by
Katie Dvorsky
Lisa Nicole lopes was born on May 27th, 1971 to Ronald Lopes, Sr. and Wanda Lopes Coleman in Philedelphia, PA. The first of their three children, she would always make up stories to tell to her younger brother Ronald and younger sister Raina. The stories she made up showed she was very creative, and that creativity would help her to become a great lyricist/rapper one day.
In 1992, 21 year old Lisa Lopes moved to Atlanta, Georgia to pursue a career in music. After meeting two other extremely talented women, Tionne Watkins, and Rozonda Thomas, the three came together to form a musical trio, called TLC. The name TLC came from the first initial of each members nickname, Tionne's being T-Boz (meaning "Tionne's the boss"), Lisa's being Left eye (she got this nickname after one of her boyfriends noticed her left eye was slightly bigger than her right eye) and Rozonda's nickname being Chilli (because she adds the sauce to the group). Not long after getting together, the group was signed to a popular record label, LaFace. Soon after getting signed, the trio put out their first album, now a R & B classic, titled "Ooooooohhh...On The TLC Tip". The album had three* top-ten hits, "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg", "What About Your Friends", and "Baby-Baby-Baby". TLC dressed in baggy clothes, big floppy hats, and pinned condoms all over their clothes, showing their support for safe sex. The group's debut album sold over 4 million copies.
Two years later, in 1994, TLC released their sophmore album, CrazySexyCool which went on to sell an amazing 15 million copies in the United States, and 17 million copies world wide, helping the group to become the top selling female R & B group of all time. CrazySexyCool was a title thought of by Lisa, describing each member, her being crazy, Chilli being sexy, and T-Boz being cool. The album boasted 5 hits, including 2 #1 hits, "Waterfalls" and "Creep". The group's style of music had grown and so had their style of clothes. The started dressing more "sexy" showing that they were growing up a little.
Not long after the release of CrazySexyCool, Lisa burnt down Andre Rison's (her now ex-fiance) mansion. While druck, Lisa came home to find tons of tennis shoes. She did not find any in her size, and cracked. She threw all the shoes into a bathtub, and lit the on fire. She tried to extinguish the fire by turing on the shower, but it was out of control, so she realized she had to get out of the house. Se confessed to the crime two days later and had to go to alcohol rehab. Not long after the tragedy, TLC declared bankruptcy.
After a 5 year hiatus, TLC released their third album, Fanmail, dedicated to all the people who ever sent the trio fanmail. The album had two hits, "Unpretty" and "No Scrubs". Left Eye rapped on the video version of "No Scrubs" but not on the album version. She rapped on the remix of "Unpretty", but not on the regular version.
After Fanmail was released, Left Eye challenged T-Boz and Chilli to see which one would be most successful making a solo album. This arguement between to group ignited many rumors that the group would be breaking up. TLC survived this arguement though, but Lisa still went on to make a solo album titled Supernova. Supernova was never released in the United States because of it's poor sales in Europe. The album only had one hit, "The Block Party". Still feeling the need to succeed as a solo artist, Lisa signed with Marion "Suge" Knight's record label, Tha Row (Death Row). This time, her stage name was N.I.N.A., an acronym for "New Identity Non Applicable". NINA is also slang for a 9mm handgun. Lisa was working on her secong solo album and fourth album with TLC when she decided to take a trip to Honduras to meditate and to do volunteer work.
On April 25th, 2002, Lisa Lopes died. She died in a car crash in Honduras while driving to a children's developement center. There were seven other people in the car when the rented S.U.V. rolled over. Lisa was the driver, and the only fatality. Her record label announced her death to the public the next day. She is remembered as a kind person who loved children and had an intrest in helping others selflessly. Rest in Peace Lisa Lopes.
*I'm not sure how accurate this information is, I was only two when this album came out, but I did the best I could. I think "Hat 2 Da Back" was also a hit, but I'm not sure.
