Tionne Tenese "T-Boz" Watkins (born April 26, 1970 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an American R&B singer and lead singer of the group TLC.
Career history
The Watkins family moved from Des Moines to Atlanta, Georgia, when Tionne Watkins was nine years old. After a career as a hair stylist, Watkins auditioned for Atlanta teenager Crystal Jones' music group 2nd Nature. Jones, Watkins, and Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes eventually attracted the attention of Perri "Pebbles" Reid and her husband, LaFace Records chief Antonio "L.A." Reid. L.A. Reid replaced Jones with Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, and the group was signed in 1991 as TLC, which would go on to become the most successful female group in history and sell over 60 million records worldwide.[citation needed]Watkins first showed her lower register in the hit single, "Red Light Special" ("you might as well be honest, cause the body never lies.") She has also proven she can hit a higher note on TLC's single "What About Your Friends" in the introduction "...what..." On a remake of Prince's "If I Was Your Girlfriend", T-Boz used her falsetto for the first time.[citation needed]In addition to her work in TLC, Watkins has done some solo recording, including the singles "Touch Myself" (1996) for the Fled soundtrack, and "My Getaway" (2000) from the Rugrats in Paris: The Movie soundtrack. T-boz has also collaborated with other artists over the years. This include singles such as "Ghetto Love" (1996) by the Da Brat, "Changes" (1996) by Society of Soul, "He Say She Say" (2000) by Keith Sweat (wrote and produced by Andrew Lane), "Different Times" (2002) by Raphael Saadiq, and "Be Somebody" by Paula Cole. She is now recording a new solo album.As an author, Watkins released the book Thoughts in November 1999. The book is collection of poems as well as essays discussing her life experiences.Watkins recently opened a children's boutique in Houston, Texas, called Chase's Closet (apparently named for her daughter). The boutique is located in the exclusive River Oaks area of Houston.[1] She is set to launch her own clothing line for kids under the same name this coming November 2006. She also has plans to launch a candle line called Anela's Way.Watkins has also worked as an actress, appearing in Hype Williams' 1998 film Belly. More recently, Watkins also served as one of the executive producers for the 2006 movie ATL featuring the rapper, T.I..Tionne was supposed to be providing one of the voices in Andre Benjamin (a/k/a André 3000)'s new Cartoon Network series Class of 3000 in the fall of 2006, but has since then been replaced. She recently did a video for the track "It's Good" with YoungBloodZ.T-Boz was also named one of the "50 Most Beautiful People of the World" by People Magazine twice in 1994 and 2000.T-Boz recorded a song & video called "Touch Myself," in 1996 for a movie soundtrack, "Fled"; and a remix, also. She also had a video called "My Getaway" in 2000, while pregnant, for the Rugrats: In Paris movie.As a child, Tionne was diagnosed with sickle-cell disease; initially hiding details of her ailment from others, she went public with the disease in 1996 and is today one of the spokespeople for Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.[2]In August 2000, she married rapper Mack 10. The couple's daughter, Chase Rolison, was born that October 20, 2000. In 2004 T-Boz filed for divorce and a restraining order against Mack 10.[3] She has been dating Philadelphia Eagles player Takeo Spikes since 2006.Singles (as a solo artist)
Year Title Chart Positions Album
US
Hot 100 US
R&B/Hip-Hop UK
1996 "Touch Myself" 40 23 - Fled Soundtrack
1996 "Ghetto Love" (Da Brat featuring T-Boz) 18 16 - Anuthatantrum
2000 "Tight To Def" (Mack 10 with T-Boz) - The Paper Route
2000 "My Getaway" - - 44 Rugrats in Paris Soundtrack
Voice Comments
