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Original poster

To think what happened to Milli Vanilli is so sad

187 replies

ineeduourhelp · 18/10/2022 21:51

I was under 5 when this whole scandal happened so don't remember it at the time but till this day still play the track and absolutely love girl you know it's true.

I also have a crush on them (especially Fab 🤣)

But on a serious note it's so so sad what happened to these guys it breaks my heart - mainly because they could actually sing!

It's so bizarre they were not allowed to take over and start singing themselves as I'm convinced they could have had fame in their own right.

Was anyone perhaps a bit older to remember when all this happened?

OP posts:
Spanglybangles · 19/10/2022 00:28

@Keyansier no sorry I’m not buying the Mariah vocals on Back to Life. Yes the voice is similar, but it’s absolutely Caron Wheeler. I have her Living in the Light album and have listened to her vocals on the album and on Back to Life and Keep on Movin and as far as I’m concerned it’s her on all of them. Unless you are trying to say Mariah sang on Caron’s tracks too!

Spanglybangles · 19/10/2022 00:31

Sorry I should say the album is called UK Blak, and the track I’m referring to is Living in the Light, but listen to them all and it’s the same voice.

Notarealmum · 19/10/2022 00:39

BitossiBlues · 18/10/2022 23:32

Back in the '80s I knew someone who appeared on TOTP. He told me they weren't allowed to sing live on the programme, so everybody had to mime

There's a scene about this in Bohemian Rhapsody, with Queen being pissed off they couldn't perform live. I assume the producers thought audiences would want the performance to sound just like the released single; and also, since it was, I recall, originally a live broadcast, pissed up and drugged up bands were too much of a liability with a live microphone.

The artists on TOTP didn’t mime to the actual singles, mind you, they went into the studio earlier in the day to record the version they’d mime to. I think it may have been some kind of MU ruling (?) but not sure.

PolkadotsAndMoonbeams · 19/10/2022 00:40

Ihlaria · 18/10/2022 22:59

Re Singin in the Rain - to really blow your mind, Debbie Reynolds was dubbed in that as well!

There's also a bit where Debbie Reynolds is shown dubbing Lena Lamont's lines, and her voice is actually dubbed by Jean Hagen, the actress playing Lena Lamont! (But using her normal voice, not her 'Lena' voice.)

BitossiBlues · 19/10/2022 00:43

The artists on TOTP didn’t mime to the actual singles, mind you, they went into the studio earlier in the day to record the version they’d mime to.

There's also a bit where Debbie Reynolds is shown dubbing Lena Lamont's lines, and her voice is actually dubbed by Jean Hagen, the actress playing Lena Lamont! (But using her normal voice, not her 'Lena' voice.)

So much cool knowledge on this thread!

WeAreTheHeroes · 19/10/2022 00:51

Someone beat me to it that Frank Farian was Boney M and Milli Vanilli's producer. By the time MV were having hits it was widely known that Boney M was fronted by models/dancers who were miming. Quite how no one realised Frank had done it again...

All About Eve's miming disaster when they couldn't hear the playback resulted in them being asked back to sing live on TOTP. I love that song.

I have heard Ride on Time thousands of times and it has always been Loleatta Holloway's sampled vocal.

Marni Nixon had a gift - not only could she sing beautifully, she could sing so that she sounded like the actress she was dubbing. If you listen to MFL v West Side Story v The King and I she sounds different in each. I think that's one of the reasons it was kept quiet for so long. You just couldn't tell it was the same person. Marni Nixon was also the mother of Andrew Gold of Thank You for Being a Friend and Lonely Boy fame.

SpacePotato · 19/10/2022 00:57

With the Disney films, the 'pop' versions of the songs, like Demi Lovato, are usually the first song played during the credits.

The difference nowadays, compared to say beauty and the beast or mulan, was that using famous singers rather than unknown voice actors, promoted the film and made money.

No often the actors are more known in their own right and spotify and other streaming platforms have allowed everyone the ability to get the actual songs instantly. I think the popularity of Edina's emotional version of let it go was completely unexpected at the time but it became evident quickly which version was preferred and Demi didn't stand a chance.

Look at Encanto. At one point every song off the film was in the top 10 downloads. They didn't even bother with separate versions.

Original poster
ineeduourhelp · 19/10/2022 08:13

@BitossiBlues thank you what channel can I find this documentary?

OP posts:
Original poster
ineeduourhelp · 19/10/2022 08:16

I've also been watching further documentaries and fab can sing, Rob sadly could not! At all 😬

OP posts:
BitossiBlues · 19/10/2022 08:26

@ineeduourhelp I saw it on Netflix, but it's no longer on the UK site (you might be able to find it on another country's site if you have a VPN). It's on Prime Video though for free streaming (the first review on there gives a really good account of the documentary), and £6 as a DVD.

newnamethanks · 19/10/2022 08:32

This has been common practice since the first photo was invented. Doesn't matter how good you are, if you don't look right, you're not getting in, so to speak. Session singers and musos, I salute you, it's been a long couple of years for you all, Brexit, Covid, keep going.

