Post by Admin on Sept 13, 2017 19:06:52 GMT -4
Left Eye's death was double blow for sick T-Boz
Singer Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins suffered a double blow to her health in 2002 after her TLC bandmate Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes died as she battled sickle cell anaemia complications.
The rapper was killed in a car crash in Honduras 15 years ago, and the news of her loss came at a particularly bad time for T-Boz, because she had just been treated for complications relating to the blood disorder. She was left so distraught by Lisa's death, she ended up requiring further medical care.
"That was one of the hardest times in my life," the 47-year-old recalled to U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America. "Lisa died three, four days after I got out the hospital, so I was frail and 90 pounds, which made me sick again. I'm like, 'What's going on?' (As) soon as something is good, it's like, everything was just (falling apart)... it was bad."
T-Boz and her fellow surviving bandmate Chilli, real name Rozonda Thomas, pressed on as a duo following Left Eye's demise, and they released their final album, the self-titled TLC, in June (17).
The pair has been touring to promote the farewell project, and T-Boz insists she can always sense her late pal's presence beside them onstage.
"We keep her spirit alive through us and our music and you feel her presence onstage," she said. "And nobody's gonna fill that void. She's up there rocking and we're dancing with her."
T-Boz has since started work on the next chapter of her career, recording her first solo album. She is also currently promoting her new memoir, A Sick Life: TLC 'n Me: Stories from On and Off the Stage, and recently returned to acting with another guest role on U.S. soap Days of Our Lives, reprising her 2016 part as tough prison inmate Sheila.
PLUS THIS :
T-Boz Doesn’t Need to Hear Your Version of What Happened With TLC
For those who came of age in the 1990s, there are few music videos as seminal as that of TLC’s “Creep.” A funky, horn-tinged track off the multiplatinum selling CrazySexyCool, the video showed the three members of the R & B girl group—Tionne Watkins (T-Boz), Rozonda Thomas (Chilli), and Lisa Lopes (Left Eye)—playing up to their ultra-confident personas, singing about measure-for-measure cheating and gyrating in silk pajamas. Little did anyone know that one of them—the smoky, alto-voiced Watkins—was in the throes of a severe illness. This is but one of the insights from Watkins’s new memoir, A Sick Life: TLC ’n Me: Stories From On and Off the Stage (Rodale), in which the star gives a candid glimpse of her struggles with celebrity and the disease she was told would likely kill her by age 30.
Diagnosed with sickle cell anemia as a child, Watkins’s young life was riddled with hospital beds and a looming sense of crisis. She describes the attacks as debilitating, striking “at any time, in any place,” with pain akin to “knives stabbing me over and over again in my joints.” Sometimes, she writes, she couldn’t walk: “It hurts to lie down, but it hurts to sit up. Every breath I take throbs and each gasp of air comes in with a sharp twinge. I used to hate for my mom to carry me to the bathroom when I was sick as a kid, so I’d crawl there on all fours, no matter how much it hurt or how long it took. I was stubborn that way.” Watkins opens up about other grueling challenges, too, including the discovery of a brain tumor; the death of her beloved grandmother; her breakup with Dalvin DeGrate of Jodeci; TLC’s bankruptcy and a lawsuit against LaFace Records; and the birth of her daughter, in spite of the medical odds. There are also behind-the-scenes tales from inside TLC, a band that was as synonymous with spats and sensationalism—especially in relation to Lopes, who famously set fire to her boyfriend’s house, and publicly sparred with Watkins and Thomas about wanting to break out of the group—as they were with impressive dance moves, and their smart, chart-topping songs.
It has not been an easy few decades for the band since CrazySexyCool; Lopes was killed in an automobile accident in 2002; Watkins and Thomas carried on as a duo, performing sporadically, and delivering their final album, the Kickstarter-funded TLC, after a 15-year hiatus, in June. This summer, TLC partook in the 10-week, I Love the ’90s: The Party Continues tour with other nostalgia-inducing artists like Mark McGrath and Biz Markie, which concludes September 16 at the Ravinia Festival outside Chicago. During a rare break, Watkins hopped on the phone to talk to Vogue about her past, her present, and everything she’s looking forward to.
