Baby Don't Forget My Number

Album: Girl You Know It's True (1989)
Charted: 16 1
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This was Milli Vanilli's second single, following up their wildly successful "Girl You Know It's True." It's a near carbon copy of their first hit, and it even surpassed it on the charts, as "Girl" topped out at #2. Like all songs on the album, the real singers were John Davis and Brad Howell, but Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan performed as the group and were listed as the singers on the credits.
  • Here's the Milli Vanilli scandal chronology and where this song fits into it:

    The "Girl You Know It's True" single became a European hit in the summer of 1988, and the album was released there in September. The real rapper on that song, Charles Shaw, told German media the truth about Milli Vanilli using fake singers, but he made a deal with Milli's producer Frank Farian and stopped talking.

    The single was released in America in December and took off. By that time, there were lots of rumors in Europe about the fakery, but America was insulated. "Baby Don't Forget My Number" was the follow-up single, and it hit #1 in May 1989.

    Such was the demand for more Milli Vanilli that the song took off even though the group couldn't sing live, which meant they had to turn down an appearance on the Arsenio Hall Show. By the summer of 1989, some people wondered why Rob and Fab's speaking voices in interviews sounded nothing like their songs, and in July, they were caught lip-synching when their recording skipped during a concert in Connecticut. It wasn't until November 1990 that the truth came out about the group when Farian admitted that Rob and Fab were not the real singers.
  • The group's mastermind Frank Farian took sole songwriter credit on this song. Their previous hit "Girl You Know It's True" was a remake, so there were no publishing royalties to be made on that one.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Tommy James

Tommy JamesSongwriter Interviews

"Mony Mony," "Crimson and Clover," "Draggin' The Line"... the hits kept coming for Tommy James, and in a plot line fit for a movie, his record company was controlled by the mafia.

Steely Dan

Steely DanFact or Fiction

Did they really trade their guitarist to The Doobie Brothers? Are they named after something naughty? And what's up with the band name?

David Gray

David GraySongwriter Interviews

David Gray explains the significance of the word "Babylon," and talks about how songs are a form of active imagination, with lyrics that reveal what's inside us.

JJ Burnel of The Stranglers

JJ Burnel of The StranglersSongwriter Interviews

JJ talks about The Stranglers' signature sound - keyboard and bass - which isn't your typical strain of punk rock.

Tim McIlrath of Rise Against

Tim McIlrath of Rise AgainstSongwriter Interviews

Rise Against frontman Tim McIlrath explains the meanings behind some of their biggest songs and names the sci-fi books that have influenced him.

George Clinton

George ClintonSongwriter Interviews

When you free your mind, your ass may follow, but you have to make sure someone else doesn't program it while it's wide open.