Today's Black Women
Requiem for An R&B Superstar: Searching for A Dream Today's Black Woman, August 2002
By now most of us have heard the tragic news that Lisa “Lefteye” Lopes, 30, of Atlanta-based supergroup TLC, was killed on the night of Thursday, April 25th after she lost control of the Mitsubishi Montero SUV she was driving just outside of the city of Jutipua, Honduras
According to an AP newswire story, investigators report that the rapper-singer was coming from an herbal healing center in the city of La Ceiba and attempted to pass another car on a two-lane highway when an oncoming truck forced her to swerve to the left. The vehicle, carrying eight passengers, ran off the road, flipped over several times and struck two trees.
Lopes, the talented rapper-vocalist member of the Grammy-winning Atlanta-based R&B trio, suffered fractures and internal injuries. She died at the scene. The other passengers survived the crash and were hospitalized. All were expected to recover at the time TBW was going to press. Newswire reports stated that the accident was not reported to local police and no autopsy was performed (Editor’s Note: The body was later sent back to Atlanta where an autopsy was done).
Lopes often let her music do the talking-preferring to keep mum about her private life and, for example the 10-year old girl she adopted in Honduras. “Lisa hand one of the biggest hearts of anybody we know. She did charity work for kids all the time for Lupus disease that people don’t know about…she adopted a little girl named Snow,” said surviving bandmate Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas who, along with fellow TLC member Tionne “T-boz” Watkins, made a tearful phone call to MTV’s Total Request Live the day after Lopes’ passing. “She was a very good person, very talented. She could airbrush, paint, build furniture…She could do anything if she put her mind to it.” Added Chilli, “The last time I talked to her…everything was going good. We just recently started to get stuff back together and we were waiting on her to get back into the studio.”
Lopes’ family, meanwhile was horrified to hear that the photos taken of Lopes’ body had turned up in local Honduran newspapers as well as on the Internet.
“She was dropped off at the morgue by her brother and her assistant, who personally had to physically bring her there in a coffin and place her in a refrigerated room,” said Marose. “Within an hour, someone from the U.S. Embassy went there and found 15 to 20 reporters in the morgue shooting photographs and video. They removed the coffin, removed the lid and tilted it on its side to get a better vantage point.” The family was “disgusted” and “horrified” and called on the media to not print the photos. The family also said it disapproves of attempts by people to profit from her death and sell footage of the crash site.
Lopes’ family obviously wants her fans to and friends to “remember the good times” and “what made Lisa special,” and they have been touched by not only the incredible turnout at the singer’s memorial services in suburban Atlanta, but also by the flood of cards and letters from fans. Several family members said that the influx of love from the fans was the only thing getting them through this rough time.
According to an AOL/Reuters new report, Lopes’ brother, Ronald, who was with her when she died, recalled before the assembly at her May 2 memorial service how he was “holding her head and her hand waiting for the first signal of pulse.” He added, “I just kept hearing Lisa in my head: ‘Energy doesn’t die, it just transforms.’ She had an understanding of life. She knew the essence of living. She cleansed her body. She cleansed her mind. She had clear thoughts and that’s what comforts me now.”
Very deep stuff, but very typically Lisa. Lopes was obviously much more than just the cute, outrageous five-foot, 95-pound R&B diva everyone perceived her as being. According to Lopes’ publicist Jay Marose, the singer, her brother, sister, two music video producers, and three members of a little-known R&B group called Egypt had been in La Ceiba since March 20 working on a multimedia project that included a book and a video. Marose said the book, called Open, was an autobiographical account of Lopes’ spiritual journey since finding peace of mind in a Honduran healing village that promotes and teaches a form of African herbal medicine. Apparently, she loved it so much that she began to put down roots there and bought a condo.
“She absolutely loved the country and wanted to live there,” Marose. “Anybody who watched her over the last couple of years saw that there was literally a physical change in her because she had changed so much. She was an amazing person filled with boundless energy.”
