Lisa Lopes
Encyclopedia
Lisa Nicole Lopes better known by her stage name
Left Eye, was an American rapper
, singer, dancer, actress, television host, and songwriter. She is best known as a member of the R&B
girl group TLC
.
Lopes contributed her self-written raps
to many of TLC's hit singles, including "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg
", "What About Your Friends
", "Hat 2 da Back
", "No Scrubs
", "Waterfalls", and "Girl Talk
".
backup dancer Rozonda Thomas
as a third member of the group. To keep the "initial" theme of the band's name, Rozonda needed a name starting with C, and so became Chilli, which was coined by Lopes. Band mate Tionne Watkins
became T-Boz, while Lopes was renamed Left Eye. Lopes celebrated her nickname by wearing a black mark; often a wrapped condom, in keeping with the group's promotion of safe sex–later evolving to a black stripe
under the eye, and then an eyebrow ring
in her left eyebrow.
The group arrived on the scene in 1992 with the album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip. With four singles, it sold six million copies worldwide and TLC became a household name. 1994 saw the release of CrazySexyCool
, which sold over fifteen million copies worldwide and cemented TLC as one of the biggest female groups of all time. TLC's third album, FanMail
, was released in 1999 and sold over ten million copies worldwide. Its title was a tribute to TLC's loyal fans and the sleeve contained the names of hundreds of them as a "thank you" to supporters.
During the recording of FanMail, a public conflict began amongst the members of the group. Lopes sent a message to Vibe magazine saying, "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 turn, Lopes sent a reply through Entertainment Weekly issuing a "challenge" to Watkins and Thomas to release solo albums and let the public decide who was the "greatest" member of TLC:
T-Boz and Chilli declined to take up the "Challenge," though Lopes always maintained it was a great idea. Things were heated between the ladies for some time, with Thomas speaking out against Lopes, calling her antics "selfish", "evil", and "heartless." TLC then addressed these fights by saying that they are very much like sisters that have their disagreements every now and then as Lisa stated, "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."
Melanie C
's "Never Be the Same Again", which went to #1 in 35 countries, including the UK. She was also featured on the first single from Donell Jones
' second album, "U Know What's Up
", and she sang "Space Cowboy" with *NSYNC
on their 2000 album, No Strings Attached. Lopes also collaborated on "Gimme Some" by Toni Braxton
from her 2000 release The Heat. In 2001 she appeared in two commercials for The Gap
, one solo and the other with India.Arie
, Liz Phair
, and Sheryl Crow
, where she was featured singing, rather than rapping.
Lopes was also the host of the MTV
series, The Cut
, a series on which a handful of would-be pop stars, rappers, and rock bands competed against each other and were judged. The show's winner, which ended up being a male-female rap duo, 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 so impressed Lopes and the show's three judges, that she too scored a record deal. About nine months before her death, 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 from a $125,000 question and won $32,000 for charity. A year later, in 2002, the episode of her drop was shown and was dedicated to her.
Lopes created "Left Eye Productions" to discover new talent. She helped the R&B trio Blaque
to secure a record deal with Columbia Records
. Their self-titled debut album was executive-produced by Lopes, who also made a cameo appearance on the album and in their music video "I Do". Lopes was also developing another new band called Egypt. They worked on her second album under her new nickname, N.I.N.A, meaning New Identity Not Applicable.
. It includes a song titled "A New Star is Born", which is dedicated to her late father. She told MTV News:
Other tracks covered personal issues, including her relationship with NFL
football player Andre Rison
. In 1994, Lopes famously burned down Rison's Atlanta mansion, resulting in the loss of all his possessions. Among the album's twelve tracks was also a posthumous duet with Tupac Shakur
that was assembled from the large cache of unreleased recordings done prior to his murder in 1996. The unreleased song, "Left Pimpin", was sampled for the song "Quickie", which is featured on TLC's fourth album, 3D. Initially scheduled for release on a date to coincide with the tenth anniversary of her father's death, Arista Records
decided to delay, then cancel the American release. The album was eventually released between 2001 and 2003 in various foreign territories.
