TLC: Sexy Trio Back On Top After Bankruptcy

Jet, April 12, 1999

TLC, the trend-setting trio who generated more than $170 million in sales yet ended up bankrupt, has come back after a four-year absence and soared straight to the top of the music charts.

Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas sold more than 13 million copies of their first two albums, Ooooooohhh ... On The TLC Tip and CrazySexyCool and won several Grammy Awards. Yet the trio's members generated as many headlines in court as they did with their music that mixed rap, hip hop, pop and soul.

In 1995, they filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors with a reported $3.5 million in liabilities and not even $1 million in assets. They fought LaFace Records and their management company, headed by Perri "Pebbles" Reid, former wife of LaFace co-creator L.A. Reid.

Lopes had the biggest financial nightmare. She was charged with arson and criminal damage for admitting that she torched the home of then boyfriend, Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Andre Rison. Her bail was set at $510,000 and the home in suburban Atlanta was completely destroyed. Her bankruptcy petition listed $2.2 million in debt and less than $100,000 in assets.

But, all of that negativity is way behind the women who are all in their late 20s. Their latest album, FanMail, has done something that is almost unheard of in current music--it went straight to the top of the pop charts without the help of a video. The red-hot singles No Scrubs and Silly Ho have gotten tremendous airplay.

The trio's members told JET that they were as surprised as anyone at how fast the album went to the top. "Heck yeah, we're surprised the album went to the top without a video," T-Boz said. When asked about No Scrubs, all three women immediately picked at or brushed off imaginary lint and dirt from their bodies. Scrubs, they said, are guys who live off women. "Every woman knows some scrubs," Chilli said. T-Boz added, "At Freaknik (an Atlanta spring gathering of Black college kids from all over the country) you see guys in nice cars, and you know it's their mama's (car). Scrubs are guys who have no life and not trying to take care of themselves. A scrub is the `90s version of a leech. We have a dance called `scrub it off.'"

Left Eye called the song "the ladies' anthem." She said of the music the group delivers in general, "We give it to you straight with no chaser."

That straight message is also very evident in Silly Ho, a song about the kind of female who can't get her life together. One of the group's trademarks has been music with social messages. And there are several cuts on the new album that deal with social commentary like Unpretty, a song about the destructive insecurity that comes from trying to please others without making yourself look pretty from within.

They said they called the album FanMail to pay tribute to the legions of fans they've developed all over the world. Those fans helped them sell more albums than any female trio in history (most 1960s girl trios sold singles). The trio had significant involvement in FanMail by helping to write some of the cuts.

L.A. Reid, his LaFace partner Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Dallas Austin produced the album as they did the previous two.

Taking almost five years off at the peak of one's popularity is a major gamble for musical artists. And TLC was aware of it. But, each said she needed the break and a good album would bring fans back.

"It's all about timing," Left Eye said. "I believe if the stuff is hot, you can disappear for 10 years and come back. As long as people appreciate the material you're presenting them, it doesn't matter. TLC needed a little TLC to ourselves. We needed time to take care of our financial situation, our record company. Chilli had a child. And it took about a year-and-a-half to record the album. Looking back, it didn't seem like a long time to us."

During the layoff Chilli had a son who is almost 2 years old. She also had a role in the film Hav Plenty. "I've been working with an acting coach," she said. "I turned down quite a few major movie roles because I want it right." T-Boz also caught the acting bug and appeared in Belly last year. She also wrote a book of poetry and started her own entertainment company. She and Left Eye did separate album projects. Left Eye has hosted MTV's daily show "The Cut."

One thing they've learned in the interim is exactly how the music business works.

"This is a cutthroat, evil type of business," T-Boz said. "Education is the key."

They said people expected them to be rich after they generated so much money. But, as all three pointed out in unison, advances from the record company had to be repaid. "Then lawyers have to be paid," Lopes said. "Managers, accountants, agents, publicists have to be paid. Not to mention on the road, hair, make-up, the band and crew. All the expenses and taxes come off the top. Then, we have to split what's left three ways. Not much money is left. Videos can cost anywhere from $250,000 to $2 million. And it costs like $150,000 to get a top producer."