  TLC burst onto the hip hop and
pop music scene in 1991. The female trio from
Atlanta, GA consists of Tionne
"T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left
Eye" Lopes and Rozanda
"Chilli" Thomas. TLC became known
for their street savvy outfits with dangling
condom accessories with their first LP, and
then as sexy, talented singers with their
sophomore release. The trio combination mixes
their talents with T-Boz's sultry vocals,
Chilli's R&B sound, and Left Eye's bold
rapping. TLC got together when T-Boz and Left
Eye hooked up with a woman in Atlanta putting
together a girl group. The two felt more
compatible with each other and went off on
their own. T-Boz and Left Eye then hooked up
with Pebbles and Dallas
Austin, and soon Chilli completed the trio.
 TLC's debut LP, Oooooooh...
On The TLC Tip, was released with their first
Top 10 hit, "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg."
 # 3
Singles Artist of the Year
TLC hit the Top 40 with "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg."
The single "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" was certified
gold.
 TLC hit the Top 10 with "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg."
TLC topped the Billboard Hot
Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales chart for a
week with "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg."
The single "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" was certified
platinum.
 TLC hit the Top 40 with "Baby Baby Baby."
Oooooooh...
On The TLC Tip was certified gold.
TLC hit the Top 10 with "Baby Baby Baby."
Oooooooh...
On The TLC Tip was certified platinum and the
single "Baby Baby Baby" was certified
gold.
TLC topped the Billboard Top 40
Radio Monitor chart for 2 weeks and the Top
R&B Singles chart for 2 weeks with "Baby Baby Baby."
 The single "Baby Baby Baby" was certified
platinum.
TLC hit the Top 40 with "What About Your Friends."
TLC hit the Top 10 with "What About Your Friends."
The single "What About Your Friends" was certified
gold.
 # 68
Singles Artist of the Year
 TLC was
nominated for 3 American Music
Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock New Artist, Favorite Rap/Hip-Hop Artist, and Favorite New Rap/Hip-Hop Artist.
Oooooooh...
On The TLC Tip was certified 2x platinum.
TLC hit the Top 40 with "Hat 2 Da Back."
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes
was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (songwriter) ("Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" with Dallas
Austin).
 TLC hit the Top 40 with "Get It Up" from the Poetic
Justice soundtrack.
 # 88
Singles Artist of the Year
In between LP releases, TLC was
making news with the arrest of Left Eye for
arson - she had torched her boyfriend's
(Andre Rison of the Atlanta Falcons) house.
Left Eye avoided jail time with a drinking
defense and was served with five years
probation. More press seemed to cover Left
Eye's actions than the often violent
relationship itself. Not thrilled with her
defense attorneys highlighting her drinking
to keep her out of jail or accusations of
being a "crazy bitch," Left Eye
found it necessary to succeed with her music
even more. "The best way for me to get
those people back is to succeed. I didn't
struggle this far to have people tear me
down. I came out of some s*** where it was,
like, I didn't know what I was doing. I
finally started looking at myself like I'm
worth something, and it's because I've
accomplished everything people told me I
wouldn't. The best way for me to get people
back is to come back out even harder."
 TLC achieved even more success
with their sophomore release - CrazySexyCool. The trio hit #1 with
the first 3 releases: "Creep," "Red Light Special," and "Waterfalls." CrazySexyCool continued to showcase
TLC's female strength with the addition of
sexuality in the music - the LP transformed
the trio into womanhood. The LP had help with
producing by Dallas Austin and Babyface and also included the
track "Kick Your Game" and Prince-cover "If I Was
Your Girlfriend." The LP sold over 11
million copies in the U.S.
TLC hit the Top 40 with "Creep."
 TLC hit the Top 10 with "Creep."
TLC topped the Billboard R&B
Singles chart for 9 weeks, the R&B
Singles Sales chart for 10 weeks, and the Hot
Dance Music Maxi-Singles Sales chart for 8
weeks with "Creep."
The single "Creep" was certified
gold.
 # 1
Singles Artist of the Year (# 1
Group/Duo of the Year)
TLC hit #1 for 2 weeks with
"Creep."
CrazySexyCool was certified 2x
platinum and the single "Creep" was certified
platinum.
