Quick Facts
Biography
Bradley "Brad" Howell (born January 3, 1944) is an American keyboardist, pianist and singer best known for his role as one of the real singers behind Milli Vanilli.
Early life
Howell grew up in Houston in a working-class family with his brother and sister. His Father, John Howell was a soldier in World War II and a builder and his mother, Margaret Howell was a housewife. At the age of 5, Howell started to learn the piano, his father used to play piano every weekend. At the age of 18, Howell started to train to become a keyboardist at the University of Houston but, Howell had to take other jobs such as paperboy, retail and many more.
Career
When Howell became a keyboardist and pianist, he used to go on chat shows and other music related television and Howell performed for many musical artists as the keyboardist such as Peter Gabriel, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Lionel Richie, Don Henley Cher, Tina Turner, George Michael, Janet Jackson, Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Loggins and many more.
During the time of playing for so many solo artists, Howell displayed talent for singing and was spotted on a chat show by Frank Farian, who wanted to him to sing behind the scenes of Milli Vanilli. Howell was willing to do so and he did for all the albums until the truth came out. When the scandal broke worldwide and the real singers were revealed, Farian decided to gather all the original singers of Milli Vanilli and formed a band called The Real Milli Vanilli. However, they only released one album called The Moment of Truth and released four unsuccessful singles in American. They fared better on German charts, where the most successful was Keep on Running that peaked at no. 4. The Real Milli Vanilli appeared on many talk shows as performers, one award winning ceremony in Germany and toured in America. Howell continued to play piano and keyboard after The Real Milli Vanilli.
Albums
Milli Vanilli:
- Girl You Know It's True (1988)
- All or Nothing (1988)
The Real Milli Vanilli:
- The Moment of Truth (1991)