Pilatus and Morvan both continued moving into music, and were subsequently noticed by German music producer Frank Farian, who signed them to be part of a musical act. They signed contracts with Farian without taking legal advice. After a trip to Turkey, where the duo reputedly took part of their name from a local advertising slogan, Milli Vanilli was born. Pilatus and Morvan were surprised to learn from Farian that they would not be singing on their records. They initially refused, but were unable to pay back the advance they had received, which they had used to change and promote their images by investing in clothes and their trademark hair extensions. They decided to continue with the agreement for a short time until they had made enough money to pay back the advance. This meant that they were to be only the public faces for songs that had been pre-recorded with singers Charles Shaw and Brad Howell, who Farian thought were vocally talented but lacked marketable images. Farian had a history of acts, such as "Boney M" where songs were performed by unseen, uncredited singers.