What Was Milli Vanilli’s Net Worth? How Much Money Did They Make?

Milli Vanilli is responsible for one of the biggest music scandals in history. The German-French R&B duo had multiple hits in the late ’80s to early ’90s. Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus were the faces of the group, but after a lip-synching scandal that destroyed everything, they were never the same. So, what was Milli Vanilli’s net worth and how much money did they make?

How did Milli Vanilli get caught lip-synching?

While fans adored Milli Vanilli, their collaboration was a lie. Fab Morvan from France and Rob Pilatus from Germany never sung a single note on their hit album, “Girl You Know It’s True.” Germany producer Frank Farian brought them together, Variety notes. Morvan and Pilatus allegedly wanted to sing on the albums, but Farian had other plans. And the illusion ended for fans during a live performance in 1989.

Milli Vanilli booked the Club MTV Tour along with plenty of other famous folks, like Paula Abdul. But during the duo’s performance at Lake Compounce amusement park in Connecticut on July 21, 1989, the hard drive that contained the duo’s vocals crashed. This sent Morvan and Pilatus fleeing with embarrassment off the stage.

Rolling Stone notes Farian later came clean and admitted the duo never sang anything on their hit album. The duo then lost their Grammy they won for their music.

“We were seduced and very young,” Morvan explained years later. “We had no life experience. We were riding the wave. It was a crazy adventure. We were getting loaded, trying to escape, constantly in fear of being discovered.”

“We’ve been carrying this cross for a long time,” Morvan added. “We’ve been blamed over and over. We were victims of our own dreams of stardom, chewed up and spit out by the record industry machine.”

How did Rob from Milli Vanilli die?

Milli Vanilli duo Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus experienced a spiraling after their infamous lip-synching disaster. Eight years after the discovery the duo didn’t sing, Pilatus died. He died in a hotel room at 33 years old, Rolling Stone reports.

Variety notes Pilatus died of a drug overdose, and Rolling Stone adds he consumed alcohol and pills that led to his death. Farian and Morvan said Pilatus attended rehab in Germany,

As for where Farian and Morvan stood after the lip synching scandal broke, it seems Morvan tried to distance himself from his music partner. We have no relationship at this point,” Morvan told People in 1997. “I got sober. I am going my own way.”

Later on, it seems Morvan had a different perspective. “He was my brother,” he said of Pilatus, Variety reports. “He was addicted to the public’s life, their adoration. He couldn’t live without it.”

How much money did they make, and what was their overall net worth?

So, how much money did Milli Vanilli make? Prior to the life-changing drama, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan were doing quite well. They had three studio albums, two remix albums, and a few albums to help the damage control after the lip-synching incident.

“I made them rich,” Farian told the Los Angeles Times in 1990. “Rob and Fab got 3 million marks — $2.1 million — from us. The record companies were very satisfied. The real singers also got rich. And Frank Farian got even richer. Only Rob Pilatus wanted much more.”

As for Milli Vanilli’s net worth, Celebrity Net Worth reports Morvan’s net worth is $250,000 — and he’s all that remains of Milli Vanilli now. Morvan also tried his hand at acting, and he attempted to make a music comeback in the ’90s with Pilatus under the name Rob & Fab. It never took off.

As for Farian, Celebrity Net Worth notes he has a net worth of $40 million.

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