April 14, 2022 • 36 mins
One of the highest selling pop girl groups of all time, TLC, has influenced multiple genres of music that will be felt for generations to come. Tionne “T-Boz'' Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas defined girl power and individuality in the 90s. Their third album “Fan Mail'' was an instant smash that led to awards and headlining tours. However, the three women experienced ups and downs during their success from creative differences to health issues. The group eventually conquered these challenges and came together for one final album. Unfortunately, before they finished recording, Lisa passed away unexpectedly. In 2002, TLC made their first appearance without Lisa at the MTV Music Awards and the next year, performed a final time to 60 thousand fans to honor the life of Lisa Lopes. The duo then took a hiatus until 2017 when they crowdfunded their 5th self-titled album, “TLC.” Despite their bumps in the road, TLC managed to reign as the queens of pop, and their influence continues to set trends and open doors for female groups today. Watch Behind the Music now on Paramount+.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
With colorful style, loud attitude, and timeless songs, they became immortal.
In their decade at the top, t l C made
the hits that made history, but with every chart topping
high came an unthinkable low. Through the darkest of times,
their bond seemed unbreakable until the resident rebel threatened their sisterhood.
(00:22):
With intimate, new interviews and never before seen footage, witnessed
the last chapter of t l c's fabled story and
the surreal final months of Lisa Lopez's life. For the
first time, the surviving members of t l C walk
us through the emotional ending of their saga, an amazing
journey of love, loss and remembrance. Now while behind the
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music t l C the final chapter, they were crazy,
sexy and cool, and for ten colorful years t l
she reigned as the Queens of pot. What TILSE had
was this incredible bond of three unique individuals that had
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a similar goal on passion, which was the music to
a legion of fans worldwide. The Atlanta threesome of ti On,
t Bas Watkins, Rosanda Chili Thomas and Lisa left I
Lopez with a definition of girl power. We always sit
up for what we believed in. We stuck together as
a group. The unity it was just so powerful and
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nobody could break that. From on, they sold over thirty
million albums, claiming the title of greatest selling female act
in history. But as anyone who saw TLCS first behind
the music knows, the road to greatness was pothole my bankruptcy.
This is how a group can sell tenian records and
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be broken sickness. I remember like praying a guy like please,
somebody shot it, and most famously fire and I'll turn
on the town and I see the house in flame.
Eight years into their career, the trio seemed to have
weathered the drama with their sister like bond intact. Little
could they have predicted the triumph and tragedy looming in
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the second chapter of their saga. In February of nine,
after three years of radio silence, TLC re emerged with
their third album, fan Mail. They looked and sounded vibrant
as ever. Powered by the sassy no scrubs, fan Mail
was an instant smash. The impact at radio ended like
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MTV A t r O was just enormous simultaneously, which
doesn't happen that often. Sometimes you know, and with no scrubs.
It was so obvious, it was so huge. Fan Mail
sees the top spot on the Billboard album charts, selling
a million copies in its first month. TLC finally seemed
free of the drama that had shadowed every step in
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their career, but behind closed doors, the sisterhood was splintering.
Left Eye had begun plotting a solo career. There are
a lot of things that I would like to relate
people creatively, conceptually, lyrically, a lot of things that I
would like to get off of my chest. She wanted
to do stuff that maybe me and Chili weren't ready
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to do or didn't want to do it all, and
I respect that. It's just when she chose to do it.
You can go solo, you can do whatever you want,
but just don't quit on us. In a May of
ninety nine cover story for Vibe magazine, Lisa offered fans
of first taste of her breakaway aspirations. Speaking of fan mail,
she said, I cannot stand one behind this TLC project.
(03:39):
This will be my last interview until I can speak
freely about the truth and present myself on my solo project.
There weren't rumors of it that the girls weren't getting along,
but nothing really concrete, and that's when it's sort of
got confirmed. In September of nine, with fan mail well
over the five times platinum mark, the girls sat down
(04:00):
to plan their most ambitious and rigorous tour to date.
But while t Bons and Chili were eager to hit
the stage, Lisa was eager to hit the studio to
work on her solo project. She wants to do kind
of like a shortcut thing, like let's do an HBO
special and just get some money and do some other things,
you know. But we were like kind of like, we
have a promoter, we've already sold tickets, it's the right
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thing to do, and we have to kind of agreed
to some things that she wanted in order for her
to come on tour with us. So it was kind
of like that, alright, well, I'll do this tour if
my group can open to play. Kate Left Eye TLC
signed on her proteges to open the shows. A three
piece girl group she found in Philly called Black Lisa
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was on board barely. I just kind of remember, you know,
right before we would go on stage, I would see
her and just kind of at like I didn't see
her or you know, we'd be on stage and I
didn't want to stand next to her. Her heart wasn't
in it the way it used to be, you know,
and we had almost pulled it by her hair girl
(05:06):
come out here. Early into the fan Mail road trip,
the girls rolled into New York for a promotional stop
at MTV's Total Request Live, But just minutes before rare time,
a group meeting went south. I think we were talking
about the tour or something, I don't know, and Lisa
says something she she pissed me off in I just
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I had to walk out because you know, I felt
I was just getting too mad. And I walked out
and Lisa and Tian had words. Tian has basically just
had it and she was ready to fight. That's it, Like,
that's it. I'm ready to fight. You just get it on.
I do you remember, like almost minutes before going on
the air that day, hearing that only two of them
were coming, and I immediately thought, oh boy, there's there's
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trouble in paradise. I bet it's Lisa here they are TLCS.
I was looking at TV and they said that she
wasn't coming up. We are one short, were missing l
and tlc left eye. She okay, she's not well, don't
get mad, but she don't feel goodn't feel good. So
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I caught the hotel and she was crying. She was
telling me about like no one wants to listen to her,
and I really felt bad for her. So I went
back and turned a TV on and heard what they
was going to say. Why she was not there? Is
it a flu thing? Is it I have to say?
Is emodia? Maybe put it together? Okay, you just said that.
(06:31):
Two days later, the trio headed to Entertainment Weekly for
a cover photo shoot, but before the first shutter snapped,
Lisa walked off set for a meeting about her solo
project in sense that her lack of commitment. Tan and
Chili gave the magazine a scathing interview, saying, Lisa doesn't
respect the whole group, she doesn't stick with us. That
was the first time we ever really told the truth
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in the press, because we just wanted to give her
a dulceph her miss And I know how it felt,
you know, to be blasted in the press and actually
to see, you know, see yourself for what you are
and what you're doing right now, you know, and it
just wasn't right. In response to her bandmates candid Talk,
Lisa fired a letter back to e W that's since
become known as the Challenge. In it, she dared her
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groupmates ten Player Watkins and Rosanda Hayter Thomas to a
solo sales contest one record, each winner takes all. I'm
not going to compete against my own group member. You
can't compete against your own family to win against the world.
It just doesn't work. And it was funny because we
were kind of laughing at the same time, and you know,
Piste off too. You don't want to fight your sister,
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but I really wanted to punch it. Oh my dude,
what is wrong with you? Lisa not only was one
of the most creative people that I ever known, but
she also knew how to ring in the press. And
the difference between Lisa and TiVos and Chili was that
Lisa felt that all press was good pressed and Tibos
and Chili didn't feel that way. Despite the controversy, TLC's
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first arena headlining tour was a nationwide smash, but while
the girls were all smiles on stage, left eyes, relentless.
