I didn’t want the Grammy because it was their faces and our voices,” Mr. Davis said. “I was mad.”Mr. Pilatus died in 1998, but Mr. Davis and Mr. Morvan later had an amicable relationship and even performed together.On Friday, Mr. Morvan shared a video with pictures of him performing with Mr. Davis.“Your golden voice will continue to be heard, you best believe that those classic records will live just like you eternally,” Mr. Morvan said on Twitter.Additional details about survivors were not immediately available on Saturday.Mr. Davis, who was born on Aug. 31, 1954, in Anderson, S.C., was stationed in Germany with the U.S. Army and stayed there for much of his life, he told The Hustle podcast.In Germany, Mr. Davis found many opportunities to play in Army clubs in the 1970s, he told the podcast.Mr. Davis said he learned how to play music from his father, a choir director who played piano and guitar.“My one mission I had on this earth was to become a musician and to play music,” Mr. Davis said.Those We’ve LostThe coronavirus pandemic has taken an incalculable death toll. This series is designed to put names and faces to the numbers. More