Milli Vanilli

Rob and Fab met in an LA dance club, moved back to Munich and made money by appearing in videos and working in a post office. Producer Frank Farian, whose group Boney M sold millions of records worldwide, set them up to bring some of his musical creations to life. He used them only as the face, not the voice, for the songs.

Pilatus grew up in Munich, Germany. He was the son of a German exotic dancer and a US soldier. Morvan was born in Guadeloupe, but grew up in Miami and Paris. He was an aspiring athlete until a neck injury sidelined him.

Regarding the band name, some publicity materials claimed it was a Turkish phrase for "Positive Energy" even though "Vanilli" doesn't mean anything in Turkish and "Milli" means "National." The name actually came from a defunct disco in Berlin.