As it is the end of the month and also with weekend coming up, a song to prep up. Actually I had not thought of blogging till I saw some articles proclaiming the true magics or illusions of Chinese Metaphysics.
Apparently anyone can be a Master of Destiny but some however with disastrous consequences for those who thought they have found a Destiny Master while seeking fame and riches. This is a story of a couple of young people, one who was believed to have committed suicide after suddenly losing his fame and wealth.(probably also in debts)
Taken from wikipedia:
When Frank Farian developed the concept of Milli Vanilli, he chose to feature vocals by Charles Shaw, John Davis, Brad Howell, and twin sisters Jodie and Linda Rocco; however, he felt that those singers lacked a marketable image. He then recruited Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, two younger model/dancers he found dancing in a Tokyo dance club, to front the act. Milli Vanilli's debut album All or Nothing, was released in Europe in mid-1988, with Rob and Fab's pictures on the front and center of the albums, but no mention of who actually sang the songs.
The success of the record caught the attention of Arista Records who signed the duo. Arista deleted several tracks from the original album, added several new ones (including a new track written by Diane Warren, "Blame It on the Rain"), remixed many of the tracks and renamed the album to Girl You Know It's True for release in the American market in early 1989.
This version of the album went six times platinum and led to the re-release of the title track, which peaked at number 2 on the Hot 100 in April of that year and was certified platinum. (The song was a cover version of a Numarx track published in 1987 on the US Bluebird label.) The U.K. release featured the original first album and the remix album together as "2 X 2". Even greater commercial success followed, as the pair's next three singles "Baby Don't Forget My Number", "Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" and "Blame It on the Rain" all reached number 1.
The first sign that the group was lip-sync-hing happened in late 1989 during a live performance on MTV at the Lake Compounce theme park in Bristol, Connecticut. As they performed onstage live in front of an audience, the recording of the song "Girl You Know It's True" jammed and began to skip, repeating the partial line "Girl, you know it's…" over and over on the speakers. They continued to pretend to sing and dance onstage for a few more moments, then they both ran offstage.
Farian confessed to reporters on November 12, 1990, that Morvan and Pilatus did not actually sing on the records. As a result of American media pressure, Milli Vanilli's Grammy was withdrawn four days later (however, their three American Music Awards were never withdrawn because the organizers felt the awards were given to them by music consumers).
After these details emerged, at least 26 different lawsuits[5] were filed under various U.S. consumer fraud protection laws[6] against Pilatus, Morvan and Arista Records.
For the American market, Farian chose to avoid any association to Milli Vanilli and had the tracks re-recorded with Ray Horton on the majority of lead vocals.
In order to restore their career, Farian agreed in 1997 to produce a new Milli Vanilli album with Morvan and Pilatus on lead vocals. This all led up to the recording of the 1998 Milli Vanilli comeback album Back and in Attack. Even some of the original studio singers backed the performers in their attempt to bring back some of the fame that had been shed so quickly. However, Rob Pilatus encountered a number of personal problems during the production of the new album. He turned to drugs and crime, committing a series of robberies and ultimately serving three months in jail in California. Farian paid for Pilatus to attend six months of drug rehabilitation and plane tickets for him to fly back to Germany. On the eve of the new album's promotional tour on April 2, 1998, Pilatus was found dead at the age of 32 in a Frankfurt hotel after ingesting a mixture of prescription pills and vodka, according to the Associated Press.
Ironically, during the Beijing Olympics, a similar incident of lip synching had happened as reported in The Telegraph. co UK.
'Chinese officials have admitted deceiving the public over another highlight of the Olympic opening ceremony: the picture-perfect schoolgirl who sang as the Chinese flag entered the stadium was performing to another girl's voice.
By Richard Spencer in Beijing
Published: 11:52AM BST 12 Aug 2008'
Both girls however gain fame overnight and the wrong act was correctly accredited to the Adults or Masters of Destiny in this case with no harms to both little girls.
Just my thoughts. Would Pilatus died if he had not become famous?
Well, you know it could be true, right? Cheers.
