Page 8 | To think what happened to Milli Vanilli is so sad

ineeduourhelp · 2022-10-18T20:51:00+00:00

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?

WeAreTheHeroes · 19/10/2022 22:58

Ihlaria · 19/10/2022 22:45

@WeAreTheHeroes God knows, really. When you listen to the two side by side there's no selling point to Cilla's at all. (Other than that she was white.) But ... people bought it. Stupid people I guess.

I've never liked Cilla's voice. Never enough nuance or even light and shade. But then Dionne Warwick's voice wasn't particularly strong, but Bacharach and David loved it.

Ihlaria · 19/10/2022 23:07

Agree that her voice isn't strong as such. I mean she can't belt it out. But it has a certain limpid soaring quality and consistency of tone - harder to do than you'd think, to the extent she does it - that I think is perfect for Bacharach and David. No one can sing their songs like she does. Certainly not poor old Cilla!

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 19/10/2022 23:09

Cilla's voice was much stronger than Dionne's - in the same way that a ply-wood duvet would be much stronger than a silk one.

WeAreTheHeroes · 19/10/2022 23:13

I'd much rather listen to DW than CB. I think a lot of Cilla's success was down to the strength of the songwriting and the fact she was mates with the Beatles.

TheMarzipanDildo · 19/10/2022 23:32

BitossiBlues · 18/10/2022 23:35

Why do they think that? It's clearly the gorgeous and uber cool DC Lee in the earlier Wham videos. I was gutted when she left (but loved her in the Style Council)

Show quote history

To my shame, I thought that she of the Club Tropicana video was Pepsi (and I’m a Style Council fan! ). I now have no idea what Pepsi looked like.
Although in my defence I was born in 1999 and just believed what my mother told me about who was who from the ‘80s.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 19/10/2022 23:46

Although in my defence I was born in 1999 and just believed what my mother told me about who was who from the ‘80s.

It seems incredible enough now even to those of us who grew up without the internet, but all the info about who wrote or sang on what just wasn't widely available, if you didn't have the actual record/cassette/CD (assuming it properly credited everybody involved).

In the 80s and 90s, if you wanted to hear a song that you didn't already own, you actually had to go to a record shop and hope they would have it in stock - none of this 'any song ever released available free on demand in two seconds' (although there was Dial-a-Disc at a buttock-clenchingly high price-per-minute, if it was in the charts!), let alone getting old songs back into the charts after they're played in a popular film or TV series.

Mummyoflittledragon · 20/10/2022 07:35

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 19/10/2022 23:46

Although in my defence I was born in 1999 and just believed what my mother told me about who was who from the ‘80s.

It seems incredible enough now even to those of us who grew up without the internet, but all the info about who wrote or sang on what just wasn't widely available, if you didn't have the actual record/cassette/CD (assuming it properly credited everybody involved).

In the 80s and 90s, if you wanted to hear a song that you didn't already own, you actually had to go to a record shop and hope they would have it in stock - none of this 'any song ever released available free on demand in two seconds' (although there was Dial-a-Disc at a buttock-clenchingly high price-per-minute, if it was in the charts!), let alone getting old songs back into the charts after they're played in a popular film or TV series.

I just used to record top of the pops on my cassette player. And I had a double cassette player so I could copy cassettes. I hardly had any vinyl. Too expensive.

twilightcafe · 20/10/2022 08:05

I always assumed Shirlie did the 'Hey, tell this jerk to take a hike...' rap on Young Guns (Go For It).
After all, the words came out of her mouth on Top of the Pops.

Nope. It was a session singer who came up with the rap, and that she was pushed for time because she had to dash to another studio to sing on a dog food commercial.

StapFooterin · 20/10/2022 09:34

Just referencing pp's mention above of Cilla Black, I can barely listen to her awful squawking voice, but I do think she is absolutely sublime singing 'Anyone Who Had A Heart'.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 20/10/2022 09:42

Just referencing pp's mention above of Cilla Black, I can barely listen to her awful squawking voice, but I do think she is absolutely sublime singing 'Anyone Who Had A Heart'.

Being fair, I think the way she does the first, softer, part is quite pleasant, but it's when she opens up the throttle from "knowing I love you so" that it starts getting hands-over-earsy.

HyggeTygge · 20/10/2022 10:37

Spanglybangles · 19/10/2022 19:50

@Keyansier it still doesn’t ring true for me. S2S had several great vocalists in their collective and I believe recorded in London. Why would they have vocals added by a US ghost singer and then not credit her when other back up vocalists on their tracks have been credited? Not only that, why would rising star Mariah Carey not make it known that she sang on the album? If nothing else, it would help her credibility as an artist of black origin. I have listened to the part you specify and yes I can hear how it might be argued that her voice could be in there, but it just doesn’t ring true.

Finally, the only place that states as fact that Mariah’s vocals are on that album is Wiki….hardly a reliable source. Anyway, it’s not something to argue over, we can agree to disagree on this one. 🙂

Which wiki page are you talking about? I can't see it on the 'Back to Life' page or the Club Classics page - there should be a citation if it's on wikipedia (it's not really a "source" in itself).

Spanglybangles · 20/10/2022 12:35

@HyggeTygge Apologies, I actually should have written that as “I understand the only place…”, I haven’t fully checked Wiki myself, it’s something I read on a thread elsewhere. Anyway, I don’t believe for a moment that Mariah’s vocals are anywhere on the track, it appears to be a rumour that circulated some time ago, but debunked by most.