Fab Morvan

Last updated

Fab Morvan
Academy Awards afterparty CUN Fab Morvan.jpg
Morvan in 2007
Background information
Birth nameFabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan
Born (1966-05-14) 14 May 1966 (age 58)
Paris, France
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • rapper
  • dancer
  • model
Years active1988–present
Labels
Formerly of
Website fabmorvan.com

Fabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan (born 14 May 1966) is a French singer, dancer, 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 recordings. After the scandal, the group reformed as Rob & Fab in the 1990s, with limited success. Morvan had a solo comeback in the 2000s, releasing the album Love Revolution in 2003.

Contents

As of 2023, Morvan resides in Amsterdam, Netherlands. [1]

Biography

Early years

Morvan was born in 1966 in Paris, France, to parents from Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe. [2] At 18, he moved to Germany, where he worked as a dancer and model and was influenced by funk, soul, hip hop, and pop music. He met Rob Pilatus in a nightclub in Munich, and they decided to form a rock/soul group.[ citation needed ]

From fame to shame

Morvan and Pilatus were noticed by music producer Frank Farian, who signed them as part of a musical act called Milli Vanilli. The duo served as the public faces for singers Charles Shaw, John Davis, and Brad Howell, whom Farian thought were talented musicians but lacked a marketable image.

The first Milli Vanilli album, titled Girl You Know It's True , was released in 1989 and proved popular worldwide. It had four hit singles: the title track, "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You", "Baby Don't Forget My Number", and "Blame It on the Rain". The group won a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on 22 February 1990 for Girl You Know It's True.

Morvan and Pilatus were frequent targets of rumors and allegations of onstage lip-synching and not having sung on the album. The same year the group released their debut album, Shaw told a reporter the truth but recanted after Farian paid him $155,000 to do so. [3]

When Morvan and Pilatus pressured Farian to let them sing on the next album, Farian the revealed the truth about their lip-synching to reporters on 15 November 1990. As a result, Milli Vanilli's Grammy was withdrawn four days later, while Arista Records dropped the act from its roster and deleted their album and its masters from their catalogue, thus making Girl You Know It's True the largest-selling album to ever be deleted. A court ruling allowed any American who bought the album to get a partial refund.[ citation needed ]

Farian later attempted a failed comeback for the group without Morvan and Pilatus, releasing the album The Moment of Truth in February 1991, with new cover art featuring the actual session musicians.

Aftermath

Months later, Morvan and Pilatus parodied the scandal in a commercial for Carefree sugarless gum. In it, the duo lip syncs to an opera recording. An announcer asks, "How long does the taste of Carefree sugarless gum last?" The record then begins to skip, and the announcer answers, "until these guys sing for themselves". [4]

Morvan and Pilatus then moved to Los Angeles, where they released an eponymous album under the name Rob & Fab in 1993. Only around 2,000 copies were sold.[ citation needed ]

Pilatus later served three months in jail for assault, vandalism, and attempted robbery. [5] He spent six months on drug rehabilitation, before returning to Germany, later to die in a 1998 drug overdose at the age of 32.

On 26 March 2007, the Milli Vanilli Best of the Best album was released.

Solo comeback

Morvan spent several years as a session musician and public speaker. In 1998, he was hired as a DJ at the American radio station KIIS-FM. During this time, he also performed at the station's sold-out 1999 Wango Tango concert before 50,000 people, at Dodger Stadium.[ citation needed ]

In 1997, he was interviewed for the premiere episode of VH1's Behind the Music . He was also featured in a 2000 BBC documentary on Milli Vanilli. Morvan then spent 2001 on tour, before performing in 2002 as the inaugural musician at the brand-new Velvet Lounge of the Hard Rock Café hotel in Orlando, Florida.[ citation needed ]

In 2003, Morvan released his first solo album, Love Revolution , producing, recording, writing, and singing on all the tracks. On 14 April 2011, he issued the single "Anytime" to digital outlets.[ citation needed ] On 25 May 2012, he released the single "See the Light" with a new band, Fabulous Addiction.[ citation needed ]

In 2016, Morvan appeared in a documentary-style KFC commercial that focused on his life and music career after Milli Vanilli. [6] [7]

