Disgraced pop duo Milli Vanilli — who won the Best New Artist Grammy only to have it revoked after it was revealed that they’d lip-synced their hits — will be the subject of a new documentary.
The doc, called Girl You Know It’s True, will detail how German producer Frank Farian took two handsome guys who were great dancers but not-so-great singers — Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan — and turned them into chart-topping superstars.
Their 1989 album Girl You Know It’s True sold six million copies and spun off three number one hits: “Blame It on the Rain,” “Baby Don’t Forget My Number” and “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You.” However, neither Pilatus nor Morvan actually sang on the album — session vocalists did.
The trouble started in July of 1989, after the track the duo was lip-syncing to at a concert got jammed and started to skip. Despite that, in 1990, they received the Best New Artist Grammy, only to have it revoked in November of that year, after Farian came clean and admitted the ruse.
Director Luke Korem says in a statement, “Milli Vanilli has made an indelible mark on music and pop culture history, yet the truth of what happened is more bizarre than anyone knows. There are so many layers, characters and twists that have never before been revealed.”
Korem’s take on the story will “come from a place of empathy and understanding for characters who were caught in a game where nobody explained the rules,” according to a statement from the production company. The documentary is being made with Fab Morvan’s input; Rob Pilatus died of an overdose in 1998.
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