CEO Suge Knight
, Lopes severed her solo deal with Arista–remained contracted with the label as a member of TLC–and signed with Knight's Tha Row Records, intending to record a second solo album under the pseudonym
N.I.N.A. (New Identity Not Applicable). She was recording with David Bowie
for the project, who she was also trying to get involved with the fourth TLC album. The project was also to include several songs recorded by and with Ray J
. The album was cancelled after Lopes's death in April 2002.
", was released on January 13, 2009 and features Missy Elliott
and TLC
. The second official single, "Block Party", features Lil Mama
and Clyde McKnight.
The album largely consisted of reworked versions of tracks from the Supernova album.
's tennis shoes in a bathtub, which ultimately spread to the mansion they shared, destroying it. Lopes claimed that Rison had beaten her after a night out, and she set fire to his shoes to get back at him. The media quickly turned this incident into the worst as they pointed out that Lopes must be a crazy alcoholic and for no reason, burned her boyfriend's house down. Lopes then revealed that she did not have a lot of freedom within the relationship and was abused mentally and physically, having released all her frustrations on the night of the fire.
Lopes, who was sentenced to five years probation and therapy at a halfway house, was never able to shake the incident from her reputation. Her relationship with Rison continued to make headlines, with rumors of an imminent wedding, later debunked by People
magazine. Lopes revealed on the Last Days of Left Eye documentary that her meeting with a struggling mother in rehab left a big impression on her.
Lopes had several large tattoos. Most prominent was a large eagle on her left arm, which she said represented freedom. Later, she added the number "80" around the eagle, which was Rison's NFL number while in Atlanta. She also had a tattoo of a moon with a face on her foot in reference to Rison's nickname, Bad Moon, which was not seen often because Andre did not like Lisa revealing the tattoo to other people. On her upper right arm was a large tattoo of the name Parron, for her late stepbrother who died in a boating accident, arching over a large tattoo of a pierced heart. Her smallest tattoo was on her left ear and consisted of an arrow pointing to her left over the symbol of an eye, a reference to her nickname.
. The passenger in the front passenger seat was videotaping at the time, so the last seconds leading up to the swerve that resulted in the fatal accident were recorded on video. Lopes's mother, Wanda, later sued Mitsubishi Motors
, as the Montero was prone to rollovers according to a 2001 Consumer Reports
review.
Her funeral was held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia
. Engraved upon her casket were the lyrics to her portion of "Waterfalls": "Dreams are hopeless aspirations, in hopes of coming true, believe in yourself, the rest is up to me and you." Lopes was buried at Hillandale Memorial Gardens, in Lithonia, Georgia, USA.
In a statement to MTV
, producer Jermaine Dupri
remembered Lopes:
Controversy over leaked autopsy photos led to a protest by NASCAR
star Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Earnhardt painted a stripe next to the left headlight decal on his #8 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
for the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway
to protest the display of her autopsy photos. A similar controversy befell Earnhardt after the death of his father, a year earlier.
A documentary
on the final twenty-six days of Lopes's life, titled The Last Days of Left Eye
, premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival in April 2007, for an audience that included many of Lopes's contemporaries, including Monica
, Ronnie DeVoe
, 112
, Big Boi
, India.Arie
, and Cee-Lo. VH1
and VH1 Soul
broadcast the documentary on May 19, 2007. Much of the footage was shot with a hand-held camera, often in the form of diary entries filmed by Lopes while on a 30-day spiritual retreat in Honduras with family and members of the R&B group Egypt. In these entries, she reflected on her personal life and career. A calmer side of her personality was on display, showing interests in numerology
and yoga
. She was in the process of setting up an educational center for Honduran children on 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) of land she owned.
