Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli Died on This Day, April 2nd, 1998 – RIP

Today marks a sad day in the world of pop music. Back on this day, April 2nd in 1998, Rob Pilatus of Milli Vanilli fame died at the age of 32 in a hotel room in Germany of an overdose.

You may remember Rob and Fab of Milli Vanilli. They were the duo who soared to the top of the charts, did concerts and won awards including the Grammy for "Best New Artist" which in the end they gave back because Rob and Fab were not the vocalists on the album 'Girl, You Know It's True' nor at their concerts.

Milli Vanilli changed how award shows and other events ran their operation for a long time. Before Milli Vanilli, many artists lip synched to get the songs to sound the best they could. For awhile the production of Milli Vanilli went without a hitch. For quite a while all live performances had to be live by public demand because of the implosion of Milli Vanilli. After the press conference confession and Rob and Fab turned in their Grammy, radio stations wouldn’t play the songs, the backlash grew and they were the most hated two people on the planet or so it seemed.

In more recent years, lip synching seems to have come back in to the realm of live performances but for years it was something everyone was scared of doing from artists to network execs in television, promoters for concerts, etc.

Even today, if we see someone lip synching on TV or somewhere else we ask ourselves, can they sing?

Rob and Fab were offered a deal they obviously didn’t refuse I don’t just blame just them I also blame the creator, Frank Farian.

Rob Pilatus may have had substance issues, maybe it was the fall of Milli Vanilli or maybe it was just how he handled life in general but either way may he rest in peace. I tried looking for the video to "Blame It On The Rain" but I couldn't find it available in the U.S., Sorry.