0:00

With colorful style, loud attitude,

0:03

and timeless songs, they became immortal.

0:06

In their decade at the top, t l C made

0:08

the hits that made history,

0:11

but with every chart topping high came

0:13

an unthinkable low. Through

0:15

the darkest of times, their bond seemed

0:18

unbreakable until the resident

0:20

rebel threatened their sisterhood. With

0:23

intimate, new interviews and never before

0:25

seen footage, witnessed the last

0:27

chapter of t l c's fabled story

0:30

and the surreal final months of Lisa

0:32

Lopez's life. For the first

0:35

time, the surviving members of t l C

0:37

walk us through the emotional ending of their saga,

0:40

an amazing journey of love, loss

0:43

and remembrance. Now

0:46

while behind the music t l C

0:49

the final chapter, they

0:54

were crazy, sexy and

0:56

cool, and for ten colorful

0:59

years t l she reigned as the Queens

1:01

of pot. What TILSE

1:03

had was this incredible bond of

1:06

three unique individuals that had

1:08

a similar goal on passion, which was the

1:10

music to a legion

1:12

of fans worldwide. The Atlanta threesome

1:15

of ti On, t Bas Watkins, Rosanda

1:18

Chili Thomas and Lisa left

1:20

I Lopez with a definition of girl

1:22

power. We always

1:24

sit up for what we believed in. We stuck

1:26

together as a group. The unity

1:29

it was just so powerful and nobody could

1:31

break that. From on,

1:34

they sold over thirty million albums,

1:37

claiming the title of greatest selling female

1:39

act in history. But

1:41

as anyone who saw TLCS first behind

1:44

the music knows, the road to greatness

1:46

was pothole my bankruptcy.

1:48

This is how a group can sell tenian records

1:51

and be broken sickness. I remember like

1:53

praying a guy like please, somebody shot

1:55

it, and most famously fire

1:57

and I'll turn on the town and I see

2:00

the house in flame. Eight

2:03

years into their career, the trio seemed

2:05

to have weathered the drama with their sister like

2:07

bond intact. Little could they have predicted

2:10

the triumph and tragedy looming in the second

2:12

chapter of their saga. In

2:15

February of nine, after

2:17

three years of radio silence, TLC

2:20

re emerged with their third album, fan

2:23

Mail. They looked and sounded

2:25

vibrant as ever. Powered

2:27

by the sassy no scrubs, fan Mail

2:30

was an instant smash. The

2:32

impact at radio ended like MTV A

2:34

t r O was just enormous

2:37

simultaneously, which doesn't

2:40

happen that often. Sometimes you know, and

2:42

with no scrubs. It was so obvious, it was so huge.

2:45

Fan Mail sees the top spot on the Billboard

2:48

album charts, selling a million copies

2:50

in its first month. TLC

2:52

finally seemed free of the drama that had

2:54

shadowed every step in their career, but

2:56

behind closed doors, the sisterhood

2:58

was splintering. Left Eye

3:01

had begun plotting a solo career. There

3:04

are a lot of things that I would like to relate

3:06

people creatively, conceptually,

3:10

lyrically, a lot of things that I would like to get

3:12

off of my chest. She

3:14

wanted to do stuff that maybe me and Chili

3:16

weren't ready to do or didn't want to do it all, and

3:18

I respect that. It's just when

3:20

she chose to do it. You can go solo,

3:23

you can do whatever you want, but just don't quit on us.

3:26

In a May of ninety nine cover story for

3:28

Vibe magazine, Lisa offered fans

3:30

of first taste of her breakaway aspirations.

3:34

Speaking of fan mail, she said, I

3:36

cannot stand one behind this

3:38

TLC project. This will be my last

3:40

interview until I can speak freely about the

3:42

truth and present myself on my solo

3:44

project. There weren't rumors

3:47

of it that the girls weren't getting along, but nothing

3:49

really concrete, and that's when it's sort

3:51

of got confirmed. In

3:54

September of nine, with fan mail

3:56

well over the five times platinum mark, the

3:59

girls sat down to plan their most ambitious

4:01

and rigorous tour to date. But while

4:03

t Bons and Chili were eager to hit the stage,

4:06

Lisa was eager to hit the studio to work

4:08

on her solo project. She wants to

4:10

do kind of like a shortcut thing, like let's

4:13

do an HBO special and just get

4:15

some money and do some other things, you know.

4:18

But we were like kind of like, we have a promoter, we've

4:21

already sold tickets, it's the right thing to do,

4:23

and we have to kind of agreed to some things

4:25

that she wanted in order for

4:27

her to come on tour with us. So

4:29

it was kind of like that, alright, well, I'll

4:32

do this tour if my

4:34

group can open to play.