AllTheYoungGoodyTwoShoes · 19/10/2022 08:46

Talking about backing singers not getting credit, I have been going to see Jools Holland live for years. Every backing singer and band member gets a turn to sing solo or play their instrument during the show. Everyone is so talented.

I remember watching a film, it might have been Dreamgirls, that showed that some people weren't allowed to record their own songs. They were given to other people to sing. Although it might have been another film!

Tsort · 19/10/2022 08:50

AllTheYoungGoodyTwoShoes · 19/10/2022 08:46

Talking about backing singers not getting credit, I have been going to see Jools Holland live for years. Every backing singer and band member gets a turn to sing solo or play their instrument during the show. Everyone is so talented.

I remember watching a film, it might have been Dreamgirls, that showed that some people weren't allowed to record their own songs. They were given to other people to sing. Although it might have been another film!

Some people

Black people. Songs were taken from black people and given to white people to sing.

Endlesssummer2022 · 19/10/2022 09:04

Yes it was standard practice in the US for black singers records to be re-recorded by white singers to be played on white radio. This is touched on in the Elvis movie where black music is called ‘race music’ and isn’t allowed on white radio. Fucking ridiculous.

Back on topic. Felt so bad for Milli Vanilli. One of them killed rhemselves out of shame.

AllTheYoungGoodyTwoShoes · 19/10/2022 09:24

Yes it was an awful practice for black singers not being able to record their own songs, to have to give them to white people.

OneTC · 19/10/2022 09:24

Tipsyturvychocolatemonster · 18/10/2022 22:06

Ride in time was sung my heather small wasn’t it, before she was famous in m people? The singer lip syncing was a model

Lolleata holloway - love sensation.

It's just a sample

OneTC · 19/10/2022 09:26

Endlesssummer2022 · 19/10/2022 09:04

Yes it was standard practice in the US for black singers records to be re-recorded by white singers to be played on white radio. This is touched on in the Elvis movie where black music is called ‘race music’ and isn’t allowed on white radio. Fucking ridiculous.

Back on topic. Felt so bad for Milli Vanilli. One of them killed rhemselves out of shame.

They also used to make 2 versions of films, the normal one and the southern version without black people in it. If the black people were particularly important to the story then the southern movies didn't make any sense

HikingforScenery · 19/10/2022 09:28

I had to Google them.
I love some some of their songs but their name didn’t ring a bell.

I didn’t know about their story but I am 100% convinced they were set up. Can you tell I’m an optimist? Ha!

Aww just read that one of them died from a drug overdose.

CallTheMobWife · 19/10/2022 09:53

Redhotchllisteppa · 18/10/2022 22:12

It was Loretta Holloway who sang the vocals on ride on time.

No it wasn't.Her song was sampled without license on the original version, but the version we all know was Heather Small, later of M people.

They hired a model to sing on TOTP and then the video, which was normal in Italy, where Black Box were from.

PeskyRooks · 19/10/2022 09:55

Does anyone remember the scandal when a woman claimed she got pushed out of When Will I be Famous by Bros as originally it was supposed to be a duet. Then the record company decided a woman would detract and a boy band would sell better.
She said it made her laugh seeing Matt Goss mime to her parts.
Don't know if true but the song definitely comes across as a back and forth duet!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 19/10/2022 09:58

Yes it was an awful practice for black singers not being able to record their own songs, to have to give them to white people.

I'm not saying it's the same thing, but it was rather 'unfortunate' what happened with Lady Antebellum. They changed their band name in acknowledgement that their former name had negative racially-oppressive overtones.... but they changed their name to Lady A, which is the stage name of a black singer who has been performing for many years - and then it went to court over whether she could keep her own long-standing stage name or whether she should have to yield it to a white band....

What on earth is 'white radio'? How nasty and utterly pathetic must people have been to deliberately make it their policy that they would only play music by people with a certain skin colour? Did they also have radio stations just for artists who wear blue jumpers or drive estate cars? Especially as, when it comes to pure singing talent, black artists have historically been hugely disproportionately represented up there with the greats, even in spite of all the discrimination they've faced all the way.

knittingaddict · 19/10/2022 10:04

WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps · 18/10/2022 21:53

Happened with Ride On Time by Black Box too. The woman you saw on the video/on top of the pops etc, was not the woman singing.

Same with the lass in the I would do anything for love by Meatloaf. Was not the gorgeous brunette singing with him, but a middle aged blonde woman.

But yeah, Milli Vanilli could actually sing, so I have no idea why they didn't let them!

I don't think you can put Meatloaf in the same category as the others. It was a music video and I assume the gorgeous woman in the video didn't perform on stage with him and pretend to be the singer?

MavisChunch29 · 19/10/2022 10:17

I remember it at the time, was in my teens I think and didn't get the scandal at all, it seemed very over the top. I didn't really care, I liked them and didn't care who actually sung the songs.

MavisChunch29 · 19/10/2022 10:20

With Ride on Time it was such an obvious sample for anyone probaly ten or twenty years older than me at the time, I didn't know Love Sensation at the time but know it well now. Sampling was so common and at one point artists weren't even allowed to sing live on TOTP.

BitossiBlues · 19/10/2022 10:30

Trailer to 20 Feet From Stardom. Some of you may recognise Darlene Love from the Lethal Weapon movies.