On 1 November 2022, he appeared in an ad/trailer for the Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell-led Christmas comedy Spirited . In it, Reynolds and Ferrell are trying to dispel rumors that they lip synched in the film. The audience, however, notices that the actors' voices don't sound quite right. The camera then cuts to a shot of Morvan in a recording studio booth, providing voiceovers. [8]

Film projects

On 14 February 2007, it was announced that Universal Pictures was developing a film based on the true story of Milli Vanilli's rise and fall in the music industry. Jeff Nathanson, a screenwriter known for Catch Me If You Can , was to write and direct. Morvan was supposed to serve as a consultant, providing his and Pilatus's points of view. [9] [10] However, the project was never completed. In 2011 German director Florian Gallenberger declared that he was reviving it and would be rewriting the script. [11] This ultimately didn't happen.

Director Brett Ratner attempted to make his version of a Milli Vanilli biopic, for which Morvan sold his exclusive life rights to Ratner's production company, RatPac Entertainment, [12] but the project was canceled in 2021, after numerous Time's Up sexual harassment allegations against Ratner became public. [13]

Between 2021 and 2022, Simon Verhoeven directed and wrote the Milli Vanilli biopic Girl You Know It's True, which was filmed in Munich, Berlin, Cape Town, and Los Angeles. The film was produced by Wiedemann & Berg Film, with Leonine as the theatrical distributor, due to be released in cinemas in 2024. [14] The movie stars Tijan Njie and Elan Ben Ali as Pilatus and Morvan, as well as Matthias Schweighöfer as Farian. [15] One of the executive producers is R&B music producer and performer Kevin Liles, who composed the original version of "Girl You Know It's True" in 1986. Associate producers are Jasmin Davis, daughter of John Davis, and Brad Howell. Carmen Pilatus, sister of Rob Pilatus, Milli Vanilli's former assistant Todd Headlee, and Ingrid Segieth a.k.a. Milli, are also attached as associate producers. [16]

Milli Vanilli

On 13 March 2021, Variety announced that a feature documentary was in the works, directed by Luke Korem and produced by Korem, Bradley Jackson, Keep on Running Pictures, and MRC. [17]

On 1 June 2023, it was announced that Paramount+ had acquired the film, titled Milli Vanilli . [18] The feature premiered at the Tribeca Festival on 10 June 2023. [19] It received positive critical reviews, including Variety calling it a "captivating and moving documentary" and saying that it "brings off something at once strategic, artful, and humane". [20] The Hollywood Reporter released a trailer on 13 September 2023, and announced the film would have a global release on 24 October. [21]

Personal life

In January 2024, Morvan's wife, Kim Marlowe, filed for divorce in the Los Angeles Superior Court. [22] [23] Details regarding the couple's marriage are unknown. [23] [22] Marlowe was described by the Los Angeles Times in September 1997 as Morvan's "best friend and manager". [24] Morvan has four children with his partner Tessa van der Steen, with whom he resides in Amsterdam. [23]

Discography

Studio albums

with Milli Vanilli

with Rob & Fab

with Fabulous Addiction

with NightAir

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milli Vanilli</span> German R&B group

Milli Vanilli was a German R&B music act from Munich. The act was packaged by Boney M. founder Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus as the lip-syncing performers, with the two actual main studio singers, Brad Howell, John Davis and studio singers, Charles Shaw, Jodie Rocco, and Linda Rocco, with an unrelated touring band. Their debut album, as All or Nothing in Europe, and expanded, including "Baby Don't Forget My Number" and "Blame It on the Rain", composed by Diane Warren, as Girl You Know It's True in the United States, achieved international success and brought them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on 21 February 1990.

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 Group, the North American division of German conglomerate Bertelsmann. Founded in November 1974 by Clive Davis and deactivated in 2011, Arista was re-established in 2018. Along with RCA Records, Columbia Records, and Epic Records, it is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">32nd Annual Grammy Awards</span> Award ceremony

The 32nd Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 21, 1990, and hosted by Garry Shandling. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Farian</span> German record producer and singer (1941–2024)

Franz Reuther, known professionally as Frank Farian, was a German record producer and singer who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the Latin pop band No Mercy, and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequently created vocal groups in which the publicised members merely lip-synced to songs sung by session members. Farian owned the record label MCI and several subsidiaries. Over the course of his career, Farian sold over 850 million records and earned 800 gold and platinum certifications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lip sync</span> Matching a speaking or singing persons lip movements to an audio recording

Lip sync or lip synch, short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Pilatus</span> German singer (1965–1998)

Robert Pilatus was a German singer, dancer, model, and rapper. He was a member of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli with Fab Morvan.

