lisa left eye biography

Why TLC Never Replaced Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes After Her Untimely Death

The group clashed while making their third album

Lopes was TLC's rapper , while Watkins and Thomas were vocalists. Her "Left Eye" designation predated the group — she'd been told her left eye was more prominent — but with TLC she reinforced the nickname by wearing glasses with a condom in the left-eye frame . In addition to delivering rhymes in a squeaky voice, Lopes provided creative inspiration and energy that extended to songwriting and storyboarding videos.

TLC's debut album Ooooooohhh ... On the TLC Tip (1992) did well, and their follow-up CrazySexyCool (1994) did even better. But the three members clashed while making 1999's Fanmail . The group also had to deal with Lopes facing charges for burning down her boyfriend's house and their need to file for bankruptcy. In addition, Lopes often threatened to leave TLC, seeming more interested in solo projects.

In 1999, Lopes challenged Watkins and Thomas to use individual album sales to see which TLC member was most popular. She signed a solo deal with Suge Knight 's Death Row in January 2002, though she also worked on a fourth TLC album .

While on a spiritual retreat, Lopes was in a deadly accident

On April 25, 2002, a car crash in Honduras ended Lopes' life. Lopes had traveled to that country seeking a spiritual retreat and place of personal respite. The trip was also intended to let her work on a fashion line and a book .

Lopes was driving a rented SUV in the vacation destination of Roma — authorities said she may have been speeding — when a vehicle stopped in her lane. She pulled out to pass but lost control of her car, which flipped over multiple times. The crash claimed her life at the scene; fortunately, the other people in the SUV survived.

Lopes' death 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 few 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."

After Lopes' death, the group couldn't bear to be in the studio when they heard her voice

The low points of the trio's relationship lost their importance in the face of Lopes' crash. "She was our sister, you know?" Thomas told 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, some of the tensions in TLC had healed before Lopes went to Honduras . Watkins, who has sickle-cell anemia, said Lopes came to see her when she was in the hospital and told her to take the time needed to recover. In 2012, Thomas talked with Essence about how things had been with Lopes while they worked on their latest 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' death, Watkins and Thomas learned their label wanted to release a greatest hits album for TLC. However, this was contrary to the group's wishes, as they'd all been focused on a new album. As Thomas explained 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 recent loss, the two found themselves quickly returning to an in-progress album. There were painful moments; Watkins and Thomas couldn't bear to be in the studio when Lopes' voice was heard. But they also felt the project was a way to honor Lopes, who can be heard on four tracks out of thirteen. After the album, called 3D , came out, Watkins told the LA Times that she thought Lopes "would be proud of us and this new album." 3D was released seven months after Lopes' accident.

Watkins and Thomas said that no one could ever replace Lopes

From the beginning, the remaining members of TLC declared no one could ever take Lopes' spot in 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 told Rolling Stone , "I'm never going to put another girl in my group. Never!"

Watkins and Thomas did take part in a 2005 reality show , R U the Girl with T-Boz and Chilli , that looked for performers. But they explained this was a limited opportunity for someone to take part in one concert and one song. 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."

TLC used old footage of Lopes to include her in their later performances

TLC's remaining duo initially wondered how they would tour without Lopes . But they found a way to move forward by including her in their tours. TLC performances have featured footage of Lopes from past concerts (though, despite speculation, never a hologram like Tupac Shakur ). Sharing her image could be emotional for the band as well as fans; Thomas once told People , "[W]e never ever looked at the screen because we would not have been able to finish the show."

In addition to tours, Lopes was a part of the TLC biopic CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story that aired on VH1 in 2013. And, following a successful Kickstarter campaign, in 2017 TLC released a new, self-titled album that managed to incorporate Lopes' voice. "It's her talking. It's from an interview," Watkins told 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 told CNN , "Through us, people will always remember Lisa. We'll always be a group. It doesn't stop."

And over the years, grief over losing Lopes has transformed into something more positive. 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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Documentary recounts the last days of left eye.

In 2002, TLC rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes died in a car accident while on vacation in Honduras. Much of her trip to the Central America nation — including her fatal crash — was filmed, and this footage has been turned into a VH-1 documentary, Last Days of Left Eye . The film's director, Lauren Lazin, talks to Farai Chideya about this new look at Left Eye's life and death.

Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes of TLC performing the 1999 MTV Music Video Awards at the Metropolitan Opera House, Lincoln Center in New York City on September 9, 1999. Frank Micelotta/ImageDirect hide caption

FARAI CHIDEYA, host:

In 1992, three young women from Atlanta exploded onto to the music scene.

(Soundbite of music)

TLC (R&B Group): (Singing) 1992, see ya. (Unintelligible)

CHIDEYA: T-Boz, Left Eye and Chilli made up the pop phenomenon known as TLC. Their bright, baggy clothes and playful jams brought out the girl in us, and their sexually progressive lyrics spoke to the women in us. The trio instantly shot to the top of the charts and stayed there. It was their biggest hit, "Waterfalls," that made TLC a household name.

(Soundbite of song "Waterfalls")

TLC: (Singing) Don't go chasing waterfalls. Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to.

CHIDEYA: They are still one of the best-selling female R&B groups of all time. But success didn't come without controversy.

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was the heart of TLC and she was constantly in trouble. Her run-ins with the law and substance abuse rocked TLC. In 2002, at the age of 30, Left Eye died in a car crash during a spiritual retreat in Honduras. She filmed the trip. Now that footage has been turned into a VH1 documentary called "Last Days of Left Eye."

Lauren Lazin directed the film. I asked her if Left Eye had made peace with her inner demons before she died.

Ms. LAUREN LAZIN (Director, "Last Days of Left Eye"): No. I think she is very much a work in progress, and I think that's part of what makes the film so relatable and so haunting. You know, so many people who have seen this film have told me that it's stuck with them for days afterwards, and I think that is because she is willing to be so raw and so open and naked and personal.

CHIDEYA: Well, let's take a listen to Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes talking about what happened after she burned down her boyfriend's home.

(Soundbite of documentary "Last Days of Left Eye")

Ms. LISA LOPES (Singer): And when I got outside, I looked at that house and the feeling came over me like, wow, the house of evil is burnt to the ground, it's burning.

CHIDEYA: So Lauren, back me into this story. Tell me - because you have some really amazing footage of her and Andre, her boyfriend and ultimately the man whose house she burned down. Back me into that story. Tell me how they met and kind of what their relationship was like.

Ms. LAZIN: I think Andre Rison was the love of Lisa's life. She talks about him with a lot of passion. They certainly had a tumultuous relationship. And I would say that it culminated in her burning her boyfriend's house down. But, you know, they stayed together for years afterwards. And many years afterwards, he even bought her another house, which she did not burn down.

CHIDEYA: What struck me among many things was that Left Eye was the life of the party. She was always the one, you know, Chilli was the cute one, T-Boz was the kind of girl around the way, and Left Eye was the cut-up. But her life, her childhood and what she dealt with on a day to day was very far from being like the comedy hour, wasn't it?

Ms. LAZIN: A lot of that vivacity had very deep and troubled roots. She had a tough childhood. Her family was very close, but there was a lot of trouble in her relationship with her father and with her grandfather. And I think those scars remained with her throughout her whole life.

CHIDEYA: Sometimes physically. I was struck by how she literally carved into her own flesh the words love and hate, and at one point she has this poignant reminiscence.

Ms. LOPES: It said love first and then a little hate. And as you can see, hate doesn't see love anymore. I carved love in my arm with the Lady Bic razor, one of those pink Bics.

CHIDEYA: You can tell that this is a woman who is in an intense pain.

Ms. LAZIN: She is, and she acts on it and she talks about it. And I think that's one of the reasons why she's so compelling to watch is because she will go there. She will go to that place that a lot of us may think about. She will actually go there and report from it.

CHIDEYA: I was struck by something she said towards the end of the film where a car that she's riding in strikes a boy and he dies. She pays for all of the family's medical and funeral expenses. And she's holding his shoes, and she says, I don't think I'll ever get over it.

And it struck me that those words were not just for that child. It was for herself, for the abuse that she'd suffered, for the road that she'd walked. And the whole construct of her time in Honduras was I'm healing, I'm going to this natural healing center. But it's like she's moving towards something but she can't find it. What was it like to watch her struggle?

