Image source: Getty / Jeffrey Mayer
TLC is one of the greatest girl groups in history. The Atlanta-based trio, consisting of Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas, rose to stardom in the 1990s following the release of their debut single. Platinum, “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,” was nominated for a 1993 Grammy Award for Best R&B Song. After their initial success, TLC took nine of their singles to the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 — four of which peaked at number one: “Creep”, “Waterfalls”, “No Scrubs” and ” Unpretty”.
Now, more than three decades since the group first made their mark, Watkins and Thomas are looking back on their prolific careers with the release of their new Lifetime documentary, “TLC Forever,” which premiered. on June 3. According to the documentary’s official description, “TLC Forever” will not only address the group’s historic success but also their biggest setbacks, including “internal breakdowns.” ministry, external attacks, bankruptcy and disease”, threatening to tear the trio apart. The duo will also open up about Lopes’ 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 crash just weeks before her 31st birthday on May 27. According to The New York Times, the accident happened while Lopes was filming. a documentary in Honduras. The singer was driving a Mitsubishi Montero SUV and was traveling from La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula when she lost control, according to MTV News. The newspaper also reported that, according to authorities in Jutiapa, Lopes did not have an international driving license and appeared to have been speeding when she lost control. The car crashed in Rome.
“Police said it veered off the road and flipped several times,” The New York Times reported at the time. While Lopes died at the scene, seven other passengers on board, including Lopes’ sister, Raina, and brother, Ronald, survived.
Notably, the incident comes just three weeks after Lopes was involved in another fatal accident that claimed the life of a Honduran boy named Bayron Isaul Fuentes Lopez. Lopes’ assistant, Stephanie Patterson, was behind the wheel when the car hit the child. Following the accident, Lopes is said to have paid for the boy’s hospital and funeral expenses, according to Entertainment Weekly.
What happened to TLC after Lisa Lopes’ death?
Following Lopes’ death, Watkins and Thomas released a statement (via People), saying: “We all grew up together and are close as a family. Today, we really are. lost my sister.”
Despite the fact that the two were injured, they felt the need to finish the group’s fourth album, “3D,” which they released six months after the accident in October. “We wanted to complete it. into what the three of us started as best we could under such pressure and pain,” Thomas told USA Today (via Biography) of their decision to return to the studio.
Watkins and Thomas then continued to be a duo and even released their fifth album, titled “TLC” in June 2017. Today, the pair are still active as TLC and are currently performing. performed on their “Hot Summer Nights” tour, which began with Shaggy on June 1.