Media high jinks were threatening to dissolve their music and
their friendship. I got to the point where I personally
didn't even want to be in the same room with
Lisa because she was a very different Lisa to me
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and Lisa I met years ago. You know, she wasn't
that playful, silly Lisa anymore, and you know, everything was
just so serious. She just became this person that I
didn't know. By the end of t lcs third album,
fan Mail, had sold well over five million copies and
spawned two global hits, the playful No Scrubs and an
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anthem of inner beauty called Unpretty. It was on the
set of the Unpretty video that Tien would find true
love with hardcore West Coast MC mac ten. Tian has
always kind of avitated more towards the rough guy, you know,
and mac ten is that. Five months later, on New
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Year's Eve, a nervous Mactent dropped to his knees and
popped the question before twelve o'clock hit. He was looking
at all big ey to scare and I was like,
what's wrong? And you want to talk about something something
on your mind, noting wrong with you. He was probably
shaking in his bos, like, oh my god, am I
gonna really married his girl? Tien's love life was complete,
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But TLC, we're coming undone. In January of two thousand,
the girls wrapped the American leg of the turbulent fan
Mail tour in their native Atlanta. But while t Bas
and Chili were eager to take the show overseas, Lisa's
focus had shifted to finishing her first solo album, Supernova.
I was really piste off because I love touring and
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I didn't want to stop, and I just felt like
it's stopped too soon, and it was, you know, out
of my hands. Despite their dissolving bond, TLC were the
toast of the industry. That February, Grammy honored Fan Mail
with eight nominations, including Album of the Year. The best
starr in the album is Old Tally. The trio walked
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off with three statues that night, but for Tian, the
greatest gift was yet to come. Well, we were on
the Grammys, I was already pregnant. I didn't even know that,
and I found out like a couple of months later
that I was too months pregnant. I was just like, WHOA,
because you know, I was told I couldn't have kids.
At an early age, Tian had been diagnosed with sickle
cell anemia, a debilitating sickness that stops blood from reaching
(10:36):
vital organs. Though she had been sternly warned by doctors
that childbirth could bring life threatening complications, she made the
risky decision to keep her baby, with doctors telling her
that maybe she probably couldn't have children it would be
too difficult, and her just being like, you know what,
I don't believe that, you know, I get pregnant. I
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believe in God that he's gonna see this top through.
In August of two thousand, at a seaside chapel in
Palace Vertus, California, a seven months pregnant Tion married mac chan.
Lisa was not at the wedding. For a minute, I'm
just like, why didn't she come? But my day was
so happy. I didn't really trip on it because of
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everything that we had gone through, and just Lisa basically,
in my opinion, being very selfish, not really thinking about
the group, only thinking of herself. It made sense for
her not to be there. I know, if it was
my wedding, I wouldn't have wanted her to be there.
The TLC sisterhood was ailing, but left eyes love affair
with the media was stronger than ever. In early September
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two thousand, after missing a scheduled interview, Lisa puld her
craftiest publicity prank today, releasing a bogus report of her
own disappearance. Even though you know that she would do
that kind of stuff, is always the chance still left
at it. Maybe this is real, you know. And then
we found out on you know, on the inside that
she really wasn't you know. It pissed me off. When
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people love you and they think you're missing. I mean,
my god, that's that's not cool. Ironically, Lisa was miles
away from the media swarm she'd created. Beginning of n
Lisa had sought spiritual refuge at the remote Usha Village
in Honduras, a sprawl of humble huts on the edge
of a dense Central American jungle. She was totally at
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home and totally happy there. All of her heaviness was gone,
all of the bad energy that I had seen her
display was gone. It was a place where she can
just sort of sit and be quiet and and think
she was then how there were no televisions in the rooms,
and you know it's very peaceful, and you know that
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I should come. So I was like, man, I don't
know about that. No TV. She told me it was
one hud Well, one TV, no satellite. I was like, girl,
I am not going because I need my Hbos. Sopranos
is the child in the tiny village. Lisa sought guidance
for body and soul from an herbal guru named Dr Savy.
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Dr Savy, you know, according to him, can cure anything
everything from trying to lose weight too, you know, looking
for a cure for AIDS. People go there with hopes
and dreams that Dr Savy can somehow save them. She
had been through so many intense problems in her career
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and in her life and in a personal life that
she didn't know where to turn. And this doctor, she said,
and showing her how to really open up and cleanse
all of the negativity out of her. She told me
she was selling with alcoholism. I know she was smoking
excessively cigarettes, drinking and smoking. She asked me, what do
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I need to do to stay on the side of peace.
I say, fast, do what Jesus did she said, what
did Jesus do? You thought it for forty days on
for nights midway through her forty day or deal and
obviously gaunt, Lisa spoke with MTV News, have been polluting
my body for thirty years. Forty days is not a
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long time to me, too fast forty days represents overcoming death.
It's it's the number of days that Jesus fast fore
and I kind of I feel like I'm on a
journey sometimes don't really know quite where I'm headed. At
the ending of the fast thing, she came to me.
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I heard the door opening at two o'clock in the morning,
she said, I completed my fast this morning. I said,
what did you see? I saw God. I saw a
compassion as being the only giving. As Lisa chased the
demons from her life, t Odd welcomed an angel to
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her world. On October t Bos gave birth to her child,
a five pound, two ounce girl she named Chase. My
daughter's funny. You know, usually baby's eyes are closed, like
my baby was trying to stare from day one. It's
like she's been here before. But it was the most
beautiful thing then. That's so like my miracle baby. Despite
potential complications from her sickle cell anemia. The new Mom
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seemed to pull through delivery in good health, but just
three days later, medical complications left her in a new
or coma, fighting for her life in the I c
U of an l A hospital. When I came to,
I remember my mom. They rode the baby in there,
and I remember them putting her blanket over my nose
to smell my baby, like you know, you have a
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reason to stay here, like you know, don't slip away.
Tim would eventually make a full recovery, but t l
C was the last thing on her mind. By the
end of two thousand, the trio were on indefinite hiatus
as solo albums and Motherhood took precedence over t LC.
Fans wondered aloud if fan mail had been there farewell.
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Rumors were really starting to fly that they meeting my
break up. We were all doing her whole thing. I
was raising a baby, you know, I was a new mother,
and that to me was more important than anything going on.
