Latest news with #MilliVanilli
Metro
04-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
'I wrote huge songs with stars at their lowest points but turned down millions'
Work-life balance is something we all struggle with but for Toby Gad, his 'crossroads' saw him step away from multi-million dollar opportunities. While he might not be a household name, he's actually behind eight UK Top 10 hits — four of which are number ones. For the past 30 years, Toby has been one of the most in-demand songwriters and producers in pop, working with the likes of Madonna, John Legend, and Beyoncé. However, he revealed to Metro that at the height of his career in the early 2010s, he decided to turn down the money, take a step back, and 'catch a wave' instead. Toby shared: 'My wife was already in Hawaii with my daughter. They were waiting for me to come for the vacation, and I kept pushing it another week and another week. 'The calendar was full to the brim for the next months, with two or three writing sessions every month, [even] every day. I really was at a crossroads.' At this time, he had created All Of Me with John Legend, which shot to number one in the US and peaked at number two in the UK. His other number ones include Beyonce's If I Were A Boy, Don't Hold Your Breath by Nicole Scherzinger, and JLS's Love You More. This was not overnight success, though, as Toby's career began early and by 18, three of his and his brother's songs had found their way onto a Milli Vanilli album, and the music world opened up. He worked on an album for Enrique Iglesias before moving to New York. As the 00s began, so did Toby's climb to the top of the charts. One stand-out emotive hit was with Fergie for Big Girls Don't Cry, which peaked at number two (with Rihanna's Umbrella claiming the top spot). Toby also has a double Top 20 UK hit with Skyscraper, which he wrote with Demi Lovato; it peaked at 17, then went to number one with Sam Bailey's cover. 'My songs are quite often autobiographical,' Toby shared. 'So I love artists who have something to say and who have gone through hard times. 'With Fergie, that was one of her lowest low points. Or Demi, when we recorded Skyscraper, she was just about to go to rehabilitation, we were all crying when she sang that.' Demi recorded a second version of the track when she was out of rehab, which was 'perfect', but in the end, they used her original version. 'It's just raw and honest, and it breaks your heart when you listen to that song. Her performance is so intense,' Toby praised. 'I like to write with artists. I want to pull the things out of their life, poke into their wounds and find the places that hurt, and then that's what we write about, like a therapist.' Toby reflects on the careers of his 2010s producer peers, sharing he was 'in a similar position' (prospects-wise, not legally) to industry heavyweight Dr Luke. Dr Luke 'got $100 million from Sony to start a massive label', becoming the CEO, signing artists, and making his mark as one of the biggest names in the industry. The Kemosabe Records founder now has an estimated net worth of $200,000,000 (£150,900,000). 'For me,' Toby continued. 'I was thinking, why am I doing this? It was the third time I had a global number one — at the time, All Of Me was number one. 'The third time I had climbed the Mount Everest of the music world, and that climb is a long way. So why am I actually doing this?' His time spent constantly working meant he was barely home, letting his family life slip away in favour of the music machine. 'It was shameful,' he shared. 'I was not getting younger. I had two daughters and my beautiful wife, who cooked dinner almost every evening, and I usually never showed up in time. 'I made a decision to say no to every record label, cancel all the sessions and say I'm not writing songs. I'm learning to live again, be a human being and learn how to catch a wave, which was profound.' Since then, he has made more time for his family, written a book (with another on the way), been a judge on German Idol, and even had a documentary made about his life. German Idol made Toby a household name, but seeing the auditions had a profound impact on the way he viewed his songs from a decade ago. 'When I came back, I wanted to pass the torch to these young talents, because a lot of the young contestants sang my songs and demonstrated to me that these songs were still alive and they meant something to them. 'They were songs they grew up with, and they wanted to hear the stories behind these songs. So I felt it would be appropriate to re-record these songs with young artists.' The Untouched hitmaker revisited some of his biggest songs in a project called Piano Diaries, with artists like Victoria Justice, Keke Palmer and Angelina Jordan, covering these classics. He's already working on a second edition of the album, with new songs including an unreleased track originally written with the late Donna Summer. 'I used to not want to work for a while, and I'm glad I've had these years,' Toby mused. 'Now I'm working harder than ever.' More Trending He confesses that he used to feel 'very jealous' and be 'extremely competitive' as he tried to climb the mountain that is the music industry. Now, the TV judge is 'done' with all of that and returned to his roots as an artist, releasing music under his own name as well as songwriting and producing. Toby said: 'I think I had to relearn kindness, and now I'm just an artist myself, releasing songs myself, I feel so many producers and songwriters are artists, but aren't credited as such, or aren't on stage as artists. It's so rewarding. 'It's funny. People are famous, they're on stage and people might know one song. And here I am, nobody knows my name, but I have dozens of songs that people can sing along to.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Netflix viewers rediscover 00s sci-fi thriller with 'unexpected' twist as it climbs the charts MORE: David Beckham is the ultimate Spice Girls fanboy in 50th birthday tribute MORE: The Kooks reveal the fan favourite 00s track they desperately 'tried to avoid' performing
New European
26-03-2025
- Entertainment
- New European
Rob Pilatus, the new Elvis who signed a deal with the devil
