With hindsight, Milli Vanilli’s 1989 worldwide smash hit ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ should have been called ‘Actually, It Isn’t True at All’, for reasons some Spectator readers of a certain vintage may well remember.   

Before I explain why, it’s important to say that it wasn’t just any old hit.

The catchy electro-pop ditty went platinum six times over in America and led to the telegenic singing duo Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan – black, pretty, dreadlocked, androgynous and with great clothes and moves – winning a Grammy in 1990 for best new artist. By that time, they had sold 30 million records.

Eleven months later however, in an unprecedented act, the Recording Academy of America revoked the Grammy when it became clear that Rob and Fab, as they were known, hadn’t sung a single word of ‘Girl You Know It’s True’ or indeed their other two US number ones, ‘Blame It on the Rain’ and ‘Girl I’m Gonna Miss You’.

What was true, it turned out, was that legendary German pop producer Frank Farian had session singers do all the music and vocals. Fab and Rob had been hired purely for dance and lip-syncing duties. This was nothing new: Farian had done something similar with Boney M a few years earlier. Pop’s naughty secret might have remained just that, however, had it not been for an MTV promotional event which featured the pair.........

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