Ms. LAZIN: That's a very profound insight on your part. I actually hadn't thought about that scene in that way. I think you're right. I think you are right. She is lamenting the death of a child inside of her.

I think she had a very particular thought about death and what death was. I spoke to her one time in my life and she was saying how much she and Tupac had in common, how similar they were. And she said to me, I wouldn't be surprised if I died young as well. And she said, but, you know, I don't really see death as a bad thing, I see it as a transformation of energy, I see it in a different way than a lot of people see it.

And a month after that conversation with her, she went to Honduras. She actually shot this footage. And a month after that, she was dead. And so that sort of always haunted me. And that haunted me while watching down these scenes that you're talking about. And as you know, her own death is in the film.

CHIDEYA: What do you think happened?

Ms. LAZIN: I think she had a car accident. I think there's a lot of car accidents on those roads in Honduras. Unfortunately, it's not that uncommon. I've not seen any kind of evidence of foul play. There is some question as to the car itself, whether it was, you know, faulty brakes, there was something wrong with the car itself.

CHIDEYA: So you don't think that she had any hand in the car…

Ms. LAZIN: No, didn't see any of that.

CHIDEYA: There's one point at which she turns to the camera and it's one of those things that really could be interpreted - that look, that final look, as I'm about to do something really crazy, which is not something that she was unknown for. Is that something that you think is a possibility, or that just people will interpret as a possibility?

Ms. LAZIN: I don't think it's a possibility. It certainly was not my intent in focusing on that moment at all. I don't think she took her own life. I think that's just an incorrect interpretation. But, you know, when you make a piece of art or a piece of film or a piece of work and you put it out in the world, it is for people to take away what they want. I think it was an accident, and a very sad one.

CHIDEYA: Well, Lauren, thanks for sharing this intimate side of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and your documentary.

Ms. LAZIN: All right. Thank you for your interest, Farai.

CHIDEYA: Lauren Lazin is director of the documentary "Last Days of Left Eye." She was at our NPR New York studios. And the film premieres on VH1 Saturday, May 19th.

(Soundbite of song "Unpretty")

TLC: (Singing) I which I could tie you up in my shoes, make you feel unpretty, too. I was told I was beautiful, but what does that mean to you?

CHIDEYA: Next on NEWS & NOTES, a former Washington Post reporter heads South for a little quiet and gets a whole lot more, and I sit down with Rose Stone and Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone.

Copyright © 2007 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes (1971-2002)

• Music Department

IMDbPro Starmeter See rank

• 2 wins & 1 nomination

• Soundtrack ("Waterfalls")

• Soundtrack (as Left Eye, "Not Tonight (Remix)")

• Soundtrack ("Reversal of a Dog")

• composer: theme song

• composer: theme music
• 132 episodes

• Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes

• Left Eye (as Left Eye)

Personal details

• 5′ 1″ (1.55 m)
• May 27 , 1971
• Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
• April 25 , 2002
• Jutiapa, Honduras (car accident)
• Other works Music video for Donell Jones: "U Know What's Up" - released: Fall 1999
• 1 Portrayal
• 1 Pictorial
• 5 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

• Trivia Adopted a little girl and named her Snow
• Quotes "I felt like an outcast. It used to be the three of us being very silly, and then it was just the two of them being silly. I didn't feel silly anymore." (on her falling-out with her TLC bandmates)
• Trademark She was in the habit of replacing one lens of her glasses with a condom during performances.
• When did Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes die?
• How did Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes die?
• How old was Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes when she died?

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Lisa Lopes: Life And Legacy Of Tlc’S Star

The tapestry of music history is woven with the threads of icons who have danced defiantly in the face of convention; among them, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes shimmers vibrantly, an irreplaceable filament of that kaleidoscopic cloth. As the enigmatic rap muse of TLC, she carved a niche that was both flamboyantly hers and pointedly raw. Let’s embark on a journey through the labyrinth of Left Eye’s life—a path lined with beats, rhymes, and a stark honesty that resonates beyond the echoes of her time.

The Rise of a Rap Icon: How Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes Shaped TLC

Born into a world humming with the potential for rhythm, Lisa Lopes ‘ early days were already scripting the ballads of disruption. With defiance in her soul and dreams too grand for the cradle of Philadelphia to hold, Lopes embarked on a journey that led to the formation of the musical triumvirate known as TLC. Alongside Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins and Rozonda ‘Chilli’ Thomas, Left Eye’s creative vision blazed like a comet across the firmament of 90s R&B and hip-hop.

Her lyrics—potent doses of reality, dressed in playful cadences—gave TLC an edge sharper than the stud on a rebellious teenager’s leather jacket. The trio’s sound was no mere serenade; it was a rallying cry, a pomade hair capable of slicking back the tresses of a society hungry for change. Lopes, a maestro of metaphor, orchestrated rhymes that became the anthems of a generation questioning the status quo.

In the fluctuating dynamics of fame, the bond between Lopes, Watkins, and Thomas was neither fragile like Supima cotton Sheets nor exempt from the intensities of creative passion. Their collective success was a tapestry of individual strengths, with Left Eye’s flare for lyricism interwoven with T-Boz’s soulful contralto and Chilli’s powerhouse presence. Together, they redefined the borders of girl group aesthetics, etching their names in the annals of music as luminaries who dared to be raw, relatable, and resoundingly real.

Facing the Fire: Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes’s Turbulent Times

The road to Olympus is paved with trials, and Left Eye knew them like the lines of her most intricate verses. Her life was a chiaroscuro—stark contrasts of light and shadow. Beneath the spotlight’s glow, the shadows loomed large. A life lived in extremities saw Lopes grappling with the personal inferno of her tumultuous relationship, imprinted in public memory as the notorious arson incident that echoed the emotional tumult of Breaking Dawn part 2 Cast ‘s on-screen drama.

With each surge of fame’s caustic wave, Left Eye navigated the crest and trough with a resilience that belied her ethereal frame. Her exploits became Myreadingmanga for the hungry press—tales laced with the wild ink of scandal and scrutiny. Yet, even when her antics bordered the surreal, her authenticity never wavered, for Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes was no ephemeral character; she was painfully, powerfully human.

Art imitates life, and Lopes’s creations were no exception. Each controversy, each encounter with her inner demons, found an outlet in the music that throbbed with the honesty of her experiences. Left Eye didn’t just face the fire; she danced in its embers, emerging not unscathed but undeniably ablaze with the compelling artistry that defined her.

‘Left Eye’ Unveiled: The Artistry and Impact of Lisa Lopes

In the annals of music, Left Eye’s name is carved with the meticulous care of a master craftsman, her influence resonating with the same intensity as the rhythmic cadences she was known for. The artistry of Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes was a heady cocktail of raw lyrical prowess, unapologetic individualism, and an insatiable desire for creative control—a veritable Faherty brand of musical innovation. Her verses pulsed with the rhythm of a heart that beat in time to a unique drum, defiantly off-center from the mainstream.

In the catacombs of TLC’s discography, Left Eye’s solo projects flicker like hidden gems, revealing the depth and breadth of her talent. Her verses defied the traditional, instead carving out a space that was at once playful and profound. Her advocacy for artistic independence within the group echoed the ethos of vacation cast , changing the narrative and reshaping the creative landscape.

From the sun-drenched grit of her early hits to the contemplative cadences of her latter work, Left Eye’s impact rippled through the music scene, affecting contemporaries and kindling the spirits of fledgling artists. Her flair for the eclectic — as unpredictable as an Olukai Sandals print — left an indelible mark on the music industry, inspiring the fearless in a legion of successors.

Advocacy and Activism: The Compassionate Side of Lisa Lopes

Beyond the beats and bravado, Left Eye harbored a heart woven with compassion, her humanitarian chord resonating in synchrony with her musical genius. Lisa Lopes’s dedication to advocacy and activism was a testament to the left eye that looked not only with vision but with profound insight.

In the realms where fame’s footprint pales before service, Left Eye walked with determined strides. Her philanthropic efforts resonated like a symphony in a silent hall, touching lives with the same intensity her music touched souls. Committed to causes with the fervor of the That’s So Raven cast ‘s dedication to their roles, her legacy in this realm beats with a rhythm as enduring as her art.