So I didn't really care what nobody was doing at
the time. Point on True Next the loss of a
sister When behind the music continues. By the summer of
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two thousand one, and Lisa's media mischief had fractured her
bomb with t BOS and Chile and pushed TLC to
the verge of implosion. That August, after nearly two years
in and out of the studio, she finally completed her
first solo album, Supernova. The first time I heard Supernova
was in Honduras. Pol supplayed it for me, and I
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was really surprised because I wasn't expecting it's to be
so spiritual. Who would expect that from a girl who
burned down a house. She had excelled me on what
she had done before, and I thought that she really
had gotten to a different place musically. But Arista Records
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was underwhelmed by Lisa's new direction. Unconvinced the Supernova sales
potential label had l A. Reid refused to release the
album in America. You know, it was a tough thing,
and we definitely felt that the pressure was there to
deliver something compelling, and I wasn't sure that we had
something that was compelling. She was o she wasn't mad
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about that. You know, work her companies, they always go
back on their words, switch up everything, and you know,
I guess they didn't win Bamboom on her. As Lisa's
solo career ground to a standstill, her groupmates saw a
chance to give TLC one more try. They were all,
you know, just kind of going our separate ways. Everybody
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had their own thing going on. But I don't know,
something hit me. I just I was like, no, we
have to do one more record. Though her endless drama
over the last two years had alienated Lisa from the group,
Tien and Chili asked if she'd be willing to make
one final TLC album. I think at that point, you know,
we just kind of wanted to go in and basically
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show everybody, look, we haven't broken up. Miraculously, Lisa accepted,
and in late two thousand one, TLC entered a recording
studio together for the first time and over three years
to begin sessions for their fourth album, three D. It
was really rewarding because we had gone through all of
the bad press, and we had gone through the breakups,
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and and we were all really excited to prove to
everybody that once again the press was wrong. It was
just like the old days, really, you know, acting silly
and stand there even if you didn't have to sing
a part, just being supportive of the other member. It
was good for us. We all needed that. I think
we were having fun in the studios like day Won,
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you know, um, no arguments. It felt like, you know,
we were all kind of back in sync with each other.
But that didn't last long. Despite t LC's renewed harmony,
Lisa never abandoned hope of his solo career, and midway
through the three D sessions, she felt she'd finally found
the man to make it happen. Infamous death Row record
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CEO Shook Night, she says she had a dream that
shok Knight was the one she's just signed to, and
that's why she approached him and wanted to do a
deal over there. That was her thing, that was her id,
she called him her thing was and she wanted to
be way more. She wanted to be street. She want
to be hardcore, and I said, you know, if you
want a street record, we can do that. In October
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of that year, Shoog formally announced Lisa's addition to the
Row roster as a solo artist next on one of
the seven point five. That same month, in a New
York radio interview, Night claimed Chili had performed the stripteas
in the death row offices, and that t Bos had
lost her looks after giving birth. I just didn't understand
of how she could be associated with someone who could
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talk about her group members like that, who are like
her sisters. Almost immediately after the signing, Lisa disappeared to
Los Angeles to plot her next solo move with shuk,
leaving three D in permanent limbo. She wasn't showing up
at the studio. She was out in California meeting with him,
and I was just like, oh God, he would go again.
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I was just like, good luck whatever at that point,
you know, if that's what she wants to do, and
that's where her heart was, and that's what she felt then.
So bit with Lisa a Wall, Tian and Chiley completed
as much of three D as they could, but in
January of two thousand two, Tian suffered a complete physical collapse,
brought on by her continued battle with sickle cell anemia.
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I think my body just had it, because that's the
longest that I've ever spent in the hospital. I was
really worried. I was really worried about her. I just
know would pray that she would get better and I
go visit her and stuff, and you know, it's like, hey,
when you get better, go right back in the studio
and we pick up and finish this. You know. For
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four months, Tian slipped in and out of consciousness in
the I c U of an Atlanta hospital as friends
prayed for her survival, A surprise guest dropped by for
a visit. I heard this loud voice come down the hallway.
She was like, yeah, I'm coming to the room right now,
and I was just like, there's you go. Without warning,
Lisa had flown back from Los Angeles to be by
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tian side. I'm always cracking joes in the hospital. I
was cracking Joe. She's like, you crazy. I was in
and out of it, you know, going to sleep and
waking back up, and you know, we have conversation in between.
And then she told me she was gonna go um
to hun doors. As Lisa prepared for her next journey
to the Usha village, Chili frantically trying to contact her.
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A strange friend I was trying to catch her and us.
I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to ask
her the real reason why she wasn't coming to the studio.
You know. I wanted to know, if you know, if
you really want to do your solo stuff, then why
make us feel like you're on board. I never got
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that chance. In March of two thousand one, with Tian
still in the hospital and three D barely halfway down,
Lisa Lopez boarded a flight from Atlanta to Honduras. She
would never return. Coming up next, Tian has a deadly
premonition when behind the music continues. By early two thousand two,
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sessions for t LC's fourth album, three D were on
in definite hold. As Tian recovered from a near fatal collapse,
Lisa flew south to the Usha Village, her mystical hideaway
deep in the jungles of Honduras. That's where she found
peace at That's where she felt come doble. She loved
it there, she said to us. Had gone to some
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heavy stuff and needed to get back to cleansing. With
her first solo album, Supernova rejected by Arista Records and
the TLC sisterhood ailing, Lisa had begun to look beyond
music for salvation. TLC has achieved a lot, but there's
so many more things that I would love to do
in the future, you know, outside of singing, I would
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love to venture off into healing. She was on a
quest for spiritual and physical renewal and her guide was
the founder of the Usha Village and herbal wiseman named
Dr Saby. She said, I'm gonna make you famous. I said,
how because I'm gonna talk about you. Does everyone know
your care AIDS and cancer. There's just a lot of
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people in the world who are suffering sick. They're not happy,
They're looking for answering. They don't know where to turn. Well,
I know a man who's been curing it since Lanten seven.
This guy has taught me a lot, and I need
to share my knowledge, you know, with the world. Despite
Lisa's absence, by mid April, Tian and Chile we're back
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at work on three D, plodding forward as a twosome.
While returning home from the studio on April, Tian had
a strange premonition. I was in my Porsche and I
remember telling my security I want to drop this car
off because I don't feel comfortable driving this car this day,
because I feel like I'm getting a wreck. And I
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dropped my car off at home and that was the
same day, so I guess that's sothing. Two thousand miles south,
at almost that exact same moment, Lisa, her sister Raina,
and members of the group Egypt struck out in an
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suv from RuSHA towards the nearby creek. And maybe about
ten minutes after they left, you know, Randa came back.
You know, she was crying and she told me there
was an accident. Car was in front of us and
it just stopped. So she went to spurve out of
the way of the car and the suven went out
of control. Lisa's car careened off the two lane mountain road,
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rolling numerous times before coming to rest in a dirt ravine.
While the other passengers sustained only minor injuries, Lisa was
thrown from the vehicle and died minutes later of head
and neck trauma. You know how things moving slowmotion. You're there,
you see it, and it's it's surreal. I mean, you know,
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it's just like slow motion, like a movie. Just one
year earlier, Lisa had faked her own disappearance in an
ill conceived publicity stunt. As word of the accident reached
friends and family, all wanted desperately to believe this was
another left eye hoax case she planned. Is she serious
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or is she you know? Is a joke, But this
time the situation was all too real. Lisa Lopez was dead.
She was just thirty years old. The tragedy of Lisa's
passing was amplified for Chili, who had been desperately trying
to contact her strange groupmate in the weeks before her death,
but the two would never have a chance to make peace.
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There was no closure at all. I just cried all night.
I cried all night, NonStop. I just couldn't believe it.
I think so many things were going through me, like
why and how, and you know, not being able to
reach her before she left. It was just rough. The
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following morning, Tien and Chili made the toughest trip of
their lives to visit Lisa's mother, Wanda Lopez. When her
mom came out and looked like she almost passed out
because she's used to saying all three of us together,
It's hard for her to see just two of us
and not her daughter sitting in between, or anything I
say is one is missing, one is missing, you know.