The gaudy sales figures and the recently acquired Grammy award were not enough for Pilatus. What he wanted was recognition. 'Musically, we are more talented than Bob Dylan,' he said. 'Musically, we are more talented than Paul McCartney. Mick Jagger, his lines are not clear. He doesn't know how he should produce a sound. I'm the new modern rock'n'roll. I'm the new Elvis. I'm the new Roy Orbison at this time. I'm the new Beatles…' It was the spring of 1990 and Rob Pilatus was just getting into his stride. Leaning forward to confide in the interviewer from Time magazine, he made the case for his band Milli Vanilli, vilified by critics and parodied by Saturday Night Live yet adored by record buyers across the world. What about those who called his duo a manufactured act of zero substance, a confection of the German super-producer Frank Farian, who had made stars of Boney M and who sang on that band's records rather than the photogenic Bobby Farrell? Pilatus told them to keep sniping. 'We have only gotten bigger and bigger,' he said. 'It just makes me more aggressive, and if I get aggressive, I get better. If I get better, it's worse for you.' But it would soon be worse – much worse – for Rob Pilatus. The incendiary Time interview formed part of a rearguard action against the critics that until that point seemed to be going well. It had become necessary when storms began to hit the burgeoning Milli Vanilli brand during the previous summer. Pilatus and his partner Fabrice 'Fab' Morvan were becoming known for their use of recreational substances, and for misbehaviour. They were almost kicked off a tour organised by the pop video channel MTV for showing up inebriated and for hitting on their fellow acts Paula Abdul and Cathy Dennis. Then, during a concert at Lake Compounce, Connecticut, a hard drive glitch caused the recording of their smash hit Girl You Know It's True to jam, skip and repeat. It was clear to the audience that Pilatus and Morvan had not been singing but merely lip-synching. 'I knew right then and there, it was the beginning of the end for Milli Vanilli,' said Pilatus later that year. 'When my voice got stuck in the computer, and it just kept repeating and repeating, I panicked. I didn't know what to do.' When the panic abated, Pilatus, Morvan and Farian appeared to have triumphed. For whatever had gone wrong that balmy night in Connecticut, no one could dispute their success. Their album Girl You Know It's True went platinum six times over in the States, selling seven million copies. They also scored a trio of US No 1 singles in America, topped the charts in their native Germany and were named best new artist at the Grammys. Ultimately, though, it would be hubris rather than critical derision or investigative journalism that finally did for Milli Vanilli. By the end of the year, Pilatus and Morvan had fallen out with Farian, who blew the whole thing wide open – they had not sung on any of their hits. They had to hand the Grammy back. So was Rob Pilatus a failure, a fraud? In fact he was an extraordinary success, the child of an American serviceman and a German exotic dancer who was given up for adoption at birth. 'Imagine being black without a black community – anywhere,' Pilatus later said. 'There just aren't many [black people] in Germany. Without anything to identify with, you grow up thinking maybe you're different and maybe not as good as everybody else.' Raised in Munich by a well-meaning academic white couple, Pilatus's first negative experiences of being a black boy in a white world occurred at school. 'They called me Kunta Kinte [after the lead character in Alex Haley's Roots]. That hurt. They saw me as different. When you're young, you don't like to feel different. If you're different, you feel alone.' All but kicked out of his house for choosing dance over a serious profession, Pilatus's loneliness lessened after a chance encounter with Guadeloupe-born choreographer and dancer Fab Morvan, with whom he dedicated himself to making it big. It was an ambition that became much easier after they met Farian. Having recently recorded a cover of the Numarx track Girl You Know It's True with session singers John Davis and Brad Howell, Farian knew that his mullet and Davis and Howell's heft would be obstacles to chart glory. So it was that, with the promise of a $20,000 advance, the terminally broke Pilatus and Morvan signed their 'deal with the devil', agreeing to front the act even as the small print denied them the opportunity to write material or sing on their records. It was a pact that brought the duo tremendous fame – then infamy when they demanded to sing on their second album and threatened to end their contracts with Farian, who responded by firing them. The years that followed the collapse of Milli Vanilli were tough for both Pilatus and Morvan. No matter how many times they relaunched, the only thing more inevitable than failure was Pilatus's recourse to excessive drug and alcohol use. On April 3, 1998, on the eve of the rebranded Rob and Fab's latest comeback tour, he was found dead in a Friedrichsdorf hotel room, having overdosed on prescription drugs and alcohol. He was 33 years old. Or was he? Such was the chaos and controversy surrounding Rob's birth and adoption, it's possible he was actually only 32 when he died. And it's this – the fact that Rob Pilatus was almost literally a boy from nowhere – that makes his success worth celebrating. Seldom have the odds been overcome so spectacularly or in such an unorthodox fashion. What if Pilatus has lived? Even if he had never learned to curb his destructive behaviour and self-sabotaging tendencies, he would doubtless now be thriving in an influencer age that looks kindly on difficult men with big opinions and zero filter. But what was all that stuff about the Stones, the Beatles and Elvis about? Morvan suspected substance abuse. 'I was in shock when I read it,' Pilatus later said. 'I am a fan of Mick Jagger and the Stones. I mean, I knew I wasn't singing, so why would I ever criticise the Beatles? All I said was that Elvis was a big idol in his time and we were big in ours.' And after all, at least he didn't bring up Jesus…
