Three decades ago, a controversial R&B duo had their Grammy revoked. Now, we are finally hearing the full story.
In 1990, Milli Vanilli became the first and the only musical act to have their award removed – but one of the singers has revealed they wanted to give it back first.
Fab Morvan, one half of the scandalous duo, spoke with Interview about the renewed interest in his music as a result of its inclusion in Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story.
During the interview, Morvan addressed the infamous Grammys incident, explaining the ‘misconception’ that has followed it for years.
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It was 1990. The duo had already been caught lip-syncing onstage during a performance streamed on MTV but managed to nab a Grammy for Best New Artist.
Less than a year later, Rob Pilatus and Morvan were forced to return the award after music producer Frank Farian revealed in a press conference that not only were they not singing live during that performance, but it wasn’t even their voices on the recorded album.
Morvan now claims that during a 1990 press conference, the duo expressed wanting to return the award, though the media beat them to it.
“We did it to say, ‘We know we were wrong, and we came here to let you know, Hey, we want to give this Grammy back’,” Morvan said.
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“That’s what we wanted, because we didn’t think we deserved it and it didn’t feel like it belonged in our house.
“But when we informed them that we were going to give it back, the Los Angeles Times told NARAS [the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences] and then they jumped the gun.
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“This is one of the most important misconceptions for me. We actually wanted to give it back, but the press made it seem that the Grammy federation forcibly reclaimed it from us.”
At the time, the duo were publicly crucified and apologised just weeks after the big reveal in the LA Times.
“We sold our souls to the devil. We lied to our families and our friends. We let down our fans,” Pilatus shared at the time.
The duo had signed with Farian with the intent of singing their own songs, but their producer blindsided them by suggesting that they be used as the face of the brand.
“Rob and I never meant for it to go this way,” added Morvan.
“Our producer tricked us. We signed contracts as singers but were never allowed to contribute. It was a nightmare. We were living a lie.”
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Morvan and Pilatus tried to recover their image. Pilatus died at the age of 32 in 1998 of an accidental drug overdose right, before the duo went on tour to promote a new album that was never released.
Morvan tells Interview things are starting to look up for him.
“Now I feel like I’ve got a chance to go into a new and exciting story,” he says.
“A new chapter and people are slowly starting to read it. I’ve been working on that chapter for a long time.”
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