Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes was the heart of TLC and one of the top rappers of the 1990s before she was tragically killed in a car crash in Honduras.
FacebookLisa “ Left Eye ” lope was just 30 years old at the sentence of her death in 2002 .
Lisa “ Left Eye ” Lopes was one of the most prominent American player to come out of the late 1990s and other 2000s . noted for her standout operation as a member of the R&B group TLC , the doorknocker serve as the group ’s chief lyricist and her influence can still be felt today , as songs like “ No Scrubs , ” “ Waterfalls , ” and “ Creep ” nostalgically hearken back to the turn of the 21st century in a unambiguously endearing fashion .
wing , Lopes was known for her advocacy and her contestation . She used her prominence and TLC ’s medicine to draw attention to serious effect like gang wildness and AIDS , but she also made headlines for burning down the $ 1.3 million habitation she share with her swain , football game role player Andre Rison .
FacebookLisa “Left Eye” Lopes was just 30 years old at the time of her death in 2002.
The intelligence that Lisa “ Left Eye ” Lopes had suddenly conk at age 30 in 2002 was similarly shrouded in arguing . It was shortly discover that just week before she was killed in a machine clank in Honduras , she was riding in a caravan that fatally struck a 10 - class - old Honduran male child — whose last name was Lopes .
age by and by , a VH1 infotainment , The Last Clarence Day of Left Eye , showed footage that jog herself had filmed in the daylight leading up to her unseasonable end , in which she say that she felt as if a “ spirit ” was haunt her .
Here ’s everything you need to recognize about Lisa “ Left Eye ” Lopes and the strange and tragic fortune surrounding her death .
FacebookA young Lisa Nicole Lopes, growing up in Philadelphia.
The Troubled Childhood Of Lisa Lopes
Lisa Nicole Lopes was born on May 27 , 1971 in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . One of three baby born to Wanda and Ronald Lopes Sr . , Lopes grew up as an Army brat who name her father as “ very strict , very domineering . ”
“ Strict ” and “ domineering ” was putting it lightly , though , and Lopes ’ don could more accurately be described as opprobrious . concord toAccess Atlanta , Lopes recalled one instance from her puerility in which her father bit her mother as she was seek to leave the syndicate ’s apartment .
“ I could n’t consider he bit her , ” she pronounce . “ I was horrified , thinking he ca n’t be sting my female parent . She was pushing his case and he would sting her finger . ”
FacebookThe members of TLC: Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas.
FacebookA young Lisa Nicole Lopes , growing up in Philadelphia .
When her mother finally got forth , she asked the children if they were make out with her . While canter and her brother remain frozen with awe , her babe made a motion to go out , and their father knocked her back down .
“ For the rest of the Nox we sat in the nook terrify that he was going to stamp out us , ” Lopes call back . “ He was laying on the couch with a butcher knife . ”
PinterestLisa Lopes and her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Andre Rison.
But despite her disruptive upbringing , Lopes recover some consolation through music . At a young eld , she learned to bet the pianissimo and performed in a trio with her siblings , have sex as The Lopes Kids . They mostly sing at local church events , but it was clean from too soon on that Lopes had something special , that ever - importantje ne sais quoithat comes to define the stars .
Then , in the early nineties , Lisa Lopes ’ big break came .
“Left Eye”: The Heart And Soul Of TLC
When Lopes was 19 , she get wind about an undefended casting call for a new R&B / rosehip - hop girl chemical group and packed her bags for Atlanta . The audition pass well and she , along with Tionne Watkins and Crystal Jones , formed the radical 2nd Nature under manager Perri “ Pebbles ” Reid . curtly thereafter , the group rebranded as TLC — the first letters of each of the members ’ name .
However , things did n’t knead out with Jones , and so the group substitute her with Damian Dame substitute social dancer Rozonda Thomas . The group had an issuance now , though — the name TLC did n’t make much sense with the updated card . So , Thomas was simply given a sobriquet : Chilli .
lope and Watkins adopted cognomen for themselves as well . Watkins went by T - Boz — descend from the first letter of her first name and “ Boz , ” slang for “ boss ” — and Lopes go by the name Left Eye , a nickname that predated the group , as New Edition member Michael Bivins had once tell her , “ It ’s your left over center . I do n’t know what it is , but it ’s beautiful . ”
FacebookLisa “Left Eye” Lopes in Honduras.
FacebookThe member of TLC : Tionne “ T - Boz ” Watkins , Lisa “ Left Eye ” Lopes , and Rozonda “ Chilli ” Thomas .
To emphasize the soubriquet , jog sometimes wore a pair of glasses with a rubber over the unexpended lens ( to promote secure gender ) or a pitch-dark stripe under her left eye . Eventually , she had her left-hand supercilium pierced .
harmonize to a biography of Lopes fromWBSS Media , the group became an clamant menage name upon the press release of their first albumOoooooohhh … On the TLC Tipin 1992 , and when their second albumCrazySexyCoolwas released in 1994 , TLC had become one of the full-grown girl group of all time .
FacebookFans were stunned and heartbroken when they learned how Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes died.
