History Music / TLC

In October 2009, TLC announced plans to record new material to be released [[RealSoonNow "sometime soon"]], later announcing a release date of October 2013. The album will contain the group's greatest hits and some new material. The same year, VH1 released a biopic based on the group entitled ''CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story'', starring Music/KekePalmer as Chilli, Drew Sidora as T-Boz, and rapper Lil Mama as Left-Eye. The movie became the top rated cable movie in VH-1 history.

In October 2009, TLC announced plans to record new material to be released [[RealSoonNow "sometime soon"]], later announcing a release date of October 2013. The album will contain the group's greatest hits and some new material. The same year, VH1 released a biopic based on the group entitled ''CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story'', starring KekePalmer as Chilli, Drew Sidora as T-Boz, and rapper Lil Mama as Left-Eye. The movie became the top rated cable movie in VH-1 history.

Lopes had already started work on both her second solo album and on songs for the fourth TLC album, 3D, when she tragically died in a car accident in La Ceiba, Honduras on April 25, 2002. She was the sole fatality of eight people in the vehicle. Lopes allegedly tried to swerve around a truck, but there was another vehicle heading towards them in the opposite direction. To avoid a head-on collision, Lopes swerved all the way off the road. The vehicle rolled several times after hitting two trees, throwing Lopes and three others out of the windows. She died from severe head injuries. The passenger in the front passenger seat was videotaping at the time, and so the entire accident was recorded on video. Controversy over leaked autopsy photos led to protests in the {{NASCAR}} world: in response to the leak, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. painted a stripe next to the left headlight decal on his #8 Budweiser Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway. Several other drivers reacted the same way. Similar controversy had erupted following Dale Earnhardt, Sr.'s death in the 2001 Daytona 500.

They declared debts totaling 3.5 million dollars, much of it because of Lopes's insurance payments arising from the arson incident and Watkins's medical bills, but the primary reason being that each member of the group was taking home less than $35,000 a year after paying managers, producers, expenses, and taxes. They sought to renegotiate their 1991 contract with LaFace, under which they only received seven percent of the revenues from their album sales, and to dissolve their association with Pebbitone. Both Pebbitone and LaFace countered that TLC simply wanted more money and were in no real financial danger, resulting in two years of legal debates before the cases were finally settled in late 1996, which is why there was never a 96 follow up album to ''[=CrazySexyCool=]''. TLC's contract was renegotiated, their production deal with Pebbitone and Perri Reid (who had separated from her husband by this time) was rescinded, and the group appeared on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack with "This Is How It Works" and was set to re-enter the recording studio in 1997 after signing a new contract with LaFace.

Preliminary work on TLC's third album, Fan Mail, was delayed when friction arose between the group and their main producer Dallas Austin, who was by this time dating Thomas and helping to raise their young son Tron. Austin wanted $4.2 million and creative control to work on the project, resulting in a stand-off between the producer and the artists. TLC eventually began working with other producers for the ''[=FanMail=]'' album, until finally negotiating with Austin, who produced the bulk of ''[=FanMail=]'' and gave the album a futuristic, more pop-based feel. ''[=FanMail=]'' was another success for TLC, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart and selling over 6 million copies in the U.S. The album featured the number-one hit "No Scrubs", produced by Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, and the single "Unpretty," an alternative rock-styled song about self-love written by Watkins and Dallas Austin (another version of it sampled Dennis Edwards' 1984 hit "Don't Look Any Further"), that also reached #1 on the Billboard chart. At the Lady of Soul Awards the group was honored with the Aretha Franklin Entertainer of the Year Award.

* OldShame: Left Eye highly opposed the release of "Creep" because she didn't like the message the song gave. This explains why she did not participate in the song at all, and at one point, threatened to wear black tape over her mouth in the music video.
* ThePeteBest: As told above, the original "C", who was the one who started the band, ended up being ditched.

Returning from yet another hiatus after Lopes' death in 2002 while on missionary work in Honduras, Watkins, Thomas and Austin decided that they would complete the remainder of their fourth album, to be called 3D, which also featured production from Rodney Jerkins, The Neptunes, Raphael Saadiq, Missy Elliott and Timbaland. The decision was also made that TLC would retire after the release and promotion of 3D, rather than replace Lopes and continue. Lopes had already completed her vocals for four songs; the remainder were performed by the remaining group members alone, who eulogized Lopes on a number of the tracks.