4:36

Kate Left Eye TLC signed on

4:38

her proteges to open the shows. A

4:41

three piece girl group she found in Philly

4:43

called Black Lisa was

4:45

on board barely. I

4:48

just kind of remember, you know, right

4:51

before we would go on stage, I would see

4:53

her and just kind of at like I didn't

4:55

see her or you know, we'd be on stage

4:57

and I didn't want to stand next

4:59

to her. Her heart

5:01

wasn't in it the way it used to be, you know, and

5:04

we had almost pulled it by her hair girl

5:06

come out here. Early

5:09

into the fan Mail road trip, the girls rolled

5:11

into New York for a promotional stop at MTV's

5:13

Total Request Live, But just minutes

5:16

before rare time, a group meeting went

5:18

south. I think

5:20

we were talking about the tour or something, I don't know,

5:22

and Lisa says something she

5:24

she pissed me off in I just

5:26

I had to walk out because you know, I felt I

5:28

was just getting too mad. And I walked

5:31

out and Lisa and Tian

5:33

had words. Tian has basically just had

5:35

it and she was ready to fight. That's it, Like,

5:37

that's it. I'm ready to fight. You just get it on. I

5:40

do you remember, like almost minutes before

5:42

going on the air that day, hearing that

5:45

only two of them were coming, and

5:47

I immediately thought, oh boy, there's there's trouble

5:49

in paradise. I bet it's Lisa

5:51

here they are TLCS. I

5:55

was looking at TV and they said that she

5:58

wasn't coming up. We are one short, were missing

6:00

l and tlc left eye. She okay,

6:03

she's not well, don't

6:05

get mad, but she don't feel

6:07

goodn't feel good. So

6:10

I caught the hotel and she

6:12

was crying. She was telling me about like

6:14

no one wants to listen to her, and I really felt

6:16

bad for her. So I went back

6:18

and turned a TV on and heard what they was

6:20

going to say. Why she was not there? Is

6:22

it a flu thing? Is it I have to say? Is emodia?

6:25

Maybe put it together? Okay,

6:29

you just said that. Two days

6:31

later, the trio headed to Entertainment Weekly

6:34

for a cover photo shoot, but before

6:36

the first shutter snapped, Lisa walked

6:38

off set for a meeting about her solo project

6:41

in sense that her lack of commitment. Tan

6:43

and Chili gave the magazine a scathing interview,

6:46

saying, Lisa doesn't respect the whole group,

6:48

she doesn't stick with us. That

6:51

was the first time we ever really told

6:53

the truth in the press, because we just

6:55

wanted to give her a dulceph her miss And I know how

6:57

it felt, you know, to be blasted in

6:59

the press and actually to see, you

7:02

know, see yourself for what you are and what you're doing

7:04

right now, you know, and it just wasn't

7:06

right. In response to her bandmates

7:09

candid Talk, Lisa fired a letter back

7:11

to e W that's since become known

7:13

as the Challenge. In it,

7:16

she dared her groupmates ten Player

7:18

Watkins and Rosanda Hayter Thomas

7:20

to a solo sales contest one

7:22

record, each winner takes all. I'm

7:25

not going to compete against my own group member.

7:28

You can't compete against your own family to win against

7:30

the world. It just doesn't work. And it

7:32

was funny because we were kind of laughing at the

7:34

same time, and you know, Piste off too.

7:37

You don't want to fight your sister, but I

7:39

really wanted to punch it. Oh

7:41

my dude, what is wrong with you? Lisa

7:44

not only was one of the most creative people

7:46

that I ever known, but she also

7:49

knew how to ring in the press. And

7:51

the difference between Lisa and TiVos and

7:53

Chili was that Lisa felt

7:55

that all press was good pressed and Tibos

7:58

and Chili didn't feel that way. Despite

8:01

the controversy, TLC's first arena

8:03

headlining tour was a nationwide smash,

8:06

but while the girls were all smiles on

8:08

stage, left eyes, relentless. Media

8:10

high jinks were threatening to dissolve their music

8:13

and their friendship. I got

8:15

to the point where I personally didn't

8:17

even want to be in the same room with Lisa

8:20

because she was a very different Lisa

8:22

to me and Lisa I

8:24

met years ago. You know,

8:26

she wasn't that playful, silly Lisa

8:29

anymore, and you know, everything

8:31

was just so serious. She just became

8:33

this person that I didn't know. By

8:36

the end of t lcs

8:38

third album, fan Mail, had sold well

8:40

over five million copies and spawned

8:42

two global hits, the playful

8:45

No Scrubs and an anthem of inner beauty

8:47

called Unpretty. It

8:50

was on the set of the Unpretty video that Tien

8:52

would find true love with

8:54

hardcore West Coast MC mac ten.