Her outreach extended to the farthest corners of need, echoing the unwritten stories that beckoned from the shadows. Lopes sought solace in the bastions of poverty and misfortune, intent on using her platform, not as a pedestal but as a bridge to span the chasms of disparity. Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes was not just a singer or a rapper; she was an emissary of change, an advocate attired in the garments of celebrity with the soul of a philanthropist.

The Tragic Silence: The Loss of Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes

In the cruel tango of fate and destiny, the music industry was struck dumb on the day the light of Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes was snuffed out in an accident as abrupt as it was tragic. The world stood suspended, time’s relentless march paused in the depths of disbelief, as the news rippled through the ether like a siren’s final lament.

In the wake of her passing, the silence was profound, marked by the collective grief that coursed through the veins of fans, peers, and admirers. It was a silence laden with the magnitude of loss, an absence as palpable as the presence of the beloved star had once been. Fellow artists, like a Tiffany Trump wedding , were united in sorrow, reflecting a fraternity transcending rivalry and competition. Lopes’s legacy was crystallized not just in her music but in the vacuum her departure left—a cavity echoing with what could have been.

TLC, now a duo, refused to sully Lopes’s memory by seeking a replacement. Instead, they forged ahead with the spirit of Left Eye as an eternal member, releasing their eponymous fifth album ‘TLC’ in 2017, a tribute to a sister lost but never replaced.

Legacy Eternal: Remembering Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes’s Influence

Though the rhythm of Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes’s physical presence has quieted, the reverberations of her influence echo with unfading intensity. Her legacy endures, a phoenix rising from the ashes of her tragic departure to inspire artists and aficionados alike.

Posthumous releases and heartfelt tributes continue to stoke the embers of her spirit, ensuring that the fire Left Eye ignited in the hearts of her listeners burns eternal. Her unorthodox approach to art and life remains as a north star for those navigating the tempestuous seas of the music industry.

A Light That Never Goes Out: Celebrating the Life of Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes

In the grand tapestry of music and memory, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes stands as a beacon of ingenuity, resilience, and impact. Her life, though marked by crests and troughs, was a masterpiece painted in bold, unabashed strokes—a canvas that refuses to fade into the backdrop of the past.

Today, as we celebrate the indelible mark Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes left on this world, we recognize that her melody still weaves through the fabric of our reality. Her creative spirit, juxtaposed with an irresistible vivacity, continues to resonate, a legacy immortalized not just in the notes of songs but in the very ethos of artistry.

In this twisted, beautiful world of music and mayhem, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes remains a light that never goes out, her life a symphony of the highest octave—a melody that pulses with the vivacity of a soul unbound and a legacy eternally enshrined in the halls of musical Valhalla.

The Inimitable Force: Lisa Lopes

A dash of stardom, a sprinkle of wisdom.

Boy, oh boy, where do we start with Lisa Lopes? Firmly etched in the annals of music history, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was the rap genius of TLC, a group that redefined the R&B genre in the ’90s. Picture it: the smash hits, the outlandish outfits, and those unforgettable rhymes—all these ingredients cooked up one zesty cultural stew.

Did ya know, before her untimely passing, Lisa put a creative mark on another project? One that stretched beyond her incredible music career? Yeah, you heard it right. She dabbled in a little acting, sharing screen space with the “That’s So Raven” cast. Raven-Symoné and the gang on set must have had a total blast with Lisa Lopes bringing her magic to their world.

The Road Less Traveled

Ah, Lisa Lopes, a true maverick, always on the lookout for the road less traveled. Her music—man, it was more than just tunes to vibe to. Each verse was packed with raw emotion, every hook a call to stand up for yourself. And when she wasn’t setting the charts on fire, she was channeling her fiery spirit into personal growth and seeking spiritual enlightenment. Quite the renaissance woman, wasn’t she?

Legacy Wrapped in Lyrics

And let’s not get it twisted, her legacy? It’s like a treasure chest overflowing with sparkling jewels of wisdom and beats. Each song left an indelible mark on the listeners’ hearts and minds. You could say Lisa Lopes was a wordsmith, a street poet whose lyrics danced between edgy and deeply personal.

So, let’s raise our glasses to a supernova of talent—Lisa Lopes, whose light continues to shine brightly on the path left behind. She might have left the stage too soon, but her beats? They’re immortal, still making waves, still inspiring the dreamers. Long live TLC, and long live Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes!

Why was Lisa left eye called that?

Why was Lisa left eye called that? Well, folks, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes snagged her nickname for a pretty quirky reason: she’d often rock a pair of glasses with a condom in place of the left lens to promote safe sex. That’s right, eyewear with a message! Plus, rumor has it that a guy once told her she had beautiful eyes, with the left one grabbing his attention – hence, “Left Eye.”

What happened to TLC after Lisa died?

What happened to TLC after Lisa died? Shoot, after Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes passed away, TLC was rockin’ a hard place. T-Boz and Chilli, the remaining members, were gutted, obviously. But eventually, they picked up the pieces and kept the TLC legacy alive. They hustled, releasing new albums and hitting the stage, all while keeping Lisa’s spirit front and center.

How old was Lisa Nicole Lopes when she died?

How old was Lisa Nicole Lopes when she died? Tragically, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was just 30 years old when she left us way too soon. Taken in the prime of her life, she had so much more to give both on and off the stage.

What was Lisa left eye buried in?

What was Lisa left eye buried in? Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was laid to rest with love and respect. The details about her final outfit aren’t the stuff everyone’s chattering about, but you can bet she was sent off in style that matched her vibrant life and soul.

How long did Lisa left eye go to jail?

How long did Lisa left eye go to jail? Okay, so Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes had a five-year suspended sentence hanging over her head after a tragic accident, but she only spent a few days behind bars. A far cry from a long stretch, but enough to give anyone a reality check.

Did Lisa left eye have children?

Did Lisa left eye have children? Nope, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes didn’t have any kiddos of her own, but she sure did spread her love and care to so many during her too-short life.

What will happen to Lisa twins?

What will happen to Lisa twins? Ah, tricky question there! While Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes didn’t have any kids, if you’re spinning yarns about hypothetical little ones, I’d say they’d be well looked after. TLC’s still got a massive fan base, and Left Eye’s fans are like one big family.

Why was TLC broke?

Why was TLC broke? Man, oh man, TLC’s finances were a hot mess! Despite churning out hit after hit, the contract they signed was a real doozy — lots of records sold but not enough dough rolling in. They famously filed for bankruptcy in 1995, pointing fingers at crummy record deals and mismanagement for their money woes.

Did TLC ever get paid?

Did TLC ever get paid? So, after TLC hollered loud and clear about their financial fiasco, things took a turn. They renegotiated their contract, pushed back against the powers that be, and finally started seeing some proper green for their bangin’ tunes.

Who is Left Eye daughter?

Who is Left Eye daughter? Hold up, ’cause we’ve been down this road: Left Eye didn’t have any children of her own. But she sure did have a lot of young fans who thought of her as a cool auntie or big sis, right?

Which TLC members are still alive?

Which TLC members are still alive? T-Boz and Chilli are still kickin’ it, keeping the TLC dream alive and touring the globe. They’re carrying the torch and making sure Left Eye’s legacy is nothing but alive and well in every beat.

What are some fun facts about Lisa Lopes?

What are some fun facts about Lisa Lopes? Well, strap in, ’cause Left Eye was a whirlwind of facts and fun! From her fierce rapping skills to her fearless fashion sense, Lisa was into energy healing and even ran a children’s non-profit. She was a square peg in a round hole, always standing out in the best way.

Who did Lisa left eye married?

Who did Lisa left eye married? Whoa, pump the brakes—Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes never officially tied the knot. She had a couple of high-profile romances, but she never walked down the aisle.

Was Lisa cremated or buried?

Was Lisa cremated or buried? Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was given a traditional burial, surrounded by family, friends, and a sea of fans all paying their respects to an undeniable legend gone too soon.

How tall was Lisa left eye?

How tall was Lisa left eye? Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes stood at around 5 feet 1 inch tall — not exactly towering, right? But let me tell ya, she had enough sass and spirit to make herself a giant in the world of music.

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• December 16, 2023
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Behind the Mysterious Death of TLC’s Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes

by Cillea Houghton May 2, 2023, 1:00 pm

The death of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes is as sad as it is mysterious. 