TLC topped the Billboard Hot 100
Singles chart for 4 weeks and the Singles
Sales chart for 5 weeks with "Creep."
 TLC hit the Top 40 with "Red Light Special."
TLC topped the Billboard R&B
Airplay chart for 2 weeks with "Creep."
TLC hit the Top 10 with "Red Light Special."
Oooooooh...
On The TLC Tip was certified 3x platinum and
the single "Red Light Special" was certified
gold.
TLC hit #1 for a week with "Red Light Special."
CrazySexyCool was certified 3x
platinum.
 TLC hit the Top 40 and then the Top
10
with "Waterfalls."
CrazySexyCool was certified 5x
platinum and the single "Waterfalls" was certified
platinum.
TLC hit #1 for 3 weeks with
"Waterfalls."
TLC topped the Billboard Hot 100
Singles chart for 7 weeks, the Singles Sales
chart for 3 weeks, and the R&B Airplay
chart for 3 weeks with "Waterfalls."
 TLC filed for bankruptcy
stemming from Left Eye's debt to LLoyd's of
London for the arson charge and other debts
of over $3 million.
The video for "Waterfalls" won 4 MTV Video Music
Awards including Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Best R&B Video, and Viewer's Choice, and was also
nominated for Breakthrough Video, Best Direction, Best Special Effects, Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.
CrazySexyCool was certified 6x
platinum.
 TLC hit the Top 40 with "Diggin' On You."
CrazySexyCool was certified 7x
platinum.
TLC hit the Top 10 with "Diggin' On You."
TLC topped the Billboard
Year-End Chart-Toppers as Top Pop Artists
(singles & albums), Top Pop Artist -
Duo/Group (singles & albums), Top Hot 100
Singles Artist, Top Hot 100 Singles Artist -
Duos/Group, Top R&B Artist (singles &
albums), Top Hot R&B Singles & Track
("Creep"), Top R&B
Artist - Duos/Group (singles & albums),
Top R&B Album Artist - Duos/Group, Top
Hot R&B Singles Artist, and Top Hot
R&B Singles Artist - Duos/Group.
CrazySexyCool was the 2nd biggest
selling LP of the year with sales topping 4.8
million during 1995.
 TLC:
# 103
Singles Artist of the Year ~ T-Boz:
# 181
Singles Artist of the Year
TLC were nominated for 3 American Music
Awards for Favorite Artist of the Year
Favorite Soul/R&B Band/Duo/Group, and
Favorite Soul/R&B Album (CrazySexyCool).
CrazySexyCool was certified 8x
platinum and the single "Diggin' On You" was certified
gold.
CrazySexyCool was certified 9x
platinum.
TLC won 2 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("Creep") and Best R&B Album (CrazySexyCool), and was also
nominated for Record of the Year and Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("Waterfalls).
Throughout the rise to success,
T-Boz continues to deal with her battle
against sickle cell anemia. The illness has
forced her to "fake and smile when I
wasn't happy, to sing when I didn't feel like
it, to do stuff ... just to please my
fans." T-Boz was named spokeswoman for
the national Sickle Cell Association.
Oooooooh...
On The TLC Tip was certified 4x platinum.
CrazySexyCool was certified 10x
platinum.
T-Boz hit the Top 40 with "Touch Myself" from the Fled soundtrack.
TLC were nominated for an American Music
Award for Favorite Soul/R&B
Band/Duo/Group.
 Chilli and Dallas Austin became
parents and TLC announced that the producer
would not be helping out with their next LP
due to financial disputes. Left Eye told MTV:
"I'm just gonna be honest with
everybody... Dallas recorded some songs with
TLC that we hadn't yet gone into record, but
Dallas tried to charge us $4.2 million, so he
might not be on the project. So, we been
fighting with Dallas for about 10 months. We
have not yet gone to the studio yet, and hey,
don't get mad at me, I just have to tell it
like it is... He came down but, he charged us
more than Babyface!" Chilli then
told MTV that Dallas would be working on the
next LP in some capacity.
Left Eye was
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap
Performance by a Duo or Group ("Not Tonight" with Lil' Kim, Da Brat,
and Missy
Elliott).