8:57

Tian has always kind of avitated

9:00

more towards the rough guy,

9:02

you know, and mac ten is

9:05

that. Five months

9:07

later, on New Year's Eve, a

9:10

nervous Mactent dropped to his knees and

9:12

popped the question before twelve o'clock

9:15

hit. He was looking at all big ey to scare

9:17

and I was like, what's wrong? And you want to talk about

9:19

something something on your mind, noting wrong with you.

9:21

He was probably shaking in his bos, like, oh

9:24

my god, am I gonna really married his girl? Tien's

9:26

love life was complete, But TLC,

9:29

we're coming undone. In

9:31

January of two thousand, the girls wrapped

9:34

the American leg of the turbulent fan Mail

9:36

tour in their native Atlanta. But

9:38

while t Bas and Chili were eager to take

9:40

the show overseas, Lisa's focus

9:42

had shifted to finishing her first solo album,

9:45

Supernova. I was

9:47

really piste off because I love touring

9:49

and I didn't want to stop, and I just felt like

9:51

it's stopped too soon, and it was, you

9:53

know, out of my hands. Despite

9:56

their dissolving bond, TLC were

9:58

the toast of the industry. That

10:01

February, Grammy honored Fan Mail with

10:03

eight nominations, including Album

10:05

of the Year. The best starr in the album

10:07

is Old

10:12

Tally. The trio walked off with three statues

10:14

that night, but for Tian, the

10:16

greatest gift was yet to come. Well,

10:19

we were on the Grammys, I was already pregnant. I didn't

10:21

even know that, and I found out like a

10:23

couple of months later that I was too months

10:25

pregnant. I was just like, WHOA, because you know, I

10:28

was told I couldn't have kids. At an early

10:30

age, Tian had been diagnosed with sickle

10:32

cell anemia, a debilitating sickness

10:34

that stops blood from reaching vital organs.

10:37

Though she had been sternly warned by doctors

10:39

that childbirth could bring life threatening complications,

10:42

she made the risky decision to keep

10:44

her baby, with

10:47

doctors telling her that maybe she probably

10:49

couldn't have children it would be too difficult, and

10:51

her just being like, you know what, I don't

10:54

believe that, you know, I get pregnant.

10:56

I believe in God that he's gonna see

10:59

this top through. In August

11:01

of two thousand, at a seaside chapel in

11:03

Palace Vertus, California, a seven

11:06

months pregnant Tion married mac chan.

11:09

Lisa was not at the wedding. For

11:12

a minute, I'm just like, why didn't she come? But

11:15

my day was so happy. I didn't really trip on it

11:18

because of everything that we had gone through, and just

11:20

Lisa basically, in my opinion,

11:22

being very selfish, not really

11:25

thinking about the group, only thinking

11:27

of herself. It made sense for her not to

11:29

be there. I know, if it was my wedding, I wouldn't have wanted

11:31

her to be there. The TLC

11:34

sisterhood was ailing, but left eyes

11:36

love affair with the media was stronger

11:38

than ever. In early September

11:40

two thousand, after missing a scheduled interview,

11:43

Lisa puld her craftiest publicity prank

11:45

today, releasing a bogus

11:47

report of her own disappearance.

11:50

Even though you know that she would do that kind of stuff, is

11:52

always the chance still left at it. Maybe

11:54

this is real, you know. And

11:57

then we found out on you know, on the inside

11:59

that she really wasn't you know. It pissed me off.

12:03

When people love you and they think you're missing. I

12:05

mean, my god, that's that's not cool.

12:08

Ironically, Lisa was miles away

12:10

from the media swarm she'd created. Beginning

12:13

of n Lisa had sought spiritual

12:16

refuge at the remote Usha Village in Honduras,

12:19

a sprawl of humble huts on the edge

12:21

of a dense Central American jungle. She

12:25

was totally at home and totally happy there.

12:27

All of her heaviness was gone, all

12:29

of the bad energy that

12:31

I had seen her display was gone.

12:35

It was a place where she can just sort of sit

12:37

and be quiet and and think she

12:40

was then how there were no televisions in the rooms,

12:43

and you know it's very peaceful,

12:45

and you know that I should come. So

12:48

I was like, man, I don't know about that. No TV.

12:51

She told me it was one hud Well, one TV, no

12:54

satellite. I was like, girl, I am not going

12:56

because I need my Hbos.