Videos by American Songwriter

Lopes rose to fame as one-third of the R&B group TLC, alongside bandmates Tionne Watkins and Rozonda Thomas, who dominated the late 1990s and early 2000s R&B scene with hits including “Waterfalls,” “No Scrubs” and “Creep.” The group was riding high on their success when Lopes’ life was tragically cut short on April 25, 2002, when she died in a car accident in Honduras at the age of 30. It was no coincidence that she was there, as People reported in 2002 that Lopes was drawn to do mission work in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch devastated the country in 1998. 

Lopes and some friends were on a 30-day spiritual retreat in Honduras, an experience she was documenting with a handheld camera. The footage was later used for the 2007 VH1 documentary, Last Days of Left Eye . But there is an air of bone-chilling mystery around her death, as merely days before, tragedy struck when the vehicle she was a passenger in that was being driven by her assistant, Stephanie Patterson, accidentally hit a boy named Bayron Isaul Fuentes Lopez when he stepped into the road.

According to People , Lopes’ attorney in Honduras said at the time that the incident was not reported to the police and that Lopes personally paid more than $3,000 dollars for the boy’s medical and funeral costs. Philadelphia Weekly also stated that Lopes held the boy’s injured head while others tried to resuscitate him via mouth-to-mouth, but to no avail.

“They assumed responsibility,” the lawyer said. “The family did not want to give Stephanie a hassle.” “Why should we have called the police?” Lopez’s mother Gloria Fuentes said to People . “Lisa was an excellent person, the way she treated me and took care of my son.”

In Last Days of Left Eye, Lopes says that it felt like a spirit was haunting her and noticed the fact that she and the young boy shared similar last names. The singer’s life soon came to a tragic halt when she was operating an SUV in the town of La Ceiba, Honduras, and swerved to avoid an oncoming car, losing control of the vehicle as it hit two trees and rolled several times before coming to a stop in a ditch. Lopes was one of three people who was thrown out of the window, dying on impact from blunt force trauma to the head. The other passengers endured injuries, but Lopes was the only one killed in the crash. The disturbing moment can be seen at the end of Last Days, as Lopes can be seen driving with passengers in the backseat, the sound of their screams the last thing the viewer hears as the vehicle runs off the road and the camera cuts out.

Lopes was working on establishing a pair of educational centers in the impoverished country for children, Camp YAC and Creative Castle, at the time of her death. To honor her memory, Lopes’ family founded the Lisa Lopes Foundation after her death to help underprivileged youth.

“She used to say, ‘Energy doesn’t die, it just transfers,’” her brother Ronald Jr. Lopes recalled. 

Photo by Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

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A brief history of TLC's Lisa ''Left Eye'' Lopes

A brief history of TLC's Lisa ''Left Eye'' Lopes -- The late diva had recently gained an inner peace

by Clarissa Cruz and Tom Sinclair

On the last TLC tour in 1999, Lisa ”Left Eye” Lopes would begin her solo spot in each show by reciting definitions of crazy: ”Unsound of mind, mentally unbalanced, deranged…” Then she would perform a magic act involving nitroglycerin and fire. It was fitting. As the ”crazy” component of the ”CrazySexyCool” triumvirate, Lopes often engaged in combustible behavior — sometimes singeing groupmates Rozonda ”Chilli” Thomas, 31, and Tionne ”T-Boz” Watkins, 32. Now, sadly, Lopes is gone. The tragically unpretty end came April 25 on a country road outside the Honduran town of Jutiapa, where the rambunctious 30-year-old rapper-singer was taking a break from recording the trio’s fourth album. Authorities say Lopes was at the wheel when she lost control of her rented Mitsubishi Montero SUV, which tumbled into a ravine, killing her within minutes.

Miraculously, eight other passengers escaped severe injury — including Lopes’ sister Raina, 28, and the R&B quartet Egypt, which Lopes was producing. Her body was flown to her adopted hometown of Atlanta, where a May 2 funeral was scheduled. (Weeks before, on April 6, Lopes had been in a van when her assistant, Stephanie Patterson, struck and killed a 10-year-old Honduran boy who stepped in front of them on a rural highway; the boy’s family declined to press charges.)

Whatever acrimony might have existed in TLC has been lost with Lopes. ”She was our sister,” Thomas told CNN April 26. ”And no matter what we all went through, we are sisters. Sisters argue and they kiss and make up.” She and Watkins vow they won’t seek a substitute. ”You can never replace a TLC girl,” Thomas added in a statement. The group had completed four or five tracks for the new CD, which had been slated for a fall release. ”We will definitely come out with this record, and it will be a tribute to Lisa and is totally dedicated to her,” said Thomas. (Arista declined to comment on the disc’s status.)

At the time of her death, Lopes’ plate was certainly full. In addition to the TLC album, she had been working on a book, ”Open,” a clothing line, and a solo CD for Marion ”Suge” Knight’s Tha Row label under the pseudonym N.I.N.A., signifying ”New Identity Non-Applicable.” (Though his former label Death Row issued several posthumous Tupac Shakur discs, Knight said in a statement he would hold off on releasing any Lopes solo tracks because ”it is a sad thing to turn tragedy into treasure.”)

Life had not always been easy for Lopes, who adopted the nickname ”Left Eye” in her teens after being told that orb was more distinctive. Born in Philadelphia, the oldest of three, she used music to escape a home dominated by an alcoholic father, Ronald, a musician who died in 1991. (Mom Wanda Lopes-Coleman, 50, now lives in Stone Mountain, Ga.) After moving to Atlanta at 17, Left Eye met Watkins at a 1991 open audition for an R&B girl group. Soon, Perri ”Pebbles” Reid, then wife of LaFace co-owner L.A. Reid, became their manager and added Thomas to the lineup. The trio’s 1992 debut, ”Ooooooohhh…on the TLC Tip,” got some notice. But 1994’s ”CrazySexyCool” — with the hit singles ”Waterfalls” and ”Creep” — won a Grammy for Best R&B Album and cemented their divadom. In 1995, TLC filed for bankruptcy and a legal imbroglio ensued, resulting in a more favorable contract with LaFace.

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Remembering lisa ‘left eye’ lopes 10 years after her death: 5 iconic moments (video).

The singer-rapper hit it big with TLC, whose big hits included "Waterfalls" and "No Scrubs." THR looks back at her career on the 10th anniversary of her death in a Honduras car crash.

By Erik Pedersen

Erik Pedersen

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TLC Group Grammy - H 2011

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes , who had four No. 1 hits with the Grammy-winning ’90s girl group TLC, died 10 years ago today when the car she was driving went off the road in Honduras and crashed. She had been filming a documentary that VH1 eventually aired as The Last Days of Left Eye .

THR takes a look at the life and career of the singer-rapper who earned her nickname for her habit of wearing eye black below her left eye or a wrapped condom as one of the “lenses” of a pair of glasses. Meanwhile, TMZ reported Wednesday that the surviving members of TLC, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas , are planning a reunion tour using archival footage of Lopes.

1. “Baby-Baby-Baby,” TLC

After hitting the top 10 with their debut single “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” in spring 1992, the female trio solidified their status as a new force in pop with the single written by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds , Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Daryl Simmons . The song spent six consecutive weeks at No. 2, but it was unable to dethrone one of the biggest hits in pop history, Boyz II Men’s “End of the Road.”

2. Arson charges

Lopes had been dating All-Pro wide receiver Andre Rison of the Atlanta Falcons for months. After he came home from a long night of partying in June 1994, she burned down his million-dollar suburban Atlanta mansion by setting fire to cardboard in an empty Jacuzzi. Police said she also slapped Rison and smashed two of his cars. She pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a halfway house, five years’ probation and a $10,000 fine. The incident gave her a certain notoriety and made her tabloid fodder.

3. “Waterfalls,” TLC

The Atlanta-based group’s biggest hit, it spent seven weeks at the summit in 1995 and sold more than 1 million units. Following the hit singles “Creep,” which spent a month at No. 1, and “Red Light Special,” which peaked at No. 2, the song helped make CrazySexyCool one of the biggest albums of the ’90s, with U.S. sales of more than 10 million.

4. “No Scrubs,” TLC

After a contentious four years between albums, during which Lopes publicly feuded with her bandmates, the group topped the singles chart again with the 1999 song about “a guy who thinks he’s fly … hanging out the passenger side of his best friend’s ride trying to holler at me.” MTV played the Hype Williams -directed video incessantly, and it won the Video Music Award for best group video.