The film also captured a car accident in which Lopes was a passenger and her assistant was the driver: "It was dark when the car driven by Lopes's assistant left the village. It is commonplace for people to walk the roads that wind through Honduras, and it's often difficult to see pedestrians." "Ten-year-old Bayron Isaul Fuentes Lopez walked into the path of the van driven by Lopes' personal assistant. The child had been trailing after his sisters and brothers and stepped off the median strip at the last minute." The boy was hit. "Lopes' party stopped and found the boy critically injured. They loaded him into the car, and Lisa cradled the dying boy's bleeding head in her arms. Someone gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as they rushed him to a nearby hospital." Lopez died the next day and Lopes paid for his medical expenses and funeral. Lopes is shown in a local funeral home choosing a casket for the child. Earlier in the documentary, Lopes mentioned that she felt the presence of a "spirit" following her, and was struck by the fact that the child killed in the accident shared her last name, even thinking that the spirit may have made a mistake by taking his life instead of hers." While her assistant was never charged with any wrongdoing, Lopes later compensated the family for their loss." The program also showed the last minutes of Lopes's life, including her swerving off the road.
So far, her brother Ronald Lopes is the general manager of the studio. Lisa had a dream of making new artists able to record music at a low price, in a high-end studio at her house. Lisa's family continues to operate it and fill it with new equipment.
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Left Eye, was an American rapper
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
, singer, dancer, actress, television host, and songwriter. She is best known as a member of the R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
girl group TLC
TLC (band)
TLC is an American musical trio whose repertoire spanned R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and new jack swing. Originally consisting of singer Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, rapper-singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and singer Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas it found success in the 1990s while also enduring a series of spats...
.
Lopes contributed her self-written raps
Rapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
to many of TLC's hit singles, including "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg
Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg
"Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" is a song by American R&B/Hip hop group TLC from their debut album, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip. It was released by LaFace Records in February 1992, and is the groups first single...
", "What About Your Friends
What About Your Friends
"What About Your Friends" is TLC's third single from their debut album, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip. The single was released in the fall of 1992. "What About Your Friends" reached #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming the group's third top-ten single....
", "Hat 2 da Back
Hat 2 da Back
"Hat 2 Da Back" is TLC's fourth and final single from their debut album, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip. The song reached #30 on the Billboard Hot 100, while reaching #14 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. The song is about the girls' fashion sense...
", "No Scrubs
No Scrubs
"No Scrubs" is a 1999 song recorded by R&B girl groupTLC for their album FanMail. Released as the album's first single, "No Scrubs" became TLC's third number-one single and eighth top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100. It also earned them their second Grammy nomination for Record of the Year...
", "Waterfalls", and "Girl Talk
Girl Talk (song)
"Girl Talk" is a 2002 song written by Lisa Lopes, Anita McLoud, Edmund "Eddie Hustle" Clement, Kandi Burruss, and Tionne Watkins, and was the first single released from TLC's fourth album, 3D . It was produced by Hustle and released as the album's lead single in North America in October 2002 and...
".
TLC
TLC started off as a female trio called Second Nature. The group was renamed TLC — derived from the first initials of its then three members — Tionne, Lisa and Crystal. Things did not work out with Crystal Jones, and TLC's manager Perri "Pebbles" Reid brought in Damian DameDamian Dame
Damian Dame was an R&B duo consisting of Debra Jean "Deah Dame" Hurd and Bruce Edward "Damian" Broadus .In 1991, Damian Dame became the first act signed to LaFace Records...
backup dancer Rozonda Thomas
Rozonda Thomas
Rozonda Ocelean Thomas , best known by her stage name Chilli, is a four-time Grammy Award–winning American R&B singer and actress who rose to fame as one third of the successful R&B/Hip-Hop/Pop girl group TLC.-Early life:...
as a third member of the group. To keep the "initial" theme of the band's name, Rozonda needed a name starting with C, and so became Chilli, which was coined by Lopes. Band mate Tionne Watkins
Tionne Watkins
Tionne Tenese Watkins better known by her stage name T-Boz, is a four-time Grammy Award–winning American singer, actress, author, and executive producer who rose to fame as the lead singer and one-third of the R&B/hip-hop girl group TLC.-Early life:Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins was born in Des Moines,...
