May 8, 2025 • 46 mins
When you witness the stage presence of Hep Alien, you can’t ignore the influence of a legendary pop duo, but without the lip synching.
Milli Vanilli was referenced in S3E19 “Keg! Max!” and we’re talking to Fabrice Morvan to hear the story of what REALLY happened in the biggest scandal in pop music, and we find out how he came up with a dance move that even Zack wanted to emulate!
This is pop culture, girl you know it’s true!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I Am all in again. Oh, I guess you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I Smell pop Culture with Eastern Allen and iHeartRadio podcast. Hey, everybody,
do you smell that? Do you smell what I'm smelling?
My name's Easton Allen. This is I smell pop culture.
That is what I'm smelling. Spoiler alert, I'm smelling pop
culture and you're smelling it too. This is the I
Am all In podcast where we celebrate Gilmore Girls. We
(00:38):
go to stars Hollow, we live amongst our favorite people
and on this show. If you're just joining us, if
you forgot to delete the episode before you hit play,
if you're waiting for the Scott episodes, you're waiting for
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us around hitting play on that on that podcast app
so you know.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Also the good reviews.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I saw a couple of these come in, But I
just want to remind you again. If you're enjoying what
you're hearing, go to Apple, go to iTunes, tell them
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this podcast, and leave five stars. We would appreciate it.
But here's what we do here. Here's what we do
on the show. We take the pop culture moments from
Gilmore Girls, and we go so deep. We dive into
(01:23):
them with both legs. We step into these pop culture moments.
We talk to the people that made them real. We
talk to the people behind these pop culture references and
Gilmore Girls. And that's what we're doing again this week.
This is a big one, everybody, This is a really
big one. We're going to season three, episode nineteen keg Max.
Remember that episode, Big House Party at Kyle's house. Lane's
(01:46):
band is performing, So they're at the house, they're getting
set up, they're setting up the drums, and Zach tells
Brian move back more because when I do my double
jump kick off the amp with slashing windmills, I'm going
to need more room. And Lane says, well, don't do
that then, and then Dave says, yeah, sounds a little
too Milli Vanilli Zach, So, if you don't know who
(02:07):
Milli Vanilli is, first of all, what's going on? What
is going on? Milli Vanilli. They're a pop duo Fab
mor Van and Rob pilattis in the late eighties, is
like nineteen eighty eight, they put.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Out an album.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
They put out a single called Girl You know it's true,
huge hit, seven million albums. They sell just this massive,
massive hit. But there's one issue. Rob and Fab are
not the singers. You do not hear their voices on
that album. They were lip syncing, and Milli Vanilli kind
(02:47):
of became the poster boy for lack of a better term,
they became the example for lip syncing, for deception in music.
It was a it's one of the crazy things that's
ever happened. It's really insane that this how this all
went down. They used studio performers to record the album,
(03:10):
and then Rob and Fab became the visual representation of
Millie Vanilli. So they would record, they would perform, and
they'd have like a backing track that would play and
they would lip sync and they'd perform it visually. And they're
incredible dancers, incredible performers, truly like remarkable, and that's why
they got so big is because of their presence. But
(03:31):
then it all kind of came out that they held
this press conference they announced that you are not listening
to us when you look at Milli Vanilla, who you
know is Milli Vanilli. They're not singing on this album,
and it just became this whole scandal. Everything stopped. Arista
Records deleted the album. They deleted it from there from
their catalog. That's the biggest selling album of all time
(03:53):
to be deleted by a record label. They won the
Grammy for Best New Artists. They to give that Grammy back.
I think that's the only time the Grammys have rescinded
in an award.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
It's really crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
We're going to talk to fab more Van, one of
the guys from Billy Vanilli, the surviving member uh, and
we're going to find out how this happened. How does
it get to this point? How like did they sign
on to lip sync today? Know what was going on?
How did it feel when everything came out? There's so
it's so wild. It's such an interesting story, and we're
(04:28):
going to get to the bottom of it. Fab is
in the waiting room right now. We're going to bring
him in. We're not going to make him wait any longer.
One of the greatest performers in all of pop culture history.
What is going on? Fab more Van, thank you so
much for doing this.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Pleasure to meet pleasure always a pleasure to to travel
down memory lane and do it in and now go
back in time and then bust and bleede, you know,
looking to what's going on in the future. You know,
I'm traveling is something very familiar with. So let's go.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I love it, and you know we'll get into this.
We have so much to talk about.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You have one of the most fascinating stories of anyone
in music of all time. It's just everything you've done
and been through is so interesting to me. And do
you say time traveling? Like it's so interesting how music
can do that?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Right? Like it?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah, it really can. And so many people listen to
Millie Vanilli and are brought back to such a specific
moment in time. But I want to go back to
the very beginning when you first met your collaborator, Rob plattis.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
What was that like? When when did you guys meet?
Where did you meet? How that happen?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
We met long time ago in Munich, Germany, in Bevaria,
That's where we met. And when we met, we were
there were not many black people there, so here you go.
You know, hip hop, the hip hop culture was rising.
He was a breakdancer. I used to do pop luck
but also was a trained answer and there lies I'll
(06:03):
come and interest. You know, hip hop graffiti, rap, breakdance,
pop in luck, you know, crush, grooven, hip hop movies
coming out at the same time, and we associated with
the culture very much and with each other because we
you know, we were black kids like in Europe and
(06:25):
this is how we just came together.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So like, was that like an instant thing when you
first met him, like like, oh, this is a guy
I'm going to work well with, where we're going to
be collaborators.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Not really wow, And I was very competitive, you know,
like I was on his turf and he was like,
who's bad, dude? Because I was there with two other
friends from Paris, and it was like, hmm, okay, you know,
what does he want to do with Are they leaving?
Are they staying? And you eventually we talked about it,
(06:57):
and you know, he was really trying to to connect essentially.
But you know, when you don't know people, you kind
of become stand offish at first, and sometimes those are
the best relationships because you're like, it's kind of like feisty,
it's like competitive. But then once once we started talking
to each other, we started to realize everything we have
(07:18):
in common. We loved music, and we had to come
and dream and together we said, hey, let's put your energy,
let's put my energy, and let's see what happens. And
then of course fireworks. You know, we went to a
place like Wow and beyond, which you know sometime when
you think about manifestation, you know, we surely manifested that
(07:41):
thing because I even I even drew the costumes one
Christmas and said this is what we're going to wear.
And then we found that envelope years later and it
was exactly what we were wearing because we were involved
in many aspects of what we were doing and from
from you know, the show performance to the clothing design,
(08:05):
with the costs and designers and all that stuff. So
I believe in manifestation and the fact that I'm still
here right now. You know, it's something that I've willed
and it was unsure, you know, call it blind faith.
And certain deeds are photogrounds for creativity. But I use
creativity and music to keep me afloat, you know, really
(08:27):
mentally physically. And that being said, I'm down traveler. That's
what I am. With music as my magic carpet.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Wow that I mean, that manifestation story is incredible. So
you get approached by Frank Farian. Uh, yeah, the producer,
and when you sign with him originally, and and what
you're talking about like making records and recording. Were you
and Rob under the impression like Bill that you guys
(09:00):
would record and you recorded girl? You know it's true
you recorded the music. But so so take me through
those early moments.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I mean, you know, it's very simple. You know, you
have two young guys who have who've been working with
lower level producers in Munich, and you know, but we
were playing, we played a couple of games with live
musicians that we're working with Frank, and then Frank heard
about us, but we were known for performing and singing
(09:30):
and dancing at the clubs. So when he came and
went to his studio and looked at the gold records
on the wall, we were like, yoh, this is the
right place man. And since love was not something that
there was not a lot of love at home, and
and then you had Frank Farren his assistant Ingrid, we
were like, wow, this is the surrogate family we've been
(09:52):
looking for. So when the contract came on the table
and they gave us the last three page of the contract,
we didn't know that's not how it works. We felt like, okay,
you got some money right there, it's on the table.
We're gonna be able to eat. Okay. Contract. There was
not a lot of money before us. It was like okay,
(10:13):
to give us money. That means this is real. You
know this is there was no management now, atturning no protection.
Were like the Gold Records, blinded by the light like wow,
we're gonna make it. Started making movies in our mind
like yo, it's gonna be all right. So when you
go back home, you spend that money and you wait,
(10:35):
You're like, what's up? What are they gonna call? So
you call them, Oh you need money? Yeah, kind of
all right, what you need? We we need that. So
they sent it to you in months after months that
this ad adds up to a sum that there was
a lot for us. So now I know you're going
to the next question, what happened? Well, we walked into that.