12:59

Sopranos is the child in

13:01

the tiny village. Lisa sought guidance

13:04

for body and soul from an herbal guru

13:06

named Dr Savy. Dr

13:08

Savy, you know, according to him, can cure

13:10

anything everything from trying

13:13

to lose weight too, you

13:16

know, looking for a cure for AIDS. People

13:18

go there with hopes and dreams that Dr

13:20

Savy can somehow save them.

13:23

She had been through so many intense

13:26

problems in her career and in her

13:29

life and in a personal life that she didn't

13:31

know where to turn. And this

13:33

doctor, she said, and showing

13:36

her how to really open up and cleanse

13:38

all of the negativity out of her. She

13:41

told me she was selling with alcoholism.

13:44

I know she was smoking excessively cigarettes,

13:47

drinking and smoking. She asked

13:49

me, what do I need to do to stay

13:52

on the side of peace. I say,

13:54

fast, do what Jesus did she

13:56

said, what did Jesus do? You thought it for

13:58

forty days on for nights midway

14:02

through her forty day or deal and obviously

14:04

gaunt, Lisa spoke with MTV News,

14:07

have been polluting my

14:10

body for thirty years. Forty

14:12

days is not a long time to me, too

14:15

fast forty days represents

14:17

overcoming death. It's it's the number

14:20

of days that Jesus fast fore and I

14:22

kind of I feel like I'm on a journey

14:25

sometimes don't really

14:27

know quite

14:30

where I'm headed. At the

14:32

ending of the fast thing, she came to me. I heard

14:34

the door opening at two o'clock in the morning, she

14:36

said, I completed

14:39

my fast this morning. I

14:42

said, what did you see? I

14:44

saw God. I saw

14:46

a compassion as being the

14:48

only giving. As

14:50

Lisa chased the demons from her life,

14:53

t Odd welcomed an angel to her

14:55

world. On October t

14:58

Bos gave birth to her child, a

15:01

five pound, two ounce girl she named

15:03

Chase. My daughter's funny. You know, usually

15:05

baby's eyes are closed, like my baby was trying to

15:07

stare from day one. It's like

15:10

she's been here before. But it was the most beautiful

15:12

thing then. That's so like my miracle baby.

15:14

Despite potential complications from her

15:16

sickle cell anemia. The new Mom

15:18

seemed to pull through delivery in good health,

15:21

but just three days later, medical complications

15:23

left her in a new or coma, fighting

15:25

for her life in the I c U of an l A

15:28

hospital. When I came to, I

15:30

remember my mom. They rode the baby

15:32

in there, and I remember them

15:35

putting her blanket over my nose

15:37

to smell my baby, like you know, you have a reason

15:39

to stay here, like you know, don't

15:42

slip away. Tim would eventually

15:44

make a full recovery, but t l C was

15:46

the last thing on her mind. By

15:48

the end of two thousand, the trio were on indefinite

15:51

hiatus as solo albums

15:54

and Motherhood took precedence over t LC.

15:56

Fans wondered aloud if fan mail had

15:58

been there farewell. Rumors were really

16:01

starting to fly that they meeting my break

16:03

up. We were all doing her whole thing. I was raising

16:05

a baby, you know, I was a

16:07

new mother, and that to me

16:09

was more important than anything going on. So I didn't

16:11

really care what nobody was doing at the time. Point on True

16:14

Next the loss of a sister When

16:18

behind the music continues. By

16:23

the summer of two thousand one, and Lisa's media

16:25

mischief had fractured her bomb with t BOS

16:28

and Chile and pushed TLC to

16:30

the verge of implosion. That

16:32

August, after nearly two years in and out

16:34

of the studio, she finally completed

16:36

her first solo album, Supernova.

16:40

The first time I heard Supernova was

16:42

in Honduras. Pol supplayed

16:44

it for me, and I was really

16:46

surprised because I

16:49

wasn't expecting it's

16:51

to be so spiritual.

16:54

Who would expect that from a girl who burned

16:56

down a house. She

16:58

had excelled me on what she had done

17:00

before, and I thought that she really had gotten

17:03

to a different place musically.

17:07

But Arista Records was underwhelmed

17:09

by Lisa's new direction. Unconvinced

17:11

the Supernova sales potential label had

17:14

l A. Reid refused to release the album in

17:16

America. You know,

17:18

it was a tough thing, and we definitely felt

17:20

that the pressure was there to deliver something

17:23

compelling, and I wasn't

17:25

sure that we had something that was compelling.

17:27

She was o she wasn't mad about

17:30

that. You know, work her companies, they always

17:32

go back on their words, switch up everything,

17:34

and you know, I guess they didn't win Bamboom

17:36

on her. As Lisa's

17:39

solo career ground to a standstill,

17:41

her groupmates saw a chance to give

17:43

TLC one more try.