became T-Boz, while Lopes was renamed Left Eye. Lopes celebrated her nickname by wearing a black mark; often a wrapped condom, in keeping with the group's promotion of safe sex–later evolving to a black stripe
Eye black
Eye black is a grease applied under the eyes to reduce glare. It is often used by baseball and American football players, where sunlight or stadium lights can impair vision of an airborne ball. Eye black has been used for centuries to help reduce the glare of the sun.Traditional grease consists of...
under the eye, and then an eyebrow ring
Eyebrow piercing
An eyebrow piercing is a vertical surface piercing, wherein a twelve to eighteen gauge cannula needle is inserted through the bottom of the eyebrow and exits through the top of the eyebrow to permit insertion of jewelry. Those performing the piercing may use a pennington clamp to better guide the...
in her left eyebrow.
The group arrived on the scene in 1992 with the album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip. With four singles, it sold six million copies worldwide and TLC became a household name. 1994 saw the release of CrazySexyCool
CrazySexyCool
CrazySexyCool is the second studio album by American R&B group TLC, released by LaFace Records on November 15, 1994 in North America...
, which sold over fifteen million copies worldwide and cemented TLC as one of the biggest female groups of all time. TLC's third album, FanMail
FanMail
FanMail is the third studio album by American girl group trio TLC, released on February 23, 1999. As with previous album CrazySexyCool , the group re-teamed with Dallas Austin, Babyface, and Jermaine Dupri on the album's production and the album features the computer voice female named Vic-E .The...
, was released in 1999 and sold over ten million copies worldwide. Its title was a tribute to TLC's loyal fans and the sleeve contained the names of hundreds of them as a "thank you" to supporters.
During the recording of FanMail, a public conflict began amongst the members of the group. Lopes sent a message to Vibe magazine saying, "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
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
that Lopes "doesn't respect the whole group" and "Left Eye is only concerned with Left Eye". In turn, Lopes sent a reply through Entertainment Weekly issuing a "challenge" to Watkins and Thomas to release solo albums and let the public decide who was the "greatest" member of TLC:
T-Boz and Chilli declined to take up the "Challenge," though Lopes always maintained it was a great idea. Things were heated between the ladies for some time, with Thomas speaking out against Lopes, calling her antics "selfish", "evil", and "heartless." TLC then addressed these fights by saying that they are very much like sisters that have their disagreements every now and then as Lisa stated, "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."
Solo career
After Fanmail, Lopes began to expand her solo career. She became a featured rapper on several singles, including former Spice GirlSpice Girls
The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. The group consisted of Victoria Beckham , Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Halliwell. They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, "Wannabe" in 1996, which hit number-one in more than 30...
Melanie C
Melanie Chisholm
Melanie Jayne Chisholm is an English singer-songwriter, actress and businesswoman professionally known simply as Melanie C . She is best known as one of the five members of the girl group Spice Girls, in which she was nicknamed "Sporty Spice"...
's "Never Be the Same Again", which went to #1 in 35 countries, including the UK. She was also featured on the first single from Donell Jones
Donell Jones
Donell Jones is an American R&B singer, songwriter and record producer.He is most notable for the hits "U Know What's Up," "Where I Wanna Be," and his cover of Stevie Wonder's "Knocks Me Off My Feet"...
' second album, "U Know What's Up
U Know What's Up
"U Know What's Up" is a 1999 hit song by singer-songwriter-producer Donell Jones' second studio album, Where I Wanna Be. It reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart on November 13, 1999, and stayed at number one for eight consecutive weeks...
", and she sang "Space Cowboy" with *NSYNC
'N Sync
N Sync was an American boy band formed in Orlando, Florida, in 1995 and launched in Germany by BMG Ariola Munich, *NSYNC consisted of JC Chasez, Justin Timberlake, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone and Chris Kirkpatrick...
on their 2000 album, No Strings Attached. Lopes also collaborated on "Gimme Some" by Toni Braxton
Toni Braxton
Toni Michelle Braxton is an American R&B singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Braxton has won six Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, and five Billboard Music Awards and has sold over 60 million records worldwide...
from her 2000 release The Heat. In 2001 she appeared in two commercials for The Gap
Gap (clothing retailer)
The Gap, Inc. is an American clothing and accessories retailer based in San Francisco, California, and founded in 1969 by Donald G. Fisher and Doris F. Fisher. The company has five primary brands: the namesake Gap banner, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime and Athleta. As of September 2008,...