(10:59):
True that was said perfectly. They were recording. I found
out later that they were recording. There were recording songs
with the original singers with Brad Awl and John Davis,
which I've been on stage with. We were working together
for about sixty seven years here in Europe and doing
shows together as a project called Faceman's Voice. So while
(11:22):
they were working on that, Frank was looking for guys
and that we fell into that. You know, we matched
perfectly his vision. And then when we were told like, hey,
you're not going to sing, We're like, well, no, thank you.
But we as naive young kids and Rob was two
years young older than me. It was my older brother
(11:44):
and speaking German, I mean I am in his home country.
I'm listening to what he tells me. When we signed
the contract, it was like, I said, it's cool because
it was in German. I don't I didn't read German,
so you know, I studied German for one year, but
that was it. So I turned to him, We're cool.
He's like, yeah, yeah, we're cool. So he was the lead.
And then when they came to him and told him
(12:05):
this was the plan, he got pissed off. Tried to
explain to me because it was so emotional, and I'm like,
we're not doing that. And then they came back and say, hey,
money's not free. You know. In a few words, I'm paraphrasing,
but that's pretty much what it was. Like, Yo, we
give you money, so it's up like oh really. So
the quickest way to repay them was really to like, okay,
(12:28):
we do one song. But we were signed with three
albums which we had no idea about options A single, one, two, three,
we don't know. So we thought we'd do this one
song and then we out. Yeah, but when we thought
we were out and never heard from them and get
that record that just shoots off up the charts and
(12:49):
then you're like, yo, that's that's us, but that's not us,
but yeah, but that's us. And then suddenly the phone
start ringing and like, well, you know, you go into
it apprehensive, not knowing that they got a plan. You know,
you stepped into a realm you're not familiar with. Stardom
is something that you don't know about, but it truly
(13:12):
is addictive. So once you step into that and certainly
you're at the focal point. And we never had problems
with ladies, yeah, never, of course, but when that came, yeah,
it was like wow. And then suddenly you were on
stage and you were living your dreams. It was half
a dream, was dreams slash nightmare. But at first it
(13:34):
was a dream comes true and we were we didn't
know what the hell to deal with it. So when
the second single came, it was like, okay, we want
to sing, No, you can't. And then that's what we
realized that, So what do you do? You you don't
know what to do, so you stay in hoping that
(13:57):
you might get another opportunity to jump off and do something.
But from the first album to the fourth single, we
had no idea where we were going, and there was
no protection, no support, no one to say, hey, I'll
protect you. There was nobody, you know, And I think
that's the movie shows that because we were bigger than life. Yeah,
(14:24):
and you know, when you're bigger in life, people tend
to believe that you're not really truly human even you know,
they think you're touchable. Life is beautiful. When we were
in a cage, it was a golden cage, but it
was still a cage. And also, yeah, it was a
tough one to navigate.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
How did you How many times did you perform the
song live, like with the backing track, Like was that
were you performing a lot at that point or was
is it not that?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah, man, we were we were just like a just
like a pilot. You know, you've got to make those hours.
We did those hours. Man, it was you know, we
did him and did it and did it. And then
we went from the MTV MTV tour to line and
you know, being at the head of our tour, you know,
(15:24):
and doing one hundred and seven cities in eight months,
thirty thousand people almostly. That was crazy. And I gained
a lot of experience as a result of doing all that. So,
you know, I felt like I had a dream. I
strayed away from the dream. I knew that, but I
was like, I want to stand there because I don't
(15:47):
know what else I can do, what else I'm going
to do?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I mean, anyone would have you know, when you're faced
with that, anyone would have done that, you know. And
the thing that's so interesting to me is that you
and Rob are skilled, incapable singers, like you got you know,
you're you are, You're incredible singers. So I must have
been so frustrating, especially to not be able to like, like,
this isn't our voice. We have voices and we can
(16:12):
show it off.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
It was frustrating, and it was so frustrating that, you know,
Rob became dissillusioned with what was going on. Was how
it was going down. But also the rumors were coming,
the jokes would come in, and because of the secret
as first was very it was very light to carry.
(16:36):
That's what I talked about. At first, it was like drink,
I'm through wow doing this. But then you start to realize, like, yo,
we're not only lying to the fans, which we adored
and love and did everything to give them like the
best of time, but we're lying to ourselves. So in
the end, when the party leaves, you know, you do
(16:59):
two things the same. You know, you go to bed,
brush your teeth, wash your face, and you look in
the mirror, you know, and that's like, m that ain't right.
You wake up in the morning and then you feel
the same that you felt before you went to bed,
and that was like the vicious circle. But once someone
(17:21):
knocked on the door, he showtime, or like yeah, we
gotta get ready, man, you gotta get on the bus.
Like you just clicking, and life was going so fast
that you you never had time to just slow down.
So you go on this roller coaster hoping that maybe
someone is going to save you. But then I look
at my bro and I'm like, I want to save him.
(17:44):
And I'm doing everything I can't, but it doesn't seem
like you want to be saved. Until I realized later
that you can't save nobody. They have to save themselves.
So when I kind of got that, you know, it's like, okay, well,
I guess it's time for me to take care of myself,
you know. Unfortunately, you know, Rob passed away, and that
(18:07):
was very traumatic because for a long time I felt
like I didn't do enough. You know, you're kind of
blaming yourself for for your bal you know, partying. You know,
it's like you're partying, but you're not even able to say,
hey man, it was great, you know, to just say
last words. And that's like the weirdest thing ever.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
That must have been so difficult to process when that
when when Rob passed, And so in nineteen ninety, the article,
you know, you do the interview, the article comes out,
you do the press conference. Everything is kind of now
it's like out in the open. Everybody knows. I just
(18:55):
the like Arista deleting the album, giving back the Grammy.
It's it's so wild, it's so crazy that this happened.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
You know, it's like it's hypocrisy at its finest. Yeah,
you know, that's it because they made they made a
lot of money. We're talking past three hundred four hundred
million dollars right that money was reinvested in other ventures.
(19:27):
And I'm not going to go too deep in there,
you know, but it's it's it's in a Wall Street journal.
All those things are written, you know when someone when
when a businessman makes money, extra amount of money, then
he's going to invest it in other ventures. That's what happens,
you know. But the fact that we were the last,
the small links, the smallest link in the chamber of
(19:49):
the most forward, you know, because we were the artist.
And then in the end it's like Robin fact were blamed.
We're blamed for everything. My problem, my issue that I
have still have today, you know, thanks to my emotional intelligence,
I've grown true generally is you go to school. You know,
(20:12):
you go to school, you do it, you make and
you do an Oh, there's an oath, and that oath
consists of you know, uh, investigating and partially each in
every character in the story. But that's not what happened. Certainly,
the label who made the money, everybody disappears and then
(20:33):
this press conference was it was bad, and sometimes I
tried to understand why. But I think that the labels
were so powerful, and the media and labels and everything
was in codes. So once the story was told and
entered you know, the four pipelines that were there back then.
Because now you've got social media, we're talking about a
(20:53):
whole different ecosystem. Right back then, it was just like,
once the story was written, it was oh she wrote,
and then it's like, okay, we can move on now.
And there was no way you could turn turn a
new leaf and try to say, hey, but listen, it's
too late, you know. So it was it was it
was that in a sense, was one of the most
(21:14):
difficult because you know, the truth was buried, the narrative
had been totally uh like, how can I say there
was nothing true about the narrative? You know, Robin fab
with the word responsible. They were responsible. They were they
(21:36):
planned it all. And then let me tell you, you know,
I still have a slight accent. Anyone can everyone can
notice I have an accent right back in the days,
you know, it was a lot thicker. The day we
came to New York and sat down with whoever in
(21:58):
that one room, and you know, the promotion department, radio department,
marketing department, publicity department, like old departments. You know, you
meet everybody and say hi, nice, nice to meet you,
and like really, you know, you hear that look numb before.
I know, early on, like oh yeah, you sound different.
(22:20):
You know. I remember being in a in a on
the road during that one hundred and SI City tour,
stopping at one of those you know, in the middle
of nowhere, going into like doing some food, and you know,
they're like, oh, what what kind of First we're talking
in German? What kind of language is that where you
guys from. Then me speaking, you're like, oh, you sound weird,
(22:41):
sounds strange, you know, and obviously we sounded different. You know,
how can how can anybody say that we had no idea?