Tionne Watkins 2017 memoir, A Sick Life: TLC 'n Me: Stories from On and Off the Stage
What is it like touring and performing now, so many years after TLC first made its mark? So much has happened since the ’90s.
It’s one of those bittersweet things. I’m on a break now. But it comes natural. The stage is my second home and I miss going on every night. It’s so awesome to see the fans and how happy they are. We had one show and more than 15 people passed out and I was like, ‘This is still happening?’ I saw a little girl dressed like Left Eye. People are reliving their childhoods.
Your first book was Thoughts, in 1999. How is A Sick Life different? What compelled you to write it?
When I first did Thoughts, I was in a hotel. I had just gotten out of the hospital, and was watching an episode of Ricki Lake [in which men scrutinized their spouses’ bodies]. It inspired me to write “Unpretty,” and it made me write more. Fans always ask me for advice, and have questions. With my grandmother, brain tumor, son, and daughter I went through so much and thought it might help people to go ahead and tell them about the sick life—the good, the bad, the ugly, and all the stuff in between. One thing I never discussed with people were my hospital visits because I didn’t want them to pity me or think of me as a patient and get a pass. I don’t want to be treated as the sick girl. I’m not a person to share stuff, so this is a big deal.
What was your writing process like?
For this one I had help, [the London-based writer Emily Zemler]. We sat for countless hours and it was almost like she interviewed me, got to know me, and what happened. Even me telling her my story was like an out-of-body experience, and when I saw it on paper, it’s like, ‘Wow, I went through a lot of stuff,’ but it doesn’t sound like me, it sounds like another chick. My daughter, who hates to read, couldn’t put it down. She found my life interesting.
The biggest shock for me was knowing that you had been going through all of those complications with sickle cell in the ’90s—at the time no one could possibly suspect it.
What kept me going was the greatest mom on the planet. She was strong and never made me feel like a sickly child. She always told me I could do whatever I wanted as long as I kept my morals and integrity intact. She gave me so much support and so I never felt like a kid with sickle cell. I felt like everyone else.
I loved hearing about the positivity of your mother and grandmother.
My grandmother was such a classy lady. When my mom came to Atlanta to find a place for us to live, I stayed with my grandmother for two months and we got so close. I learned so much from older people. They are so wise and now I know how important it is.
I think it was interesting for you to open up about Left Eye. It was so sensationalized in the press, but it was a real relationship for you.
Everybody had something to say about the movie [CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story], but I don’t need to hear your version. It is about our perspective, what we have to say about it. It’s a TLC story—my mom, her mom, no one can tell the story. It’s ours—mine and Lisa’s, our friendship and our sisterhood. Did I get mad at her? Yes. But did I love her less? No. If you have an argument and make up, what does that have to do with love? You don’t lose your bond because you had a disagreement. You actually get closer. When I lost her, I lost my family. We went through life together.
How do you think you’ve evolved as an artist since the beginning of TLC?
I’m a sponge. I like to keep learning. There was no way I was going to be around all these people and not. It’s a talent to know when you’re not talented, so I’ve learned so many things. Our production. Our music. I write more. I take care of situations and what people go through and write songs about it and let it marinate, and before you know it I have an album. Our single “Way Back” was about me and my friend in Atlanta and out in L.A. doing two separate things and writing about not seeing each other. It’s just like yesterday, no matter how much time passed.
What are your plans for the future?
I’ve got a laundry list of stuff: a private clothing label called BabyBouge, a TLC residency in Vegas, and I started writing film scripts. I also want to produce movies and television shows.
Do you think there could be another book?
There are so many stories I didn’t tell. I’ve got 47 years of stories and a crazy life. I could write about three more. I was never perfect. The reason I chose to tell the bad stuff is because I’m human. I had a temper. I fought. But I learned and I grew and I changed. Some people are scared to tell the truth, but I’m not. Most stories like mine turn into tragedy and I’m happy I’m still living and able to share mine and my triumph—or at least my “to be continued.”
