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Robert Pilatus had a life filled with incredible highs and deep lows. He was born in Munich, West Germany, on 8 June 1964. He was a singer, rapper, model and dancer.
Early Life and Education
The early years of Pilatus were molded by misfortune. Having spent his first four years of life in a Bavarian orphanage, he encountered difficulties and discrimination as an immigrant in Germany. Unfortunately, his classmates called him “Kunta Kinte,” a nod to the movie Roots’ African hero. Pilatus’s early struggles with acceptance and identity served as fire for his ambition to establish himself.
Career
Pilatus started a career as a model and breakdancer as a youngster, exhibiting his charisma and natural abilities. When he supported the band Wind at the 1987 Eurovision Song Contest in Brussels, where the group placed second, he had his first taste of the music world.
Pilatus and Fab Morvan met in 1988 in Munich’s thriving dance scene. Charliene and the two of them created the brief band “Empire Bizarre.” The ensemble did release the short song “Dansez” in 1988, which demonstrated Pilatus’s ability to lead vocally while playing bass guitar. But the group’s existence was only an introduction to the life-changing experience Pilatus and Morvan were about to embark on.
The pair’s discovery by German music producer Frank Farian was a turning point in Pilatus’s career. Following their meeting, Pilatus and Morvan formed the pop music duet Milli Vanilli. Their debut platinum album, “Girl You Know It’s True,” generated a lot of excitement since it had hits like “Baby Don’t Forget My Number,” “Girl I’m Gonna Miss You,” and “Blame It On The Rain.”
But controversy surrounded the duo’s quick ascent to stardom. Farian caused a media frenzy when he disclosed that Pilatus and Morvan had not sung on their recordings. In 1990, Milli Vanilli was not granted the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Instead, it was taken away. Following a difficult period highlighted by this discovery, Pilatus and Morvan were let go by Arista Records, and their record was taken off the market.
Following the tumultuous aftermath, Pilatus and Morvan attempted to regain control of their narrative. Despite a brief commercial appearance for Carefree Sugarless Gum and an album release under their voices titled “Rob & Fab,” the duo faced challenges in rebuilding their careers. The album’s limited release led to minimal sales, and the subsequent bankruptcy of their new label, Taj, further hindered their resurgence.
In the following years, Pilatus and Morvan went in different directions. Pilatus ran into legal issues in 1996 and spent three months in jail for attempted robbery, violence, and damage. Before Pilatus’s return to Germany from the United States, Farian funded his period of drug recovery.
What was Rob Pilatus’s Cause of Death?
Rob Pilatus passed away on 3 April 1998 in a hotel room at Friedrichsdorf, near Frankfurt. However, the cause of his death was drug overdose.
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