Really you had no idea? All right, Dan, I don't
know what was I don't know, I don't know, you know.
So you know, so that's that's how it went. And
(23:04):
you know, it's hard for me to watch part of
the documentary when it makes me cringe when I see
some of those executives, you know, paying a legion to
the old regime and still saying until the interview person
kind of like goes in and like, yo, listen, really
you didn't know, and then coming out. So imagine we're
(23:27):
talking about thirty years later. Now go back in time
and see what kind of allegiance they had with each other.
I understand you to be for your tuition for your
kids university school, you know, like mortgage car, I understand,
But thirty years later, give it up, Give it up,
tell the truth you knew and then you know you
(23:51):
knew to say it, but for some reason.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
It was very.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Difficult to pull that. It was like pulling teeth side
of that side of them.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
God, it's so frustrating. Fab more Van is with us
from Milli Vanilli. This is the I Smell Pop Culture Podcast.
We'll be right back after a second. Okay, everybody, It's
the ICE Smell Pop Culture Podcast. My name is Easton
(24:22):
Allen and we're hanging out with fab more Van from
Milli Vanilli. One of the greatest performers of all time,
I think just and I think yes, like just a
dominant force in in pop culture for decades now.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Something that really stood out to me.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
I watched a lot of interviews of you and Rob
from from that time, and uh, there's an Arsenio Hall
interview you guys did afterwards when you were you were.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
You know, the everything come out.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
You guys have such an incredible attitude about what happened, because,
like I think a lot of artists if something if
they'd gone through something similar to what you guys had,
they would have retreated, never shown their face again. But
you guys have a you have a great sense of
humor about it. First of all, you're like making jokes
about it. You come back with just you're very open
(25:14):
about everything that happened. That interview specifically, I just really
got a feel for what you guys are like, and
I want to say that it's incredible attitude.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Thank you. You know. You know, the thing is that
you know, when you you know, you don't learn anything
when you go up, you know, because they keep you
on the road, your work, your work, work, work. You're young,
you don't really develop. But when you fall, you know,
there's such a thing as looking internally, looking back, you know,
(25:46):
and learning. You know, you learn and then you realize,
you know, and one of the things that I realized that,
you know, being humble is the best thing that can
happen to you because of course, we were like a
riding high. You know, everybody is like, you're the best,
and you know, eventually you're young, dude, you're going to
start to believe your own press. Very normal, you know,
(26:10):
but when I fail, it really just it woke me up.
And I'm glad because without the fall, I don't think
that I would have turned into what I am today.
So this, this was the beginning of what was truly becoming,
you know, and that is really becoming resilient in life
and understand that there are no problems. There are only solutions,
(26:34):
but you get to face that and sometimes learning the
hard way is the best way. So our attitude was like,
well listen, you know, there's you know, we told everyone
we take the blame. For sure, we can't take all
the blame, but we take the blame for what was done.
We were part of it, that's clear. We were part
of it, one hundred percent, and we recognize that. That
(26:57):
being said, we're here now and we want to make
the best out of what happened to us. It's very normal,
but for some reason, the media kind of flipped it
into making us look bad. So that's why our signior performances,
which one of my favorite you know. He promoted us
for thirty days and in the end, at the end
(27:19):
of thirty days, I believe that we killed it. Definitely
killed it. And if it would have had a real
label behind us, we're real finance and marketing, dollar and
radio promotion, we could have done some things. It was
kind of like nobody was interested anymore. Like it was like, uh,
(27:40):
it's it's weird, you know how why not we're singing?
Oh no, not interesting? You know.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So the Robin Fab album is so good by the way,
that song do I, Oh my god, I love that song.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
That's a nice one. That's the one that's not you know.
We worked with a great team of producers and that
was one of my favorite time the aftermath I would
call it and to be sitting down with producers and
in the lab and a big studio and just you know,
being part of it. And oh when it changes harmony,
Oh what about? Like what about changing the drum pattern?
(28:18):
And that was for me so awesome that you know,
that was taken away from me from the beginning. So
finally I was able to truly live my dream, you know.
And unfortunately, during that period, Rub was addiction. Is that
taken the toe on him. So it was very difficult
for him to focus and he would disappear day at
(28:41):
a time. So we had to you know, the budget
was running out and we had to get that album done.
So I did pretty much all the leads majority your background.
So if you listen to the record, you notice that
on some song you hear rob and some of the
songs there's no way to be hurt, you know, And
that's what happened, you know, So ri ip God rest
(29:07):
you know, I help you rest good, and he's looking
from above and he's like, go dude, and clear clear
up my name. You know. My goal is being to
transform the name living in me into when you fall,
when you make mistakes or you fall, you can't stand
back up, reinvent yourself and move forward. You know this.
(29:30):
You have options, you have choices. It's just up to you.
You know. The problem is the issue is I'm in
my mistakes in front of the world, and that being said,
some people make the mistakes in the privacy of their
own home. So I guess it turned me into what
I am today. And hey, I got four kids with
(29:52):
the same woman, a partner Sasha so Loans in sent
Paris Twins. You know at the amazing you know, family
is a blessing, blessing. I love it.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
It's it's I really hope everyone listening to this takes
that message that that is so incredible and powerful to
be able to use that example and and and share,
like when you go through something you make a bad decision.
In my opinion, you and Robert Victims here. I mean,
I know, I appreciate you guys taking responsible.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
I'm not going to play I'm not going to play
the victim. I know responsibility, but it sure looks like
in quite like a duck.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
But the fact that you take responsibility for your role
in it and the way you rebuilt everything, it's so inspiring.
It's so incredible Today in twenty twenty five, I mean
the Milli Vanilli. There's a lot of songs in the Monsters,
uh Lyle and Eric Menendez showing Netflix. So how does
(30:58):
it I mean to look at like these songs are
training on TikTok. Now you have a whole new generation.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
No, I know you know what this this? You know,
Ryan Murphy, thank you, Monsters, thank you. I forgot the
name of the actors. But those guys, Wow, what a job.
And you know what I found because you know, I
used to live close to where they used to live.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Oh yeah, in bel Air.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yeah, they not far away, so you know, we used
to play football in U c La, so we weren't
there in their vicinity BECAUSEFM it was everywhere, so it
was hard to miss. But when they buried their mom,
that's in a movie. I thought it was in the movie.
I was like, oh, yeah, that's fiction. No, they use girl,
(31:46):
I'm going to miss you. At the funeral, I was like, wow,
that's wild, Like whoa you know. And now we're back
thirty years later almost like past. And then because of
a show like this one and my association with Men
and his brothers, certainly the kids that up because I
(32:07):
have a god daughter in La and Kailna and she
tells me in school, they all know, they all know
the song, they sing the songs. So I'm like, wow,
that's a trip. Because there was a time where milivinly
just went into disappeared, It went into a vacuum. And
(32:27):
then you know with the dark, you know, with the
movie with monsters, certainly it's back on all the music
platforms and it's it's raving up and people certainly are realizing, Man,
that was good stuff. That was a good time. So, hey,
music is life. Life is music. Music is also the
soundtrack of our lives. I am connected to everyone who
(32:52):
listened back in the days, and whoever is discovering it
and walks into our emotional shoes, they are connected to
now because the narrative is being rewritten properly, and you
realize that, hey, listen, they took advantage, they exploited us,
and we were thrown. Rob paid with his life as
(33:14):
a result of how it was handled. It could have
been handled differently. We could have and we were in
the process of starting another project with another entity, but
Frank Farren went to New York and told the world.
So when you did that, it was check mate. We
weren't pushing him. We were pushing him to end this relationship,
(33:39):
but we didn't count on the fact that he would
tell the world instead of saying, Okay, I'm done, we
can go to group. So we were hoping and work it,
you know, and maybe you have the Robin Felt album
they come out instead of nineteen ninety three, had it
come out like in nineteen ninety. That was the plan.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
You can't dwell on this kind of thing, but I
can't help but wonder, like what would have happened if
Frank hadn't like gone public with everything, Like I wonder
what would the trajectory have been? Oh, well, you know
if the world hadn't found out Well.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
The thing is, you know, on that tour I told
you about the one hundred and SEVENTYY tour. In the
eight month we had it, we put a studio in
the bus because we had about between forty and fifty
people working for us, so we had five buses and
we put a studio equipment in the back of the bus.