* AWildRapperAppears: Happens in most of their songs due to having Left Eye in the group.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: The arson scandal largely helped sales of ''[=CrazySexyCool=]''

* OddFriendship: After Left Eye's death and the autopsy leak, T-Boz and Chilli found unexpected support from Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Steve Park and Michael Waltrip, the drivers for Dale Earnhardt's team. A similar leak controversy issue had happened when Earnhardt was killed in the 2001 Daytona 500.

[[caption-width-right:350:Crazy Sexy Cool]]

In October 2009, TLC announced plans to record new material to be released [[RealSoonNow "sometime soon"]], later announcing a release date of October 2013. The album will contain the group's greatest hits and some new material. The same year, VH1 will release a biopic based on the group entitled [=CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story=], starring KekePalmer as Chilli, Drew Sidora as T-Boz, and rapper Lil Mama as Left-Eye.

* AWomanScorned: Left Eye infamously burned down the house of her then-boyfriend Andre Rison when she thought he was having an affair. In fairness, she didn't intend to burn down the ''whole'' house, just the pairs of women's shoes she found that weren't in her size. She burned them in the bathtub, but the tub melted (she had done something previously with teddy bears, which scorched the original marble tub and required it be replaced with fiberglass,) and was hot enough to ignite the wooden beams underneath, and everything went to hell from there.
* AWildRapperAppears: Happens in almost ''all'' of their songs due to having Left Eye in the group.

In 1990, Atlanta, Georgia, teenager Crystal Jones put out a call for two more girls to join her in a trio to be called 2nd Nature. Her request was eventually answered by Tionne Watkins, a native of Des Moines, Iowa, who moved to Atlanta with her family at an early age, and Lisa Lopes, a rapper who had just moved to the city from her native Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with only a keyboard and $1,223 The group eventually managed to arrange an audition with R&B singer Perri "Pebbles" Reid, who had started her own management and production company, Pebbitone. Impressed by the girls, Reid renamed the group "TLC" (an acronym for "Tender Loving Care" and also the members' initials) and arranged an audition for them with local record label LaFace Records, run by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds and Reid's then-husband, Antonio "L.A." Reid. The latter Reid saw potential in Watkins and Lopes but felt that Jones should be replaced; within a few days, part-time Damian Dame backup dancer Rozonda Thomas was brought in to replace Jones. The girls were signed to LaFace through a production deal with Pebbitone (with Perri Reid taking the role of the group's manager) and almost immediately went into the studio with producers Reid and Edmonds, Dallas Austin, Jermaine Dupri, and Marley Marl to produce their first album.

In October 2009, TLC announced plans to record new material to be released [[RealSoonNow "sometime soon"]].

* AWomanScorned: Left Eye infamously burned down the house of her then-boyfriend Andre Rison when she thought he was having an affair. In fairness, she didn't intend to burn down the ''whole'' house, just the pairs of women's shoes she found that weren't in her size. She burned them in the bathtub, but the tub melted and was hot enough to ignite the wooden beams underneath, and everything went to hell from there.

* OddFriendship: After Left Eye's death and the autopsy leak, T-Boz and Chilli found unexpected support from NASCAR after a similar incident with Dale Earnhardt, Sr.

They declared debts totaling 3.5 million dollars, much of it because of Lopes's insurance payments arising from the arson incident and Watkins's medical bills, but the primary reason being that each member of the group was taking home less than $35,000 a year after paying managers, producers, expenses, and taxes. They sought to renegotiate their 1991 contract with LaFace, under which they only received seven percent of the revenues from their album sales, and to dissolve their association with Pebbitone. Both Pebbitone and LaFace countered that TLC simply wanted more money and were in no real financial danger, resulting in two years of legal debates before the cases were finally settled in late 1996, which is why there was never a 96 follow up album to Crazy Sexy Cool. TLC's contract was renegotiated, their production deal with Pebbitone and Perri Reid (who had separated from her husband by this time) was rescinded, and the group appeared on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack with "This Is How It Works" and was set to re-enter the recording studio in 1997 after signing a new contract with LaFace.

