April 2, 2018 marks exactly 20 years since the death of Rob Pilatus, member of the notorious pop duo MILLI VANILLI. This project of Frank Farian in 2 years of its existence sold more albums and singles than many even very famous musicians were able to sell in their entire lives. The story of the rise and fall of MV has already been told in great detail on our blog, so we won’t repeat it today.
It remains only to recall that after the resounding success that brought the group worldwide fame, the highest awards in the US music industry and, naturally, a lot of money, the project’s producer, Frank Farian, came out with an expose of his brainchild. As it turned out, “frontmen” Rob and Fab (the second member is Fabrice Morvan) did not take any part in the recording of MILLI VANILLI albums and singles, but were talented and spectacular dancers hired for filming in video clips and concert performances.
After the scandal, Rob, who quickly got used to the role of a superstar, could not cope with the disaster of the group. He again became addicted to alcohol and drugs (as it became known, even before joining MV he “dabbled” in various illegal drugs), and later went to jail on charges of vandalism. Farian, feeling responsible for the guy’s fate, rescued him from prison, paying a considerable amount as bail, and also paid for expensive treatment in a rehabilitation clinic. At Rob's request, he gave him a chance to revive his career in show business, returning the dancer to his project as a real performer. However, Pilatus was never able to completely overcome his depression. On the fateful day of April 2, 1998, he was found dead in his hotel room.
Frank Farian, who had last seen Rob the night before, could not reach him by phone the next day. After 3 hours of unsuccessful attempts to contact Pilatus, FAR Music employee Ingrid Segit headed to the hotel. A foreman was called to help open the door, which was locked on the back side. A dramatic picture appeared before them: the lifeless body of Pilatus, lying on the floor with blood around his mouth. Forensic experts determined that the cause of death was a heart attack and heavy internal bleeding due to taking antidepressants in combination with alcohol. Unfortunately, Robert did not follow the doctors’ orders, who strictly forbade him to take the medicine with alcohol.
The album "Back And In Attack", which Pilatus and the MILLI VANILLI musicians recorded under the direction of Farian, was never released. Whether this material will ever be available to MILLI VANILLI fans is unknown.
In 2016, the French-German TV channel ARTE released an hour-long documentary about this high-profile story, after which the film was published on
DVD with a large amount of additional material. As a bonus, there is a new documentary available there, "Frankie Goes to Miami!", where you can see Frank Farian in his new studio located in Florida (USA).