And then we would be working after the show, making
(34:48):
some music, experimenting the process that started. You know, we
had the band, We're like, okay, we don't do something,
you know, and so you know, the musicians would come
on board, would work, stop, you go back to your bus,
go to sleep, and I was kind of like a
routine and I loved it. That was like, Wow, that's
the life I always wanted. But you know it was
(35:11):
weird because we were performing in front of thousands but
not singing, and then you're in the back of the
bus making music and I'm like, oh, I wish I
could share tonight. I wish I could share that tonight
at the gig, but you can't. Yeah, it's true. Was
it was crazy, but you know, until now, I've only
(35:33):
you know, I told the story. You know, it's been
a dog, it's been a movie, it's been interviews. But
with the book, and it's titled you know it's true.
So people can go and register a you know, it's
through dot com and then we'll keep you posted with
the schedule. It's going to be an audio book as well.
(35:53):
And you know, finally I can, I can share everything
and they don't know what to expect. And that's the
beauty with this book, you know. But it had to
be done also for me. I had to free myself
from from many things, you know, because you don't go
through something like this, and and you don't, you don't
(36:18):
walk away intact. You know you will be you will
when you crash, you crash and burn. But I'm lucky
it didn burn to crisp and I was able to
rise from my ashes and and move on. I'm not
I'm not saying I'm the phoenix. I'm just saying I
was able to rise above and fly away from the
madness and everything that was holding me down. Because you know,
(36:41):
people can be mean on the wreay down the jokes,
the bullying and what it feels like. But after a while,
when you acquire emotional intelligence and realize that it's not
about you, people have issues and you know you trigger
something to them because people don't have to be so mean.
I didn't kill nobody. We didn't kiel nobody, you know,
(37:04):
and some people have done way worse. Oh yeah that
were treated that were treated. Yeah, that is bad, really
damn Like why us, you know, And I'm still to
this day wondering like what was the reason behind behind that?
Like why.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
It's it's I know, it's so frustrating to think about.
But you know, you talk about the movie girl, you know,
it's true, it's streaming on Peacock. What was it like,
how involved were you in the process of that movie
being made and what was like seeing your life be
turned to a movie.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Well, well, I was. I was a consultant, you know,
and you know I I I felt like, just like
the documentary, when they came to me, I said, hey,
they said, we want to tell you a story. But
I knew that there were many other people that they
were going to talk to. I sound cool with that.
You go ahead, because I know it's going to line
up perfectly. I let him do it. I was a
(38:04):
consultant in the movie, same thing. They talked to a
lot of people. The guy who didn't summon fore Hoofa
was a fan, met me when he was eighteen years
old in Pim's where we were kind of discovered, and
he never forgot that image. He soaked it in like
a sponge. And the job is incredible, you know. But
(38:25):
I felt like he was passionate, and you know you
can you can fight passion, you know. And that's why
I'm saying I'm still here because of my passion for music,
my hunger for music, and music being a medium through
which I can express myself. Most so when the movie,
when when I saw the actors, I was like, oh,
(38:45):
that looked good. I didn't full I didn't fully see
them in full gear, but at the end because I
watched a movie on the computer at first, and I
watched it at a premiere because I didn't want to
it's too close to too home, you know. So when
I watched it at the premiere. Everyone was laughing at
the same time. Everyone moved in their chair when it
(39:10):
became uncomfortable you know, in the movie and it's a
little awkward, like people stopped to move and you know,
some people cry, and it was on cute. I was like, wow,
they all react in the same way, whether it was
in Bavaria with different type of people to browl in
and I felt like, I think and it made me
(39:31):
a few times my throat kind of like got tight.
And I watched I watched Elon and t John and
they really reincarnated Robin the fab They really embodied us
and the dynamic between the two characters. It was. It
was very interesting to watch. And Tessa, my partner, she
(39:52):
she knocked. He was like, wow, looks like you there.
I was like, yes, it looked crazy right man, Like wow,
you know, the makeup, the eyebrows, like the pitness of
the hair, the jacket, and you know, I'm really happy
that when I after the movie, people were sharing and
then you go to the stage, I'm glad that I
(40:13):
didn't have to go with the cane or you know
like slow pos you know slow, you know, like you
know seventy year old. A seventy year old now like
finally my story was still thank you. I'm still glad
that I'm still you know, vital, and I'm coming to
America more and more. You know. I was in Canada,
(40:36):
did a tour for like, I did a two week tour.
We did about eight shows. It went very well. I'm
going to Columbia. I'm going to Miami at the hard
Rock in Hollywood, Miami, you know, the seventeenth. I believe so.
And I've been touring in Europe for some time, but
(40:58):
it was slow. It was, you know, not sortay with
little shows, more shows, more shows, more shows are down.
Everything that's happening, it's taking place now. The phone is ringing.
Now people are like, oh, we would like to are
you going to do the hits? Of course, you know,
so I perform. I have a band as well. But
COVID kind of like halted everything that was happening. But
(41:23):
it's okay. My twins came and went back to the
drawing board and uh, step bast step again. We had
to rebuild, you know. So I'm glad I'm still here.
The best is yet to come. I've also I don't
know if you know that because I wanted to. I
wanted to send you that, but I think I forgot
it was so busy. I wanted to send you, Girn
(41:43):
who is true the remix that I did for Sony
Music and blame it on the Rain Acoustic. I think
you should play that for your audience.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
I think you get to take a look at that.
You know, if you if you need to get your
hands on it, just ask my team and my team
will send it to you. But you can't go straight
to any music platform fab More van Boom on old
platform fab More Evan go check it out and then
you'd be the judge. I flipped it too. That's a surprise.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
So it's blame it all the Rain Acoustic. You got
to hear a girl you know it's true FABS remix.
It's uh, you got everyone listening listen to it right now.
But before I let you go, this is so this
is a Gilmore Girls podcast. And the reference that Milli
Vanilli has in the show, I think it's really is
really cool because it's you know, if you hear about
(42:36):
a show like talking about Millie Vanilli or something like that,
you're gonna assume it's like a lip syncing thing. But
in Gilmore Girls, there's a band performing and a guy
is talking about like, Oh, you're gonna need to make
room because I'm gonna do a jump off the amp
and do a kick here, and then another band member
says that sends a little too Milli Vanilly for me.
So it's like million Vanilli are great performers. They put
(42:57):
on a great show, and that's that's like the reference there.
And I think that's incredible thing because that's that's what
we love, boy Millie Vanille.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
But let me tell you, you know, you as an artist,
you have to study the game. You have study the
ones who came before you. So I have a story
for you. You know the kick, The kick you know
came from I saw David ly Rough and I was
a big fan of any Allen and I was like, wow,
that looks cool. It was a dancer. So it's like
no issues for me, boom, So I kept put it
(43:27):
on my show until I met David in La at
the Rocks Bay. It was like, I love you guys.
I love the way you move. I was like, yeah, well,
I think you had something to do with that, you know,
so that that was that was for me. I was
(43:48):
super cool to to run into him, you know. So
I ran into a lot of people in Hollywood, but
David was was a guy that had so much power
on stage and the music was amazing. So yeah, those
are the things, you know, you study the greats, and
that's what I'll keep on doing. And eventually I hope
that my music can have the same the same type
(44:11):
of effect on people that are taking and listen to
what I do. So to be continued, dot dot It's
just the beginning, though, watch.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
So much more to come from fab More Event. Thank
you so much for doing this. You're the coolest guy
in the world. We appreciate this so much and thank
you again. Everybody be on the lookout for you know,
it's true. The fab More Event story, the autobiography coming soon.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Thank you that coming. You know it's true. Dot Com.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
You know it's true, dot Com, write it down. Thanks again, man,
Thank you the beginning of time.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
It was great to talk to you and to you know,
I know that people are listening right now, and my
last thing I'd like to add is listen to yourself
and it's never too late. As long as you keep
on focusing making sure that your health mental, physical is
in balance, you can achieve anything. Just believe in yourself
(45:07):
and listen to the noise. Put the noise to zero
and then listen to yourself. Manifest, meditate and do what
you've got to do for yourself.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Thank you so much, FIB, You're the absolute best. I
hope it's a great rest of your night.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
With pleasure loving team.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Hey, everybody, don't forget.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast
and email us at Gilmore at iHeart radio dot com.
I Am all in again. Oh, I guess you.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I Smell pop Culture with Eastern Allen and iHeartRadio podcast. Hey, everybody,
do you smell that? Do you smell what I'm smelling?
