Lisa Lopes

At 30 years old, Lisa Lopes has this physical status:

Lisa Nicole Lopes (May 27, 1971 – April 25, 2002), better known as Left Eye or Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes on stage, was an American hip hop recording artist and dancer.

Lopes was best known as one-third of the R&B girl group TLC, alongside Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas.

Lopes was one of the group's original creators, besides rapping and singing background vocals on TLC recordings.

She received more co-writing awards than any other members.

She also produced the costumes and staging for the company, as well as contributing to the group's image, album titles, artwork, and music videos.

Lopes has received four Grammy Awards during her brief TLC career, including two 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."

Blaque was also produced by the girl band Blaque, which had a platinum album and two top-ten hits in the United States.

Lopes is the only TLC member to have released a solo album. Lopes was killed in a car accident on April 25, 2002, while doing humanitarian work in Honduras.

She swerved off the road to avoid collision of another car and was decapitated.

At the time of her death, she was working on a documentary that was titled The Last Days of Left Eye and aired on VH1 in May 2007.

Early life

Lopes was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the niece of Wanda Denise (née Andino), a seamstress, and Ronald Lopes Sr., a US Army staff sergeant, was born in 1971. Raina Anitra, Lisa's younger brother, and her younger sister, Ronald Jr. (nicknamed Reigndrop). Lopes said that her father was "very strict, very domineering" and that the family was treated like they were in "boot camp." He was also a "talented musician" who performed the harmonium, clarinet, piano, and saxophone.

Lopes' parents separated when she was still in kindergarten, and her paternal grandmother raised her during her later years. She began playing with a toy keyboard at 5 years old and then wrote her own songs. She formed The Lopes Kids with her siblings, with whom she performed gospel songs at local events and churches by age 10. She attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls.

Personal life

Lopes was outspoken about her personal life and her difficult past. She openly claimed that she came from a violent, alcoholic background, and that she had a difficult time with alcoholism herself. These topics became popular in 1994 after she was arrested for set fire to Andre Rison's shoes in a bathtub, which later spread to the mansion and burned it. After a night out, she suspected Rison had beaten her and set fire to his shoes to get back at him, but it was an accident. Lopes later admitted that she didn't have a lot of freedom in her relationship and that Rison abused her emotionally and physically; she said she expressed her doubts over the fire on the night.

Lopes was sentenced to five years of probation and therapy at a halfway house, but she was unable to recover from the event that had marred her image. Rison's relationship continued to make headlines, with rumors of a forthcoming wedding debunked by People magazine. On The Last Days of Left Eye, Lopes said that her encounter with a struggling mother in rehab left a lasting impression on her. The woman's 8-year-old daughter was adopted by her mother shortly. Ten years ago, she had adopted a 12-year-old boy.

Lopes had several tattoos. The most noticeable on her left arm, which she said represented liberty, was a large eagle. Rison's NFL number when she was in Atlanta, and she added the number "80" around the eagle, which was Rison's NFL number when she was in Atlanta. In addition to Rison's name, "Bad Moon," she had a tattoo of a moon with a face on her foot; Lopes later added the term "Love U 2" in the musical notes on her foot for Tupac Shakur. A large tattoo of a pierced heart was on her upper right arm for her late stepbrother, who died in a boating crash. Her smallest tattoo was on her left earlobe and consisted of an arrow pointing to her left over the symbol of an eye, a nod to her name. Lopes battled with self-harm and even carved the words "hate" and "love" into her arm with a razor.

Lopes was reported missing in September 2000 after failing to attend a family reunion and a big press conference in Las Vegas.

Lopes was a passenger in a traffic collision that resulted in the death of a 10-year-old Honduran boy about two weeks before her own death. "It is common for people to walk the streets winding through Honduras, and it is often difficult to see pedestrians," Philadelphia Weekly wrote. As he stepped off the median strip and was struck by Stephanie, Lopes' personal assistant, Bayron Isaul Fuentes Lopez, he was following his brothers and sisters. Lopes' party came to a halt and loaded the boy into the car, and Lopes "cradled the dying boy's bleeding head in his arms" as they rushed him to a nearby hospital." He died the next day. Lopes paid $3,700 for his medical bills and funeral, and she paid the family $925 for any extra expenses, but the authorities and the boy's family had apparently agreed that his death was a "unforeseeable tragedy" and no blame was placed on the van or Lopes' driver. Lopes is shown selecting a casket for the child from a local funeral home in the documentary The Last Days of Left Eye. Lopes said she felt the presence of a "spirit" after her, and she was taken aback by the fact that the child killed in the accident shared a similar last name, despite the fact that the spirit may have made a mistake by taking his life rather than hers earlier in the series.