And I had to leave the room, because that was
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just it was like tearing me up. On May two,
a public memorial was held for Lisa at the New
Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta. More than fifteen thousand friends, family,
and fans gathered to say goodbye. The outpouring of love
from around the country. Um was just amazing. In a
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testament to Lisa, I didn't care who was there. I
wasn't even looking around. All I could think about was
she's not here. I didn't get a chance to talk
to her. I didn't get a chance to say, well,
I love you, have a safe trip. I'll talk to
you when you get back. Lisa was laid to rest
in a lakeside plotted nearby hill and Dale Memorial Gardens.
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Inscribed on the tombstone is her signature inspirational rhyme from Waterfalls.
She looked at it like it was no way that
you could kill life's energy. It just transformed into something different.
And the first thing that I remember thinking when she
died was that, like, Wow, she made her transformation. I
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personally do not believe in death, you know, I believe
in transformation. I do believe that there is an afterlife
found out a chance to see her once more. I
probably wouldn't even ask her some of the things that
I that I wanted to ask her at the time.
I would just tell her that I love her. Despite
the loss, Tiana and Chili would have little time to grieve.
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Immediately after Lisa's death, Aris to President L A. Reid
told the girls he was planning the Greatest Hits LPA,
a move that would put the brakes on their new album.
We didn't start that project together, you know, for it
to just kind of basically just be thrown out the window.
And here's the greatest hits. Why would we put the
greatest hits out? You know, we want to finish the record. So,
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oh yeah, we were very pissed. If she was upset,
she probably had a right to be. We as the
label probably had one thing in mind for them. They
had their own idea for it. And you know, the
only thing I could say is that she's probably right
to nullify aristas plan. Tian and Chile went straight back
to work on three D, piecing together new music with
(29:12):
rhymes Lisa had recorded before her death. Almost immediately, Tian
and producer Rodney Jerkins penned a delicate song of hope
and remembrance called Turntable. What I thought was important to
express was that you can have hard times, but after rain,
sun will come out again. You know, you have good days,
um and it can happen, you know tables in turn,
(29:38):
you have to keep living. For four months, TLC remained
quietly sequestered in the studio. Their first public appearance without
Lisa would come August twenty nine that the MTV Video
Music Awards. That was one of the hardest things I've
ever had to do period ever. That was the first
(29:58):
time we you know, really talked about it and kind
of had to face it again in front of everybody,
And to get out there in front of everybody to
try to talk about that, I mean, it was just
the hardest thing in the world. This is so hard
because it's such a reality check because it's only two
of us up here. For so many years there was
three of them. So if you look, you know, you
(30:20):
see tea, bows and chili, and I think everybody kind
of just would go down with their eyes and it's
like there's that third slop that's missing. We know that
Lisa's smiling, and we just hope that she's proud of
us right now, thank you. One month later, in September
of two thousand two, TLC released their final studio album
(30:40):
three D. As fans listened and remembered, Tan and Chili
faced a bitter sweet reality t l C their life
and love for the past ten years was over. In
June of two thousand three, more than one year since
the death of Lisa Lopez, t LC took the stage
at And Stadium in New Jersey. With a sophisticated video
(31:03):
system projecting Lisa's image on stage, t Bas and Chili
deliver t LC's Hallmark heads to sixty thousand morning fans.
You could just feel the love from everybody and just
them feeling the loss of Lisa. Now. I was thinking,
I hope I get through this show and don't break down.
We would never look at the screens, because how we
(31:26):
looked at the screens, we would have just broken down
on the stage. Though the Jersey show looks certain to
be the final gig of TLC's career, Chili and t
Bos have been pondering one last tour as a way
to say both thank you and goodbye. But whatever happens,
both girls say they will never be another third member
right after her death, I got letters in the mail
(31:47):
from fans talking about um sorry for her death, but
I can wrap the cycle. We couldn't believe people would
ask us that, are you guys going to replace Lisa?
You know what about another member are in. It's just
hard our feelings because we would never do anything like that.
It was never a consideration where somebody, you know, like
(32:08):
Desse's child and it's just revolving door of girls coming
in and out. Tails was different. There was no replacing
any of them for the Lopez family, letting go as
a daily task of unthinkable heartache and loving remembrance. In
May of two thousand three, the Honduran government honored Lisa
with a monument, and a small cross has been erected
(32:28):
at the crash site. Under the guidance of the Lopez family,
plans are now underway for the Lisa Lopez Community Center
near her beloved Usha village. You know, I'm grateful that
I can try to Hondure so much and be you know,
I feel like I'm close to at least loved, and
I'm close to my sister down there. And the more
time I spend down there is like the more I
(32:49):
can understand why my sister was down there. However tragic,
the blow, life must go on. For the surviving members
of TLC. In early two thousand four, they began and
compiling TLC Now and Forever, a nineteen song retrospective of
their storied career. For Chilian t Bas, assembling the set
was a bittersweet trip through ten magical years of friendship
(33:12):
and song. I felt like I was reliving everything and
just kind of moving on through the years, and so
it was hard for me to listen to it because
to me, greatest hits, your greatest hits, that represents the end.
That's you know, that's it and for us, you know
(33:33):
that's that's really the case, that's the reality. Now and
Forever buttons a career of staggering sales success, but t
LC's legacy runs far deeper than any platinum single. With style, grace,
and a little bit of drama, t Bas Chilian Left
Eye proved that the world can be conquered without compromise.
(33:57):
I just wish that more of the young acts that
came out today, and I see so many of them,
could just have one tenth of the spirit that the
girls in TLC had. They were so genuine and so
kind and loved what they did and looked you in
the eye. They made a connection with you. TLC was
a perfect example of a group that just stayed that
(34:17):
way even through all the turmoil. Even now. That's what
I means. You know, we were translators as far as
our sound, the way we dressed and everything. We opened
up the doors for a lot of female groups. So
I'm hoping that you know, everybody will remember that about us. All.
(34:38):
You know, gave us each other. He gave us this
wonderful group, and it's just time to let it be.
You know, we've done great things again. You made history.
You will remember t LC and that's why we named
it TLC now forever, because we are forever. You won't
forget us m HM. TLC's legacy lives on today. They
(35:06):
remain one of the highest selling female pop groups of
all time. After Lopez is passing, t Bas and Chili
took some time to recalibrate during a musical hiatus. The
two remaining members of TLC each dealt with their fair
share of hardships, but both persevered in After more than
ten years apart, the duo reunited and launched a campaign
(35:29):
to crowdfund their fifth album, TLC. In three short days,
they surpassed their goal by two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
This album became the biggest funded pop music project in
kickstarters history. They released their crowdfunded album with the single
way Back featuring Snoop Dogg, t Bas and Chili are
(35:50):
back in the studio and out in the world performing.
Even in the midst of this comeback, the two vow
to never replace Lopez. There is no doubt this trio's
influence on pop music will be felt for generations to come.
Listen and subscribe to Behind the Music on the I
(36:10):
Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
favorite podcasts. Be sure to rate and review Behind the
Music on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. What more episodes You
can watch remastered best of the Vault and new episodes
of Behind the Music only on Paramount Plus.