My name's Easton Allen. This is I smell pop culture.
That is what I'm smelling. Spoiler alert, I'm smelling pop
culture and you're smelling it too. This is the I
Am all In podcast where we celebrate Gilmore Girls. We
(00:38):
go to stars Hollow, we live amongst our favorite people
and on this show. If you're just joining us, if
you forgot to delete the episode before you hit play,
if you're waiting for the Scott episodes, you're waiting for
Gilmore Girls Gazette, thank you first of all for keeping
us around hitting play on that on that podcast app
so you know.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
Also the good reviews.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
I saw a couple of these come in, But I
just want to remind you again. If you're enjoying what
you're hearing, go to Apple, go to iTunes, tell them
that pop Culture with Easton is your favorite part of
this podcast, and leave five stars. We would appreciate it.
But here's what we do here. Here's what we do
on the show. We take the pop culture moments from
Gilmore Girls, and we go so deep. We dive into
(01:23):
them with both legs. We step into these pop culture moments.
We talk to the people that made them real. We
talk to the people behind these pop culture references and
Gilmore Girls. And that's what we're doing again this week.
This is a big one, everybody, This is a really
big one. We're going to season three, episode nineteen keg Max.
Remember that episode, Big House Party at Kyle's house. Lane's
(01:46):
band is performing, So they're at the house, they're getting
set up, they're setting up the drums, and Zach tells
Brian move back more because when I do my double
jump kick off the amp with slashing windmills, I'm going
to need more room. And Lane says, well, don't do
that then, and then Dave says, yeah, sounds a little
too Milli Vanilli Zach, So, if you don't know who
(02:07):
Milli Vanilli is, first of all, what's going on? What
is going on? Milli Vanilli. They're a pop duo Fab
mor Van and Rob pilattis in the late eighties, is
like nineteen eighty eight, they put.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Out an album.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
They put out a single called Girl You know it's true,
huge hit, seven million albums. They sell just this massive,
massive hit. But there's one issue. Rob and Fab are
not the singers. You do not hear their voices on
that album. They were lip syncing, and Milli Vanilli kind
(02:47):
of became the poster boy for lack of a better term,
they became the example for lip syncing, for deception in music.
It was a it's one of the crazy things that's
ever happened. It's really insane that this how this all
went down. They used studio performers to record the album,
(03:10):
and then Rob and Fab became the visual representation of
Millie Vanilli. So they would record, they would perform, and
they'd have like a backing track that would play and
they would lip sync and they'd perform it visually. And they're
incredible dancers, incredible performers, truly like remarkable, and that's why
they got so big is because of their presence. But
(03:31):
then it all kind of came out that they held
this press conference they announced that you are not listening
to us when you look at Milli Vanilla, who you
know is Milli Vanilli. They're not singing on this album,
and it just became this whole scandal. Everything stopped. Arista
Records deleted the album. They deleted it from there from
their catalog. That's the biggest selling album of all time
(03:53):
to be deleted by a record label. They won the
Grammy for Best New Artists. They to give that Grammy back.
I think that's the only time the Grammys have rescinded
in an award.
Speaker 1 (04:04):
It's really crazy.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
We're going to talk to fab more Van, one of
the guys from Billy Vanilli, the surviving member uh, and
we're going to find out how this happened. How does
it get to this point? How like did they sign
on to lip sync today? Know what was going on?
How did it feel when everything came out? There's so
it's so wild. It's such an interesting story, and we're
(04:28):
going to get to the bottom of it. Fab is
in the waiting room right now. We're going to bring
him in. We're not going to make him wait any longer.
One of the greatest performers in all of pop culture history.
What is going on? Fab more Van, thank you so
much for doing this.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Pleasure to meet pleasure always a pleasure to to travel
down memory lane and do it in and now go
back in time and then bust and bleede, you know,
looking to what's going on in the future. You know,
I'm traveling is something very familiar with. So let's go.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
I love it, and you know we'll get into this.
We have so much to talk about.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
You.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You have one of the most fascinating stories of anyone
in music of all time. It's just everything you've done
and been through is so interesting to me. And do
you say time traveling? Like it's so interesting how music
can do that?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
Right? Like it?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah, it really can. And so many people listen to
Millie Vanilli and are brought back to such a specific
moment in time. But I want to go back to
the very beginning when you first met your collaborator, Rob plattis.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
What was that like? When when did you guys meet?
Where did you meet? How that happen?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
We met long time ago in Munich, Germany, in Bevaria,
That's where we met. And when we met, we were
there were not many black people there, so here you go.
You know, hip hop, the hip hop culture was rising.
He was a breakdancer. I used to do pop luck
but also was a trained answer and there lies I'll
(06:03):
come and interest. You know, hip hop graffiti, rap, breakdance,
pop in luck, you know, crush, grooven, hip hop movies
coming out at the same time, and we associated with
the culture very much and with each other because we
you know, we were black kids like in Europe and
(06:25):
this is how we just came together.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
So like, was that like an instant thing when you
first met him, like like, oh, this is a guy
I'm going to work well with, where we're going to
be collaborators.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Not really wow, And I was very competitive, you know,
like I was on his turf and he was like,
who's bad, dude? Because I was there with two other
friends from Paris, and it was like, hmm, okay, you know,
what does he want to do with Are they leaving?
Are they staying? And you eventually we talked about it,
(06:57):
and you know, he was really trying to to connect essentially.
But you know, when you don't know people, you kind
of become stand offish at first, and sometimes those are
the best relationships because you're like, it's kind of like feisty,
it's like competitive. But then once once we started talking
to each other, we started to realize everything we have
(07:18):
in common. We loved music, and we had to come
and dream and together we said, hey, let's put your energy,
let's put my energy, and let's see what happens. And
then of course fireworks. You know, we went to a
place like Wow and beyond, which you know sometime when
you think about manifestation, you know, we surely manifested that
(07:41):
thing because I even I even drew the costumes one
Christmas and said this is what we're going to wear.
And then we found that envelope years later and it
was exactly what we were wearing because we were involved
in many aspects of what we were doing and from
from you know, the show performance to the clothing design,
(08:05):
with the costs and designers and all that stuff. So
I believe in manifestation and the fact that I'm still
here right now. You know, it's something that I've willed
and it was unsure, you know, call it blind faith.
And certain deeds are photogrounds for creativity. But I use
creativity and music to keep me afloat, you know, really
(08:27):
mentally physically. And that being said, I'm down traveler. That's
what I am. With music as my magic carpet.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Wow that I mean, that manifestation story is incredible. So
you get approached by Frank Farian. Uh, yeah, the producer,
and when you sign with him originally, and and what
you're talking about like making records and recording. Were you
and Rob under the impression like Bill that you guys
(09:00):
would record and you recorded girl? You know it's true
you recorded the music. But so so take me through
those early moments.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
I mean, you know, it's very simple. You know, you
have two young guys who have who've been working with
lower level producers in Munich, and you know, but we
were playing, we played a couple of games with live
musicians that we're working with Frank, and then Frank heard
about us, but we were known for performing and singing
(09:30):
and dancing at the clubs. So when he came and
went to his studio and looked at the gold records
on the wall, we were like, yoh, this is the
right place man. And since love was not something that
there was not a lot of love at home, and
and then you had Frank Farren his assistant Ingrid, we
were like, wow, this is the surrogate family we've been
(09:52):
looking for. So when the contract came on the table
and they gave us the last three page of the contract,
we didn't know that's not how it works. We felt like, okay,
you got some money right there, it's on the table.
We're gonna be able to eat. Okay. Contract. There was
not a lot of money before us. It was like okay,
(10:13):
to give us money. That means this is real. You
know this is there was no management now, atturning no protection.
Were like the Gold Records, blinded by the light like wow,
we're gonna make it. Started making movies in our mind
like yo, it's gonna be all right. So when you
go back home, you spend that money and you wait,
(10:35):
You're like, what's up? What are they gonna call? So
you call them, Oh you need money? Yeah, kind of
all right, what you need? We we need that. So
they sent it to you in months after months that
this ad adds up to a sum that there was
a lot for us. So now I know you're going
to the next question, what happened? Well, we walked into that.
(10:59):
True that was said perfectly. They were recording. I found
out later that they were recording. There were recording songs
with the original singers with Brad Awl and John Davis,
which I've been on stage with. We were working together
for about sixty seven years here in Europe and doing
shows together as a project called Faceman's Voice. So while
(11:22):
they were working on that, Frank was looking for guys
and that we fell into that. You know, we matched
perfectly his vision. And then when we were told like, hey,
you're not going to sing, We're like, well, no, thank you.
