Lisa Lopes
Lisa Nicole Lopes, also known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American rapper, singer, and songwriter. She was a member of the R&B girl group TLC, alongside Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. Besides rapping and singing on TLC recordings, Lopes was the creative force behind the group, receiving more co-writing credits than the other members. She also designed some of their outfits and the stage for their FanMail Tour and contributed to the group's image, album titles, artworks, and music videos. Through her work with TLC, Lopes won four Grammy Awards.
During her brief solo career, Lopes scored two US top 10 singles with "Not Tonight" and "U Know What's Up", as well as one UK number-one single with "Never Be the Same Again", the latter a collaboration with Melanie C of the English girl group Spice Girls. She also produced another girl group, Blaque, who scored a platinum album and two US top 10 hits. Lopes remains the only member of TLC to have released a solo album.
In 2002, Lopes was killed in a car crash in Honduras while volunteering at a children's development center. Lopes lost control of her rental SUV when she swerved to avoid a truck. She was the only one not wearing a seatbelt; four other passengers were injured enough to require hospitalization. The documentary The Last Days of Left Eye was released and aired on VH1 in May 2007.
Early life
Lisa Nicole Lopes was born on May 27, 1971, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Wanda, a seamstress, and Ronald Lopes Sr., a US Army staff sergeant. Lisa has a younger brother, Ronald Jr., and a younger sister, Raina. Lopes said her father was "very strict, very domineering" and that he treated the family like they were in "boot camp". He was also a "talented musician" who played the harmonica, clarinet, piano, and saxophone.Lopes' parents separated when she was still in school, and her paternal grandmother raised her during the later years of her childhood. She began playing with a toy piano at five years old, and later composed her own songs. By age 10, Lopes formed the musical trio The Lopes Kids with her siblings, with whom she performed gospel songs at local events and churches. She attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls. In an interview with The Independent, Lopes said that at 14 she was moved after hearing the Queen Latifah and Monie Love song "Ladies First".
Career
1990–1999: TLC
In late 1990, Lopes moved to Atlanta to dance in an artist's music video. TLC originally started as a female trio called '2nd Nature', with T-Boz, Left Eye and Crystal. The group was renamed TLC, derived from the first initials of its members at the time: Tionne Watkins, Lisa Lopes and Crystal Jones. Things did not work out with Jones, and TLC's manager Perri "Pebbles" Reid brought in Damian Dame backup dancer Rozonda Thomas as a third member of the group. To preserve the band's original name, Thomas needed a name starting with C, which is how she became "Chilli", a name chosen by Lopes. Watkins became T-Boz, derived from the first letter of her first name and "Boz". Lopes was renamed "Left Eye" after a compliment from her friend, New Edition member Michael Bivins, who once told her he was attracted to her because of her left eye, which was more slanted than her right eye. Lopes emphasized her nickname by wearing a pair of glasses with the right lens covered by a condom in keeping with the group's support of safe sex, wearing a black stripe under her left eye, and eventually getting her left eyebrow pierced.The group debuted in 1992 with the album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip. With four hit singles, it sold six million copies worldwide, leading to the group becoming a household name. Shortly afterwards, Lopes began dating Atlanta Falcons football player Andre Rison, and the two soon moved in together in Rison's upscale double-story home. Their relationship was allegedly filled with violent moments, and Lopes filed an assault charge against Rison on September 2, 1993. Lopes had a battle with alcohol at the time, having started drinking at the age of fifteen. After another fight between the couple, in the early morning hours of June 9, 1994, Lopes tossed numerous pairs of Rison's newly purchased sneakers into a bathtub and lit them on fire. The fiberglass bathtub quickly melted and set the structural frame of the house on fire. Lopes and Rison had had a fight previously because she caught Rison in bed with another woman. Lopes had thrown numerous teddy bears Rison had bought her into the tub and lit them on fire. Rison then had the damaged marble tub replaced with a cheaper fiberglass model, which went up in flames immediately when she set the shoes on fire. Lopes was arrested and indicted on charges of first-degree arson; she was sentenced to five years of probation and a $10,000 fine. Rison eventually reconciled with Lopes, and they continued dating on and off for seven years.