17:47

They were all, you know, just kind of going our

17:49

separate ways. Everybody had their own thing

17:51

going on. But I don't know, something

17:53

hit me. I just I was like, no, we

17:56

have to do one more record. Though

17:58

her endless drama over the last two years

18:00

had alienated Lisa from the group, Tien

18:03

and Chili asked if she'd be willing to make one

18:05

final TLC album.

18:07

I think at that point, you know, we just kind of

18:09

wanted to go in and basically show

18:11

everybody, look, we haven't broken up. Miraculously,

18:15

Lisa accepted, and

18:17

in late two thousand one, TLC entered

18:20

a recording studio together for the first time

18:22

and over three years to begin sessions

18:24

for their fourth album, three D. It

18:27

was really rewarding because we

18:29

had gone through all of the bad press,

18:32

and we had gone through the breakups,

18:34

and and we were all really excited

18:36

to prove to everybody that once

18:38

again the press was wrong. It

18:41

was just like the old days, really, you know, acting

18:43

silly and stand there even

18:45

if you didn't have to sing a part, just being supportive

18:48

of the other member. It was good

18:50

for us. We all needed that. I think we

18:53

were having fun in the studios like day Won,

18:55

you know, um, no arguments. It

18:58

felt like, you know, we were

19:00

all kind of back in sync with each other. But

19:02

that didn't last long. Despite

19:06

t LC's renewed harmony, Lisa

19:08

never abandoned hope of his solo career,

19:10

and midway through the three D sessions,

19:12

she felt she'd finally found the man to

19:14

make it happen. Infamous

19:17

death Row record CEO Shook Night,

19:20

she says she had a dream that shok Knight was the

19:22

one she's just signed to, and

19:24

that's why she approached him and wanted to do a

19:26

deal over there. That was her thing, that was her id, she

19:29

called him her thing was and

19:31

she wanted to be way more. She

19:33

wanted to be street. She want to be hardcore, and

19:35

I said, you know, if you want a street record, we can do that.

19:39

In October of that year, Shoog formally

19:41

announced Lisa's addition to the Row roster

19:43

as a solo artist next on one

19:46

of the seven point five. That same

19:48

month, in a New York radio interview,

19:50

Night claimed Chili had performed the stripteas

19:53

in the death row offices, and that t

19:55

Bos had lost her looks after giving

19:57

birth. I just didn't understand

20:00

of how she could be associated

20:02

with someone who could talk about her group members

20:04

like that, who are like her sisters. Almost

20:07

immediately after the signing, Lisa disappeared

20:10

to Los Angeles to plot her next solo

20:12

move with shuk, leaving three D

20:14

in permanent limbo. She

20:17

wasn't showing up at the studio. She

20:20

was out in California meeting

20:22

with him, and I was just like, oh God, he

20:24

would go again. I was just like,

20:26

good luck whatever at that point,

20:29

you know, if that's what she wants to do, and that's

20:31

where her heart was, and that's what she felt then. So

20:33

bit with Lisa a Wall,

20:35

Tian and Chiley completed as much of

20:37

three D as they could, but in

20:40

January of two thousand two, Tian suffered

20:42

a complete physical collapse, brought

20:45

on by her continued battle with sickle cell

20:47

anemia. I think my body just

20:49

had it, because that's the longest

20:51

that I've ever spent in the hospital. I

20:54

was really worried. I

20:56

was really worried about her. I

20:59

just know would pray that she would

21:01

get better and I go visit her and stuff, and

21:03

you know, it's like, hey, when you get better,

21:06

go right back in the studio and we pick up and finish

21:08

this. You know. For

21:11

four months, Tian slipped in and out of

21:13

consciousness in the I c U of an Atlanta

21:15

hospital as friends prayed for

21:17

her survival, A surprise guest

21:20

dropped by for a visit. I

21:22

heard this loud voice come down the hallway. She

21:24

was like, yeah, I'm coming to the room right now, and

21:27

I was just like, there's you go. Without

21:30

warning, Lisa had flown back from Los Angeles

21:32

to be by tian side.

21:36

I'm always cracking joes in the hospital. I

21:38

was cracking Joe. She's like, you crazy. I

21:40

was in and out of it, you know, going to sleep and waking

21:43

back up, and you know, we have conversation in

21:45

between. And then she told me she was gonna go um

21:48

to hun doors. As

21:51

Lisa prepared for her next journey to the Usha

21:53

village, Chili frantically trying to

21:55

contact her. A strange friend I

21:57

was trying to catch her and

22:00

us. I wanted to talk to her. I wanted to

22:02

ask her the real reason

22:04

why she wasn't coming to the studio. You

22:06

know. I wanted to know, if you know, if

22:08

you really want to do your solo stuff, then

22:10

why make us feel like you're

22:13

on board. I

22:16

never got that chance. In March

22:18

of two thousand one, with Tian still in

22:20

the hospital and three D barely halfway

22:23

down, Lisa Lopez boarded a flight

22:25

from Atlanta to Honduras.