Singer Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins suffered a double blow to her health in 2002 after her TLC bandmate Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes died as she battled sickle cell anaemia complications.
The rapper was killed in a car crash in Honduras 15 years ago, and the news of her loss came at a particularly bad time for T-Boz, because she had just been treated for complications relating to the blood disorder. She was left so distraught by Lisa's death, she ended up requiring further medical care.
"That was one of the hardest times in my life," the 47-year-old recalled to U.S. breakfast show Good Morning America. "Lisa died three, four days after I got out the hospital, so I was frail and 90 pounds, which made me sick again. I'm like, 'What's going on?' (As) soon as something is good, it's like, everything was just (falling apart)... it was bad."
T-Boz and her fellow surviving bandmate Chilli, real name Rozonda Thomas, pressed on as a duo following Left Eye's demise, and they released their final album, the self-titled TLC, in June (17).
The pair has been touring to promote the farewell project, and T-Boz insists she can always sense her late pal's presence beside them onstage.
"We keep her spirit alive through us and our music and you feel her presence onstage," she said. "And nobody's gonna fill that void. She's up there rocking and we're dancing with her."
T-Boz has since started work on the next chapter of her career, recording her first solo album. She is also currently promoting her new memoir, A Sick Life: TLC 'n Me: Stories from On and Off the Stage, and recently returned to acting with another guest role on U.S. soap Days of Our Lives, reprising her 2016 part as tough prison inmate Sheila.
PLUS THIS :
T-Boz Doesn’t Need to Hear Your Version of What Happened With TLC
For those who came of age in the 1990s, there are few music videos as seminal as that of TLC’s “Creep.” A funky, horn-tinged track off the multiplatinum selling CrazySexyCool, the video showed the three members of the R & B girl group—Tionne Watkins (T-Boz), Rozonda Thomas (Chilli), and Lisa Lopes (Left Eye)—playing up to their ultra-confident personas, singing about measure-for-measure cheating and gyrating in silk pajamas. Little did anyone know that one of them—the smoky, alto-voiced Watkins—was in the throes of a severe illness. This is but one of the insights from Watkins’s new memoir, A Sick Life: TLC ’n Me: Stories From On and Off the Stage (Rodale), in which the star gives a candid glimpse of her struggles with celebrity and the disease she was told would likely kill her by age 30.
Diagnosed with sickle cell anemia as a child, Watkins’s young life was riddled with hospital beds and a looming sense of crisis. She describes the attacks as debilitating, striking “at any time, in any place,” with pain akin to “knives stabbing me over and over again in my joints.” Sometimes, she writes, she couldn’t walk: “It hurts to lie down, but it hurts to sit up. Every breath I take throbs and each gasp of air comes in with a sharp twinge. I used to hate for my mom to carry me to the bathroom when I was sick as a kid, so I’d crawl there on all fours, no matter how much it hurt or how long it took. I was stubborn that way.” Watkins opens up about other grueling challenges, too, including the discovery of a brain tumor; the death of her beloved grandmother; her breakup with Dalvin DeGrate of Jodeci; TLC’s bankruptcy and a lawsuit against LaFace Records; and the birth of her daughter, in spite of the medical odds. There are also behind-the-scenes tales from inside TLC, a band that was as synonymous with spats and sensationalism—especially in relation to Lopes, who famously set fire to her boyfriend’s house, and publicly sparred with Watkins and Thomas about wanting to break out of the group—as they were with impressive dance moves, and their smart, chart-topping songs.
It has not been an easy few decades for the band since CrazySexyCool; Lopes was killed in an automobile accident in 2002; Watkins and Thomas carried on as a duo, performing sporadically, and delivering their final album, the Kickstarter-funded TLC, after a 15-year hiatus, in June. This summer, TLC partook in the 10-week, I Love the ’90s: The Party Continues tour with other nostalgia-inducing artists like Mark McGrath and Biz Markie, which concludes September 16 at the Ravinia Festival outside Chicago. During a rare break, Watkins hopped on the phone to talk to Vogue about her past, her present, and everything she’s looking forward to.