But we as naive young kids and Rob was two
years young older than me. It was my older brother
(11:44):
and speaking German, I mean I am in his home country.
I'm listening to what he tells me. When we signed
the contract, it was like, I said, it's cool because
it was in German. I don't I didn't read German,
so you know, I studied German for one year, but
that was it. So I turned to him, We're cool.
He's like, yeah, yeah, we're cool. So he was the lead.
And then when they came to him and told him
(12:05):
this was the plan, he got pissed off. Tried to
explain to me because it was so emotional, and I'm like,
we're not doing that. And then they came back and say, hey,
money's not free. You know. In a few words, I'm paraphrasing,
but that's pretty much what it was. Like, Yo, we
give you money, so it's up like oh really. So
the quickest way to repay them was really to like, okay,
(12:28):
we do one song. But we were signed with three
albums which we had no idea about options A single, one, two, three,
we don't know. So we thought we'd do this one
song and then we out. Yeah, but when we thought
we were out and never heard from them and get
that record that just shoots off up the charts and
(12:49):
then you're like, yo, that's that's us, but that's not us,
but yeah, but that's us. And then suddenly the phone
start ringing and like, well, you know, you go into
it apprehensive, not knowing that they got a plan. You know,
you stepped into a realm you're not familiar with. Stardom
is something that you don't know about, but it truly
(13:12):
is addictive. So once you step into that and certainly
you're at the focal point. And we never had problems
with ladies, yeah, never, of course, but when that came, yeah,
it was like wow. And then suddenly you were on
stage and you were living your dreams. It was half
a dream, was dreams slash nightmare. But at first it
(13:34):
was a dream comes true and we were we didn't
know what the hell to deal with it. So when
the second single came, it was like, okay, we want
to sing, No, you can't. And then that's what we
realized that, So what do you do? You you don't
know what to do, so you stay in hoping that
(13:57):
you might get another opportunity to jump off and do something.
But from the first album to the fourth single, we
had no idea where we were going, and there was
no protection, no support, no one to say, hey, I'll
protect you. There was nobody, you know, And I think
that's the movie shows that because we were bigger than life. Yeah,
(14:24):
and you know, when you're bigger in life, people tend
to believe that you're not really truly human even you know,
they think you're touchable. Life is beautiful. When we were
in a cage, it was a golden cage, but it
was still a cage. And also, yeah, it was a
tough one to navigate.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
How did you How many times did you perform the
song live, like with the backing track, Like was that
were you performing a lot at that point or was
is it not that?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (15:02):
Yeah, man, we were we were just like a just
like a pilot. You know, you've got to make those hours.
We did those hours. Man, it was you know, we
did him and did it and did it. And then
we went from the MTV MTV tour to line and
you know, being at the head of our tour, you know,
(15:24):
and doing one hundred and seven cities in eight months,
thirty thousand people almostly. That was crazy. And I gained
a lot of experience as a result of doing all that. So,
you know, I felt like I had a dream. I
strayed away from the dream. I knew that, but I
was like, I want to stand there because I don't
(15:47):
know what else I can do, what else I'm going
to do?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
I mean, anyone would have you know, when you're faced
with that, anyone would have done that, you know. And
the thing that's so interesting to me is that you
and Rob are skilled, incapable singers, like you got you know,
you're you are, You're incredible singers. So I must have
been so frustrating, especially to not be able to like, like,
this isn't our voice. We have voices and we can
(16:12):
show it off.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
It was frustrating, and it was so frustrating that, you know,
Rob became dissillusioned with what was going on. Was how
it was going down. But also the rumors were coming,
the jokes would come in, and because of the secret
as first was very it was very light to carry.
(16:36):
That's what I talked about. At first, it was like drink,
I'm through wow doing this. But then you start to realize, like, yo,
we're not only lying to the fans, which we adored
and love and did everything to give them like the
best of time, but we're lying to ourselves. So in
the end, when the party leaves, you know, you do
(16:59):
two things the same. You know, you go to bed,
brush your teeth, wash your face, and you look in
the mirror, you know, and that's like, m that ain't right.
You wake up in the morning and then you feel
the same that you felt before you went to bed,
and that was like the vicious circle. But once someone
(17:21):
knocked on the door, he showtime, or like yeah, we
gotta get ready, man, you gotta get on the bus.
Like you just clicking, and life was going so fast
that you you never had time to just slow down.
So you go on this roller coaster hoping that maybe
someone is going to save you. But then I look
at my bro and I'm like, I want to save him.
(17:44):
And I'm doing everything I can't, but it doesn't seem
like you want to be saved. Until I realized later
that you can't save nobody. They have to save themselves.
So when I kind of got that, you know, it's like, okay, well,
I guess it's time for me to take care of myself,
you know. Unfortunately, you know, Rob passed away, and that
(18:07):
was very traumatic because for a long time I felt
like I didn't do enough. You know, you're kind of
blaming yourself for for your bal you know, partying. You know,
it's like you're partying, but you're not even able to say,
hey man, it was great, you know, to just say
last words. And that's like the weirdest thing ever.
Speaker 2 (18:30):
That must have been so difficult to process when that
when when Rob passed, And so in nineteen ninety, the article,
you know, you do the interview, the article comes out,
you do the press conference. Everything is kind of now
it's like out in the open. Everybody knows. I just
(18:55):
the like Arista deleting the album, giving back the Grammy.
It's it's so wild, it's so crazy that this happened.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
You know, it's like it's hypocrisy at its finest. Yeah,
you know, that's it because they made they made a
lot of money. We're talking past three hundred four hundred
million dollars right that money was reinvested in other ventures.
(19:27):
And I'm not going to go too deep in there,
you know, but it's it's it's in a Wall Street journal.
All those things are written, you know when someone when
when a businessman makes money, extra amount of money, then
he's going to invest it in other ventures. That's what happens,
you know. But the fact that we were the last,
the small links, the smallest link in the chamber of
(19:49):
the most forward, you know, because we were the artist.
And then in the end it's like Robin fact were blamed.
We're blamed for everything. My problem, my issue that I
have still have today, you know, thanks to my emotional intelligence,
I've grown true generally is you go to school. You know,
(20:12):
you go to school, you do it, you make and
you do an Oh, there's an oath, and that oath
consists of you know, uh, investigating and partially each in
every character in the story. But that's not what happened. Certainly,
the label who made the money, everybody disappears and then
(20:33):
this press conference was it was bad, and sometimes I
tried to understand why. But I think that the labels
were so powerful, and the media and labels and everything
was in codes. So once the story was told and
entered you know, the four pipelines that were there back then.
Because now you've got social media, we're talking about a
(20:53):
whole different ecosystem. Right back then, it was just like,
once the story was written, it was oh she wrote,
and then it's like, okay, we can move on now.
And there was no way you could turn turn a
new leaf and try to say, hey, but listen, it's
too late, you know. So it was it was it
was that in a sense, was one of the most
(21:14):
difficult because you know, the truth was buried, the narrative
had been totally uh like, how can I say there
was nothing true about the narrative? You know, Robin fab
with the word responsible. They were responsible. They were they
(21:36):
planned it all. And then let me tell you, you know,
I still have a slight accent. Anyone can everyone can
notice I have an accent right back in the days,
you know, it was a lot thicker. The day we
came to New York and sat down with whoever in
(21:58):
that one room, and you know, the promotion department, radio department,
marketing department, publicity department, like old departments. You know, you
meet everybody and say hi, nice, nice to meet you,
and like really, you know, you hear that look numb before.
I know, early on, like oh yeah, you sound different.
(22:20):
You know. I remember being in a in a on
the road during that one hundred and SI City tour,
stopping at one of those you know, in the middle
of nowhere, going into like doing some food, and you know,
they're like, oh, what what kind of First we're talking
in German? What kind of language is that where you
guys from. Then me speaking, you're like, oh, you sound weird,
(22:41):
sounds strange, you know, and obviously we sounded different. You know,
how can how can anybody say that we had no idea?
Really you had no idea? All right, Dan, I don't
know what was I don't know, I don't know, you know.
So you know, so that's that's how it went. And
(23:04):
you know, it's hard for me to watch part of
the documentary when it makes me cringe when I see
some of those executives, you know, paying a legion to
the old regime and still saying until the interview person
kind of like goes in and like, yo, listen, really
you didn't know, and then coming out. So imagine we're
(23:27):
talking about thirty years later. Now go back in time
and see what kind of allegiance they had with each other.