22:27

She would never return. Coming

22:30

up next, Tian has a deadly

22:32

premonition when behind the music

22:35

continues. By

22:41

early two thousand two, sessions for

22:43

t LC's fourth album, three D were

22:45

on in definite hold. As

22:48

Tian recovered from a near fatal collapse,

22:50

Lisa flew south to the Usha Village,

22:53

her mystical hideaway deep in the jungles

22:55

of Honduras. That's where she found

22:57

peace at That's where she felt come

23:00

doble. She loved it there, she said to

23:02

us. Had gone to some heavy

23:04

stuff and needed to get back to cleansing.

23:07

With her first solo album, Supernova rejected

23:10

by Arista Records and the TLC sisterhood

23:13

ailing, Lisa had begun to look

23:15

beyond music for salvation. TLC

23:18

has achieved a lot, but there's

23:21

so many more things that I would love to do in the future,

23:24

you know, outside of singing, I would love to

23:27

venture off into healing. She

23:30

was on a quest for spiritual and physical

23:32

renewal and her guide was the founder of

23:34

the Usha Village and herbal wiseman

23:36

named Dr Saby. She

23:39

said, I'm gonna make you famous. I

23:41

said, how because I'm gonna talk about you.

23:44

Does everyone know your care AIDS and cancer.

23:46

There's just a lot of people in the world

23:48

who are suffering sick. They're

23:50

not happy, They're looking for answering. They

23:52

don't know where to turn. Well, I know a

23:55

man who's been curing it since Lanten seven.

23:57

This guy has taught me a lot, and I need to share

24:00

my knowledge, you know, with the world. Despite

24:05

Lisa's absence, by mid April, Tian

24:07

and Chile we're back at work on three D, plodding

24:10

forward as a twosome. While

24:12

returning home from the studio on April, Tian

24:16

had a strange premonition. I

24:19

was in my Porsche and I remember telling

24:21

my security I want to drop this car off

24:23

because I don't feel comfortable driving

24:26

this car this day, because I feel like I'm getting a wreck.

24:28

And I dropped my car off at home and

24:31

that was the same day, so

24:36

I guess that's sothing. Two

24:40

thousand miles south, at almost

24:42

that exact same moment, Lisa,

24:45

her sister Raina, and members of the group

24:47

Egypt struck out in an suv from

24:49

RuSHA towards the nearby creek.

24:52

And maybe about ten

24:54

minutes after they left, you know, Randa came back. You

24:56

know, she was crying and she told me there was an

24:58

accident. Car was in front of us and

25:00

it just stopped. So

25:03

she went to spurve out of the way of the car and the

25:05

suven went out of control. Lisa's

25:08

car careened off the two lane mountain

25:10

road, rolling numerous times before

25:13

coming to rest in a dirt ravine. While

25:15

the other passengers sustained only minor

25:17

injuries, Lisa was thrown from the vehicle

25:20

and died minutes later of head

25:22

and neck trauma. You know how

25:24

things moving slowmotion. You're there,

25:26

you see it, and it's

25:29

it's surreal. I mean, you know, it's

25:32

just like slow motion, like a movie.

25:35

Just one year earlier, Lisa had faked

25:37

her own disappearance in an ill conceived

25:40

publicity stunt. As word

25:42

of the accident reached friends and family, all

25:44

wanted desperately to believe this was

25:46

another left eye hoax case

25:50

she planned. Is

25:53

she serious or is she you know? Is a

25:55

joke, But this time the situation

25:58

was all too real. Lisa Lopez

26:00

was dead. She was just thirty

26:03

years old. The

26:05

tragedy of Lisa's passing was amplified

26:07

for Chili, who had been desperately trying to

26:10

contact her strange groupmate in the weeks

26:12

before her death, but the two would

26:14

never have a chance to make peace. There

26:17

was no closure at all. I

26:19

just cried all night. I

26:22

cried all night, NonStop. I

26:24

just couldn't believe it. I think so

26:27

many things were going through me, like why

26:31

and how, and you know, not being

26:33

able to reach her before she left. It

26:35

was just rough. The following

26:38

morning, Tien and Chili made the toughest

26:40

trip of their lives to visit Lisa's

26:42

mother, Wanda Lopez. When

26:45

her mom came out and looked like she almost passed out

26:47

because she's used to saying all three of us together, It's

26:49

hard for her to see just two of us

26:51

and not her daughter sitting in between, or anything

26:53

I say is one is missing, one is missing,

26:56

you know. And I had to leave the room, because

26:58

that was just it was like tearing me up. On

27:01

May two, a public memorial

27:04

was held for Lisa at the New Birth Missionary

27:06

Baptist Church outside Atlanta. More

27:08

than fifteen thousand friends, family,

27:11

and fans gathered to say goodbye.