Shortly after, CrazySexyCool was released, selling over 23 million copies worldwide. However, Lopes' stint in rehab had led to her only having limited input in the writing and recording of the album. After the release of CrazySexyCool, Lopes was a featured artist for the first time on "How Do You Like It?" a song by Keith Sweat in 1994. Later in 1995, Lopes recorded a well-received verse to the rap version of "Freedom" of the soundtrack from the Black Panther-based docudrama Panther with fellow female hip-hop artists such as Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Patra, Yo-Yo, Salt 'n' Pepa and Meshell Ndegeocello. In 1997, Lopes was featured on the remix to Lil' Kim's "Not Tonight", alongside Missy Elliott, Angie Martinez and Da Brat. The single earned all artists a nomination for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 1998 Grammy Awards. TLC's third album, FanMail, was released in 1999 and sold over 14 million copies worldwide. The album's title was named by Lopes as a tribute to TLC's loyal fans and the sleeve contained the names of hundreds of fans screen names as a "thank you".
During and after the release of FanMail, Lopes made it known to the press on multiple occasions that she felt that she was unable to express herself in TLC fully. Her contributions to songs had been reduced to periodic eight-bar raps, and there were several songs in which she had no vocals. Studio session singers such as Debra Killings often sang background vocals for the group's songs. In the May 1999 issue of Vibe magazine, Lopes said, "I've graduated from this era. I cannot stand 100 percent behind this TLC project and the music that is supposed to represent me." In response to Lopes' comments, Watkins and Thomas stated to Entertainment Weekly that Lopes "doesn't respect the whole group" and "Left Eye is only concerned with Left Eye." In response, Lopes sent a reply through Entertainment Weekly issuing a "challenge" to Watkins and Thomas to release solo albums and let the fans decide the winner of TLC. Not only would it be entertaining, but more importantly, the three albums would fulfill their contractual obligations and end their deal with LaFace Records:
Watkins and Thomas were unconvinced by the strategy behind 'The Challenge' and declined to take up the offer, though Lopes remained firm in her support for the idea. Things were heated between the band for some time, with Thomas speaking out against Lopes, calling her antics "selfish", "evil", and "heartless". TLC then addressed these struggles by saying that they are very much like sisters who have their disagreements every now and then as Lopes explained, "It's deeper than a working relationship. We have feelings for each other, which is why we get so mad at each other. I usually say that you cannot hate someone unless you love them. So, we love each other. That's the problem."
1998–2002: Solo career
In 1998, Lopes hosted the short-lived MTV series The Cut, in which a list of aspiring pop stars, rappers, and rock bands competed against each other in front of judges. The show's winner, which ended up being a male-female rap duo named Silky, was promised a record deal and funding to produce a music video, which would then enter MTV's heavy rotation. A then-unknown Anastacia finished in third place, but ended up securing a record deal after Lopes and the show's three judges were impressed by her performance.Lopes created Left Eye Productions to discover new talent. She mentored the R&B trio Blaque, and helped them secure a record deal with Columbia Records. Their self-titled debut album was executive-produced by Lopes, who also made a cameo appearance in their music video "808" and also rapped in their second music video "I Do". Lopes was also developing and promoting another new band called Egypt. They worked with Lopes on her second album under her new nickname, N.I.N.A., meaning New Identity Not Applicable. She was also featured on Method Man's second album Tical 2000: Judgement Day on the song "Cradle Rock".
In 2000, Lopes became a featured rapper on several singles, including Spice Girls Melanie C's "Never Be the Same Again", which topped the charts in 35 countries, including the United Kingdom. She was also featured on "U Know What's Up", the first single from Donell Jones' second album, Where I Wanna Be, and she rapped a verse in "Space Cowboy" with NSYNC on their 2000 album, No Strings Attached. On October 4, 2000, Lopes co-hosted the UK's MOBO Awards with Trevor Nelson, where she also performed "U Know What's Up" with Jones. She also collaborated on "Gimme Some" by Toni Braxton for her 2000 album The Heat. She had previously featured on Keith Sweat's song "How Do You Like It?". In 2001, she appeared in a commercial for the fashion brand Gap. In July 2001, Lopes appeared on the singers' edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire along with Joey McIntyre, Tyrese, Nick Lachey, and Lee Ann Womack. She dropped the $125,000 question and won $32,000 for her charity. After her death in 2002, the episode she appeared in was shown in dedication to her.
In 2008, Lopes' family opened UNI Studios, which she had created for the purpose of recording solo projects, to the public. Her brother Ronald is the general manager of the studio. Lopes had a dream of making new artists able to record music at a low cost, in a high-end studio at her house. Her family continues to operate it and fill it with new equipment.