I understand you to be for your tuition for your
kids university school, you know, like mortgage car, I understand,
But thirty years later, give it up, Give it up,
tell the truth you knew and then you know you
(23:51):
knew to say it, but for some reason.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
It was very.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
Difficult to pull that. It was like pulling teeth side
of that side of them.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
God, it's so frustrating. Fab more Van is with us
from Milli Vanilli. This is the I Smell Pop Culture Podcast.
We'll be right back after a second. Okay, everybody, It's
the ICE Smell Pop Culture Podcast. My name is Easton
(24:22):
Allen and we're hanging out with fab more Van from
Milli Vanilli. One of the greatest performers of all time,
I think just and I think yes, like just a
dominant force in in pop culture for decades now.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Something that really stood out to me.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
I watched a lot of interviews of you and Rob
from from that time, and uh, there's an Arsenio Hall
interview you guys did afterwards when you were you were.
Speaker 1 (24:50):
You know, the everything come out.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
You guys have such an incredible attitude about what happened, because,
like I think a lot of artists if something if
they'd gone through something similar to what you guys had,
they would have retreated, never shown their face again. But
you guys have a you have a great sense of
humor about it. First of all, you're like making jokes
about it. You come back with just you're very open
(25:14):
about everything that happened. That interview specifically, I just really
got a feel for what you guys are like, and
I want to say that it's incredible attitude.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
Thank you. You know. You know, the thing is that
you know, when you you know, you don't learn anything
when you go up, you know, because they keep you
on the road, your work, your work, work, work. You're young,
you don't really develop. But when you fall, you know,
there's such a thing as looking internally, looking back, you know,
(25:46):
and learning. You know, you learn and then you realize,
you know, and one of the things that I realized that,
you know, being humble is the best thing that can
happen to you because of course, we were like a
riding high. You know, everybody is like, you're the best,
and you know, eventually you're young, dude, you're going to
start to believe your own press. Very normal, you know,
(26:10):
but when I fail, it really just it woke me up.
And I'm glad because without the fall, I don't think
that I would have turned into what I am today.
So this, this was the beginning of what was truly becoming,
you know, and that is really becoming resilient in life
and understand that there are no problems. There are only solutions,
(26:34):
but you get to face that and sometimes learning the
hard way is the best way. So our attitude was like,
well listen, you know, there's you know, we told everyone
we take the blame. For sure, we can't take all
the blame, but we take the blame for what was done.
We were part of it, that's clear. We were part
of it, one hundred percent, and we recognize that. That
(26:57):
being said, we're here now and we want to make
the best out of what happened to us. It's very normal,
but for some reason, the media kind of flipped it
into making us look bad. So that's why our signior performances,
which one of my favorite you know. He promoted us
for thirty days and in the end, at the end
(27:19):
of thirty days, I believe that we killed it. Definitely
killed it. And if it would have had a real
label behind us, we're real finance and marketing, dollar and
radio promotion, we could have done some things. It was
kind of like nobody was interested anymore. Like it was like, uh,
(27:40):
it's it's weird, you know how why not we're singing?
Oh no, not interesting? You know.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
So the Robin Fab album is so good by the way,
that song do I, Oh my god, I love that song.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
That's a nice one. That's the one that's not you know.
We worked with a great team of producers and that
was one of my favorite time the aftermath I would
call it and to be sitting down with producers and
in the lab and a big studio and just you know,
being part of it. And oh when it changes harmony,
Oh what about? Like what about changing the drum pattern?
(28:18):
And that was for me so awesome that you know,
that was taken away from me from the beginning. So
finally I was able to truly live my dream, you know.
And unfortunately, during that period, Rub was addiction. Is that
taken the toe on him. So it was very difficult
for him to focus and he would disappear day at
(28:41):
a time. So we had to you know, the budget
was running out and we had to get that album done.
So I did pretty much all the leads majority your background.
So if you listen to the record, you notice that
on some song you hear rob and some of the
songs there's no way to be hurt, you know, And
that's what happened, you know, So ri ip God rest
(29:07):
you know, I help you rest good, and he's looking
from above and he's like, go dude, and clear clear
up my name. You know. My goal is being to
transform the name living in me into when you fall,
when you make mistakes or you fall, you can't stand
back up, reinvent yourself and move forward. You know this.
(29:30):
You have options, you have choices. It's just up to you.
You know. The problem is the issue is I'm in
my mistakes in front of the world, and that being said,
some people make the mistakes in the privacy of their
own home. So I guess it turned me into what
I am today. And hey, I got four kids with
(29:52):
the same woman, a partner Sasha so Loans in sent
Paris Twins. You know at the amazing you know, family
is a blessing, blessing. I love it.
Speaker 2 (30:05):
It's it's I really hope everyone listening to this takes
that message that that is so incredible and powerful to
be able to use that example and and and share,
like when you go through something you make a bad decision.
In my opinion, you and Robert Victims here. I mean,
I know, I appreciate you guys taking responsible.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
I'm not going to play I'm not going to play
the victim. I know responsibility, but it sure looks like
in quite like a duck.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Yeah, yes, exactly.
Speaker 2 (30:37):
But the fact that you take responsibility for your role
in it and the way you rebuilt everything, it's so inspiring.
It's so incredible Today in twenty twenty five, I mean
the Milli Vanilli. There's a lot of songs in the Monsters,
uh Lyle and Eric Menendez showing Netflix. So how does
(30:58):
it I mean to look at like these songs are
training on TikTok. Now you have a whole new generation.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
No, I know you know what this this? You know,
Ryan Murphy, thank you, Monsters, thank you. I forgot the
name of the actors. But those guys, Wow, what a job.
And you know what I found because you know, I
used to live close to where they used to live.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
Oh yeah, in bel Air.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
Yeah, they not far away, so you know, we used
to play football in U c La, so we weren't
there in their vicinity BECAUSEFM it was everywhere, so it
was hard to miss. But when they buried their mom,
that's in a movie. I thought it was in the movie.
I was like, oh, yeah, that's fiction. No, they use girl,
(31:46):
I'm going to miss you. At the funeral, I was like, wow,
that's wild, Like whoa you know. And now we're back
thirty years later almost like past. And then because of
a show like this one and my association with Men
and his brothers, certainly the kids that up because I
(32:07):
have a god daughter in La and Kailna and she
tells me in school, they all know, they all know
the song, they sing the songs. So I'm like, wow,
that's a trip. Because there was a time where milivinly
just went into disappeared, It went into a vacuum. And
(32:27):
then you know with the dark, you know, with the
movie with monsters, certainly it's back on all the music
platforms and it's it's raving up and people certainly are realizing, Man,
that was good stuff. That was a good time. So, hey,
music is life. Life is music. Music is also the
soundtrack of our lives. I am connected to everyone who
(32:52):
listened back in the days, and whoever is discovering it
and walks into our emotional shoes, they are connected to
now because the narrative is being rewritten properly, and you
realize that, hey, listen, they took advantage, they exploited us,
and we were thrown. Rob paid with his life as
(33:14):
a result of how it was handled. It could have
been handled differently. We could have and we were in
the process of starting another project with another entity, but
Frank Farren went to New York and told the world.
So when you did that, it was check mate. We
weren't pushing him. We were pushing him to end this relationship,
(33:39):
but we didn't count on the fact that he would
tell the world instead of saying, Okay, I'm done, we
can go to group. So we were hoping and work it,
you know, and maybe you have the Robin Felt album
they come out instead of nineteen ninety three, had it
come out like in nineteen ninety. That was the plan.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
You can't dwell on this kind of thing, but I
can't help but wonder, like what would have happened if
Frank hadn't like gone public with everything, Like I wonder
what would the trajectory have been? Oh, well, you know
if the world hadn't found out Well.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
The thing is, you know, on that tour I told
you about the one hundred and SEVENTYY tour. In the
eight month we had it, we put a studio in
the bus because we had about between forty and fifty
people working for us, so we had five buses and
we put a studio equipment in the back of the bus.
