About Me
Lisa Nicole Lopes (May 27, 1971 – April 25, 2002), better known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American rapper, singer, songwriter and member of the popular R&B group TLC.She was considered by some fans as the creative talent behind TLC and contributed her own self-written raps to many of TLC's popular singles, including "Waterfalls" and "No Scrubs". Lopes was also a self-taught keyboardist and displayed those talents during her solo spot on TLC's headlining concert performances. She was known for wearing a pair of glasses with a condom in place of the left eye lens, which was one of the ways the group promoted safe sex.Personal Life
Lopes was of Cape Verdean descent. Lopes was often vocal about her personal life and difficult past. She readily admitted she had come from an abusive, alcoholic background and suffered with alcohol problems herself. These problems became headline news in 1994, when she set fire to her fiance Andre Rison's tennis shoes, which ultimately set fire to the mansion and burned it to the ground. She claimed "I was just trying to barbecue his tennis shoes," as revenge for his infidelity, and the fire got out of control. However, she was unremorseful for the incident and described the mansion as a "House of Evil."Rison, a football player for the Atlanta Falcons, was physically abusive to Lisa and had been charged with assaulting her the previous year. At the time of her arrest, she was covered in bruises from being beaten by Rison. Lopes, who was sentenced to 5 years probation and therapy at a halfway house, never was able to shake that incident from her reputation. Her tumultuous relationship with Rison continued to make headlines, with rumors of an eminent wedding, which were later debunked by People magazine . Lopes always maintained good humour about the incident, asking during a concert "Anyone got a light? Anyone got a house?"Adding to Lopes' flamboyant attitude, she had several large tattoos. Most prominent was a large eagle on her left arm which she said represented freedom. Later she added the number "80" around the eagle, which was Rison's NFL number. She also tattooed a moon with a face on her foot in reference to Rison's nickname, Bad Moon. On her right arm is the name Parron, for her late stepbrother, and a tattoo of a heart. Her smallest tattoo is on her left ear and is an arrow pointing to her left and her eye, a reference to her nickname.Solo career
After Fanmail, Lopes began to expand her solo career. She became a featured rapper on several singles, including former Spice Girl Melanie C's "Never Be the Same Again", which went to 1 in 35 countries, including the UK. They performed the song live on Top of the Pops the week it went 1. The song was co-written and produced by Rhett Lawrence. She was also featured on the first single from Donell Jones' second album, entitled "U Know What's Up", and she sang "Space Cowboy" with *NSYNC on their 2000 album No Strings Attached Lopes also collaborated on "Gimme Some" by Toni Braxton from her 2000 release The Heat. In 2001 she appeared in a commercial for The Gap, one solo and the other with India.Arie, Liz Phair, and Sheryl Crow, where she was featured singing, instead of rapping, for the first time alone.Lopes was also the host of the short-lived MTV series, The Cut, a precursor to American Idol in which a handful of would-be pop stars, rappers, and rock bands competed against each other and were judged. The show's winner, which ended up being a male-female rap duo, was promised a record deal and funding to produce a music video, which would then enter MTV's heavy rotation. A then-unknown Anastacia finished in third place, but so impressed Lopes and the show's three judges, that she scored a record deal as well. A year before her death, Lisa Lopes appeared on the singers' edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire along with Joey McIntyre, Tyrese, Nick Lachey and Lee Ann Womack.Lopes created "Left Eye Productions" to discover new talent. She helped the R&B trio Blaque to secure a record deal with Columbia Records. Their self-titled debut album was executive-produced by Lopes, who also made a cameo appearance on the album and in their music video "I Do". Group member Natina Reed's rapping style was heavily influenced by Lisa's early work. Lopes was also developing another new band called Egypt.Lopes spent much of her free time after the conclusion of TLC's first headlining tour behind Fanmail recording her debut album, Supernova. It includes a song titled "A New Star Is Born" is dedicated to her late father. She told MTV News:"That track is dedicated to all those that have loved ones that have passed away. It's saying that there is no such thing as death. We can call it transforming for a lack of better words, but as scientists would say, 'Every atom that was once a star is now in you.' It's in your body. So in the song I pretty much go along with that idea. ... I don't care what happens or what people think about death, it doesn't matter. We all share the same space."Other tracks covered personal issues including her relationship with Rison. Amongst the album's 12 tracks was a posthumous duet with Tupac Shakur that was assembled from the large cache of unreleased recordings done prior to his murder in 1996. The unreleased song "Left Pimpin" was sampled for the song "Quickie", which is featured on TLC's fourth album, 3D. Initially scheduled for release on a date to coincide with the 10th anniversary of her father's passing, Supernova was then delayed for two months before her American label chose to shelve the project. The album was eventually released outside of the United States, and hardcore American TLC fans caused a demand for import copies of the album from the UK and Japan.After numerous talks with Death Row Records CEO, Suge Knight, Lopes severed her solo deal with Arista Records (she remained contracted with the label as a member of TLC) and signed with Knight's Tha Row Records, intending to record a second solo album under the pseudonym N.I.N.A (New Identity Not Applicable). N.I.N.A was to include several songs recorded by and with Ray J
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