Milli Vanilli

One of the real singing voices behind the infamous pop duo Milli Vanilli has died at the age of 66 after a battle with COVID-19 ... according to his daughter.

John Davis' daughter, Jasmin, revealed her dad died May 24 with a post that read, “My dad passed away this evening through the coronavirus.” She continued, “He made a lot of people happy with his laughter and smile, his happy spirit, love and especially through his music. He gave so much to the world! Please give him the last round of applause. We will miss him dearly.”

The Milli Vanilli duo the public came to know was made up of members Fabrice Morvan and Rob Pilatus. The pair won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 1990 after their wildly successful "Girl You Know It's True" album dropped the year before.

However, after wildly successful year -- including multiple #1 hits and tours -- Fab and Rob and their producer came clean that it was all a front. They didn't actually sing the songs they'd released, and it was really Davis' voice, and a few others, on the records.

Perhaps the most infamous moment for the pair came during a live performance for MTV in 1989 when the track for "Girl You Know It's True" skipped on a loop, leaving the duo on stage embarrassed.

From there, it was all downhill for Morvan and Pilatus ... they eventually gave up their Grammy, and lawsuits and demands for refunds came flooding in from fans.

Davis attempted to form his own group with one of the original ghost singers, but couldn't repeat the group's success.

Fabrice Morvan -- better known as one half of duo Milli Vanilli -- tells TMZ ... he's sort of a trailblazer ... because nowadays almost EVERYBODY in pop music lip-syncs their songs.

Fab was leaving Le Pain Quotidien bakery in L.A. yesterday ... when we asked about his infamous phony vocals scandal in 1990 ... when it was revealed neither he nor Rob Pilatus actually sang any of the hits on their album, "Girl You Know It's True."

Fab tells TMZ, "There is no difference between what I did back then and what people are doing now."

He explains, "If you wanna break it down, people might say, 'Well you didn't sing' ... but the fact of the matter is ... now the machines are doing it."

Fab says technology like Auto-Tune allows singers to completely change their voice ... duping fans into believing they can sing ... when, in fact, they can't.

"I ain't pointing the finger, but if you're doing all this and you're not performing the song live ... then you're not doing anything different from what I did."

In case you forgot, check out Milli Vanilli's biggest hit, "Blame It On the Rain." It was later revealed the real vocals were provided by several other people.