5. “The Block Party,” Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes

Lopes made only one solo album, 2001’s Supernova , which wasn’t released in the U.S. The single off that LP made the top 20 in the U.K. but failed to chart stateside. She was working on a second solo disc before the accident that took her life at age 30.

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Energy never dies: We look at the legacy of Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes

6 rappers to watch in 2019, this year marks the 20th anniversary of tlc’s fanmail, the final album released with lopes. today, she would be 48 years old., jesswar isn't censoring herself for anyone.

I don't care what happens or what people think about death, it doesn't matter. Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes to MTV, 2002

The ‘crazy’ in CrazySexyCool.

The iconoclastic rapper was possessed by a thirst for the truth. this electrified tlc but also almost brought them to a breaking point., the evolution of the rap archetype, a guide to the mpc1000, the vintage sampler that could.

• Lifestyle , Music , Stars , Streaming
• March 8, 2024

Lisa Lopes: The Unforgettable Left Eye

Remembering lisa lopes and her legacy with tlc.

Born in Philadelphia to a family of musicians, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was a remarkable force in music, especially known for her work with the iconic girl group TLC. A whirlwind of talent, she infused the band with her spirited dynamism, ensuring their place in the pantheon of R&B, hip-hop, and pop legends. But Lisa Lopes was more than an artist; she was a cultural shifter whose boldness on the microphone and in life left an indelible mark on her fans. TLC’s tapestry of sounds, styles, and social commentary owes much to Left Eye’s vision and verve, drawing lines of influence that have only grown bolder since her untimely departure.

The unforgettable Left Eye TLC connection birthed anthems that climbed the charts and lived on the lips of a generation. Lopes’s intricate wordplay and kinetic energy were like a siren’s call, impossible to ignore and continually beckoning for deeper attention. Lisa Left Eye Lopes was not just another thread in the group; she was the needle that pulled everything together, weaving a narrative that was compelling, confrontational, and caring in equal measures.

With TLC’s induction into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022, the legacy of Lopes continues to reign supreme, as both an irreplaceable part of the trio and a standout cultural figure whose left eye not only captivated Michael Bivins but also gazes perpetually from the tapestry of music history.

Lisa Left Eye Lopes: The Fire Behind the Flamboyance

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was never one to conform. Her fiery persona and creative intellect brought an undeniable heat to TLC’s music. Her rhymes, packed with insight and a delightful defiance, coaxed open the hearts and minds of a culture hungry for authenticity. We’ll delve into the essence of her artistry:

• Her rap verses , sitting comfortably between the confessional and the confrontational, were part of the group’s signature sound and message.
• Lopes’s creative flair breathed life into theatrical music videos, where her flamboyance was matched only by her fierce individualism.
• Off stage, her impact was equally palpable, with candid interviews and actions that spoke just as loud as her lyrics.

Lopes’ creative process was complex; carving out time for self-reflection and writing, she transfused her life experiences into every line delivered. Those contributions ignited TLC’s presence, propelling the group to international acclaim while holding a mirror to society’s inconsistencies, especially around the lives of women of color.

Left Eye & TLC: A Symbiosis of Styles and Successes

The union of Left Eye , T-Boz, and Chilli within TLC was an alchemical reaction that changed the R&B scene forever. Diving into the group:

• We witness a symbiosis of style where Lopes’s spitfire rap tangos with T-Boz’s sultry contralto and Chilli’s velveteen vocals.
• Their success story belies the internal struggles and growth each member faced, leading to a raw and real connection with their audience.
• The cooperation and occasional creative clash among the members helped drive the group forward, crafting a legacy more robust than their individual parts could have fashioned alone.

Together they were unstoppable, each album and hit single serving as a rung on their ladder to the stars—an ascent where Left Eye’s unique perspective was the fuel that kept their fires burning brightly.

P Diddy, Tupac, and Left Eye’s Rolodex of Collaborators

Lisa Lopes was a creative chameleon, effortlessly collaborating with industry giants like P Diddy and Tupac Shakur . Her interactions with such icons encapsulate her musical versatility:

• Lopes and P Diddy’s partnership melded her edgy lyricism with his polished production to create hypnotic hits.
• Her encounter with Tupac at a fledgling stage of their careers sparked a deep platonic friendship, and they spent much time together, inspiring each other creatively.
• Encounters with artists such as Alexander Dillon demonstrated Lopes’s desire to keep exploring new artistic avenues, ensuring she was always at the vanguard of the scene.

Each collaboration acted like a crucible, within which Lopes honed her craft and redefined what it meant to be an artist in the ’90s.

Unveiling the Complexity of Lisa Lopes

To fully understand Lisa Lopes , one must traverse the labyrinth of her life, beyond the effervescent “Left Eye” facade:

• Lopes was deeply invested in philanthropy , spending considerable energy and resources uplifting others, much like her musical contributions uplifted fans.
• Her spiritual quests , underpinned by an earnest exploration of self and purpose, revealed a side to Lopes that was reflective and philosophically profound.
• Despite basking in the limelight, Lopes grappled with the taxing demands of fame and the music industry, exposing a vulnerable human behind the superstar.

Unraveling Lopes’s layers means recognizing complexity within the artist, acknowledging both her sparkling highs and her shadowed lows.

Left Eye TLC: The Cultural and Musical Revolution

Lisa Lopes and TLC were at the vanguard of a musical and cultural revolution in the ’90s:

• Their music redefined norms , blending genres and breaking barriers with a sound that was distinctly their own—and distinctively inclusive.
• The trio’s bold fashion sense and unapologetic demeanor opened up new dialogues about female empowerment and self-expression.
• Their commitment to addressing social issues, whether through their lyrics or activism, positioned them as bellwethers of change.

This cultural footprint created a template for future artists, a mold that many still strive to fit or break.

The Spark That Lives On: Lisa Lopes’s Everlasting Impression

The world may have lost Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in 2002, yet her spark has proven eternal:

• Her innovative spirit resounds within the Fnaf animatronics of modern music and performance, infectious and enigmatic as ever.
• A new generation of artists continues to draw from her legacy, finding inspiration in Lopes’s brazen confidence and musical genius.
• TLC’s work , vibrant and alive, remains a cornerstone on which many current R&B and hip-hop artists build their sound and message.

Lisa Lopes lives on, then, not just in memory or in the myriad Mario Bros Characters that entertain us but also in the real, pulsating heart of the music industry.

Conclusion: The Indelible Mark of Lisa Lopes

In the vast canvas of music history, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes stands out, her life a vibrant mosaic that continuously attracts new admirers. As an artist and a human, her influence is strong as ever, resonating with those who discover TLC for the first time or those who have never stopped listening. Remembering Lisa Lopes is more than an act of nostalgia; it’s a testament to the enduring power of art to touch lives, to change them, and to remember the echoes of a voice that once declared, with defiant beauty, that it was proud, strong, and utterly unique.

In the world of R&B and hip-hop, Lisa Lopes will forever be remembered not just for the paths she walked but for the trails she blazed—a truly unforgettable Left Eye.

Lisa Lopes: The Lightning Behind Left Eye

Lisa Lopes, better known as “Left Eye”, was the kind of artist you couldn’t overlook. With her talent, she made sure that ‘lisa lopes’ wasn’t just a name – it was a force to be reckoned with in the music industry. If you thought you knew everything about this unforgettable member of TLC, buckle up because we’re about to dive into some trivia that might just knock your socks off!

The Role That Never Was

Alright, let’s kick off with a little-known tidbit that’ll have you saying, “No way!” Did you know ‘lisa lopes’ was once considered for a role in a movie alongside Dania Ramirez ? Yup, the stars almost aligned for these two talents to blaze across the screen together. Imagine the fierce energy ‘lisa lopes’ would’ve brought to the set – it’s like picturing a collaboration that could’ve shaken the pillars of Hollywood. For a glimpse into what could have been a dynamic duo, check out the talent of Dania Ramirez .

Age Is Just a Number

Now, here’s a fun comparison. ‘Lisa lopes,’ born in 1971, would’ve been quite the contemporary to Tom Cruise. If we look at the Tom Cruise age timeline, you can’t help but wonder if their paths would have ever crossed in different circumstances. We remember ‘lisa lopes’ for her youthful vibrancy, but it’s intriguing to think that she shared the era with Tom, isn’t it?

