Lisa Lopes

For the Tejano singer, see Lisa Lopez.

Lisa Lopes
Lopes as featured in Black Enterprise magazine c. 2001
Born(1971-05-27)May 27, 1971
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedApril 25, 2002(2002-04-25) (aged 30)
La Ceiba, Honduras
Resting placeHillandale Memorial Gardens, Lithonia, Georgia, U.S.
Other names
  • Left Eye
  • N.I.N.A.
Occupations
  • Singer
  • rapper
  • songwriter
Years active1990–2002[1]
PartnersAndre Rison (1993–2001)
Sean Newman (2000)[2][3]
Musical career
OriginAtlanta, Georgia, U.S.
Genres
InstrumentVocals
Labels
Formerly ofTLC
Websitewww.lisalopesfoundation.net

Lisa Nicole Lopes (May 27, 1971 – April 25, 2002), better known by her stage name Left Eye, was an American singer, rapper, and songwriter. She was a member of the R&B girl group TLC, alongside Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. Besides rapping and singing on TLC recordings, Lopes was the creative force behind the group, receiving more co-writing credits than the other members. She also designed some of their outfits and the stage for their FanMail Tour and contributed to the group's image, album titles, artworks, and music videos. Through her work with TLC, Lopes won four Grammy Awards.[4]

During her brief solo career, Lopes scored two US top 10 singles with "Not Tonight" and "U Know What's Up", as well as one UK number-one single with "Never Be the Same Again", the latter a collaboration with Melanie C of the English girl group Spice Girls. She also produced another girl group, Blaque, who scored a platinum album and two US top 10 hits. Lopes remains the only member of TLC to have released a solo album.

On April 25, 2002, Lopes was killed in a car accident in Roma, Jutiapa, Honduras, while volunteering at a children's development center. Lopes was speeding and lost control of her rental SUV. Four other passengers were injured enough to require hospitalization.[5] The documentary The Last Days of Left Eye was released and aired on VH1 in May 2007.

  1. ^ Steve Huey. "TLC". AllMusic. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
  2. ^ "Jet". Johnson Publishing Company. October 11, 1993. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  3. ^ "Ebony". Johnson Publishing Company. August 1, 2002. Retrieved December 5, 2017.
  4. ^ "Grammy.com". Retrieved May 16, 2012.
  5. ^ Reid, Shaheem (April 26, 2002). "Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes Killed In Car Accident: TLC singer in fatal car accident in Honduras". MTV. MTV. Archived from the original on October 1, 2022. Retrieved July 28, 2023.