That same year , lope made headline for another reasonableness , however . She was in a troubled relationship with football player Andre Rison , and following an argument , Lopes set fire to the $ 1.3 million home that the two had been live in . trot later said that she only stand for to fix fire to Rison ’s tennis shoes in a bathtub , but the fire quickly overspread in the home .
She claimed that Rison had returned from a dark out and begin beating her , so she set the fire in revenge . But Lopes finally plead shamefaced to arson and was sentenced to five year of probation and fined $ 10,000 ( which was part of the reason why TLC had to hold bankruptcy a yr later ) . She also sought discussion for alcoholism , which was a Brobdingnagian problem for her .
PinterestLisa Lopes and her on - again , off - again swain , Andre Rison .
Meanwhile , lope also wanted to expand beyond TLC . In a 1999 interview withVibe , she said , “ I ’ve graduate from this era . I can not stand 100 percentage behind this TLC project and the euphony that is supposed to represent me . ”
Her group mates did n’t react positively to this , calling trot “ selfish , ” “ evilness , ” and “ heartless ” after trot issued a challenge to them , daring each of them to publish a solo record album to determine who the “ greatest ” TLC member was .
Unsurprisingly , Watkins and Thomas declined Lopes ’ challenge , but for Lopes , it marked the starting time of what could have been a fruitful solo career . Unfortunately , that career was tragically cut short in 2002 .
How Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes Died
yr before Lisa “ Left Eye ” Lopes tragically died in Honduras , she had long been drawn to the Central American country . It all started after Hurricane Mitch desolate the nation in 1998 . Lopes was determined to help the Honduran people by doing relief workplace — and later improving literacy there .
But according toPeoplemagazine , Lopes did n’t just travel to Honduras to bring home the bacon aid . She also used it as an escape from the never - ending visitation of show clientele — and to “ disappear into the scrub for twenty-four hour period . ”
On March 30 , 2002 , Lopes took one of those tripper to Honduras with a group of 12 Edgar Albert Guest . It was meant to be a apparitional retreat , and Lopes jubilantly footed the bill for the group to give ear yoga classes and jaw live outpouring .
But the trip was far from perfect , despite Lopes ’ graciousness . In former April , Lopes ’ personal assistant Stephanie Patterson was drive a rented minibus when a 10 - year - old Honduran boy jumped in front of the fomite . trot was a passenger in the minibus when it fatally attain the young son . Lopes immediately got out of the vehicle and run to the boy , holding his head while others tried to come to him and rushed to take him to a hospital .
FacebookLisa “ Left Eye ” Lopes in Honduras .
She later watch that the boy ’s name was Bayron Fuentes Lopes . They were n’t bear on , but the fact that they share a last name struck a chord .
No one , including Bayron ’s family , account the incident . His mother , Gloria Fuentes , later said , “ Why should we have bid the police ? Lisa was an fantabulous person , the way she treated me and accept fear of my son . ”
Lopes pay Bayron ’s hospital banknote and , after , paid for his funeral .
And even though she was n’t at fault , the incident stuck with Lopes , and she said , “ I do n’t think I ’ll ever get over it . ” jog had brought with her a telecasting television camera to record much of her head trip , and she spoke about the incident on mag tape . In this footage , which was later used in the VH1 documentary , The Last daytime of Left Eye , Lopes say she felt as if a “ spirit ” was following her .
This sentiment became all the more haunting on April 25 , 2002 , when 30 - twelvemonth - old Lisa “ Left Eye ” lope died in a sudden car wreck in Roma , Honduras . On that fateful mean solar day , she was driving a rented SUV to a picture shoot . The SUV was meant to transport just seven people , but 10 had crammed into it .
FacebookFans were stunned and heartbroken when they learn how Lisa “ Left Eye ” lope died .
As they were driving , Lopes passed a pickup hand truck , then , speed , career off a main road . She was confound from the vanguard and suffered fatal wounds to her brain and bureau . Others in the SUV stick out broken bones . Chillingly , since the photographic camera were tramp the whole meter during this drive , this meant that lope ’ sudden demise was accidentally captured on video .
It was a devastatingly brutish end to a life that institute a nifty many the great unwashed joy , despite her personal controversy . Her grouping better half fight to move on from her destruction , as well . “ We had all turn up together and were as near as a family . Today we have truly lost our baby , ” they wrote in a statement .
According toBiography , they could hardly stand to be in the studio , working on their next record album and hearing Lopes ’ voice from late recordings .
The group never replace Lopes — “ You ca n’t replace a TLC little girl , ” Thomas said — but they have honored her legacy in the year since by continuing to perform and using previous footage of Lopes in her absence .
“ I want to fete her life , ” Watkins say in 2017 . “ I want to experience upright about what we did together . I do n’t want to be in a dark place any longer . I want to find like we built something great together and keep that going for her . ”
After reading the tragic story of how Lisa “ Left Eye ” Lopes died , read about the destruction of another euphony image , Jim Morrison . Or , learn about the strange disappearing of one of the original vocalist - songwriters , Connie Converse .