Tionne Watkins 2017 memoir, A Sick Life: TLC 'n Me: Stories from On and Off the Stage
What is it like touring and performing now, so many years after TLC first made its mark? So much has happened since the ’90s.
It’s one of those bittersweet things. I’m on a break now. But it comes natural. The stage is my second home and I miss going on every night. It’s so awesome to see the fans and how happy they are. We had one show and more than 15 people passed out and I was like, ‘This is still happening?’ I saw a little girl dressed like Left Eye. People are reliving their childhoods.
Your first book was Thoughts, in 1999. How is A Sick Life different? What compelled you to write it?
When I first did Thoughts, I was in a hotel. I had just gotten out of the hospital, and was watching an episode of Ricki Lake [in which men scrutinized their spouses’ bodies]. It inspired me to write “Unpretty,” and it made me write more. Fans always ask me for advice, and have questions. With my grandmother, brain tumor, son, and daughter I went through so much and thought it might help people to go ahead and tell them about the sick life—the good, the bad, the ugly, and all the stuff in between. One thing I never discussed with people were my hospital visits because I didn’t want them to pity me or think of me as a patient and get a pass. I don’t want to be treated as the sick girl. I’m not a person to share stuff, so this is a big deal.
What was your writing process like?
For this one I had help, [the London-based writer Emily Zemler]. We sat for countless hours and it was almost like she interviewed me, got to know me, and what happened. Even me telling her my story was like an out-of-body experience, and when I saw it on paper, it’s like, ‘Wow, I went through a lot of stuff,’ but it doesn’t sound like me, it sounds like another chick. My daughter, who hates to read, couldn’t put it down. She found my life interesting.
The biggest shock for me was knowing that you had been going through all of those complications with sickle cell in the ’90s—at the time no one could possibly suspect it.
What kept me going was the greatest mom on the planet. She was strong and never made me feel like a sickly child. She always told me I could do whatever I wanted as long as I kept my morals and integrity intact. She gave me so much support and so I never felt like a kid with sickle cell. I felt like everyone else.
I loved hearing about the positivity of your mother and grandmother.
My grandmother was such a classy lady. When my mom came to Atlanta to find a place for us to live, I stayed with my grandmother for two months and we got so close. I learned so much from older people. They are so wise and now I know how important it is.
I think it was interesting for you to open up about Left Eye. It was so sensationalized in the press, but it was a real relationship for you.
Everybody had something to say about the movie [CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story], but I don’t need to hear your version. It is about our perspective, what we have to say about it. It’s a TLC story—my mom, her mom, no one can tell the story. It’s ours—mine and Lisa’s, our friendship and our sisterhood. Did I get mad at her? Yes. But did I love her less? No. If you have an argument and make up, what does that have to do with love? You don’t lose your bond because you had a disagreement. You actually get closer. When I lost her, I lost my family. We went through life together.
How do you think you’ve evolved as an artist since the beginning of TLC?
I’m a sponge. I like to keep learning. There was no way I was going to be around all these people and not. It’s a talent to know when you’re not talented, so I’ve learned so many things. Our production. Our music. I write more. I take care of situations and what people go through and write songs about it and let it marinate, and before you know it I have an album. Our single “Way Back” was about me and my friend in Atlanta and out in L.A. doing two separate things and writing about not seeing each other. It’s just like yesterday, no matter how much time passed.
What are your plans for the future?
I’ve got a laundry list of stuff: a private clothing label called BabyBouge, a TLC residency in Vegas, and I started writing film scripts. I also want to produce movies and television shows.
Do you think there could be another book?
There are so many stories I didn’t tell. I’ve got 47 years of stories and a crazy life. I could write about three more. I was never perfect. The reason I chose to tell the bad stuff is because I’m human. I had a temper. I fought. But I learned and I grew and I changed. Some people are scared to tell the truth, but I’m not. Most stories like mine turn into tragedy and I’m happy I’m still living and able to share mine and my triumph—or at least my “to be continued.”