27:15

The outpouring of love from

27:17

around the country. Um was

27:20

just amazing. In a testament to Lisa,

27:22

I didn't care who was there. I

27:24

wasn't even looking around. All I could think about

27:27

was she's not here. I

27:29

didn't get a chance to talk to her. I didn't get a

27:31

chance to say, well, I love you, have a safe

27:33

trip. I'll talk to you when you get back.

27:38

Lisa was laid to rest in a lakeside

27:40

plotted nearby hill and Dale Memorial Gardens.

27:43

Inscribed on the tombstone is her signature

27:45

inspirational rhyme from Waterfalls.

27:50

She looked at it like it was no way

27:52

that you could kill life's energy. It

27:54

just transformed into

27:56

something different. And the

27:58

first thing that I remember thinking when

28:00

she died was that, like, Wow, she

28:03

made her transformation. I personally

28:06

do not believe in death, you

28:08

know, I believe in transformation. I

28:10

do believe that there is an afterlife found

28:12

out a chance to see her once more. I probably wouldn't

28:15

even ask her some of the things that I that

28:17

I wanted to ask her at the time. I

28:19

would just tell her that I love her. Despite

28:23

the loss, Tiana and Chili would have little

28:26

time to grieve. Immediately

28:28

after Lisa's death, Aris to President

28:30

L A. Reid told the girls he was planning the Greatest

28:33

Hits LPA, a move that would put

28:35

the brakes on their new album.

28:38

We didn't start that project together, you

28:41

know, for it to just kind of basically

28:43

just be thrown out the window. And here's

28:45

the greatest hits. Why would we put the greatest

28:47

hits out? You know, we want to finish

28:49

the record. So, oh

28:52

yeah, we were very pissed. If she was

28:54

upset, she probably had a right to be. We as the label

28:56

probably had one thing in mind for

28:58

them. They had their own idea for it.

29:00

And you know, the only thing I could say

29:03

is that she's probably right

29:06

to nullify aristas plan. Tian

29:08

and Chile went straight back to work on three

29:10

D, piecing together new music

29:12

with rhymes Lisa had recorded before her

29:14

death. Almost immediately,

29:17

Tian and producer Rodney Jerkins penned

29:19

a delicate song of hope and remembrance

29:21

called Turntable. What

29:24

I thought was important to express was that

29:26

you can have hard times, but after

29:28

rain, sun will come out again.

29:30

You know, you have good days, um

29:33

and it can happen, you know tables

29:37

in turn, you have to keep living.

29:40

For four months, TLC remained quietly

29:42

sequestered in the studio. Their

29:45

first public appearance without Lisa would

29:48

come August twenty nine that the MTV Video

29:50

Music Awards. That

29:53

was one of the hardest things

29:55

I've ever had to do period ever. That

29:58

was the first time we you know, really

30:00

talked about it and kind of had to face

30:03

it again in front of everybody,

30:06

And to get out there in front of everybody to try

30:08

to talk about that, I mean, it was just the hardest

30:10

thing in the world. This is so hard

30:12

because it's such a reality check because

30:14

it's only two of us up here. For

30:17

so many years there was three of them. So if

30:19

you look, you know, you see tea, bows and chili, and

30:22

I think everybody kind of just would go down

30:24

with their eyes and it's like there's that third slop

30:26

that's missing. We know that Lisa's smiling,

30:29

and we just hope that she's proud of us right now,

30:32

thank you. One

30:35

month later, in September of two thousand

30:37

two, TLC released their final studio

30:40

album three D. As

30:42

fans listened and remembered, Tan

30:44

and Chili faced a bitter sweet reality

30:46

t l C their life and love

30:49

for the past ten years was

30:51

over. In

30:53

June of two thousand three, more than one

30:56

year since the death of Lisa Lopez, t

30:58

LC took the stage at And Stadium

31:00

in New Jersey. With a sophisticated

31:03

video system projecting Lisa's image on

31:05

stage, t Bas and Chili deliver

31:07

t LC's Hallmark heads to sixty

31:10

thousand morning fans. You

31:12

could just feel the love from everybody

31:15

and just them feeling the loss

31:17

of Lisa. Now. I was

31:19

thinking, I hope I get through this show and don't

31:21

break down. We would never look

31:24

at the screens, because how

31:26

we looked at the screens, we would have just broken down on

31:28

the stage. Though the Jersey

31:30

show looks certain to be the final gig of TLC's

31:33

career, Chili and t Bos have been

31:35

pondering one last tour as

31:37

a way to say both thank you and goodbye.