As TLC readied their next LP
release T-Boz appeared in the film, Belly, Chilli spent time
with her newborn son, and Left Eye could be
found hosting MTV's The Cut.
 # 4
Singles Artist of the Year
TLC hit the Top 40 with "Silly
Ho."
 The first single heard on radio
from TLC's 3rd LP Fanmail was "Silly
Ho"
quickly followed by the more pop-friendly,
"No
Scrubs."
Chilli told USA
Today about TLC's return: "I'm
excited, but a little nervous. You want your
fans to like you still and you wonder if they
are going to get into us again."
TLC hit the Top 40 with "No
Scrubs."
Fanmail topped the Billboard
R&B Album chart for 4 weeks.
 Fanmail was certified 2x
platinum.
Fanmail topped the Billboard
200 Albums chart for 5 weeks and the
Billboard R&B Albums chart for 4 weeks.
TLC hit the Top
10
with "No
Scrubs"
(which also topped the Billboard Hot 100
Singles Airplay chart for 13 weeks.)
The single "No
Scrubs"
was certified gold and hit #1 for 3 weeks (also
topping the Billboard Hot 100 for 4 weeks,
the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Sales chart for
4 weeks, and the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop
Singles & Tracks chart for 5 weeks).
Fanmail was certified 3x
platinum.
"No
Scrubs"
topped the Billboard Top 40 Tracks chart for
a week.
Left Eye took some time off to
return to her hometown in Philadelphia to
attend a high-school prom with a fan, who
requested the date in letter.
 Fanmail was certified 4x
platinum.
TLC hit the Top 40 with "Unpretty." Left Eye told
MTV about the single": "It's a
great message. It's very uplifting. I makes
you, you know, dig down deep... really think
about some things... if you listen to the
words... and really take them to heart, maybe
you will start to see things in a different
perspective."
CrazySexyCool was certified 11x
platinum.
TLC won a 'Teen Choice Award'
for Choice Group.
TLC hit the Top
10
with "Unpretty."
At the MTV Video Music
Awards TLC won for Best Group Video ("No
Scrubs")
and were nominated for Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Direction, Best Art Direction, Best Editing, and Viewer's Choice ("No
Scrubs").
TLC won 2 Soul Train Lady of
Soul Awards for Best R&B/Soul Album of
the Year and Best R&B/Soul Single, Group
or Duo ("No
Scrubs")
and were honored with the 1999 Aretha
Franklin Award for Entertainer of the Year.
TLC offered a free track
("I Need That") on the Internet and
an offer to help fight sickle cell anemia.
The single "Unpretty" was certified
gold and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 3
weeks.
Left Eye raised some eyebrows
with comments to Vibe: "I've graduated
from this era. I cannot stand 100% behind
this TLC project and the music that is
supposed to represent me."
The verbal sparring between
members of TLC continued in the pages of Entertainment
Weekly - first T-Boz and Chilli spoke
out about Left Eye's lack of involvement with
the group, and then Left Eye responded with
her own criticisms and a challenge for her
bandmates: "Let it be understood that I
am interested in making multimillion-dollar
business deals. It seems that my two group
members are not. This poses a serious
conflict. Therefore, I propose 'The
Challenge'. I challenge Tionne
"Player" Watkins and Rozanda
"Hater" Thomas to an album entitled
The Challenge. A 3 CD set that
contains three solo albums. Each...will be
due to the record label by October 1, 2000...
After careful analysis of the tangled
political web woven by my associates, I place
the burden of TLC's future in their
hands..."
 Fanmail was certified 5x
platinum.
T-Boz hit the bookstores with a
poetry book, Thoughts.
TLC topped the Billboard
Year-End Chart-Toppers as the Top Hot 100
Singles Artist, Top Hot 100 Singles Artist -
Duos/Group, Top R&B / Hip-Hop Album
Artist - Duos/Group, Top Hot R&B /
Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Artist -
Duos/Group, and with the Top Hot 100 Single
Airplay (No
Scrubs).
MTV: 100
Greatest Videos Ever Made includes
"Waterfalls" at # 40.
 TLC:
# 68
Singles Artist of the Year ~ T-Boz:
# 144
Singles Artist of the Year
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