NEW YORK -- The man who produced the Grammy Award winning album for the dancing duo named Milli Vanilli has admitted the pair did not sing on their 1989 album, prompting industry officials to consider withdrawing the award.
The president of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Services said Thursday he may strip the duo of their Grammy if it can be proven the pair did not sing on the record.
Frank Farian, the German arranger who produced 'Girl You Know It's True,' -- winner of the 1989 Grammy for Best New Artist -- Thursday admitted he hired other singers to perform on the record.
Farian also confessed that the duo, Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, 'lip-synced' their way throughout live and video performances.
Farian said he kept the information from Arista Records, which put out the debut album. The record's credits list Pilatus and Morvan as singing on all songs.
The album, including the hits 'Girl You Know It's True,' and 'Blame It on the Rain,' sold 7 million copies.
'I feel like a mosquito being squeezed,' Pilatus told the Los Angeles Times. 'The last two years of our lives have been a total nightmare. We've had to lie to everybody. We are true singers but that maniac Frank Farian would never allow us to express ourselves.'
Farian, who fired the pair Wednesday at a press conference in Munich, Germany, owns the name Milli Vanilli.
'We were afraid for two years that this day would come,' Pilatus said. 'We've cried about it sometimes, that the secret might come out. But deep inside, we wanted it to happen. I'm happy now that I can talk to our fans about it. We won't let them down. I swear we will soon have an album out with our own voices on it which will prove our talent.'
Michael Greene, president of the National Academy of Arts & Sciences said Thursday his organization had not realized that Pilatus and Morvan had not performed on the record.
The academy relies on recording credits presented by record companies, Greene said
Challenges to the legitimacy of Grammys are not made until 'a body of evidence is presented that compels the Academy to review their legitimacy,' according to Greene.
He said if it is established that the Milli Vanilli album credits were falsified, 'we will then take this matter to the National Awards and Nominations Committee for their consideration as to the disposition of the award in question.'
Farian said he was forced to go public when the young dreadlocked singers asked to sing on their second album.
The producer declined to name the performers who actually sang on the album, but said he was planning to produce a record with them soon and would credit them accurately on the album.