The sometimes temperamental recording artist fell in love with the Central American nation after visiting there in 1998 in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitchell, which killed thousands of people and devastated the region’s economy. She kept going back, often volunteering at a child welfare center in La Ceiba and learning about the culture and medicine.
At the time of her death, Lopes had obviously turned her life around. Her turbulent relationship with fellow TLC members Chilli and T-boz were finally in a peaceful state and they were planning on going back into the studio to record a new CD. Lopes was also planning to pull a “P. Diddy” and go to the studio to record a solo album under the name “N.I.N.A (New Identity Not Applicable)” for Suge knight’s label, Death Row Records. Left Eye was also collaborating with David Bowie, who was writing material for her solo record and possibly for future TLC album. They were admirers of each other’s work, and the “The Thin White Duke” had at one time considered having TLC sing backup on his song, “Thursday’s Child,” which appeared on 2000’s album Hours.
On the romantic side of things, Lopes was at a high point in her relationships with longtime fiancé/football star Andre Rison after having many ups and downs in their nine-year courtship. Those highs and lows included the 1994 controversy over a fire Lopes set in Rison’s $1.3 million Atlanta mansion after supposedly catching him flirting with another girl. The duo were planning on finally tying the knot last summer, but TLC video plans curtailed the nuptials. The couple spoke about their on-again, off-again while attending the 2000 Grammy Awards together. “You know, me and Andre just have a bond that no one will understand,” she said. “Sometimes, even I don’t.”
At the time of her death, Lisa was being sought after for modeling and TV work. She did not have the time for this kind of work, due to other projects, but the told family and friends she was extremely flattered by all the attention. Her 1998 MTV talent show The Cut was huge hit and probably her highest point on the Small Screen (other accepting Grammy Awards).
Says Edna Sims Bruce, Creator and Executive In Charge of Talent for The Cut. “I was the one to pick Lisa to to be the host. I thought her controversial nature would be good, along with her interesting clothes. With me she was always professional, always on time, and she would do all her lines so well…but she’d add in the things that were even better than what the writers wrote. She even co-designed outfits with her uncle. I wanted people to tune in to see what saying or doing that day-and they did! She was just a very creative person and I really liked working with her. She really got what I was after for the show and what I wanted out of her. I never saw the temperamental side of her that you always heard about. I truly miss her.”
Gospel artist Shirley Murdock, who socialized with Lopes on several occasions and with whom she shared a mutual admiration society says, “Lisa Lopes made her mark on our hearts. She was a star and a star shines brightest just before it goes supernova. We were blessed to be touched by the light of her life.”
TLC producer L.A. Reid says the passing of this R&B dynamo and caring human being (who he points out did a tremendous amount of charity work quietly) will stay in our minds for a long time, but that God and time will heal all. The Atlanta music legend, who issued a statement through Arista Records, remarked shortly after Lopes’ death. “No words can possibly express the sorrow and sadness I feel for this most devastating loss. Lisa was not only a gifted and talented musical inspiration, but, more importantly like a daughter to me. My thoughts and prayers are with Lisa’s family and friends. Her legacy will be remembered forever.” Her admitted that Lopes was sometimes difficult but pointed out, “She was difficult for the right reasons. She was a wonderful person, she was a giving person. And the creativity never stopped.” But Lopes was human, and, unfortunately, fame puts one’s human flaws under a microscope on a daily basis. Left Eye resented that she could not have her privacy and be a star at the same time. But later in her life, she learned how to accept the idea that the fans and media simply wanted to know everything about her. She realized that it was flattering in a way, but that she still needed her quiet time.
The true Left Eye could be found on her unique-ultra high tech animated Web site hosted by Yahoo that featured not only the latest news on Lopes and her personal projects, but was considered one of the most highly creative Web sites that any pop personality ever had. When Lopes died, the site was so flooded that most people could not get on it without trying for minimum of 10 hours.