With colorful style, loud attitude, and timeless songs, they became immortal.
In their decade at the top, t l C made
the hits that made history, but with every chart topping
high came an unthinkable low. Through the darkest of times,
their bond seemed unbreakable until the resident rebel threatened their sisterhood.
(00:22):
With intimate, new interviews and never before seen footage, witnessed
the last chapter of t l c's fabled story and
the surreal final months of Lisa Lopez's life. For the
first time, the surviving members of t l C walk
us through the emotional ending of their saga, an amazing
journey of love, loss and remembrance. Now while behind the
(00:47):
music t l C the final chapter, they were crazy,
sexy and cool, and for ten colorful years t l
she reigned as the Queens of pot. What TILSE had
was this incredible bond of three unique individuals that had
(01:08):
a similar goal on passion, which was the music to
a legion of fans worldwide. The Atlanta threesome of ti On,
t Bas Watkins, Rosanda Chili Thomas and Lisa left I
Lopez with a definition of girl power. We always sit
up for what we believed in. We stuck together as
a group. The unity it was just so powerful and
(01:30):
nobody could break that. From on, they sold over thirty
million albums, claiming the title of greatest selling female act
in history. But as anyone who saw TLCS first behind
the music knows, the road to greatness was pothole my bankruptcy.
This is how a group can sell tenian records and
(01:51):
be broken sickness. I remember like praying a guy like please,
somebody shot it, and most famously fire and I'll turn
on the town and I see the house in flame.
Eight years into their career, the trio seemed to have
weathered the drama with their sister like bond intact. Little
could they have predicted the triumph and tragedy looming in
(02:12):
the second chapter of their saga. In February of nine,
after three years of radio silence, TLC re emerged with
their third album, fan Mail. They looked and sounded vibrant
as ever. Powered by the sassy no scrubs, fan Mail
was an instant smash. The impact at radio ended like
(02:33):
MTV A t r O was just enormous simultaneously, which
doesn't happen that often. Sometimes you know, and with no scrubs.
It was so obvious, it was so huge. Fan Mail
sees the top spot on the Billboard album charts, selling
a million copies in its first month. TLC finally seemed
free of the drama that had shadowed every step in
(02:55):
their career, but behind closed doors, the sisterhood was splintering.
Left Eye had begun plotting a solo career. There are
a lot of things that I would like to relate
people creatively, conceptually, lyrically, a lot of things that I
would like to get off of my chest. She wanted
to do stuff that maybe me and Chili weren't ready
(03:17):
to do or didn't want to do it all, and
I respect that. It's just when she chose to do it.
You can go solo, you can do whatever you want,
but just don't quit on us. In a May of
ninety nine cover story for Vibe magazine, Lisa offered fans
of first taste of her breakaway aspirations. Speaking of fan mail,
she said, I cannot stand one behind this TLC project.
(03:39):
This will be my last interview until I can speak
freely about the truth and present myself on my solo project.
There weren't rumors of it that the girls weren't getting along,
but nothing really concrete, and that's when it's sort of
got confirmed. In September of nine, with fan mail well
over the five times platinum mark, the girls sat down
(04:00):
to plan their most ambitious and rigorous tour to date.
But while t Bons and Chili were eager to hit
the stage, Lisa was eager to hit the studio to
work on her solo project. She wants to do kind
of like a shortcut thing, like let's do an HBO
special and just get some money and do some other things,
you know. But we were like kind of like, we
have a promoter, we've already sold tickets, it's the right
(04:22):
thing to do, and we have to kind of agreed
to some things that she wanted in order for her
to come on tour with us. So it was kind
of like that, alright, well, I'll do this tour if
my group can open to play. Kate Left Eye TLC
signed on her proteges to open the shows. A three
piece girl group she found in Philly called Black Lisa
(04:45):
was on board barely. I just kind of remember, you know,
right before we would go on stage, I would see
her and just kind of at like I didn't see
her or you know, we'd be on stage and I
didn't want to stand next to her. Her heart wasn't
in it the way it used to be, you know,
and we had almost pulled it by her hair girl
(05:06):
come out here. Early into the fan Mail road trip,
the girls rolled into New York for a promotional stop
at MTV's Total Request Live, But just minutes before rare time,
a group meeting went south. I think we were talking
about the tour or something, I don't know, and Lisa
says something she she pissed me off in I just
(05:26):
I had to walk out because you know, I felt
I was just getting too mad. And I walked out
and Lisa and Tian had words. Tian has basically just
had it and she was ready to fight. That's it, Like,
that's it. I'm ready to fight. You just get it on.
I do you remember, like almost minutes before going on
the air that day, hearing that only two of them
were coming, and I immediately thought, oh boy, there's there's
(05:49):
trouble in paradise. I bet it's Lisa here they are TLCS.
I was looking at TV and they said that she
wasn't coming up. We are one short, were missing l
and tlc left eye. She okay, she's not well, don't
get mad, but she don't feel goodn't feel good. So
(06:10):
I caught the hotel and she was crying. She was
telling me about like no one wants to listen to her,
and I really felt bad for her. So I went
back and turned a TV on and heard what they
was going to say. Why she was not there? Is
it a flu thing? Is it I have to say?
Is emodia? Maybe put it together? Okay, you just said that.
(06:31):
Two days later, the trio headed to Entertainment Weekly for
a cover photo shoot, but before the first shutter snapped,
Lisa walked off set for a meeting about her solo
project in sense that her lack of commitment. Tan and
Chili gave the magazine a scathing interview, saying, Lisa doesn't
respect the whole group, she doesn't stick with us. That
was the first time we ever really told the truth
(06:53):
in the press, because we just wanted to give her
a dulceph her miss And I know how it felt,
you know, to be blasted in the press and actually
to see, you know, see yourself for what you are
and what you're doing right now, you know, and it
just wasn't right. In response to her bandmates candid Talk,
Lisa fired a letter back to e W that's since
become known as the Challenge. In it, she dared her
(07:16):
groupmates ten Player Watkins and Rosanda Hayter Thomas to a
solo sales contest one record, each winner takes all. I'm
not going to compete against my own group member. You
can't compete against your own family to win against the world.
It just doesn't work. And it was funny because we
were kind of laughing at the same time, and you know,
Piste off too. You don't want to fight your sister,
(07:38):
but I really wanted to punch it. Oh my dude,
what is wrong with you? Lisa not only was one
of the most creative people that I ever known, but
she also knew how to ring in the press. And
the difference between Lisa and TiVos and Chili was that
Lisa felt that all press was good pressed and Tibos
and Chili didn't feel that way. Despite the controversy, TLC's
(08:02):
first arena headlining tour was a nationwide smash, but while
the girls were all smiles on stage, left eyes, relentless.