31:40

But whatever happens, both girls say they

31:42

will never be another third member

31:45

right after her death, I got letters in the mail from

31:47

fans talking about um

31:50

sorry for her death, but I can wrap the

31:52

cycle. We couldn't believe people

31:55

would ask us that, are you guys going to replace

31:57

Lisa? You know what about another

31:59

member are in. It's just hard

32:01

our feelings because we would never

32:03

do anything like that. It was never a consideration

32:06

where somebody, you know, like Desse's child and

32:09

it's just revolving door of girls coming in and

32:11

out. Tails was different. There was no replacing

32:13

any of them

32:15

for the Lopez family, letting go as a

32:17

daily task of unthinkable heartache

32:20

and loving remembrance. In

32:22

May of two thousand three, the Honduran

32:25

government honored Lisa with a monument, and

32:27

a small cross has been erected at the crash

32:29

site. Under the guidance of the

32:31

Lopez family, plans are now underway

32:33

for the Lisa Lopez Community Center

32:36

near her beloved Usha village. You

32:39

know, I'm grateful that I can try

32:41

to Hondure so much and be you know,

32:43

I feel like I'm close to at least loved, and I'm close

32:45

to my sister down there. And the more time

32:47

I spend down there is like the more I can

32:49

understand why my sister was down there. However

32:52

tragic, the blow, life must go on.

32:55

For the surviving members of TLC. In

32:58

early two thousand four, they began and compiling

33:00

TLC Now and Forever, a

33:03

nineteen song retrospective of their storied

33:05

career. For Chilian t Bas,

33:07

assembling the set was a bittersweet trip

33:10

through ten magical years of friendship

33:12

and song. I

33:14

felt like I was reliving everything and

33:16

just kind of moving on through the years, and so

33:20

it was hard for me to listen to it because

33:25

to me, greatest hits, your greatest

33:27

hits, that represents the end. That's

33:29

you know, that's it and

33:32

for us, you know that's that's

33:34

really the case, that's the reality. Now

33:38

and Forever buttons a career of staggering

33:40

sales success, but t LC's

33:43

legacy runs far deeper than any platinum

33:45

single. With style,

33:48

grace, and a little bit of drama, t

33:50

Bas Chilian Left Eye proved

33:52

that the world can be conquered without

33:55

compromise. I

33:57

just wish that more of the young

34:00

acts that came out today, and I see so

34:02

many of them, could just have one

34:04

tenth of the spirit that

34:06

the girls in TLC had. They

34:09

were so genuine and so kind and loved

34:11

what they did and looked you in the eye. They

34:13

made a connection with you. TLC was a perfect

34:15

example of a group that just stayed that

34:17

way even through all the turmoil.

34:20

Even now. That's what I means.

34:24

You know, we were translators as far as our sound,

34:26

the way we dressed and everything. We opened

34:28

up the doors for a

34:30

lot of female groups. So

34:32

I'm hoping that you know, everybody will remember

34:35

that about us. All.

34:38

You know, gave us each other. He

34:40

gave us this wonderful group, and it's just time

34:42

to let it be. You

34:45

know, we've done great things again. You

34:48

made history. You will remember

34:50

t LC and that's why we named

34:52

it TLC now forever, because we

34:54

are forever. You won't forget us m

34:57

HM. TLC's

35:04

legacy lives on today. They

35:06

remain one of the highest selling female pop

35:08

groups of all time. After

35:10

Lopez is passing, t Bas and Chili

35:13

took some time to recalibrate during

35:15

a musical hiatus. The two remaining

35:17

members of TLC each dealt with their

35:20

fair share of hardships, but both

35:22

persevered in After

35:25

more than ten years apart, the duo

35:27

reunited and launched a campaign

35:29

to crowdfund their fifth album, TLC.

35:32

In three short days, they surpassed

35:34

their goal by two hundred and fifty thousand

35:37

dollars. This album became

35:39

the biggest funded pop music project

35:41

in kickstarters history. They

35:43

released their crowdfunded album with

35:46

the single way Back featuring Snoop

35:48

Dogg, t Bas and Chili are

35:50

back in the studio and out in the world

35:52

performing. Even in the midst

35:54

of this comeback, the two vow to never

35:57

replace Lopez. There is

35:59

no doubt this trio's influence

36:01

on pop music will be felt for generations

36:04

to come. Listen

36:08

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