, one solo and the other with India.Arie
India.Arie
India.Arie is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and record producer . She has sold over 3.3 million records in the U.S. and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards from her 21 nominations, including Best R&B Album.-Background:Simpson was born in Denver, Colorado...
, Liz Phair
Liz Phair
Phair's entry into the music industry began when she met guitarist Chris Brokaw, a member of the band Come. Brokaw and Phair moved to San Francisco together, and Phair tried to become an artist there...
, and Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Crow
Sheryl Suzanne Crow is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, folk, hip hop, country and pop...
, where she was featured singing, rather than rapping.
Lopes was also the host of the MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
series, The Cut
The Cut (MTV)
The Cut is a 1998 MTV talent series hosted by TLC member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes. MTV's The Cut, was a precursor of sorts to American Idol. A handful of would-be pop stars, rappers, and rock bands competed against each other and were judged...
, a series on which a handful of would-be pop stars, rappers, and rock bands competed against each other and were judged. The show's winner, which ended up being a male-female rap duo, was promised a record deal and funding to produce a music video, which would then enter MTV's heavy rotation. A then-unknown Anastacia
Anastacia
Anastacia is an American singer-songwriter. Anastacia has been highly successful in Europe, Asia, South Africa and South America, but has had only minor success in her native United States...
finished in third place, but so impressed Lopes and the show's three judges, that she too scored a record deal. About nine months before her death, Lopes appeared on the singers' edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (US game show)
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty. Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing...
along with Joey McIntyre, Tyrese
Tyrese
Tyrese Darnell Gibson , also known simply as Tyrese, is an American R&B singer, rapper, actor, author, former fashion model and MTV VJ. After releasing several albums, he transitioned into films, with lead roles in several Hollywood releases.-Early life:Gibson was born in Los Angeles, California,...
, Nick Lachey
Nick Lachey
Nicholas Scott "Nick" Lachey is an American singer, songwriter, actor, producer and television personality. Lachey rose to fame as a member of the boy band 98 Degrees. He later starred in the reality television series Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica with his then-wife, Jessica Simpson. He has released...
, and Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack
Lee Ann Womack is an American country music singer and songwriter, who is best known for her old fashioned-styled country music songs that often discuss subjects such as cheating and lost love....
. She dropped from a $125,000 question and won $32,000 for charity. A year later, in 2002, the episode of her drop was shown and was dedicated to her.
Lopes created "Left Eye Productions" to discover new talent. She helped the R&B trio Blaque
Blaque
Blaque is an American Urban-R&B group that had a string of hits in the late 90’s. The group's name stands for Believing, Life, Achieving, Quest, Unity, Everything. Their debut album sold more than 1.5 million copies and was certified Platinum...
to secure a record deal with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. Their self-titled debut album was executive-produced by Lopes, who also made a cameo appearance on the album and in their music video "I Do". Lopes was also developing another new band called Egypt. They worked on her second album under her new nickname, N.I.N.A, meaning New Identity Not Applicable.
Supernova
Lopes spent much of her free time after the conclusion of TLC's first headlining tour supporting Fanmail recording her debut solo album, SupernovaSupernova (Lisa Lopes album)
Supernova is the debut and final studio album by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes .-Album information:The album was not released in the United States, although it was released in other countries. The first single, "The Block Party", was sent to radio in the summer of 2001, becoming a top 20 hit in the U.K.,...
. It includes a song titled "A New Star is Born", which is dedicated to her late father. She told MTV News:
Other tracks covered personal issues, including her relationship with NFL
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
football player Andre Rison
Andre Rison
Andre Previn Rison is a retired American football wide receiver who played professionally for the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and the Canadian Football League's...