Media high jinks were threatening to dissolve their music and
their friendship. I got to the point where I personally
didn't even want to be in the same room with
Lisa because she was a very different Lisa to me
(08:23):
and Lisa I met years ago. You know, she wasn't
that playful, silly Lisa anymore, and you know, everything was
just so serious. She just became this person that I
didn't know. By the end of t lcs third album,
fan Mail, had sold well over five million copies and
spawned two global hits, the playful No Scrubs and an
(08:46):
anthem of inner beauty called Unpretty. It was on the
set of the Unpretty video that Tien would find true
love with hardcore West Coast MC mac ten. Tian has
always kind of avitated more towards the rough guy, you know,
and mac ten is that. Five months later, on New
(09:08):
Year's Eve, a nervous Mactent dropped to his knees and
popped the question before twelve o'clock hit. He was looking
at all big ey to scare and I was like,
what's wrong? And you want to talk about something something
on your mind, noting wrong with you. He was probably
shaking in his bos, like, oh my god, am I
gonna really married his girl? Tien's love life was complete,
(09:28):
But TLC, we're coming undone. In January of two thousand,
the girls wrapped the American leg of the turbulent fan
Mail tour in their native Atlanta. But while t Bas
and Chili were eager to take the show overseas, Lisa's
focus had shifted to finishing her first solo album, Supernova.
I was really piste off because I love touring and
(09:49):
I didn't want to stop, and I just felt like
it's stopped too soon, and it was, you know, out
of my hands. Despite their dissolving bond, TLC were the
toast of the industry. That February, Grammy honored Fan Mail
with eight nominations, including Album of the Year. The best
starr in the album is Old Tally. The trio walked
(10:13):
off with three statues that night, but for Tian, the
greatest gift was yet to come. Well, we were on
the Grammys, I was already pregnant. I didn't even know that,
and I found out like a couple of months later
that I was too months pregnant. I was just like, WHOA,
because you know, I was told I couldn't have kids.
At an early age, Tian had been diagnosed with sickle
cell anemia, a debilitating sickness that stops blood from reaching
(10:36):
vital organs. Though she had been sternly warned by doctors
that childbirth could bring life threatening complications, she made the
risky decision to keep her baby, with doctors telling her
that maybe she probably couldn't have children it would be
too difficult, and her just being like, you know what,
I don't believe that, you know, I get pregnant. I
(10:56):
believe in God that he's gonna see this top through.
In August of two thousand, at a seaside chapel in
Palace Vertus, California, a seven months pregnant Tion married mac chan.
Lisa was not at the wedding. For a minute, I'm
just like, why didn't she come? But my day was
so happy. I didn't really trip on it because of
(11:18):
everything that we had gone through, and just Lisa basically,
in my opinion, being very selfish, not really thinking about
the group, only thinking of herself. It made sense for
her not to be there. I know, if it was
my wedding, I wouldn't have wanted her to be there.
The TLC sisterhood was ailing, but left eyes love affair
with the media was stronger than ever. In early September
(11:40):
two thousand, after missing a scheduled interview, Lisa puld her
craftiest publicity prank today, releasing a bogus report of her
own disappearance. Even though you know that she would do
that kind of stuff, is always the chance still left
at it. Maybe this is real, you know. And then
we found out on you know, on the inside that
she really wasn't you know. It pissed me off. When
(12:03):
people love you and they think you're missing. I mean,
my god, that's that's not cool. Ironically, Lisa was miles
away from the media swarm she'd created. Beginning of n
Lisa had sought spiritual refuge at the remote Usha Village
in Honduras, a sprawl of humble huts on the edge
of a dense Central American jungle. She was totally at
(12:25):
home and totally happy there. All of her heaviness was gone,
all of the bad energy that I had seen her
display was gone. It was a place where she can
just sort of sit and be quiet and and think
she was then how there were no televisions in the rooms,
and you know it's very peaceful, and you know that
(12:46):
I should come. So I was like, man, I don't
know about that. No TV. She told me it was
one hud Well, one TV, no satellite. I was like, girl,
I am not going because I need my Hbos. Sopranos
is the child in the tiny village. Lisa sought guidance
for body and soul from an herbal guru named Dr Savy.
(13:08):
Dr Savy, you know, according to him, can cure anything
everything from trying to lose weight too, you know, looking
for a cure for AIDS. People go there with hopes
and dreams that Dr Savy can somehow save them. She
had been through so many intense problems in her career
(13:28):
and in her life and in a personal life that
she didn't know where to turn. And this doctor, she said,
and showing her how to really open up and cleanse
all of the negativity out of her. She told me
she was selling with alcoholism. I know she was smoking
excessively cigarettes, drinking and smoking. She asked me, what do
(13:50):
I need to do to stay on the side of peace.
I say, fast, do what Jesus did she said, what
did Jesus do? You thought it for forty days on
for nights midway through her forty day or deal and
obviously gaunt, Lisa spoke with MTV News, have been polluting
my body for thirty years. Forty days is not a
(14:13):
long time to me, too fast forty days represents overcoming death.
It's it's the number of days that Jesus fast fore
and I kind of I feel like I'm on a
journey sometimes don't really know quite where I'm headed. At
the ending of the fast thing, she came to me.
(14:34):
I heard the door opening at two o'clock in the morning,
she said, I completed my fast this morning. I said,
what did you see? I saw God. I saw a
compassion as being the only giving. As Lisa chased the
demons from her life, t Odd welcomed an angel to
(14:55):
her world. On October t Bos gave birth to her child,
a five pound, two ounce girl she named Chase. My
daughter's funny. You know, usually baby's eyes are closed, like
my baby was trying to stare from day one. It's
like she's been here before. But it was the most
beautiful thing then. That's so like my miracle baby. Despite
potential complications from her sickle cell anemia. The new Mom
(15:18):
seemed to pull through delivery in good health, but just
three days later, medical complications left her in a new
or coma, fighting for her life in the I c
U of an l A hospital. When I came to,
I remember my mom. They rode the baby in there,
and I remember them putting her blanket over my nose
to smell my baby, like you know, you have a
(15:39):
reason to stay here, like you know, don't slip away.
Tim would eventually make a full recovery, but t l
C was the last thing on her mind. By the
end of two thousand, the trio were on indefinite hiatus
as solo albums and Motherhood took precedence over t LC.
Fans wondered aloud if fan mail had been there farewell.
(16:00):
Rumors were really starting to fly that they meeting my
break up. We were all doing her whole thing. I
was raising a baby, you know, I was a new mother,
and that to me was more important than anything going on.
So I didn't really care what nobody was doing at
the time. Point on True Next the loss of a
sister When behind the music continues. By the summer of
(16:24):
two thousand one, and Lisa's media mischief had fractured her
bomb with t BOS and Chile and pushed TLC to
the verge of implosion. That August, after nearly two years
in and out of the studio, she finally completed her
first solo album, Supernova. The first time I heard Supernova
was in Honduras. Pol supplayed it for me, and I
(16:46):
was really surprised because I wasn't expecting it's to be
so spiritual. Who would expect that from a girl who
burned down a house. She had excelled me on what
she had done before, and I thought that she really
had gotten to a different place musically. But Arista Records
(17:08):
was underwhelmed by Lisa's new direction. Unconvinced the Supernova sales
potential label had l A. Reid refused to release the
album in America. You know, it was a tough thing,
and we definitely felt that the pressure was there to
deliver something compelling, and I wasn't sure that we had
something that was compelling. She was o she wasn't mad
(17:29):
about that. You know, work her companies, they always go
back on their words, switch up everything, and you know,
I guess they didn't win Bamboom on her. As Lisa's
solo career ground to a standstill, her groupmates saw a
chance to give TLC one more try. They were all,
you know, just kind of going our separate ways. Everybody
(17:50):
had their own thing going on. But I don't know,
something hit me. I just I was like, no, we
have to do one more record. Though her endless drama
over the last two years had alienated Lisa from the group,
Tien and Chili asked if she'd be willing to make
one final TLC album. I think at that point, you know,
we just kind of wanted to go in and basically
(18:11):
show everybody, look, we haven't broken up. Miraculously, Lisa accepted,
and in late two thousand one, TLC entered a recording
studio together for the first time and over three years
to begin sessions for their fourth album, three D. It
was really rewarding because we had gone through all of
the bad press, and we had gone through the breakups,
(18:34):
and and we were all really excited to prove to
everybody that once again the press was wrong. It was
just like the old days, really, you know, acting silly
and stand there even if you didn't have to sing
a part, just being supportive of the other member. It
was good for us. We all needed that. I think
we were having fun in the studios like day Won,
(18:55):
you know, um, no arguments. It felt like, you know,
we were all kind of back in sync with each other.
