Arista 8592
Producer: Frank Farian
Track listing: Girl You Know It’s True / Baby Don’t Forget My Number / More Than You’ll Ever Know / Blame It on the Rain / Take It as It Comes / It’s Your Thing / Dreams to Remember / All or Nothing / I’m Gonna Miss You / Girl You Know It’s True (N.Y. Subway Extended Mix)
September 23, 1989
8 weeks (nonconsecutive)
German record producer Frank Farian began working on a project known as Milli Vanilli in April 1988. The name was borrowed from a Berlin disco that was popular in the ’60s. By 1988, Farian was already an established hit-maker, having scored nine top 10 singles in England with the West Indies group Boney M.
To front Milli Vanilli, Farian recruited Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, a pair of dreadlocked video models and dancers. The album was recorded in three months at Far Studios in Frankfurt, Germany. The resulting album, All or Nothing, was issued on a small label in Europe and soon garnered the attention of Clive Davis, the president of Arista Records.
“Clive Davis suggested three new songs for the album for the American release,” recalls Farian. One of those tracks, “Blame It on the Rain,” was penned by the hot songwriter Diane Warren, who had written such chart-toppers as Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” Chicago’s “Look Away,” and Bad English’s “When I See You Smile.”
With the release of the American version of the album, retitled Girl You Know It’s True, Milli Vanilla began to experience success with the title track. The song, which was already a number three hit in the U.K., was released as the group’s first American single and went on to reach number two on the Hot 100. The follow-up single, “Baby Don’t Forget My Number,” penned by Farian, Brad Howell, and Bernd Berwanger, was even more successful. On July 1, 1989, it became Milli Vanilli’s first Number One hit.
In spite of the group’s success, rumors began to circulate that Pilatus and Morvan, credited with “vocals” in the album’s liner notes, did not really sing on the album. Despite the rumors, Milli Vanilli’s success continued. A third single, “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You,” also became a hit, reaching the top spot on September 23, 1989. The third hit single was enough to drive Girl You Know It’s True to Number One in its 27th week on the album chart.
Milli Vanilli’s hot streak continued when “Blame It on the Rain” became the group’s third consecutive Number One single on November 25, 1989. On February 21, 1990, Milli Vanilli was named best new artist at the 32nd Annual Grammy Awards by members of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. With all the success; however, the rumors that Pilatus and Morvan didn’t sing just became louder.
Finally, on November 14, 1990, almost a year after Milli Vanilli had topped the album chart, Farian held a press conference to announce that it was true: Pilatus and Morvan did not sing on the album. “Rob and Fab were supposed to do a dance video and it developed from there,” says Farian. However, the duo wanted to sing and actually thought that their vocals, which were in fact recorded in the course of the studio sessions, appeared on the album. “During the album recordings there was a funny situation in the studio. We were listening to the record and Rob started to claim that he expected his voice to be louder. As we all know by now, he never sang one tune.”
Farian says he opted not to use Pilatus and Morvan’s vocals because they simply were “not good enough.” Instead he turned to his friend, Howell, who co-wrote “Baby Don’t Forget My Number,” to handle the lead vocals.
In retrospect, Farian has mixed feelings about the Milli Vanilli experience. “Even though what happened is common procedure in the music business, I felt really bad,” he says. However, he is proud of his work on the album. “Girl You Know It’s True was an excellent production and deserved all the positive attention it received.”
The duo were later forced to return their Grammy, but chart history cannot be undone — Girl You Know It’s True remained one of the best-selling albums of 1989.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of September 23, 1989
1. Girl You Know It’s True, Milli Vanilli
2. Hangin’ Tough, New Kids on the Block
3. Forever Your Girl, Paula Abdul
4. Repeat Offender, Richard Marx
5. Full Moon Fever, Tom Petty