. In 1994, Lopes famously burned down Rison's Atlanta mansion, resulting in the loss of all his possessions. Among the album's twelve tracks was also a posthumous duet with Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
that was assembled from the large cache of unreleased recordings done prior to his murder in 1996. The unreleased song, "Left Pimpin", was sampled for the song "Quickie", which is featured on TLC's fourth album, 3D. Initially scheduled for release on a date to coincide with the tenth anniversary of her father's death, Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
decided to delay, then cancel the American release. The album was eventually released between 2001 and 2003 in various foreign territories.
N.I.N.A.
After numerous talks with Death Row RecordsDeath Row Records
Death Row Records is a record label founded in 1991 by Marion "Suge" Knight Jr., Andre Young , Tracy Lynn Curry and Michael Harris . It is known to have been home to many popular West Coast hip hop artists such as Dr...
CEO Suge Knight
Suge Knight
Marion "Suge" Knight, Jr. is the founder and CEO of Black Kapital Records and co-founder and former CEO of Death Row Records. Death Row Records rose to dominate the rap charts after Dr. Dre's breakthrough album The Chronic in 1992. After several years of chart successes for artists including...
, Lopes severed her solo deal with Arista–remained contracted with the label as a member of TLC–and signed with Knight's Tha Row Records, intending to record a second solo album under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
N.I.N.A. (New Identity Not Applicable). She was recording with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
for the project, who she was also trying to get involved with the fourth TLC album. The project was also to include several songs recorded by and with Ray J
Ray J
William Ray Norwood Jr. , better known by his stage name Ray J, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actor.-Early life:...
. The album was cancelled after Lopes's death in April 2002.
Eye Legacy
In 2008 Lopes' family decided to work with producers at Surefire Music Group to create a posthumous album in her honor. Originally set to be released October 28, 2008, the release date was pushed back to November 11, then to January 27, 2009. The song "Crank It", which features Lopes's sister Reigndrop, was released as a promotional single. The first official single from the album, "Let's Just Do ItLet's Just Do It
"Let's Just Do It" is a posthumous single by the American rapper, singer, and songwriter Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and is the lead single from her first posthumous album, Eye Legacy.-Background:...
", was released on January 13, 2009 and features Missy Elliott
Missy Elliott
Melissa Arnette "Missy" Elliott , is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, and actressA five-time Grammy Award winner, Elliott, with record sales of over seven million in the United States, is the only female rapper to have five albums certified platinum by the RIAA, including one...
and TLC
TLC (band)
TLC is an American musical trio whose repertoire spanned R&B, hip-hop, soul, funk, and new jack swing. Originally consisting of singer Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, rapper-singer Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and singer Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas it found success in the 1990s while also enduring a series of spats...
. The second official single, "Block Party", features Lil Mama
Lil Mama
Niatia Jessica Kirkland professionally known as Lil Mama, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, musician, and dancer.-Early life:...
and Clyde McKnight.
The album largely consisted of reworked versions of tracks from the Supernova album.
Personal life
Lopes was often vocal about her personal life and difficult past. She readily admitted that she had come from an abusive, alcoholic background and struggled with alcohol problems herself. These problems became headline news in 1994, when she set fire to Andre RisonAndre Rison
Andre Previn Rison is a retired American football wide receiver who played professionally for the National Football League's Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Green Bay Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, and the Canadian Football League's...
's tennis shoes in a bathtub, which ultimately spread to the mansion they shared, destroying it. Lopes claimed that Rison had beaten her after a night out, and she set fire to his shoes to get back at him. The media quickly turned this incident into the worst as they pointed out that Lopes must be a crazy alcoholic and for no reason, burned her boyfriend's house down. Lopes then revealed that she did not have a lot of freedom within the relationship and was abused mentally and physically, having released all her frustrations on the night of the fire.
Lopes, who was sentenced to five years probation and therapy at a halfway house, was never able to shake the incident from her reputation. Her relationship with Rison continued to make headlines, with rumors of an imminent wedding, later debunked by People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine. Lopes revealed on the Last Days of Left Eye documentary that her meeting with a struggling mother in rehab left a big impression on her.
