Black Music Month - Series 1

This month is Black Music Month and Music Child will be celebrating black music with a feature of a black artist every week(we wont lie and say everyday) So look out as we celebrate the very good, the bad and the just god damn awful of black music.
Also check out AOL Black Voices for some great black music,interviews and album covers, they even feature Nigerian Artist Fela!

We kick off with a favorite of one of our contributors Milli Vanilli :)

Girl, you know it's true…but unfortunately it wasn't, Anyone aged between 25- late 30''s knows what I'm talking about. In the 80's we were introduced to this gorgeous dance duo whose Grammy-winning triumph turned into a hot mess when their producer revealed that his hunky proteges were mimers. Rob Pilatus from Germany and Fabrizio Morvan came from the ghetto in Paris. There album was what love songs in the 80's where made of- With hits like Girl you know its true, Dont forget my number, Gonna Miss you, All or Nothing and my personal favorite Blame it on the Rain.The ensuing humiliation led to the suicide of Rob Pilatus, whose pain and anguish can be seen on VH1 behind the music here.

As Milli Vanilli, Rob Pilatus and Fabrizio Morvan won the hearts of millions, Their down fall came when the won a Best New Artist Grammy in 1990, They were quoted as saying later

"All we didn't want to do was will win the goddamn Grammy, but we won the Grammy" The public’s shock (oh please get over it!) and disappointment gave way to contempt and they mocked these pretty boys to death, although this is surprisingly as most artist now sing to back tracked vocals and mime 8x outta 10.

The two became the butt of jokes and were ostracized by the music industry. For Rob who’d dreamed only of stardom all his life, the fall from grace was nothing less than a nightmare. Both he and Fab turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain but Rob found himself unable to stop. He sat down for an interview with VH1 after a second stint in rehab, eerily foreshadowing his own death with talks of friends who had overdosed.

In April of 1998 Rob was discovered by his whistle blower producer Frank Farian in a German hotel room; his heart had failed due to a deadly combination of alcohol and prescription pills. Friends and colleagues remember the fragile, peaceful soul who never got over his youthful mistake. Fab is still alive and tried to revive his career but it was too late. A movie is supposed to be made about them although I have no idea who would want to watch it,lol!

Frank Farian made and broke them, he was also the driving force behind 70's pop group Boney M(remeba them? One boney man with 3 women i think!) He recently put together a production modeled after some Milli Vanilli and Boney M songs in London - Daddy Cool.
If your in London and you wish to relieve the songs that made the 80's check it out!

From this video it should have been obvious that our black brothers couldn't sing for shit(the dialogue sucks) but did we catch on? No!

**thanx to VH1 for background info**