Lisa Lopes Biography

Singer

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes was one of three members of the popular music group TLC. (The Atlanta-based group was named for its members' initials: Lopes, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas.) With its made-for-MTV looks and bawdy attitude, the group was a hit with both R&B and pop music audiences; their gold-selling albums included Ooooooo... On the TLC Tip (1992), CrazySexyCool (1994) and Fanmail (1999). Squeaky-voiced and aggressively sexy, Lopes was the group's designated rapper and wild child. Her love affair with pro football player Andre Rison was interrupted in 1994 when Lopes, in a fit of pique, set fire to Rison's mansion and burned the million-dollar structure to the ground. The couple reunited and were engaged to be married in 2001, but later called off the wedding. Lopes died in a 2002 auto crash while vacationing in La Cieba, Honduras.

Extra credit: The title CrazySexyCool reportedly referred to Lopes, Thomas ("Sexy") and Watkins ("Cool")... Her nickname "Left Eye" may have come from her habit of wearing a condom on the left frame of her eyeglasses during the early days of TLC... Her sudden death has been compared to that of singing star Aaliyah, who died in a 2001 plane crash.

Lisa Lopes joins James Dean and Princess Diana in our loop Death by Car... Other female hip-hop stars include Lil Kim, Foxy Brown and Mary J. Blige.