<i>Girl You Know Its True</i> 1989 studio album by Milli Vanilli

Girl You Know It's True is a 1989 album that served as the North American debut of German R&B duo Milli Vanilli. It is a reconfigured and repackaged version of the group's album All or Nothing for the North American market.

<i>All or Nothing</i> (Milli Vanilli album) 1988 studio album by Milli Vanilli

All or Nothing is the debut studio album by dance pop duo Milli Vanilli, released only outside of North America in November 1988. In 1989, it was repackaged and retitled Girl You Know It's True for release in North America on the Arista label, with several of the original album tracks replaced and/or remixed. All or Nothing was a moderate success, reaching the top 40 in several European countries and #1 in New Zealand. It originally reached #37 in the UK, but was packaged together with The U.S.-Remix Album: All or Nothing in 1989 under the name 2×2 and reached #6. After 1990, due to lip-synching allegations, a disclaimer sticker was added on the cover to explicitly name the singers who provided vocals on the album.

Rob & Fab was a short-lived dance-pop music duo formed and fronted by Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan in 1990, following their departure from the commercially successful but ill-fated group Milli Vanilli.

Charles Shaw, is an American rapper and singer who, in 1988, performed on recordings credited to Milli Vanilli.

<i>The Remix Album</i> (Milli Vanilli album) 1990 remix album by Milli Vanilli

The Remix Album is an album released by Milli Vanilli in 1990. Due to the significant differences between the original Milli Vanilli debut album, All or Nothing, and the North America-only Girl You Know It's True release, producer Frank Farian decided to repackage these previously unreleased songs in a remix album. The album peaked at number thirty-two in the US and was certified Gold by the RIAA in July 1990.

<i>The Moment of Truth</i> (The Real Milli Vanilli album) 1991 studio album

The Moment of Truth is the only studio album by the pop group the Real Milli Vanilli, released in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girl You Know It's True (song)</span> 1988 single by Milli Vanilli

"Girl You Know It's True" is a song by Maryland-based group Numarx, later made internationally famed by German dance-pop group Milli Vanilli. Released as the lead single from MV's European debut album, All or Nothing (1988), and the duo's American debut album, Girl You Know It's True (1989), the song peaked at number one on the German Singles Chart, number two in the United States and number three in the United Kingdom, becoming one of Milli Vanilli's most successful singles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All or Nothing (Milli Vanilli song)</span> 1990 single by Milli Vanilli

"All or Nothing" is a song by German dance-pop group Milli Vanilli. It was released in January 1990 and was their final top 10 single, peaking at number four in the United States. This was their final single before the lip syncing scandal. In November 1990, the duo's manager, Frank Farian, publicly announced that he had fired Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. He also confirmed long standing rumors that Morvan and Pilatus did not actually sing on any Milli Vanilli releases. Session singers had provided the lead vocals while Morvan and Pilatus lip synced to the recorded tracks when performing live.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milli Vanilli discography</span>

This is a discography of Milli Vanilli, a pop/dance music project formed by Frank Farian in Germany in 1988, fronted by Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus.

Simon Verhoeven is a German-Austrian film director, screenwriter, film producer, former actor, and occasional film music composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Davis (singer)</span> American singer (1954–2021)

John Davis was an American singer based in Germany. He was one of the real vocalists for Milli Vanilli and The Real Milli Vanilli who, along with Brad Howell, Charles Shaw and backup vocalists Linda Rocco & Jodie Rocco, provided the real vocals for Milli Vanilli.

Girl You Know It's True is a biographical film about the controversial late-1980s/early-1990s music duo Milli Vanilli that caused one of the most infamous scandals in international pop music. Between 2021 and 2022, German-Austrian filmmaker Simon Verhoeven wrote, directed and co-produced the biopic, which was produced by Wiedemann & Berg Film, with Leonine as the theatrical distributor, released in cinemas in late 2023. The movie stars Tijan Njie and Elan Ben Ali as the lip-synching stage artists Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan respectively, as well as Matthias Schweighöfer as the instigating music producer/manager Frank Farian.

