Charles Shaw (born July 4, 1960, in Houston, Texas) is an American rapper and singer who, in 1988, performed on recordings credited to Milli Vanilli.
Shaw, a U.S. Army veteran, was reportedly paid $6,000 to perform the rap on Milli Vanilli's 1988 hit single "Girl You Know It's True". In December 1989, Shaw disclosed to New York Newsday writer John Leland that he was one of three singers on Milli Vanilli's hit debut album, and that Milli Vanilli frontmen Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan were impostors. Milli Vanilli producer Frank Farian reportedly paid Shaw $150,000 to retract his statements and fired him, replacing him with John Davis, who became the new Milli Vanilli rapper. [1]
Morvan and Pilatus went on to win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist on February 22, 1990, but rumors about Shaw's involvement persisted. Eventually, the true story of Milli Vanilli was exposed later that year, when Farian broke it himself, and the duo's Grammy was withdrawn. [2]
Farian re-launched the group in 1991 as the Real Milli Vanilli, using Brad Howell and John Davis, the singers from the original studio sessions. This group lasted for one album, The Moment of Truth, which would have been the second Milli Vanilli record, before the scandal. A revised version of the album was later released in the United States, with the group renamed Try N B.[ citation needed ]
In 1994, Shaw released the single "I'm Feeling", featuring the vocals of Sandra Chambers, [3] and in 1995, he issued the single "Gotta Fever". [4]
Milli Vanilli was a German R&B music act from Munich. The act was created in 1988 by Frank Farian, founder of Boney M., and consisted of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus as the lip-syncing performers, with the two actual main studio singers, Brad Howell and John Davis, and studio singers Charles Shaw, Jodie Rocco, and Linda Rocco, with an unrelated touring band.
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.
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.
Fabrice Maxime Sylvain Morvan 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.
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.
Robert Pilatus was a German singer, dancer, model, and rapper. He was a member of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli with Fab Morvan.
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 first album All or Nothing for the North American market. The album was a major success in the US, producing five singles that entered the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100, three of which reached the top position.
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 as 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.
The U.S.-Remix Album: All or Nothing is a remix album by Milli Vanilli released in 1989 outside of North America. It contains remixes of tracks from All or Nothing as well as tracks from the group's North American debut album Girl You Know It's True that did not appear on All or Nothing. In the United Kingdom, rather than being given a stand-alone release, the album was packaged together with All or Nothing under the title 2×2. 2×2 was also released in France, where the remix album was available on its own.
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.
The Moment of Truth is the only studio album by the pop group the Real Milli Vanilli, released in 1991.
"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.
"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.
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.
Sean Spencer, better known by his stage name DJ Spen or Spen, is an American DJ, record producer, and record executive.
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 2023 biographical film about the controversial late-1980s/early-1990s music duo Milli Vanilli, who caused one of the most infamous scandals in international pop music. 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 on December 21, 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 Frank Farian.
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.