:: basic info ::
Lisa Nicole Lopes (May 27, 1971 – April 25, 2002), better known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, Teen idol, and member of the popular R&B group TLC.
She was considered by some fans as the creative talent behind TLC and contributed her own self-written raps to many of TLC's popular singles, including "Waterfalls" and "No Scrubs". Lopes was also a self-taught keyboardist and displayed those talents during her solo spot on TLC's headlining concert performances. She was also known for wearing a pair of glasses with a condom in place of the left eye lens in the beginning of her career, which was one of the ways the group promoted safe sex.
Solo career:
After Fanmail, Lopes began to expand her solo career. She became a featured rapper on several singles, including former Spice Girl Melanie C's "Never Be the Same Again", which went to 1 in 35 countries, including the UK. They performed the song live on Top of the Pops the week it went 1. The song was co-written and produced by Rhett Lawrence. She was also featured on the first single from Donell Jones' second album, entitled "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, instead of rapping, for the first time alone.
Lopes was also the host of the short-lived MTV series, The Cut, a precursor to American Idol in 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 scored a record deal as well. About nine months before her death, Lisa 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". Group member Natina Reed's rapping style was heavily influenced by Lisa's early work. Lopes was also developing another new band called Egypt.
Lopes spent much of her free time after the conclusion of TLC's first headlining tour behind Fanmail recording her debut album, Supernova. It includes a song titled "A New Star Is Born" is dedicated to her late father. She told MTV News:
"That track is dedicated to all those that have loved ones that have passed away. It's saying that there is no such thing as death. We can call it transforming for a lack of better words, but as scientists would say, 'Every atom that was once a star is now in you.' It's in your body. So in the song I pretty much go along with that idea. . I don't care what happens or what people think about death, it doesn't matter. We all share the same space.
Other tracks covered personal issues including her relationship with Rison. Amongst the album's 12 tracks was 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 10th anniversary of her father's passing, Supernova was then delayed for two months before her American label chose to shelve the project. The album was eventually released outside of the United States, and hardcore American TLC fans caused a demand for import copies of the album from the UK and Japan.
After numerous talks with Death Row Records CEO, Suge Knight, Lopes severed her solo deal with Arista Records (she 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). N.I.N.A. was to include several songs recorded by and with Ray J.
:: Personal Quotes ::
"I felt like an outcast. It used to be the three of us being very silly, and then it was just the two of them being silly. I didn't feel silly anymore." (on her falling-out with her TLC bandmates)
"There's a thin line between genius and insanity - and I always get labelled as being the crazy one"
"I have always been a very spiritual women, I think we all have different heaven's. Mine will probably be me re-living my life over" -Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopez on Death
[about Tupac Shakur] No, we never slept together. That was one of the first things he told me. He said, "Don't ever let me sleep with you. I don't care what I say, I don't care how. I don't care what I do, just don't let it happen." So I stuck by that because I didn't want to mess anything up.
[on her short-lived experience in jail while awaiting relocation to detox] I just felt uncomfortable. I wasn't really scared until I started walking down the hall. I started to think, "What if a girl tries to rape me, or what if someone tries to bully me because I'm Left Eye." That kind of stuff was running through my head. But as soon as I turned the corner and all the girls saw me, they started cheering. They were like, "Whoooo! Left Eye! Left Eye!" So I started pimping, like, "Yeah! What's up?" First I was walking like I was scared, but when they started yelling and screaming my name, I stood upright and I felt confident. Like okay, I'm not gone have to worry about that stuff I was just thinking about. I was like, "All right!" The whole time I was there I was just cool. I didn't have a problem with nobody and nobody had a problem with me. I wasn't like stuck in a corner crying like, "What am I going to do?" As soon as I got there, I joined in the card game. There were people who were excited. They were calling their family. They were like, "Left Eye, can you say hi to my little nephew?" I was like, "Sure, whatever, no problem."
Thanks to Jessica Benson for the layout