Engraved on Lopes’ casket was a line from the Grammy-winning R&B trio’s best known hit, “Waterfalls:” “Dreams are hopeless aspirations in hopes if coming true/believe in yourself/the rest is up to me and you.” With that phrase we should all be inspired to make the most of our own lives and move forward from tragedy and setbacks as did Lopes via the tremendous spirituality dwelling inside. Lisa found and tapped into this spiritual reserve in her later years.
And fans will soon be getting a special gift. On the next TLC album, there will be four or five unreleased solo tracks by Lopes. The CD will also be in her memory. What better tribute could there be to an R&B superstar. –
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Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes
A Dreamer And A “Do-Er”…
Lisa Lopes was a lot deeper than some of her pop classics with TLC indicate.She was not only big on doing charity work in the down-low (including alleged secret trips to visit terminally ill children in Atlanta hospitals), but the petite diva had big plans for bringing folks from all walks of the music business together on the solo album she was working on at the time of her death. Only a few songs were in the can and their fate lies in the hands of Suge knight, who was not commenting on the material at press time.
In 2000, Lopes issued a challenge to her then record label, La Face Records, that $1.5 million be awarded to the TLC member who could achieve that most sales on a solo CD. Lisa invited Madonna, Lenny Kravitz, Lil Kim, Prince, The Dixie Chicks and David Bowie (amongst others) to do guest spots on her solo disc. At the time of her death, the David Bowie duet was already in the can, and as we go to press, neither Lisa’s current label (Death Row) or David Bowie’s label (Virgin) would comment on when and if this song will be released, it would probably be in the #1 spot on the Billboard chart the first week it’s “out the box.”
It’s ironic that at the time of Lisa’s fatal accident in Honduras, TLC fans were at their happiest, knowing that the group had put aside its differences after two years of breakup rumors and were headed back into the studio to do a group album again. And it’s no wonder that TLC would be so psyched about a new album-the group’s popularity has never faded, even when there was a couple of years between disc. (TLC holds the Guinness record for bestselling rap/hiphop album of all time in the USA. The album, CrazySexyCool, sold 11 million copies.)
Antonio Reid, president and CEO of Arista Records, and one of TLC’s producers, remarked at her suburban Atlanta, memorial service that Lisa was “one of the most creative people I ever met…her creativity just flowed and flowed.” She wanted to be thought of as more that just the mastermind behind hits like “Creep,” “Waterfalls,” “No Scrubs” and “Unpretty”-Lisa wanted to master all forms of popular music.
She took many musical newcomers under her wing. When she got a letter from Natina Reed asking her to help her musical group Blaque get off the ground, Left Eye helped her secure some top-level producers and a recording deal with Columbia Records. The TLC diva also had a big role in helping raise Mally G., a former member of the “youngsta” Atlanta-based rap dup illegal. Probably her most adventurous act (as least in the musical realm) was taking a few young Sudanese male refugees under her belt, putting them in the studio with her protégé, artist Egypt, and also letting them sing on the few jams she recorded for Death Row before her untimely demise. (At the time of her passing, Lisa was negotiating a deal with Dreamworks Records for Egypt and hoped to eventually get the Sudanese boys their own deal.) She also had friends helping her develop a clothing line, an untitled animated project, and an untitled multimedia project.
She also got both musical artists and friends into her holistic way of eating, her most recent recruits being Suge Knight and her adopted daughter, Snow. She believed in 100 percent natural juice fasts, and found some of the unique vegetation in Honduras to provide some of the healthiest recipe ingredients. She commented to MTV recently, “I am the type of person that is here to make everyone look at the back of juice bottle. I am that person that has to make you recognize that you cannot always judge a book by its cover. I drink a lot of water. I drink sea moss. When you eat just to satisfy your hunger you are not getting the nutrients. When you fill yourself up you are not giving your body what it needs to be healthy and grow.”- Anna M. Raso