Rob Pilatus

Rob Pilatus was a German singer, dancer, model, and rapper. He was a member of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli with Fab Morvan. He was born in New York City to an African-American serviceman and a German dancer, but he was given up for adoption and grew up in an orphanage in Munich. He started his career as a model and break dancer, and appeared as a backing singer with the group Wind at the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest. He met Morvan on the dance scene in Munich in 1988, and they formed a short-lived group called Empire Bizarre. They were then noticed by music producer Frank Farian, who signed them to be part of Milli Vanilli. However, Farian did not let them sing on their records, and used other singers to provide the vocals. Pilatus and Morvan were only the public faces for the songs that became worldwide hits. They won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1990, but their fame was short-lived when it was revealed that they did not sing on their records. They were stripped of their Grammy Award and their record label dropped them. They tried to make a comeback as Rob & Fab in 1993, but their album was a commercial failure. Pilatus struggled with substance abuse, depression, and legal troubles. He attempted suicide several times and spent three months in prison for assault and vandalism. He died of an alcohol and prescription drug overdose in a hotel room in Germany in 1998. He was 32 years old. ¹