Putting a face to a voice (three word Wednesday - generate, meager, tease)

Berlin. 1988.

Frank was facing a conundrum. He just signed a deal with a new artist. He loved their sound and could hardly wait to get their album on the music store shelves. He was certain this new musician would generate great revenue for the label. The only problem was, the guys were not easy on the eyes. Frank pondered long and hard if this act could bring in a following based on talent alone. They certainly would not visually appeal to his targeted audience. These guys were too old, too fat, too ugly for the 18 to 25 crowd. Frank had been around the block in this business, he knew that the pop star image was an important part of the package.

“Another beer please”, Frank requested of the spiky haired bartender. The neon light beams straying across neon clothing in the night club created a kaleidoscope of color. He turned his bar stool around and scanned the scene. Girls with their bangs teased into an attempted imitation of a flower, looked more like many of them grew tumors over their foreheads, were dancing far too provocatively for their ages with some featherheaded acid washed punks. The bass beat of a Run DMC song shook his clothing as the wandered through the club. Usually youth is wasted on the young, but these kids were living it up. Any one of them could have been from a fashion magazine. Frank wished he knew of such a club when he was their age. If only his new music deal could have half the youthful appeal of those that surrounded him. He rubbed his chin. Why couldn’t they… he thought. He peered around the club once more, this time paying more heed to the males. His eyes fell on a couple of dark skinned young men with long untamed hair falling down their backs. Attractive girls were sandwiching these men, and were dancing in a fashion that would have been impregnating if clothes weren’t involved. Frank decided he was going to change someone’s life… raise them from this meager existence and launch them into superstardom. He found his superstars. As Frank dismissed the females as politely as he could, the men glared at him as if ready to attack. He extended a hand, “My name is Frank. I’d like to talk to you guys. What are your names?”

“I am Fab and this is Rob”, the young man smiled like a superstar.



The above is a dramatization based on the facts below :

- Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan quickly rose to international stardom and fell just as fast in 1990. Milli Vanilli’s premier album “Girl You Know It’s True” went six times platinum. They won a Grammy for Best New Artist, which was later revoked when their lip syncing went public. Their career having become a mockery was too much for Pilatus to cope with, and in 1998 he was lost to a drug overdose. (see Wikipedia search of “Milli Vanilli” for more information.)