Survivor Before Survivor Was a Thing

Have a guess – what does ‘lisa lopes’ have in common with the season 1 Survivor cast ? Well, let me tell ya – she was surviving way before it became a reality TV sensation!Lisa lopes’ was forging her own path through the jungles of the music world, outwitting, outplaying, and outlasting many contemporaries. She proved that a fiercely independent spirit could be as gripping as any island adventure.

Financial Upheaval, An Unexpected Connection

Now, here’s an odd connection you didn’t see coming. ‘Lisa lopes’ and Ruth Madoff might seem miles apart in terms of their life stories, but both faced financial trials, albeit differently. While we can’t imagine ‘lisa lopes’ getting caught up in anything like what Ruth Madoff ( experienced, financial turmoil is a tune many can sadly sing along to, no matter the role you play.

Beachside Memories

Oh, if only beach bag s could talk! Imagine the stories ‘lisa lopes” beach bag( could spill. From sun-soaked trips that helped her unwind and get inspired, it’s endearing to contemplate the private moments of fun in the sun she cherished, simply by thinking about the items she might have carried in her beachside companion.

Yachting with Left Eye

Okay, alright, let’s get a bit imaginative here. If ‘lisa lopes’ were to step aboard the yacht in Below Deck mediterranean season 8 , you better believe she would have been the life of the party!Lisa lopes’ exuded the kind of charisma and carefree spirit that would have had everyone on board dancing to her rhythm. Now wouldn’t that have been a sight for sore eyes?

Welp, there you have it, folks – some fascinating slices of life from ‘lisa lopes’ that paint a colorful portrait of who she was beyond the spotlight. She wasn’t just an extraordinary artist; she was a multi-faceted human being living a life that was truly her own. Remember, we’ve only skimmed the surface – like any great story, there’s always more than meets the eye.

Why is Lisa left eye called left eye?

Why is Lisa “Left Eye” called “Left Eye”? Well, here’s the scoop! Lisa Lopes snagged the nickname “Left Eye” after a charmed compliment from a buddy – rumored to be none other than New Edition’s Michael Bivins. He was all heart-eyes over her left peeper, which was uniquely more slanted than the right. Talk about a quirky way to get a moniker, huh?

What happened to TLC after Lisa died?

What happened to TLC after Lisa died? Oh boy, it was tough. Following Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes’s tragic passing in 2002, the gals of TLC decided not to replace their irreplaceable bandmate. Instead, T-Boz and Chilli powered on as a duo, drop-kicking sadness to keep the beats alive. And, hey, they even whipped out their self-titled fifth album in 2017 and got a shiny spot on the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame in 2022.

Did Tupac date Lisa Lopes?

Did Tupac date Lisa Lopes? Nah, Tupac and Left Eye were tight, like peas in a pod after bumping into each other at a 1991 industry shindig. The TLC spitfire was all about Tupac’s charm, but they decided to keep things friendly. Just goes to show, not all Hollywood meet-cutes end in romance!

Was left eye latina?

Was “Left Eye” Latina? Ah, the old mix-up! Despite landing her final curtain call in Honduras and sporting the last name Lopes, Left Eye wasn’t Latina. She hailed from Cape Verdean roots with a dash of Portuguese heritage, reminding us why it’s a small world after all.

Who did Lisa left eye marry?

Who did Lisa “Left Eye” marry? Tie the knot? Nope, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was all about living life unplugged and never marched down the aisle to wedding bells.

Which TLC members are still alive?

Which TLC members are still alive? T-Boz and Chilli are still rocking it, keeping the TLC legacy alive and kicking with their dynamic duo routine.

Did Lisa left eye Lopes have a daughter?

Did Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes have a daughter? No munchkins for Left Eye. She never had any children of her own, but she sure did leave a legacy behind.

What will happen to Lisa twins?

What will happen to Lisa’s twins? Hold up, twins? That’s a bit of misinformation. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes didn’t have twins—or any kids for that matter. Any chat about heirs is just tall tales.

Why did TLC go broke?

Why did TLC go broke? Tough pill to swallow, but TLC hit bankruptcy back in the ’90s, despite their killer hits. A classic tale of lousy record deals, and more expenses than a shopping spree on Rodeo Drive left them high and dry—even after selling millions of albums.

Who did Tupac marry?

Who did Tupac marry? Ah, Tupac Shakur. He took the plunge with his girlfriend, Keisha Morris, in 1995. But alas, like many celeb love stories, it ended in annulment just a year later.

Who did Tupac get married to?

Who did Tupac get married to? The quickie love saga goes like this: Tupac tied the knot with Keisha Morris, but their marriage was short-lived, like a candle in the wind.

Who is Tupac ex wife?

Who is Tupac’s ex-wife? Roll out the red carpet for Keisha Morris, the lady who snagged Tupac’s heart long enough to say “I do,” before the plot twist of their annulment.

Did Left Eye have a sister?

Did Left Eye have a sister? Yes indeed! Left Eye was part of a sibling squad, but as for exact details, it seems her family tree isn’t hogging the spotlight.

Who is Left Eye son?

Who is Left Eye’s son? Whoa, hold your horses! There wasn’t a mini Left Eye running around. She didn’t have any kids of her own.

What tattoos did Left Eye have?

What tattoos did Left Eye have? Ah, the ink! Left Eye wasn’t shy about tattoos, with a couple of memorable ones. But without a photobook on hand, we’ll leave that to the memory lane of fan snapshots and music video reels.

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What Happened to Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes? Revisiting Her Death 21 Years Later Alongside New Doc

Published on 6/2/2023 at 6:40 PM

TLC is one of the greatest girl groups in history. The Atlanta-based trio, made up of Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, rose to stardom during the 1990s after releasing their platinum debut single, "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg," which received a 1993 Grammy nomination for best R&B song. Following their initial success, TLC sent nine of their singles to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart — four of which went No. 1: "Creep," "Waterfalls," "No Scrubs," and "Unpretty."

Now, more than three decades since the group first made their mark, Watkins and Thomas are looking back at their prolific careers with the release of their new Lifetime documentary, "TLC Forever," which premieres on June 3. According to the documentary's official description , "TLC Forever" will not only touch on the group's historic success but their biggest downfalls as well, including "internal fallouts, external attacks, bankruptcy, and illness," which threatened to tear the trio apart. The duo will also open up about Lopes's death in 2002.

Learn more about what happened to Lopes ahead.

How Did Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes Die?

On April 25, 2002, Lopes died in a car accident just weeks before her 31st birthday on May 27. According to The New York Times , the accident took place while Lopes was filming a documentary in Honduras. The singer was driving a Mitsubishi Montero SUV and traveling from La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula when she lost control, per MTV News . The outlet also reported that, according to authorities in Jutiapa, Lopes was not licensed to drive internationally and was apparently speeding when she lost control. The car crashed in Roma.

"The police said it veered off the road and turned over several times," The New York Times reported at the time. While Lopes died at the scene, the vehicle's seven other passengers, which included Lopes's sister, Raina, and brother, Ronald, survived.

Notably, the incident happened just three weeks after Lopes was involved in another fatal crash that took the life of a Honduran boy named Bayron Isaul Fuentes Lopez. Lopes's assistant, Stephanie Patterson, was behind the wheel when the vehicle struck the child. Following the accident, Lopes reportedly paid for the boy's hospital and funeral expenses, per Entertainment Weekly .

What Happened to TLC After Lisa Lopes's Death?

After Lopes's death, Watkins and Thomas released a statement ( via People ), saying, "We had all grown up together and were as close as a family. Today we have truly lost our sister."

Despite the fact the pair were hurting, they felt compelled to finish the group's fourth album, "3D," which they dropped six months after the accident in October. "We wanted to finish what the three of us had started as best as we could under that type of pressure and pain," Thomas told USA Today (via Biography ) about their decision to get back in the recording studio.

Watkins and Thomas then continued as a duo and even released a fifth album, titled "TLC," in June 2017. Today, the pair are still active as TLC and currently performing on their " Hot Summer Nights " tour, which kicked off with Shaggy on June 1.