Lopes had several large tattoos. Most prominent was a large eagle on her left arm, which she said represented freedom. Later, she added the number "80" around the eagle, which was Rison's NFL number while in Atlanta. She also had a tattoo of a moon with a face on her foot in reference to Rison's nickname, Bad Moon, which was not seen often because Andre did not like Lisa revealing the tattoo to other people. On her upper right arm was a large tattoo of the name Parron, for her late stepbrother who died in a boating accident, arching over a large tattoo of a pierced heart. Her smallest tattoo was on her left ear and consisted of an arrow pointing to her left over the symbol of an eye, a reference to her nickname.
Charity
Lopes started the Lisa Lopes Foundation, Inc. The charitable group is dedicated to providing neglected and abandoned youth with the resources necessary to increase their quality of life. Her spiritual motto is the one that she used for her foundation: "Energy never dies...It just transforms." Her foundation went into various underdeveloped villages and gave away brand new clothes to needy children and their families in June 2004.Death
On April 25, 2002, while driving a Mitsubishi Montero Sport, Lisa Lopes allegedly tried to swerve around a truck, but there was another vehicle heading towards them in the opposite direction. To avoid a head-on collision, Lopes swerved all the way off the road. The vehicle rolled several times after hitting two trees, throwing Lopes and three others out of the windows. She died of neck injuries and severe head traumaPhysical trauma
Trauma refers to "a body wound or shock produced by sudden physical injury, as from violence or accident." It can also be described as "a physical wound or injury, such as a fracture or blow." Major trauma can result in secondary complications such as circulatory shock, respiratory failure and death...
. The passenger in the front passenger seat was videotaping at the time, so the last seconds leading up to the swerve that resulted in the fatal accident were recorded on video. Lopes's mother, Wanda, later sued Mitsubishi Motors
Mitsubishi Motors
is a multinational automaker headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. In 2009 it was the fifth-largest Japan-based automaker and the 17th-largest in the world measured by production...
, as the Montero was prone to rollovers according to a 2001 Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports
Consumer Reports is an American magazine published monthly by Consumers Union since 1936. It publishes reviews and comparisons of consumer products and services based on reporting and results from its in-house testing laboratory. It also publishes cleaning and general buying guides...
review.
Her funeral was held at New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia
Lithonia, Georgia
Lithonia is a suburban town in eastern DeKalb County, Georgia, incorporated as a city. Lithonia's population was 1,924 at the 2010 census.-Geography:...
. Engraved upon her casket were the lyrics to her portion of "Waterfalls": "Dreams are hopeless aspirations, in hopes of coming true, believe in yourself, the rest is up to me and you." Lopes was buried at Hillandale Memorial Gardens, in Lithonia, Georgia, USA.
In a statement to MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, producer Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri
Jermaine Dupri Mauldin , known as Jermaine Dupri or JD, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper.- Early life and career :...
remembered Lopes:
"She was determined to be something in life. She was a true Hip-Hop star. She cared about some press. She was the star out of the group. She was the one who would curse on TV. She had the tattoos. You could not expect the expected. When you see Lisa, you could expect something from her. That is the gift she carried."
Controversy over leaked autopsy photos led to a protest by NASCAR
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing is a family-owned and -operated business venture that sanctions and governs multiple auto racing sports events. It was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1947–48. As of 2009, the CEO for the company is Brian France, grandson of the late Bill France Sr...
star Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
* NOTE: References to "Earnhardt", "he", and "him" refer to the subject of this article, unless otherwise specified. References to his father will include "Sr."...
Earnhardt painted a stripe next to the left headlight decal on his #8 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Chevrolet Monte Carlo
The Chevrolet Monte Carlo was an American-made two-door coupe introduced for model year 1970, and manufactured over six generations through model year 2007. It was marketed as a personal-luxury coupe through most of its history, with the last model version being classified as a full-sized coupe...
for the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway
Richmond International Raceway
Richmond International Raceway is a 3/4-mile , D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series...
to protest the display of her autopsy photos. A similar controversy befell Earnhardt after the death of his father, a year earlier.
A documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
on the final twenty-six days of Lopes's life, titled The Last Days of Left Eye
The Last Days of Left Eye
The Last Days of Left Eye is a documentary directed by Lauren Lazin which premiered on VH1 and VH1 Soul on May 19, 2007. It is centered around the life, last days spent in spiritual retreat in Honduras, and April 25, 2002 accidental death of rapper/singer/actress Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes , featuring...
, premiered at the Atlanta Film Festival in April 2007, for an audience that included many of Lopes's contemporaries, including Monica
Monica (singer)
Monica Denise Brown , and professionally known as Monica, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in College Park, Georgia, Monica began performing as a child and became part of a traveling gospel choir, by the time she was ten...
, Ronnie DeVoe
Ronnie DeVoe
Ronnie DeVoe, aka R.D., is one of the members of the R&B sextet New Edition....
, 112
112 (band)
112 is an American R&B quartet from Atlanta, Georgia. Formerly artists on Diddy's Bad Boy Records, the group signed to the Def Soul roster in 2002. They had great success in the late 1990s and early 2000s with hits such as "Only You", "Anywhere" and "Peaches & Cream"...
, Big Boi
Big Boi
Antwan André Patton , better known by his stage name Big Boi, is an American rapper, song-writer, record producer and actor, best known for being a member of American hip hop duo OutKast alongside André 3000. His work in the duo has produced six studio albums. During the duo's hiatus, he and André...
, India.Arie
India.Arie
India.Arie is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter and record producer . She has sold over 3.3 million records in the U.S. and 10 million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards from her 21 nominations, including Best R&B Album.-Background:Simpson was born in Denver, Colorado...
, and Cee-Lo. VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
and VH1 Soul
VH1 Soul
VH1 Soul is a digital cable and satellite television channel and is the sister network to VH1. It showcases R&B, funk, soul, and Motown music from various periods....
broadcast the documentary on May 19, 2007. Much of the footage was shot with a hand-held camera, often in the form of diary entries filmed by Lopes while on a 30-day spiritual retreat in Honduras with family and members of the R&B group Egypt. In these entries, she reflected on her personal life and career. A calmer side of her personality was on display, showing interests in numerology
Numerology
Numerology is any study of the purported mystical relationship between a count or measurement and life. It has many systems and traditions and beliefs...
and yoga
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
. She was in the process of setting up an educational center for Honduran children on 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) of land she owned.
The film also captured a car accident in which Lopes was a passenger and her assistant was the driver: "It was dark when the car driven by Lopes's assistant left the village. It is commonplace for people to walk the roads that wind through Honduras, and it's often difficult to see pedestrians." "Ten-year-old Bayron Isaul Fuentes Lopez walked into the path of the van driven by Lopes' personal assistant. The child had been trailing after his sisters and brothers and stepped off the median strip at the last minute." The boy was hit. "Lopes' party stopped and found the boy critically injured. They loaded him into the car, and Lisa cradled the dying boy's bleeding head in her arms. Someone gave him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as they rushed him to a nearby hospital." Lopez died the next day and Lopes paid for his medical expenses and funeral. Lopes is shown in a local funeral home choosing a casket for the child. Earlier in the documentary, Lopes mentioned that she felt the presence of a "spirit" following her, and was struck by the fact that the child killed in the accident shared her last name, even thinking that the spirit may have made a mistake by taking his life instead of hers." While her assistant was never charged with any wrongdoing, Lopes later compensated the family for their loss." The program also showed the last minutes of Lopes's life, including her swerving off the road.
Lopes's UNI Studios
In 1998, Lopes created the UNI Studios for the purpose of recording solo projects. Lopes's family opened the studio to the public.So far, her brother Ronald Lopes is the general manager of the studio. Lisa had a dream of making new artists able to record music at a low price, in a high-end studio at her house. Lisa's family continues to operate it and fill it with new equipment.
Studio Albums
- 2001: SupernovaSupernova (Lisa Lopes album)Supernova is the debut and final studio album by Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes .-Album information:The album was not released in the United States, although it was released in other countries. The first single, "The Block Party", was sent to radio in the summer of 2001, becoming a top 20 hit in the U.K.,...
- 2002: N.I.N.A. Cancelled