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Career

Lopes hopped to Atlanta in late 1990 to audition for a new girl group through her then-boyfriend. Tionne Watkins, Lisa Lopes, and Crystal Jones, the group's founders, began as a female trio called 2nd Nature, derived from the first initials of its members at the time: Tionne Watkins, Lisa Lopes, and Crystal Jones. Jones was unable to work out with Jones, and TLC's Perri "Pebbles" Reid brought in Damian Dame backup dancer Rozonda Thomas as a third member of the group. Thomas wanted to keep the band's original name, so she began with C, which is how she became "Chilli," a term used by Lopes. Watkins became T-Boz, derived from the first letter of her first name and "Boz" (slang for "boss). After a renamed Lopes "Left Eye," she later discovered to be New Edition member Michael Bivins, who once told her he was attracted to her because of her left eye, which was larger than her right eye, she was captivated to her. Lopes emphasized her name by wearing two glasses with the right lens obscured by a condom, wearing a black stripe under her left eye, and eventually getting her left eyebrow pierced.

With the album Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip, the group first appeared on the music scene in 1992. Its four hit singles, it has sold six million copies around the world, making the company a household name. Lopes began dating Atlanta Falcons football player Andre Rison shortly after, and the two people quickly moved in together in Rison's modern double-story home. Lopes pleaded guilty of assaulting Rison on September 2, 1993, and the couple's relationship was reportedly full of violent moments. Rison denied battering her. At the time, Lopes was also fighting alcoholism; having been a heavy drinker since the age of fifteen. Lopes tossed several pairs of Rison's newly purchased shoes into a bathtub, doused them with lighter oil, and lit them on fire after another brawl in the early morning hours of June 9, 1994. The fiberglass bathtub melted quickly, causing the house's structural frame to be on fire. (Lopes and Rison were involved in a spat because she discovered Rison in bed with another woman.) Many teddy bears were then thrown into the tub, doused them, and set them on fire. Rison was subsequently required to replace the fiberglass tub with a marble one, which had melted when she first set the shoes on fire and caused the house to go up in flames as well. Lopes was arrested and charged with first-degree arson; she was sentenced to five years of probation and a $10,000 fine. Rison eventually reconciled with Lopes, and the two of them went on and off for seven years.

CrazySexyCool was launched just shy of being sold worldwide, racking up to 23 million copies. However, Lopes' time in rehab had only limited involvement in the production and recording of the album. Lopes was a featured artist on "How Does It?" after the unveiling of CrazySexyCool for the first time. Keith Sweat's album from 1994. Lopes, a well-received verse to the rap version of "Freedom" of the Black Panther-based docudrama Panther's soundtrack featuring female hip hop artists such as Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Patra, Yo-Yo, Salt 'n' Pepa, and Meshell Ndegeocello, performed in 1995. Lopes appeared on Lil' Kim's "Not Tonight" remix in 1997, as Missy Elliott, Angie Martinez, and Da Brat. At the 1998 Grammy Awards, the album received a Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. FanMail, TLC's third album, was released in 1999 and has sold over 14 million copies around the world. The album's name was a salute to TLC's faithful followers, and the sleeve carried the names of hundreds of them as a "thank you."

Lopes made it known to the media on several occasions that she was unable to express herself fully in TLC, both during and after the debut of FanMail. Her contributions to songs had been reduced to a regular eight-bar rap, and there were several songs in which she had no vocals. Debra Killings' background vocals for the group's songs were often performed, something Lopes also wanted to do on songs in which she did not rap. "I've graduated from this time," Lopes wrote in the Vibe magazine's May 1999 issue. This TLC series and the music that is supposed to portray me are both unsatisfaction with it." Watkins and Thomas said to Entertainment Weekly that Lopes "doesn't love the whole team" and that "Left Eye is solely concerned with Left Eye." Lopes sent a letter to Watkins and Thomas, asking that they "challenge" to re-release solo albums and allow the audience to determine who was the "most" member of TLC.

Watkins and Thomas declined to take on the challenge, but Lopes nevertheless maintained that it was a good idea. For a long time, there had been a tense rivalry between the band and Lopes, with Thomas calling her antics "selfish," "evil," and "heartless." TLC's response was to say that they are very much like sisters who have their differences every now and then, as Lopes says, "it's deeper than a working relationship." We have feelings for each other, which is why we get so tumultuous at each other. I usually agree that you cannot hate someone until you love them. We love each other. That's the issue."