But that didn't last long. Despite t LC's renewed harmony,
Lisa never abandoned hope of his solo career, and midway
through the three D sessions, she felt she'd finally found
the man to make it happen. Infamous death Row record
(19:18):
CEO Shook Night, she says she had a dream that
shok Knight was the one she's just signed to, and
that's why she approached him and wanted to do a
deal over there. That was her thing, that was her id,
she called him her thing was and she wanted to
be way more. She wanted to be street. She want
to be hardcore, and I said, you know, if you
want a street record, we can do that. In October
(19:40):
of that year, Shoog formally announced Lisa's addition to the
Row roster as a solo artist next on one of
the seven point five. That same month, in a New
York radio interview, Night claimed Chili had performed the stripteas
in the death row offices, and that t Bos had
lost her looks after giving birth. I just didn't understand
of how she could be associated with someone who could
(20:03):
talk about her group members like that, who are like
her sisters. Almost immediately after the signing, Lisa disappeared to
Los Angeles to plot her next solo move with shuk,
leaving three D in permanent limbo. She wasn't showing up
at the studio. She was out in California meeting with him,
and I was just like, oh God, he would go again.
(20:26):
I was just like, good luck whatever at that point,
you know, if that's what she wants to do, and
that's where her heart was, and that's what she felt then.
So bit with Lisa a Wall, Tian and Chiley completed
as much of three D as they could, but in
January of two thousand two, Tian suffered a complete physical collapse,
brought on by her continued battle with sickle cell anemia.
(20:48):
I think my body just had it, because that's the
longest that I've ever spent in the hospital. I was
really worried. I was really worried about her. I just
know would pray that she would get better and I
go visit her and stuff, and you know, it's like, hey,
when you get better, go right back in the studio
and we pick up and finish this. You know. For
(21:11):
four months, Tian slipped in and out of consciousness in
the I c U of an Atlanta hospital as friends
prayed for her survival, A surprise guest dropped by for
a visit. I heard this loud voice come down the hallway.
She was like, yeah, I'm coming to the room right now,
and I was just like, there's you go. Without warning,
Lisa had flown back from Los Angeles to be by
(21:33):
tian side. I'm always cracking joes in the hospital. I
was cracking Joe. She's like, you crazy. I was in
and out of it, you know, going to sleep and
waking back up, and you know, we have conversation in between.
And then she told me she was gonna go um
to hun doors. As Lisa prepared for her next journey
to the Usha village, Chili frantically trying to contact her.
(21:56):
A strange friend I was trying to catch her and us.
I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to ask
her the real reason why she wasn't coming to the studio.
You know. I wanted to know, if you know, if
you really want to do your solo stuff, then why
make us feel like you're on board. I never got
(22:16):
that chance. In March of two thousand one, with Tian
still in the hospital and three D barely halfway down,
Lisa Lopez boarded a flight from Atlanta to Honduras. She
would never return. Coming up next, Tian has a deadly
premonition when behind the music continues. By early two thousand two,
(22:42):
sessions for t LC's fourth album, three D were on
in definite hold. As Tian recovered from a near fatal collapse,
Lisa flew south to the Usha Village, her mystical hideaway
deep in the jungles of Honduras. That's where she found
peace at That's where she felt come doble. She loved
it there, she said to us. Had gone to some
(23:03):
heavy stuff and needed to get back to cleansing. With
her first solo album, Supernova rejected by Arista Records and
the TLC sisterhood ailing, Lisa had begun to look beyond
music for salvation. TLC has achieved a lot, but there's
so many more things that I would love to do
in the future, you know, outside of singing, I would
(23:25):
love to venture off into healing. She was on a
quest for spiritual and physical renewal and her guide was
the founder of the Usha Village and herbal wiseman named
Dr Saby. She said, I'm gonna make you famous. I said,
how because I'm gonna talk about you. Does everyone know
your care AIDS and cancer. There's just a lot of
(23:47):
people in the world who are suffering sick. They're not happy,
They're looking for answering. They don't know where to turn. Well,
I know a man who's been curing it since Lanten seven.
This guy has taught me a lot, and I need
to share my knowledge, you know, with the world. Despite
Lisa's absence, by mid April, Tian and Chile we're back
(24:08):
at work on three D, plodding forward as a twosome.
While returning home from the studio on April, Tian had
a strange premonition. I was in my Porsche and I
remember telling my security I want to drop this car
off because I don't feel comfortable driving this car this day,
because I feel like I'm getting a wreck. And I
(24:28):
dropped my car off at home and that was the
same day, so I guess that's sothing. Two thousand miles south,
at almost that exact same moment, Lisa, her sister Raina,
and members of the group Egypt struck out in an
(24:48):
suv from RuSHA towards the nearby creek. And maybe about
ten minutes after they left, you know, Randa came back.
You know, she was crying and she told me there
was an accident. Car was in front of us and
it just stopped. So she went to spurve out of
the way of the car and the suven went out
of control. Lisa's car careened off the two lane mountain road,
(25:11):
rolling numerous times before coming to rest in a dirt ravine.
While the other passengers sustained only minor injuries, Lisa was
thrown from the vehicle and died minutes later of head
and neck trauma. You know how things moving slowmotion. You're there,
you see it, and it's it's surreal. I mean, you know,
(25:32):
it's just like slow motion, like a movie. Just one
year earlier, Lisa had faked her own disappearance in an
ill conceived publicity stunt. As word of the accident reached
friends and family, all wanted desperately to believe this was
another left eye hoax case she planned. Is she serious
(25:53):
or is she you know? Is a joke, But this
time the situation was all too real. Lisa Lopez was dead.
She was just thirty years old. The tragedy of Lisa's
passing was amplified for Chili, who had been desperately trying
to contact her strange groupmate in the weeks before her death,
but the two would never have a chance to make peace.
(26:17):
There was no closure at all. I just cried all night.
I cried all night, NonStop. I just couldn't believe it.
I think so many things were going through me, like
why and how, and you know, not being able to
reach her before she left. It was just rough. The
(26:37):
following morning, Tien and Chili made the toughest trip of
their lives to visit Lisa's mother, Wanda Lopez. When her
mom came out and looked like she almost passed out
because she's used to saying all three of us together,
It's hard for her to see just two of us
and not her daughter sitting in between, or anything I
say is one is missing, one is missing, you know.