<i>Milli Vanilli</i> (film) 2023 American documentary film by Luke Korem

Milli Vanilli is a 2023 American documentary film about the German-French pop music duo Milli Vanilli, consisting of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan. The film chronicles the circumstances surrounding the duo's meteoric rise to fame and devastating fall. It features rare archival footage, exclusive interviews with Pilatus and Morvan, and interviews with the real singers and record executives. It is directed by Luke Korem and produced by Korem, Bradley Jackson, MRC, Keep on Running Pictures, and Fulwell 73, in association with MTV Entertainment Studios.

References

  1. ↑ Irvin, Jack (25 October 2023). "Milli Vanilli's Fabrice Morvan Opens Up About Lip-Syncing Scandal: 'My Story Has Never Been Told' (Exclusive)". People. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  2. ↑ Huey, Steve. "Milli Vanilli | Biography & History". AllMusic.
  3. ↑ Fisher, Marc (22 December 1990). "The Man Who Mixed Milli Vanilli". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 January 2021.(subscription required)
  4. ↑ Elliott, Stuart (14 June 1991). "The Media Business: Advertising – Addenda; Milli Vanilli Appears Again". The New York Times.
  5. ↑ "Milli Vanilli's Pilatus sentenced". UPI.com. 15 April 1996.
  6. ↑ "Milli Vanilli singer explains how to keep it real in KFC ad". Campaign. Haymarket Media Group. 7 January 2016. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  7. ↑ Coffee, Patrick (7 January 2016). "The Surviving Member of Milli Vanilli Tells KFC About 'Being Real'". Adweek . Shamrock Capital . Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  8. ↑ Twitter https://twitter.com/vancityreynolds/status/1587485005462343682 . Retrieved 10 November 2022.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ↑ Fleming, Michael (15 February 2007). "Universal sets up Milli Vanilli film". Variety. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  10. ↑ Frehsee, Nicole (20 February 2007). "Girl, You Know It's True: Milli Vanilli Biopic Will Reveal the Truth (!)". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 19 June 2008.
  11. ↑ Kim, Brandon (16 February 2011). "'Milli Vanilli' Movie Gets Rewrite and New Director". IFC.com. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016.
  12. ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (20 February 2021). "Brett Ratner Lines Up Directing Comeback ln Milli Vanilli Biopic with Millennium Launching Sales". Deadline. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  13. ↑ Gardner, Chris (25 February 2021). "Brett Ratner's Milli Vanilli Biopic Dropped". Billboard. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  14. ↑ Kroll, Justin (31 August 2022). "Milli Vanilli Biopic 'Girl You Know It's True' First-Look Photos Revealed By Leonine Studios". Deadline. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  15. ↑ "Milli Vanilli is the subject of an upcoming biopic — see the 1st pics". TODAY.com. September 2022. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  16. ↑ Roxborough, Scott (1 September 2022). "Milli Vanilli Biopic Players Revealed in 'Girl You Know It's True' First Look". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 20 September 2022.
  17. ↑ Trakin, Roy (13 May 2021). "Milli Vanilli's Story to Be Told in Documentary, 'Girl You Know It's True,' from MRC Non-Fiction (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  18. ↑ White, Peter (1 June 2023). "Paramount+ Snaps Up Milli Vanilli Feature Doc". Deadline. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  19. ↑ Horton, Adrian (15 June 2023). "'People thought they knew the story': the rise and fall of Milli Vanilli". the Guardian.
  20. ↑ Gleiberman, Owen (12 June 2023). "'Milli Vanilli' Review: The Saga of the Infamous Pop Duo, Now Seen from the Inside, Becomes a Captivating and Moving Documentary". Variety. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  21. ↑ Hibberd, James (13 September 2023). "'Milli Vanilli' Trailer Tells Untold Story of Music's Most Infamous Con". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 3 October 2023.
  22. 1 2 "Fab Morvan's Wife Files for Divorce ... Not That We Knew He Was Married". TMZ. 8 January 2024. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  23. 1 2 3 Irvin, Jack; DeSantis, Rachel (10 January 2024). "Milli Vanilli Member Fabrice Morvan's Wife Kim Marlowe Files for Divorce". People. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  24. ↑ Rivera, Carla (25 September 1997). "Finding His Own Voice--After Milli Vanilli". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 10 January 2024.
  25. ↑ "Sony Music presents NightAir". Electronic Music Magazine Belgium. 15 July 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.