Lopes hosted the short-lived MTV series The Cut, in which a list of young pop stars, rappers, and rock bands battled against each other in front of judges. The show's champion, who turned out to be a male-female rap pair named Silky, was given a record contract and support to produce a music film that would then be part of MTV's heavy rotation. Anastacia's then-unknown placed in third place, but she ended up securing a record deal after Lopes and the show's three judges were captivated by her appearance.

Lopes discovered new talent through Left Eye Productions. Blaque, a R&B singer, mentored the R&B quartet and helped them get a record deal with Columbia Records. Lopes, who made a cameo appearance in their music video "808" and then rapped in their second music video "I Do," released their self-titled debut album. Lopes was also developing and promoting another new band called Egypt. They appeared on Lopes' second album under Lopes' new name, N.I.N.A., which means New Identity Not Applicable.

Lopes made a name for herself in 2000, including the United Kingdom, where he appeared on numerous television shows, including Spice Girl Melanie C's "Never Be the Same Again" which topped charts in 35 countries, including the United Kingdom. She appeared on "U Know What's Up" from Donell Jones' second album, Where I Want to Be, and with NSYNC, she rapped a verse in "Space Cowboy" on their 2000 album, No Strings Attached. Lopes co-hosted the UK's MOBO Awards with Trevor Nelson, co-hosting "I Know What's Up" with Jones on October 4, 2000. Toni Braxton's "Gimme Some" collaboration on her 2000 album The Heat also appeared on "Gimme Some." "How Do You Like It?" Keith Sweat's album "How Does It?" she had appeared on several websites. She appeared in a commercial for the fashion company Gap in 2001. Lopes appeared on the singers' edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in July 2001, as well as Joey McIntyre, Tyrese, Nick Lachey, and Lee Ann Womack. She dropped the $125,000 draw and raised $32,000 for her charity. Following her death in 2002, the episode in which she appeared was dedicated to her was broadcast.

Lopes' family owned UNI Studios in 2008, which she had created for the sole purpose of recording solo projects, to the public. Ronald is the general manager of the studio. In a high-end recording studio at her house, Lopes had a dream of making new artists record music at a low price. Her family continues to operate it and load it with new equipment.

She told MTV News:

Other tracks covered other personal topics, including her tumultuous friendship with Rison. Tupac Shakur's duet was also on the album, and it was also a posthumous duet that was assembled from a massive cache of unreleased recordings made prior to his demise in 1996. Arista Records, originally scheduled for release on the 11th anniversary of her grandfather's death, decided to postpone and then cancel the American release. In August 2001, the album was first released in several foreign countries. On TLC's fourth album 3D, the Japanese import features a bonus track called "Friends" which will later be sampled for "Give It to Me When It's Hot."

Lopes ended her solo deal with Arista after numerous meetings with Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight (despite being loyal to the brand as a member of TLC) and signed with Knight's Death Row Records in January 2002 with the intention of recording her second solo album under the pseudonym "N.I.N.A." (New Identity Is Not Applicable) She had conversations with David Bowie for the project, and she was also trying to get involved with the fourth TLC album. Along with close friend Missy Elliott, the initiative was also supposed to include collaborations with Ray J. Death Row Records (unfinished at the time of Lopes' death in April 2002) still had plans to finish and release the album after Lopes' death in April 2002, but the project was postponed due to unknown reasons. Several tracks from the album were leaked online by Tha Row Records' Steven Leo Varadkar. After Lopes' death, TLC also sampled her unreleased songs for their fourth album 3D. On the soundtrack to the 2003 film Dysfunktional Family, Danny Boy's "Too Street 4 T.V" (featuring Danny Boy) was released.

Lopes' family decided to partner with Surefire Music Group in 2008 to create Eye Legacy, a posthumous collection dedicated to her in honor. The initial plan was supposed to be published on October 28, 2008, then to January 27, 2009. The song "Neva Will Eye Eva" and "Crank It" were both directed by Lopes' sister Raina "Reigndrop" Lopes, who co-produced it. "Let's Just Do It" is the album's first official single, and it stars Missy Elliott and TLC. Lil Mama appears on "Block Party" the second official single. The album consists mainly of reworked tracks from the Supernova album. Forever.com, a non-profit corporation founded in November 2009. The EP was released on the Eye Legacy album, which featured international bonus tracks that were not on the Eye Legacy album. The EP was only available for download.

"Fantasies," an unreleased track by Bootleg featuring Lopes, was posted on SoundCloud in 2012.

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