TLC’s curse from Lisa Lopes’ tragic death to bankruptcy and band brawls

During the nineties, TLC were one of the biggest-selling female R&B groups of all time, after shooting to stardom with their catchy tunes and poignant lyrics.

Lisa Left Eye Lopes, Tionne T-Boz Watkins and Rozonda Chilli Thomas created chart-topping hits such as Waterfall and No Scrubs before they went on to win four Grammy Awards for their talents.

Throughout their staggering rise to success, the talented trio sold over 85 million albums worldwide.

While they are still noted as one of the most influential female bands, TLC’s stardom didn’t come without a platter of tragedy and heartache.

The band were faced with a bankruptcy and bitter fall-outs and in 2002, the sudden death of Lisa Lopes rocked the music industry after she died tragically in a car crash.

As their music began to gain popularity, the girls became equally as well known for their chaotic personal lives as they soon began to make headlines across the globe after rehab stints, bankruptcy, and what seemed like endless band brawls.

Lisa Lopes arson attack and rehab stint

Before the release of their second album in late 1994, Lisa Lopes was arrested on arson charges.

While under the influence of alcohol, the singer burned down the mansion of her on-off lover Andre Rison.

Lisa also took out her frustrations about their toxic relationship by vandalizing a selection of his most prized cars.

The star avoided jail time with a sentence of five years’ probation by claiming that she had a problem with booze.

A short while later, Lisa was later admitted to an alcohol rehab program.

Bankruptcy

Despite their unmistakable success in the music industry, T-Boz, Chilli and Left Eye all ended up filing for bankruptcy in 1995, declaring debts of $3.5 million (£2,736,000).

The trio had only released their second album CrazySexyCool less than a year before but despite this, they maintained that they had been conned in their contract’s manager Perri Reid and their labels LaFace Records and Arista Records.

Their record labels charged for the girls’ expenses, including airline travel, hotels, and music videos from the money that was earned.

According to their claims, the band were left with less than $50,000 (£39,000) each a year.

This was a shocking turn of events considering TLC had one of the most successful multi-million-selling albums of all time.

In the end, TLC’s contract saw them receive only 56 cents per album sold.

Inter-band feuds

Rumours became rife that the trio had not been getting along for quite some time ahead of their tour in late 1999.

Tensions between the girls had reached an all-time high and eventually exploded into a public feud where Lisa was accused of putting her solo career before the band.

Adding fuel to the already burning fire, Lisa began to slam not only her band-mates, but also the music that TLC had created down through the years.

In what was a massive inter-band bust up, Lisa challenged her band-mates to record solo albums, so that she could prove to fans that she was the most talented singer in the group.

Lisa maintained that without her, they would be nowhere.

After months of feuding, the trio eventually reconciled, but rumours about TLC’s demise continued to swirl regardless.

Lisa continued to pursue a solo project, and her band-mate Rozonda eventually began working on her own album.

After putting their differences aside, TLC reunited to work on material for their new album in 2001.

Lisa Lopes’ tragic death

After the release of her solo sensation Supernova, Lisa announced that she had signed a brand-new solo deal for a brand-new album.

Sadly, before she got the chance to show the world her magic, Lisa tragically died while on holiday in Honduras.

The music legend lost control a vehicle, which then flipped over. Lisa suffered serious injuries and died from severe head trauma on April 25, 2002.

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Lisa LopesTionne Watkins