• Celebrity Deaths

The Tragic Death Of Lisa Lopes

When any performer is cut down in the prime of life and at the height of their fame, it forever leaves a void, prompting fans to always wonder what could have been. That was the case with the 2002 death of rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of Grammy-winning and chart-topping group TLC. Lopes has been gone nearly 20 years but is still the subject of both fan speculation around her death and deep nostalgia for the music she and TLC made. 

When Lopes died at age 30 on a rural road in Honduras, R&B fans were in disbelief. This was a woman full of life. Lopes was known for being vibrant, opinionated, socially-conscious, and talented. Per Rolling Stone , she was also notorious for struggles with alcoholism, spats with her bandmates, and most famously, burning down the home of her then-boyfriend, NFL player Andre Rison in 1994. Tragically, things seemed to be coming together for Lopes before her death, spending her final days in Honduras, a place she often went when she needed to spiritually reconnect. This trip, however, would be marred by two fatal accidents.

Two tragedies, weeks apart

Honduras was a safe haven for Lisa Lopes , who'd endured a turbulent and abusive upbringing in Philadelphia before she found fame with TLC. She owned a condo in the Central American country and often visited a healing center there that would leave Lopes "spiritually cleansed," her publicist told Billboard . 

On April 6, Lopes was a passenger in a van being driven by her assistant when a 10-year-old boy stepped out of a traffic median and onto the road, where he was struck and killed by the van. According to reporting by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer following Lopes' death, the boy's family didn't press charges because his death was viewed as an unfortunate accident. Nevertheless, Lopes paid for the child's medical care and funeral. In Last Days of Left Eye , a VH1 documentary that aired in 2007, Lopes is seen holding the boy's shoes and sharing that she didn't think she would ever get over his death.

The accident that took the life of Lisa Lopes

About three weeks after the boy's death, Lopes was driving on a highway in Honduras in an SUV carrying a total of nine passengers. While some facts about the accident remain unclear, what is known, according to Biography , is that Lopes may have been speeding just prior to the accident. Reportedly, a car stopped ahead of her and Lopes swerved to avoid it, causing the SUV to strike trees and flip several times. Lopes died at the scene and was the accident's only fatality. Incredibly, just as had been the case in the aftermath of the Honduran boy's death weeks before, Lopes was being filmed, capturing the final terrifying seconds before the crash. 

With such a public death — especially one documented on video — some fans began to speculate that Lopes' death was not an accident, possibly some kind of retribution, though this has been proven false . The reality was that this talented young woman died accidentally and too young. After her death, TLC never replaced Lisa Lopes in the group's lineup. And despite whatever tensions may have flared between them, TLC's Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins had only love for Lopes. "She was our sister, you know?" Thomas said. "Did I get mad at her? Yes. But did I love her less? No."

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Innocence And Experience: Lisa Left Eye Lopes' Supernova Turns 20 Angus Batey , August 9th, 2021 07:05

It was supposed to be the moment where the most misunderstood woman in pop got to explain herself and empower her audience: but the release was cancelled and within months she was dead. Angus Batey revisits Lisa Lopes's debut and rediscovers a forgotten treasure

August 16, 2001, was supposed to be a big day for Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. She'd settled upon it as the release date for her first solo LP for reasons that went beyond the commercial and scheduling considerations most artists have to juggle. It was the anniversary of her grandfather's death, and would have been her father's birthday, had he not been killed ten years earlier. To say the 30-year-old Atlanta-based artist had a complex relationship with her drill-sergeant dad would be putting it mildly, but she chose to close the LP with a song constructed as an open letter to him, and which found her clearly articulating her belief – apparently fused from equal parts science, tradition and wishful thinking – that energy is never lost to the universe, and that when someone dies, a new star is born.

If all you knew about Lopes was what was contained on Supernova , you'd be staggered at the breadth of her talent, the scale of her ambition, the depth of her apparently boundless empathy. But there was no way you'd have lit upon the record without knowing anything about her, which was at once the biggest advantage she should have had, and a burden no collection of songs could reasonably be expected to bear. A string of huge hits as part of the pioneering hip hop/soul band TLC – at the time, the biggest-selling all-women band in music history – had built significant and strictly defined expectations for her musically, while a near decade of front-page headlines provided plenty of fuel for lyrics as self-aware and soul-baring as anything pop had seen to that point, but also meant she was as contentious and as widely misunderstood as it was possible for a pop star to be in those early days of the 21st century.

Presumably it was somewhere in the middle of all that – perhaps in anticipation of a record that would dovetail more neatly into TLC's storied discography; possibly with concerns over how some of the passages of explanation and self-justification might come across as unsympathetic – where executives at her career-long label, Arista, got cold feet. August 16 came and went; Supernova failed to appear in US record shops. The LP was released in Europe, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia – testimony to TLC's global reach and acknowledgement that Lisa was a singular, powerful presence in popular culture worldwide: but back at home, the record was shelved.

Confused, hurt, and understandably angry to find that she'd poured herself into a project that those who had profited from her career failed to feel was important enough to even be given a chance in her own marketplace, Lopes retreated. She spent the next few months on reinvention, and signed to Suge Knight's resuscitated Tha Row label as N.I.N.A. – a name Knight apparently coined in reference to a handgun but which Lopes said stood for New Identity Non Applicable, an apparently Prince/symbol-like device to create new music outside the contracts she was still signatory to as part of TLC.

The following April, Lopes and entourage, including the group Ejypt who she was mentoring, decamped for a month to Honduras, where she was in the process of establishing two children's charities. The country had become a home-from-home: well-documented struggles with alcohol had been put behind her, in part thanks to frequent visits to the Usha Herbal Wellness Center, where she practiced meditation, communed with nature, and followed a plant-based detox diet. A few days before the party was due to return to the US, Lopes was at the wheel when her rented Mitsubishi SUV left the road, struck trees, and rolled over twice. Six of the seven people in the vehicle at the time sustained cuts, bruises and a few broken bones: Lopes was killed. It would be facile and sensationalist to suggest that her label's failure to release the solo LP caused Lopes's death: but the decision to shelve Supernova certainly set in train a series of events that culminated in that fatal accident. What is unarguable is that we'll never know what might have been had this exceptional record been given the chance it and its maker so richly deserved.

At 20 years' distance – and from what one always hopes is the present's more enlightened perspective – Arista's reluctance to release Supernova seems inexplicable. Nothing on the record tarnishes TLC's legacy; everything on it speaks to the vast and still largely untapped potential of Lopes' talent. If you're being cynical you can consider it an institutional failure to understand and know how best to channel a determined, headstrong and singular woman – that the system was too readily willing to diagnose her as a diva and paint her idiosyncracies as defects or difficulties. Surely, today, a woman with a story to tell and a singular way of telling it would have been supported and empowered by the corporation she worked with – though of course, as Raye and her fans would point out, such marginalisation can still happen, despite all our claims and expectations to have learned from the mistakes of the past. It is perhaps instructive, if not at all heartening, to note that, in a week that's seen the announcement that most of the back catalogue of her near contemporary in sudden and unexpected death, Aaliyah, will be released onto streaming services worldwide, Supernova remains available only as a secondhand, non-US CD.

On the other hand, if you're willing to cut Arista some slack, you could point to a scattering of less-than-enraptured reviews from global media and argue that they called it right. Maybe Lisa was just too far ahead. As much as it's a relic of a different era – an album from a time when the tabloid media held sway, when public figures didn't have the option to broadcast their developing responses to the dramas they were living through directly to fans via their smartphones – Supernova still feels like it's doing something new. On it, Lopes spends far more time predicting the future of the several genres her music inhabits than she did worrying about the then-current state of the art in any of them. If those critics were disappointed that she wasn't following Missy Elliott or Aaliyah or the Neptunes down what seemed at that point to be the road ahead for rap from the American South, they weren't necessarily wrong: just perhaps lacking a little vision.

Perhaps because she didn't have the kind of instant outlets for commentary that are available today, those non-musical channels for communicating with her audience, Lisa poured herself and her worldview into this hour of songs, knowing this was her best chance of speaking her truth and being heard. (More reason, too, for her to be hurt when that opportunity to speak to fans was denied her.) Certainly, from the very first written lyric onwards, Supernova has a resonance and a relevance that feels timely and contemporary. "Young woman confused, young woman abused," she begins on the summery, borderline euphoric 'Life Is Like A Park', addressing the lyric – perhaps the whole album – to both a specific and significant subset of her audience, and, surely, to herself as well: "You must understand it's never too late to lose who you are/and choose who you are supposed to be/supposed to become." This was the lesson, you sense, she felt as though she was put on Earth to teach, and from that first verse onwards the record always retains a focus on empowerment and uplift that continues to engage and inspire.

