Where does TC go from here? Music world mourns Lisa Lopes as group plans to continue her legacy - L - Entertainment - Biography

Ebony, August, 2002 by Glenn Jeffers

It took a decade for TLC to become the greatest-selling girl group of all time. It took one fatal car crash in Honduras on April 25, 2002, to claim the life of TLC member Lisa (Left Eye) Lopes, a tragedy that put the future of the trio in jeopardy and make the world realize what it had taken for granted. It also made millions of fans around the world wonder: "Where does TLC go from here?"

More than 30,000 fans started arriving at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., as early as 7 a.m. to pay their respects to Lopes, who died after her sport-utility vehicle rolled off a highway in Honduras and struck two trees. Before the funeral, many in the music industry gave tearful accolades and remembrances of the multitalented 30-year-old performer.

"Talking about her in the past tense is hard," producer Dallas Austin said. "She was a `homeboy', just one of the guys."

Producer and So So Def Records founder Jermaine Dupri said he added Lopes' picture to a memorial wall that includes other music legends, including John Lennon, Christopher (The Notorious B.I.G.) Wallace and Aaliyah Haughton, who died last year in a plane crash

During the funeral, Antonio (L.A.) Reid, CEO of Arista Records, said when it came to Lopes, the "creativity never stopped." He had originally signed the group to his LaFace Records in Atlanta.

The scene at the funeral--with the crowd including young and old, Black and White, hip-hoppers and jazz enthusiasts--was just a small example of the influence the Grammy-winning group has had on the African-American community and the world. After a multiplatinum debut in 1992 with the album Ooooooohhh ... On the TLC Tip, the group scored worldwide success with its much-anticipated second album, CrazySexyCool (1994), which sold 11 million albums. TLC'S 1999 follow-up, Fanmail, sold another 6 million albums.

"They [TLC] were commercially viable and yet were able to give a socially conscientious message in a forum that young people were listening to, which is the most effective," says author Michael Eric Dyson, an Avalon Foundation professor in the Humanities at the University of Pennsylvania. "These were some extraordinarily successful young ladies. Given the financial exigencies of the marketplace, you have to hit and stay there, and they were able to hit it and stay there through three albums."

For group members Watkins and Thomas, Lopes' death means the loss of a family member. To them, she was the kind of sister with whom fighting was okay because she always there for them. "It almost seemed like she cared about other people more than she cared about herself," Thomas says. "She was our sister, you know, and no matter what we all went through, we're sisters. Sisters argue and they kiss and make up, and that's just how our relationship was."

Both Watkins and Thomas have said they will not replace Lopes and will continue on as a duo act. The two remaining group members have been back into the recording studio since early June, just weeks after Lopes' death, to complete the group's fourth album. Work on the yet-untitled album began in summer 2001 and, according to the group, Lopes recorded her vocals for the album several months prior to her death.

Lopes' presence in the group has been incalculable, many say. She provided rap lyrics for a number of TLC hits, including "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg," "What About Your Friends," "No Scrubs" and the group's 1994 breakout hit, "Waterfalls." Though she was not featured on every track, Lopes was also a hype machine for TLC, consistently keeping the group's name in the newspapers in between albums.

Sometimes the attention was intentional, such as missing press engagements or proclaiming that she was "Diana Ross, not a supreme." At other times the attention was unwanted, such as her arrest following the torching of the multimillion-dollar home she shared with boyfriend and NFL star Andre Rison. But Lopes understood that nothing holds the public's interest like a little drama.

While her antics sometimes caused disagreements within the group, many understood that her controversial side enhanced the group's ability to redefine feminine strength in a man's world. "It sometimes evidenced itself in self-destructive behavior, but it's that same sass and spirit that gave TLC such presence and power," Dyson says.

Lopes' poignant rap vocals also gave TLC its perch in the world of hip-hop. Her rapid-fire, squeaky-voiced delivery prompted even the most casual of listeners to pay attention to the group's examination of issues. Much like Tupac Shakur and Nasir (Nas) Jones, TLC echoed the strife and circumstances of young people in today's world, but from a woman's point of view. TLC's songs touched upon safe sex, extramarital love affairs, family and emotional responsibility, with Lopes often examining her personal life through her lyrics.

"Lisa Lopes' resence ave TLC the bonus of having an authentic rapper who, by virtue of her skills, was able to reach out to the younger audience and, the hip-hop audience, Dyson says. She brought some hip-hop heads into the R&B mix."