And then we would be working after the show, making
(34:48):
some music, experimenting the process that started. You know, we
had the band, We're like, okay, we don't do something,
you know, and so you know, the musicians would come
on board, would work, stop, you go back to your bus,
go to sleep, and I was kind of like a
routine and I loved it. That was like, Wow, that's
the life I always wanted. But you know it was
(35:11):
weird because we were performing in front of thousands but
not singing, and then you're in the back of the
bus making music and I'm like, oh, I wish I
could share tonight. I wish I could share that tonight
at the gig, but you can't. Yeah, it's true. Was
it was crazy, but you know, until now, I've only
(35:33):
you know, I told the story. You know, it's been
a dog, it's been a movie, it's been interviews. But
with the book, and it's titled you know it's true.
So people can go and register a you know, it's
through dot com and then we'll keep you posted with
the schedule. It's going to be an audio book as well.
(35:53):
And you know, finally I can, I can share everything
and they don't know what to expect. And that's the
beauty with this book, you know. But it had to
be done also for me. I had to free myself
from from many things, you know, because you don't go
through something like this, and and you don't, you don't
(36:18):
walk away intact. You know you will be you will
when you crash, you crash and burn. But I'm lucky
it didn burn to crisp and I was able to
rise from my ashes and and move on. I'm not
I'm not saying I'm the phoenix. I'm just saying I
was able to rise above and fly away from the
madness and everything that was holding me down. Because you know,
(36:41):
people can be mean on the wreay down the jokes,
the bullying and what it feels like. But after a while,
when you acquire emotional intelligence and realize that it's not
about you, people have issues and you know you trigger
something to them because people don't have to be so mean.
I didn't kill nobody. We didn't kiel nobody, you know,
(37:04):
and some people have done way worse. Oh yeah that
were treated that were treated. Yeah, that is bad, really
damn Like why us, you know, And I'm still to
this day wondering like what was the reason behind behind that?
Like why.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
It's it's I know, it's so frustrating to think about.
But you know, you talk about the movie girl, you know,
it's true, it's streaming on Peacock. What was it like,
how involved were you in the process of that movie
being made and what was like seeing your life be
turned to a movie.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Well, well, I was. I was a consultant, you know,
and you know I I I felt like, just like
the documentary, when they came to me, I said, hey,
they said, we want to tell you a story. But
I knew that there were many other people that they
were going to talk to. I sound cool with that.
You go ahead, because I know it's going to line
up perfectly. I let him do it. I was a
(38:04):
consultant in the movie, same thing. They talked to a
lot of people. The guy who didn't summon fore Hoofa
was a fan, met me when he was eighteen years
old in Pim's where we were kind of discovered, and
he never forgot that image. He soaked it in like
a sponge. And the job is incredible, you know. But
(38:25):
I felt like he was passionate, and you know you
can you can fight passion, you know. And that's why
I'm saying I'm still here because of my passion for music,
my hunger for music, and music being a medium through
which I can express myself. Most so when the movie,
when when I saw the actors, I was like, oh,
(38:45):
that looked good. I didn't full I didn't fully see
them in full gear, but at the end because I
watched a movie on the computer at first, and I
watched it at a premiere because I didn't want to
it's too close to too home, you know. So when
I watched it at the premiere. Everyone was laughing at
the same time. Everyone moved in their chair when it
(39:10):
became uncomfortable you know, in the movie and it's a
little awkward, like people stopped to move and you know,
some people cry, and it was on cute. I was like, wow,
they all react in the same way, whether it was
in Bavaria with different type of people to browl in
and I felt like, I think and it made me
(39:31):
a few times my throat kind of like got tight.
And I watched I watched Elon and t John and
they really reincarnated Robin the fab They really embodied us
and the dynamic between the two characters. It was. It
was very interesting to watch. And Tessa, my partner, she
(39:52):
she knocked. He was like, wow, looks like you there.
I was like, yes, it looked crazy right man, Like wow,
you know, the makeup, the eyebrows, like the pitness of
the hair, the jacket, and you know, I'm really happy
that when I after the movie, people were sharing and
then you go to the stage, I'm glad that I
(40:13):
didn't have to go with the cane or you know
like slow pos you know slow, you know, like you
know seventy year old. A seventy year old now like
finally my story was still thank you. I'm still glad
that I'm still you know, vital, and I'm coming to
America more and more. You know. I was in Canada,
(40:36):
did a tour for like, I did a two week tour.
We did about eight shows. It went very well. I'm
going to Columbia. I'm going to Miami at the hard
Rock in Hollywood, Miami, you know, the seventeenth. I believe so.
And I've been touring in Europe for some time, but
(40:58):
it was slow. It was, you know, not sortay with
little shows, more shows, more shows, more shows are down.
Everything that's happening, it's taking place now. The phone is ringing.
Now people are like, oh, we would like to are
you going to do the hits? Of course, you know,
so I perform. I have a band as well. But
COVID kind of like halted everything that was happening. But
(41:23):
it's okay. My twins came and went back to the
drawing board and uh, step bast step again. We had
to rebuild, you know. So I'm glad I'm still here.
The best is yet to come. I've also I don't
know if you know that because I wanted to. I
wanted to send you that, but I think I forgot
it was so busy. I wanted to send you, Girn
(41:43):
who is true the remix that I did for Sony
Music and blame it on the Rain Acoustic. I think
you should play that for your audience.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
Yes, definitely.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
I think you get to take a look at that.
You know, if you if you need to get your
hands on it, just ask my team and my team
will send it to you. But you can't go straight
to any music platform fab More van Boom on old
platform fab More Evan go check it out and then
you'd be the judge. I flipped it too. That's a surprise.
Speaker 1 (42:14):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (42:15):
So it's blame it all the Rain Acoustic. You got
to hear a girl you know it's true FABS remix.
It's uh, you got everyone listening listen to it right now.
But before I let you go, this is so this
is a Gilmore Girls podcast. And the reference that Milli
Vanilli has in the show, I think it's really is
really cool because it's you know, if you hear about
(42:36):
a show like talking about Millie Vanilli or something like that,
you're gonna assume it's like a lip syncing thing. But
in Gilmore Girls, there's a band performing and a guy
is talking about like, Oh, you're gonna need to make
room because I'm gonna do a jump off the amp
and do a kick here, and then another band member
says that sends a little too Milli Vanilly for me.
So it's like million Vanilli are great performers. They put
(42:57):
on a great show, and that's that's like the reference there.
And I think that's incredible thing because that's that's what
we love, boy Millie Vanille.
Speaker 3 (43:05):
But let me tell you, you know, you as an artist,
you have to study the game. You have study the
ones who came before you. So I have a story
for you. You know the kick, The kick you know
came from I saw David ly Rough and I was
a big fan of any Allen and I was like, wow,
that looks cool. It was a dancer. So it's like
no issues for me, boom, So I kept put it
(43:27):
on my show until I met David in La at
the Rocks Bay. It was like, I love you guys.
I love the way you move. I was like, yeah, well,
I think you had something to do with that, you know,
so that that was that was for me. I was
(43:48):
super cool to to run into him, you know. So
I ran into a lot of people in Hollywood, but
David was was a guy that had so much power
on stage and the music was amazing. So yeah, those
are the things, you know, you study the greats, and
that's what I'll keep on doing. And eventually I hope
that my music can have the same the same type
(44:11):
of effect on people that are taking and listen to
what I do. So to be continued, dot dot It's
just the beginning, though, watch.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
So much more to come from fab More Event. Thank
you so much for doing this. You're the coolest guy
in the world. We appreciate this so much and thank
you again. Everybody be on the lookout for you know,
it's true. The fab More Event story, the autobiography coming soon.
Speaker 3 (44:36):
Thank you that coming. You know it's true. Dot Com.
Speaker 1 (44:40):
You know it's true, dot Com, write it down. Thanks again, man,
Thank you the beginning of time.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
It was great to talk to you and to you know,
I know that people are listening right now, and my
last thing I'd like to add is listen to yourself
and it's never too late. As long as you keep
on focusing making sure that your health mental, physical is
in balance, you can achieve anything. Just believe in yourself
(45:07):
and listen to the noise. Put the noise to zero
and then listen to yourself. Manifest, meditate and do what
you've got to do for yourself.
Speaker 1 (45:17):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (45:18):
Thank you so much, FIB, You're the absolute best. I
hope it's a great rest of your night.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
With pleasure loving team.
Speaker 1 (45:51):
Hey, everybody, don't forget.
Speaker 2 (45:52):
Follow us on Instagram at I Am all In podcast
and email us at Gilmore at iHeart radio dot com.
Hosts And Creators
Amy Sugarman
Danielle Romo
Scott Patterson
Tara Soudbaksh
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