Another key theme, subtly expressed but inextricably woven into the album's construction, is what seems to be a prizing of the retention of a child-like gaze – an encouragement to try to pare back the cynicism and world-weariness that adulthood brings and to remember, at least occasionally, to see the world and its wonders in a less guarded, more innocent way. Lopes had adopted two children, and, according to her long-term partner Andre Rison, speaking in a TV documentary broadcast last year (part of the Lifetime channel's mini-series, Hopelessly In Love ), the pair had suffered two miscarriages. Again, we have to suspend the tendency to cynicism: the charities in Honduras were not projects of a superannuated star looking for an image-burnishing way of reducing the tax bill. 'Life Is Like A Park' sets out the stall, Lopes using the term not to refer to an area of land but as a playground, in the way a child, still building a functioning vocabulary, might conflate one with the other. The chorus speaks about seesaws and merry-go-rounds, not boating lakes or woodland walks, and the lyric lasers in on the basics: "Sometimes you may even fall down/and though you may get stuck/you must get back up".

The wide-eyed innocence and open-hearted love for life shines through most powerfully on 'The Block Party', a song that has few equals (perhaps only Lauryn Hill's 'Every Ghetto, Every City' matches it for its ability to capture the power of music to unite a community while hymning the songs that the artist grew up with; though Missy Elliot's 'Back In The Day' and 2Pac's 'Old School' come close) and which still sounds otherworldly and futuristic today. Brilliantly underpinned by a Salaam Remi production based around a daringly minimal, zephyr-light mbira sample from Earth, Wind & Fire's 'Drum Song' and given an unconventional, iconoclastic structure (the chorus is divided into three pieces which never repeat in the same pattern), the song hangs around two verses which paint two related portraits of childhood, friendship, community and music, seen through the eyes of a young woman at either end of her teens. In the first verse, the song's protagonist is excited to play skipping games and drink soda pop while the favourite tunes of the day get an airing at the impromptu party that's just broken out on a neighbourhood corner; in the second, an older teen is just as excited about the block party but this time it's beers, boys and Run DMC that send her giddy.

A chanting children's chorus gives the song a you're-either-with-me-or-against-me defining/dividing quality, but the two most powerful statements arrive alongside that. Each verse reaches the hook via a conversational bridge, two different characters interrogating Lisa each time. After the first verse some children ask what her name is ("Lisa!") and where she's from ("Ninth Street"), before asking "Where you going?" Lopes answers, "To the party", and then the kids ask if they can come along too. After the second, the same conversation takes place between a young man and a now grown-up Lisa, giving the same words a completely different atmosphere. Yet Lopes ends each section with the same wordless "ah-hah" of inclusion, affirmation and shared joy. If the listener can approach the song with the same kind of open-mindedness and spirit of adventure as the characters it portrays, the emotional punch these moments carry can manifest physically. And then, twice in the aftermath – placed different distances from the conversations and the chants – comes Lopes' personal credo; a kind of mic-drop moment in terms of outlining who she is after having pithily summed up where she comes from emotionally and temperamentally. "I'm a big city girl from all over the world/And I do what I wanna do - right foot, left shoe". Universal, experimental, individual - inclusive, warm, joyful. In three minutes, the song does everything anyone could ever want from a piece of pop music, and any artist would surely be proud to have made it.

For the most part, Supernova is content to be a fine turn-of-the-century hip hop LP, Lopes revealing herself as a far more versatile rap stylist and a more nuanced and self-critical lyricist than she was given credit for in the few reviews that the record garnered. The posthumous (though uncredited, at least on the back cover) duet with her close confidante 2Pac, 'Untouchable', underlines certain similarities between elements of each of their approaches: but those who have dismissed her as largely in thrall to his style are surely mistaken.

She worked with other lyricists, and arguably the most personal of all the songs here, 'I Believe In Me', doesn't see her credited as a writer at all. The song is apparently the work of Tracey Horton who, under the name Pudgee Tha Fat Bastard, released an album on the Giant label in 1993, and collaborated with Notorious BIG on the sample-clearance-denied underground anthem 'Think Big'. In 2013, Pudgee told journalist Robbie Ettelson that Lisa had asked him to write her verse for 'Untouchable' almost as a kind of gift: he and Pac had been friends, and she felt this would give him one last chance to spend time with 2Pac in the studio. You sense the absence of her name from the credits to 'I Believe In Me' must similarly have been, at least partially, further evidence of her creative generosity: if he wrote all the lyrics, he can only have done so after extensive conversations with Lopes to figure out exactly what was going on in her head, making this a collaboration no matter who came up with the precise phrasing and who wrote down the final choice of words.

However the workload was divided up, her five collaborations with Pudgee are superb. On 'Untouchable' she matches Pac's tone and flow syllable for syllable while never letting the listener forget who it is who's rapping; 'I Believe In Me' is even better, the writing channelling Lopes's anger and rage but leavening them with knowing self-reflection as she discusses the private truth behind the public image of fissures within the TLC ranks, this time the delivery recalling DMX's bark and bounce. 'Hot!', the second track, is a garrulous battle-rap that finds Lisa calling on the gossip-hounds to quit baying with a piece of wordplay that underlines an implied kinship with Lauryn Hill and, by extension, Aretha Franklin ("drama comes in dozens and I know you love it/but a rose is still a rose so I rose above it"). And Pudgee also gets a credit for 'The Block Party', so may be who we have to thank for passages that showcase Lopes's dextrous double-time flow ("grown folks gettin' busy with the gigolos/drinkin' Michelob/it was 6am before they hit the road").

In the heartbreaking documentary, The Last Days Of Left Eye , first broadcast by VH1 in 2007, you don't just see the pain and confusion that overtook Lopes after this LP was left on the shelf, but you come to appreciate how, mere weeks later, she'd already moved herself forward, emotionally and philosophically. That closing message to her late father, 'A New Star Is Born', helped her find some kind of closure in the relationship she seemed to stop short of describing as abusive, but which most others - including even family members - consider to have been. "Tumultuous" is the word most frequently deployed to describe her relationship with Rison – two fires in bathtubs, one ending with a gutted Atlanta mansion, being the headline-grabbing incidents – yet Lisa famously turned the court-mandated halfway house stay into spun gold when, on the way to the studio during that period she saw the rainbow that she wrote into her timeless verse in TLC's 'Waterfalls'. She always found the strength to overcome. So we shouldn't be surprised, when we check in on those last weeks, to see her emboldened, phlegmatic, optimistic. That's who she was when she was making Supernova , too. You can hear it in every bar of this overlooked masterpiece.

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Latto Fills In for Lisa ‘Left Eye' Lopes on TLC's ‘Waterfalls' at 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards

TLC ‘s Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins took the stage at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards on Monday night (April 1) to perform some of their biggest hits - and they recruited a current hip-hop star to fill in for their late bandmate Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.

As Peso Pluma and GloRilla revealed in their introduction of TLC, they're the best-selling American girl group of all time. And they played two of their biggest hits for the Dolby Theater crowd, starting with their 1999 four-week Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 "No Scrubs" and wrapping with the 1995 seven-week Hot 100 topper "Waterfalls."

When "Waterfalls" got to Left Eye's famous rap verse, T-Boz and Chilli welcomed Latto to the stage to take the reins. The 25-year-old rapper, born in December 1998, wasn't even alive when "Waterfalls" was released on the blockbuster 1995 album CrazySexyCool .

Since 2002, when Lopes was killed in a car crash in Honduras, the remaining members of TLC decided to move forward as a duo, never replacing the rapper.

In addition to their performance on Monday night's show, TLC also accepted iHeartRadio Landmark Awards for their impressive run of radio airplay hits over their 30-year career.

Other performers at the 2024 iHeartRadio Music Awards included Justin Timberlake, Jelly Roll & Lainey Wilson, Green Day, host Ludacris, Tate McRae and a musical tribute to Cher. Taylor Swift won artist of the year on Monday's show along with two other prizes, and she sent a video message to her fans for voting her to victory.

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