Preliminary work on TLC's third album, Fan Mail, was delayed when friction arose between the group and their main producer Dallas Austin, who was by this time dating Thomas and helping to raise their young son Tron. Austin wanted $4.2 million and creative control to work on the project, resulting in a stand-off between the producer and the artists. TLC eventually began working with other producers for the FanMail album, until finally negotiating with Austin, who produced the bulk of FanMail and gave the album a futuristic, more pop-based feel. FanMail was another success for TLC, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album sales chart and selling over 6 million copies in the U.S. The album featured the number-one hit "No Scrubs", produced by Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, and the single "Unpretty," an alternative rock-styled song about self-love written by Watkins and Dallas Austin (another version of it sampled Dennis Edwards' 1984 hit "Don't Look Any Further"), that also reached #1 on the Billboard chart. At the Lady of Soul Awards the group was honored with the Aretha Franklin Entertainer of the Year Award.

The videos for both songs were heavily featured on MTV and BET, and three more singles received decent radio play: "Silly Ho", "I'm Good at Being Bad", and Edmonds-written ballad, "Dear Lie". Like ''[=CrazySexyCool=]'', FanMail won the Grammy for Best R&B Album of 2000 and Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for "No Scrubs". During and after the release of FanMail, Lopes made it known to the press on multiple occasions that she felt that she was unable to fully express herself working with TLC and Austin. Her contributions to the songs had been reduced to periodic eight-bar raps, and studio session singers such as Debra Killings often took her place on the background vocals for the groups' songs. In its November 28, 1999 issue, Entertainment Weekly ran a letter from Lopes that challenged her group mates to record solo albums and let the fans judge which of the three was the most talented. The ladies eventually settled the feud, and The Challenge was never followed through. After the conclusion of the successful FanMail tour, the ladies, however, took some time off and pursued personal interests.

* Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The amount of times the girls have dyed their hair(especially T-boz), this was bound to occur a few times.

* Blonde, Brunette and Redhead: The amount of times the girls have dyed their hair(especially T-boz), this was bound to occur a few times.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/082509-tlc-news.jpg
[[caption-width:580:Crazy Sexy Cool]]

If you're looking for the American TV network, please click [[UsefulNotes/{{TLC}} here.]]

* AWildRapperAppears: Happens in almost ''all'' of their songs due to having Left Eye in the group.

They also did the theme song to ''AllThat''.

In October 2009, TLC announced plans to record new material to be released "sometime soon"

----

Before the recording of their fourth album, 3D, there was a dispute between Lopes on one side and Watkins and Thomas on the other. Lopes originally wanted to withdraw from the group in order to see if they could duplicate their prior success without her contributions. Lopes eventually pursued solo stardom and recorded her first album Supernova, however it underperformed overseas and was never officially released in the United States. Lopes had already started work on both her second solo album and on songs for the fourth TLC album, 3D, when she tragically died in a car accident in La Ceiba, Honduras on April 25, 2002. She was the sole fatality of eight people in the vehicle. Lopes allegedly tried to swerve around a truck, but there was another vehicle heading towards them in the opposite direction. To avoid a head-on collision, Lopes swerved all the way off the road. The vehicle rolled several times after hitting two trees, throwing Lopes and three others out of the windows. She died from severe head injuries. The passenger in the front passenger seat was videotaping at the time, and so the entire accident was recorded on video. Controversy over leaked autopsy photos led to a protest by NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Earnhardt painted a stripe next to the left headlight decal on his #8 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for the Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway to protest the display of her autopsy photos. A similar controversy befell Earnhardt after the death of his father, Dale Earnhardt, Sr. a year earlier.

Returning from yet another hiatus after Lopes' death in a car crash in 2002 while on missionary work in Honduras, Watkins, Thomas and Austin decided that they would complete the remainder of their fourth album, to be called 3D, which also featured production from Rodney Jerkins, The Neptunes, Raphael Saadiq, Missy Elliott and Timbaland. The decision was also made that TLC would retire after the release and promotion of 3D, rather than replace Lopes and continue. Lopes had already completed her vocals for four songs; the remainder were performed by the remaining group members alone, who eulogized Lopes on a number of the tracks.

If you're looking for the American TV network, please click [[UsefulNotes/TLC here.]]