In the 1990s, TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas created hits like “Waterfalls,” “No Scrubs” and “Unpretty,” received four Grammy Awards and offered greater than 20 million albums. Their degree of success locations them alongside teams just like the Supremes, the Dixie Chicks and Destiny’s Child, however TLC additionally needed to cope with scandal and infighting. And in 2002, the tragic death of the inventive and energetic Lopes altered TLC’s future and compelled the remaining members to forgive previous grievances.
The group clashed whereas making their third album
Lopes was TLC’s rapper, whereas Watkins and Thomas had been vocalists. Her “Left Eye” designation predated the group — she’d been informed her left eye was more prominent — however with TLC she strengthened the nickname by sporting glasses with a condom within the left-eye frame. In addition to delivering rhymes in a squeaky voice, Lopes offered inventive inspiration and vitality that prolonged to songwriting and storyboarding movies.
TLC’s debut album Ooooooohhh … On the TLC Tip (1992) did nicely, and their follow-up CrazySexyCool (1994) did even higher. But the three members clashed whereas making 1999’s Fanmail. The group additionally needed to cope with Lopes going through costs for burning down her boyfriend’s house and their have to file for chapter. In addition, Lopes usually threatened to go away TLC, seeming extra desirous about solo tasks.
In 1999, Lopes challenged Watkins and Thomas to make use of particular person album gross sales to see which TLC member was hottest. She signed a solo cope with Suge Knight‘s Death Row in January 2002, although she additionally labored on a fourth TLC album.
L-R: Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes
Photo: Ron Davis/Getty Images
While on a non secular retreat, Lopes was in a lethal accident
On April 25, 2002, a automotive crash in Honduras ended Lopes’ life. Lopes had traveled to that nation in search of a non secular retreat and place of private respite. The journey was additionally meant to let her work on a fashion line and a book.
Lopes was driving a rented SUV within the trip vacation spot of Roma — authorities stated she may have been speeding — when a automobile stopped in her lane. She pulled out to cross however misplaced management of her automotive, which flipped over a number of occasions. The crash claimed her life on the scene; happily, the opposite individuals within the SUV survived.
Lopes’ demise devastated her bandmates. They issued a statement saying, “We had all grown up together and were as close as a family. Today we have truly lost our sister.” A couple of months after the accident, Thomas admitted, “There are days when it’s hard to keep it together. And there are days when you’re like, I’m not even fighting it today, I just have to let it out, and you just cry.”
Lopes’ automotive after the crash in Honduras in 2002.
Photo: Max Trujillo/Getty Images
After Lopes’ demise, the group could not bear to be within the studio once they heard her voice
The low factors of the trio’s relationship misplaced their significance within the face of Lopes’ crash. “She was our sister, you know?” Thomas informed CNN. “And no matter what we went through, we’re sisters.” In 2017, Watkins noted, “Did I get mad at her? Yes. But did I love her less? No.”
Fortunately, among the tensions in TLC had healed before Lopes went to Honduras. Watkins, who has sickle-cell anemia, stated Lopes got here to see her when she was within the hospital and informed her to take the time wanted to get better. In 2012, Thomas talked with Essence about how issues had been with Lopes whereas they labored on their newest album. “The relationship was good; she was acting silly again, playing pranks on people. Her death was very devastating for us, but I can look back and say I was happy about what our relationship was like, at that time.”
Soon after Lopes’ demise, Watkins and Thomas realized their label wished to launch a greatest hits album for TLC. However, this was opposite to the group’s needs, as they’d all been centered on a brand new album. As Thomas defined years later to USA Today, “We wanted to finish what the three of us had started as best as we could under that type of pressure and pain.”
Despite their current loss, the 2 discovered themselves rapidly returning to an in-progress album. There had been painful moments; Watkins and Thomas could not bear to be within the studio when Lopes’ voice was heard. But in addition they felt the venture was a solution to honor Lopes, who might be heard on four tracks out of 13. After the album, known as 3D, got here out, Watkins informed the LA Times that she thought Lopes “would be proud of us and this new album.” 3D was launched seven months after Lopes’ accident.
Watkins and Thomas stated that nobody might ever change Lopes
From the start, the remaining members of TLC declared nobody might ever take Lopes’ spot within the group. “You can’t replace a TLC girl,” Thomas said in 2002. “The chemistry we have is something God gave us. You can’t put that together.” And in 2013, Watkins informed Rolling Stone, “I’m never going to put another girl in my group. Never!”
Watkins and Thomas did participate in a 2005 reality show, R U the Girl with T-Boz and Chilli, that seemed for performers. But they defined this was a restricted alternative for somebody to participate in a single live performance and one music. According to Thomas, “Basically, we are trying to give back to our fans and find one girl and give her a chance of a lifetime, to do one last performance with TLC.”
L-R: Singer Lil Mama performs with Watkins and Thomas onstage on the 2013 American Music Awards.
Photo: Michael Tran/FilmMagic
TLC used previous footage of Lopes to incorporate her of their later performances
TLC’s remaining duo initially puzzled how they’d tour without Lopes. But they discovered a solution to transfer ahead by together with her of their excursions. TLC performances have featured footage of Lopes from previous live shows (although, regardless of hypothesis, by no means a hologram like Tupac Shakur). Sharing her picture could possibly be emotional for the band in addition to followers; Thomas as soon as informed People, “[W]e never ever looked at the screen because we would not have been able to finish the show.”
In addition to excursions, Lopes was part of the TLC biopic CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story that aired on VH1 in 2013. And, following a profitable Kickstarter marketing campaign, in 2017 TLC launched a brand new, self-titled album that managed to include Lopes’ voice. “It’s her talking. It’s from an interview,” Watkins informed E! News. “It’s the essence of Lisa that you remember her for — the live, the funky, the spunky energy that she had.”
In 2002, Thomas informed CNN, “Through us, people will always remember Lisa. We’ll always be a group. It doesn’t stop.”
And through the years, grief over shedding Lopes has remodeled into one thing extra optimistic. In 2017, Watkins declared, “I want to celebrate her life. I want to feel good about what we did together. I don’t want to be in a dark place anymore. I want to feel like we built something great together and keep that going for her.”
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