
Robert Pilatus (Robert “Rob” Pilatus) was a German singer, dancer, and model, best known as one half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli. Drawn to show business from an early age, he began his career as a model and breakdancer. Pilatus was briefly a member of the group Wind before being discovered by producer Frank Farian, who formed Milli Vanilli with Pilatus and Fab Morvan.
In their early years, the duo achieved major international success. Their debut album earned Platinum certification, and they won a Grammy Award. However, in 1990, it was revealed that they had not performed the vocals on their recordings, serving instead as the public faces for the actual singers, Charles Shaw and Brad Howell. The backlash was immediate: their Grammy Award was revoked, and their record label terminated their contract and removed their music from its catalogue.
In 1993, Pilatus and Morvan attempted a comeback as the duo Rob & Fab, but it was unsuccessful. In the years that followed, Pilatus struggled with substance abuse and legal issues, including a three-month prison sentence. He died on 3 April 1998, at a time when he and Morvan were planning another comeback and had already completed a new album.

Jesse James (Jesse Woodson James) was a notorious 19th-century American outlaw, known for his bank and train robberies and for leading a criminal gang. He was born in Missouri into a relatively prosperous family and enjoyed a stable early childhood with his brother, Frank James, until their father abandoned the family. Their mother later remarried twice, contributing to a more unsettled home life.
At around the age of 16, Jesse and Frank joined the Quantrill’s Raiders during the American Civil War. Initially, their activities were driven by Confederate loyalties, targeting Union soldiers and supporters of Abraham Lincoln. After the war, Jesse James continued his criminal activities, forming and joining various gangs and carrying out a series of increasingly bold robberies.
The Daviess County robbery brought him widespread national attention, prompting law enforcement and private detective agencies to pursue him, with substantial rewards offered for his capture. James was eventually killed on 3 April 1882 by Robert Ford, a member of his own gang, who was subsequently rewarded by authorities in Missouri.
Jesse James has since become a legendary figure in American folklore, often compared to Robin Hood, although there is no clear evidence that he shared his stolen wealth with the public. His life and exploits have inspired numerous films and portrayals in popular culture.

Kurt Weill was a German-American composer renowned for transforming opera through his incisive social satire. Born to a musical father, Weill developed an early interest in music, beginning piano studies at a young age. After completing his early education, he moved to Berlin for higher studies, where he began composing operas and joined the leftist musicians’ group Novembergruppe. His works were often politically motivated, reflecting his progressive ideals.
Weill gained national fame through his collaborations with playwright and musician Bertolt Brecht. Together, they achieved prominence in Weimar Germany in the early 1920s with operas such as The Threepenny Opera and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny(Mack the Knife). However, the rise of right-wing politics in Germany during the early 1930s threatened Weill, a committed leftist, and he eventually emigrated to the United States.
After initial struggles adapting to a new country, Weill found success in America with works including Lady in the Dark, One Touch of Venus, and Knickerbocker Holiday, cementing his legacy as a composer who bridged European and American musical traditions.
Weill suffered a heart attack shortly after his 50th birthday and died on April 3, 1950, in New York City.[ He was buried in Mount Repose Cemetery in Haverstraw, New York. The text and music on his gravestone come from the song “A Bird of Passage” from Lost in the Stars, itself adapted from a quotation from the Venerable Bede:
This is the life of men on earth: Out of darkness we come at birth Into a lamplit room, and then – Go forward into dark again.
(lyric: Maxwell Anderson) An excerpt from Maxwell Anderson’s eulogy for Weill read:
I wish, of course, that he had been lucky enough to have had a little more time for his work. I could wish the times in which he lived had been less troubled. But these things were as they were – and Kurt managed to make thousands of beautiful things during the short and troubled time he had
sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_James
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c20dgz3je8no
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Weill
https://thisday.thefamouspeople.com/3rd-april.php
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