Interview highlights; Milli Vanilli

When Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan had their Grammy for Best New Artist revoked in 1990, a media backlash ensued. They had been outed for not singing on their records by their managers and dropped by their producer Frank Farian. The part-time models and dancers were hired because of their moves and their looks. They fitted the MTV format, which, because of the pop video, had elevated the importance of image over substance.

When the Grammy was taken away, the boys' defence was that they had "made a deal with the devil". This Faustian pact resulted, they believed, in their downfall and their lives fell apart. Sadly Rob Pilatus died in 1998, just before Farian's promise of letting them sing on a new record came to fruition. We, the media, were complicit in this episode. We pretty much knew it couldn't be them singing on their records. Their accents in interviews, including this one in a hotel swimming pool on Ibiza, made that perfectly clear. You could say we played along with their record company, their managers, and their producer.

While they were riding high, we didn't say anything. Should we have outed them before? Should we have promoted them in the knowledge that they were effectively just puppets? It's a difficult call. There have been plenty of marionettes in the history of pop. And in retrospect, it's easy to say that we should have said something earlier. Everyone, except Rob and Fab, came out of this situation with their careers and lives intact. What I remember though was just two nice, regular guys who were having fun, making money and living the high life. They, like many of us who reported on them, were just enjoying their moment in the spotlight.

 #moderator #host #presenter# #tv #event#show #mc #mtv #eventmoderation #iloveevents #speaker #galamoderation #k?ln #london #music #musik #milliavanilli #interview #fashion #style #ibiza