And I had to leave the room, because that was
(26:58):
just it was like tearing me up. On May two,
a public memorial was held for Lisa at the New
Birth Missionary Baptist Church outside Atlanta. More than fifteen thousand friends, family,
and fans gathered to say goodbye. The outpouring of love
from around the country. Um was just amazing. In a
(27:21):
testament to Lisa, I didn't care who was there. I
wasn't even looking around. All I could think about was
she's not here. I didn't get a chance to talk
to her. I didn't get a chance to say, well,
I love you, have a safe trip. I'll talk to
you when you get back. Lisa was laid to rest
in a lakeside plotted nearby hill and Dale Memorial Gardens.
(27:43):
Inscribed on the tombstone is her signature inspirational rhyme from Waterfalls.
She looked at it like it was no way that
you could kill life's energy. It just transformed into something different.
And the first thing that I remember thinking when she
died was that, like, Wow, she made her transformation. I
(28:05):
personally do not believe in death, you know, I believe
in transformation. I do believe that there is an afterlife
found out a chance to see her once more. I
probably wouldn't even ask her some of the things that
I that I wanted to ask her at the time.
I would just tell her that I love her. Despite
the loss, Tiana and Chili would have little time to grieve.
(28:27):
Immediately after Lisa's death, Aris to President L A. Reid
told the girls he was planning the Greatest Hits LPA,
a move that would put the brakes on their new album.
We didn't start that project together, you know, for it
to just kind of basically just be thrown out the window.
And here's the greatest hits. Why would we put the
greatest hits out? You know, we want to finish the record. So,
(28:51):
oh yeah, we were very pissed. If she was upset,
she probably had a right to be. We as the
label probably had one thing in mind for them. They
had their own idea for it. And you know, the
only thing I could say is that she's probably right
to nullify aristas plan. Tian and Chile went straight back
to work on three D, piecing together new music with
(29:12):
rhymes Lisa had recorded before her death. Almost immediately, Tian
and producer Rodney Jerkins penned a delicate song of hope
and remembrance called Turntable. What I thought was important to
express was that you can have hard times, but after rain,
sun will come out again. You know, you have good days,
um and it can happen, you know tables in turn,
(29:38):
you have to keep living. For four months, TLC remained
quietly sequestered in the studio. Their first public appearance without
Lisa would come August twenty nine that the MTV Video
Music Awards. That was one of the hardest things I've
ever had to do period ever. That was the first
(29:58):
time we you know, really talked about it and kind
of had to face it again in front of everybody,
And to get out there in front of everybody to
try to talk about that, I mean, it was just
the hardest thing in the world. This is so hard
because it's such a reality check because it's only two
of us up here. For so many years there was
three of them. So if you look, you know, you
(30:20):
see tea, bows and chili, and I think everybody kind
of just would go down with their eyes and it's
like there's that third slop that's missing. We know that
Lisa's smiling, and we just hope that she's proud of
us right now, thank you. One month later, in September
of two thousand two, TLC released their final studio album
(30:40):
three D. As fans listened and remembered, Tan and Chili
faced a bitter sweet reality t l C their life
and love for the past ten years was over. In
June of two thousand three, more than one year since
the death of Lisa Lopez, t LC took the stage
at And Stadium in New Jersey. With a sophisticated video
(31:03):
system projecting Lisa's image on stage, t Bas and Chili
deliver t LC's Hallmark heads to sixty thousand morning fans.
You could just feel the love from everybody and just
them feeling the loss of Lisa. Now. I was thinking,
I hope I get through this show and don't break down.
We would never look at the screens, because how we
(31:26):
looked at the screens, we would have just broken down
on the stage. Though the Jersey show looks certain to
be the final gig of TLC's career, Chili and t
Bos have been pondering one last tour as a way
to say both thank you and goodbye. But whatever happens,
both girls say they will never be another third member
right after her death, I got letters in the mail
(31:47):
from fans talking about um sorry for her death, but
I can wrap the cycle. We couldn't believe people would
ask us that, are you guys going to replace Lisa?
You know what about another member are in. It's just
hard our feelings because we would never do anything like that.
It was never a consideration where somebody, you know, like
(32:08):
Desse's child and it's just revolving door of girls coming
in and out. Tails was different. There was no replacing
any of them for the Lopez family, letting go as
a daily task of unthinkable heartache and loving remembrance. In
May of two thousand three, the Honduran government honored Lisa
with a monument, and a small cross has been erected
(32:28):
at the crash site. Under the guidance of the Lopez family,
plans are now underway for the Lisa Lopez Community Center
near her beloved Usha village. You know, I'm grateful that
I can try to Hondure so much and be you know,
I feel like I'm close to at least loved, and
I'm close to my sister down there. And the more
time I spend down there is like the more I
(32:49):
can understand why my sister was down there. However tragic,
the blow, life must go on. For the surviving members
of TLC. In early two thousand four, they began and
compiling TLC Now and Forever, a nineteen song retrospective of
their storied career. For Chilian t Bas, assembling the set
was a bittersweet trip through ten magical years of friendship
(33:12):
and song. I felt like I was reliving everything and
just kind of moving on through the years, and so
it was hard for me to listen to it because
to me, greatest hits, your greatest hits, that represents the end.
That's you know, that's it and for us, you know
(33:33):
that's that's really the case, that's the reality. Now and
Forever buttons a career of staggering sales success, but t
LC's legacy runs far deeper than any platinum single. With style, grace,
and a little bit of drama, t Bas Chilian Left
Eye proved that the world can be conquered without compromise.
(33:57):
I just wish that more of the young acts that
came out today, and I see so many of them,
could just have one tenth of the spirit that the
girls in TLC had. They were so genuine and so
kind and loved what they did and looked you in
the eye. They made a connection with you. TLC was
a perfect example of a group that just stayed that
(34:17):
way even through all the turmoil. Even now. That's what
I means. You know, we were translators as far as
our sound, the way we dressed and everything. We opened
up the doors for a lot of female groups. So
I'm hoping that you know, everybody will remember that about us. All.
(34:38):
You know, gave us each other. He gave us this
wonderful group, and it's just time to let it be.
You know, we've done great things again. You made history.
You will remember t LC and that's why we named
it TLC now forever, because we are forever. You won't
forget us m HM. TLC's legacy lives on today. They
(35:06):
remain one of the highest selling female pop groups of
all time. After Lopez is passing, t Bas and Chili
took some time to recalibrate during a musical hiatus. The
two remaining members of TLC each dealt with their fair
share of hardships, but both persevered in After more than
ten years apart, the duo reunited and launched a campaign
(35:29):
to crowdfund their fifth album, TLC. In three short days,
they surpassed their goal by two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
This album became the biggest funded pop music project in
kickstarters history. They released their crowdfunded album with the single
way Back featuring Snoop Dogg, t Bas and Chili are
(35:50):
back in the studio and out in the world performing.
Even in the midst of this comeback, the two vow
to never replace Lopez. There is no doubt this trio's
influence on pop music will be felt for generations to come.
Listen and subscribe to Behind the Music on the I
(36:10):
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favorite podcasts. Be sure to rate and review Behind the
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