They had no idea Prince was going to introduce them onstage before a live performance at MTV’s 1999 Video Music Awards. Let alone call them his “favorite group” while doing so.
“So we were shocked, you know,” TLC singer Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas says. “Just like he shocked us when we were on our ‘FanMail’ [1999 album] tour in New York at Madison Square Garden, and he just popped out on stage with the guitar, and we’re performing and looking to the left, like, ‘What?!’”
Those of us who watched TLC sing “No Scrubs” that night on the VMAs have aged since then. But the R&B trio’s many hits from the ‘90s never get old. Today, their classics — which also include tracks like “Waterfalls,” “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg,” “Unpretty” and “Creep” — sound as new and vivacious as ever.
Formed in 1990 Atlanta, TLC was conceived as a female version of “Poison” new-jack-swing hitmakers Bell Biv DeVoe. The ladies went on to sell more than 65 million records worldwide, far outselling their male archetype.
After some initial lineup shuffling, TLC took final form with singers Thomas and Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and rapper Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes. The group’s arc was tragically refracted when the headline-making Lopes died in a 2002 car crash in Honduras at age 30.
Their story has been told in “Behind the Music,” a 2013 VH1 biopic and excellent 2023 documentary “TLC Forever,” which features artists ranging from Questlove to Dave Grohl giving them props.
Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of the group TLC performs on Day 1 of the 2019 Firefly Music Festival at The Woodlands on Friday, June 21, 2019, in Dover, Del. (Photo by Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP)Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP
After an extended hiatus from touring, Thomas and Watkins returned to the road in 2015. TLC and their music deserve victory laps. Along with The Supremes, Spice Girls and Blackpink, TLC belongs on the Mount Rushmore of so-called girl-groups.
On a recent afternoon, Thomas checks in for a 15-minute phoner from Atlanta, where she and Watkins still reside, following her morning workout and protein shake. Edited excerpts below.
Musical group TLC performs during the VH1 Fashion Awards Sunday, Dec. 5, 1999, in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)AP
Why do you think TLC’s material’s held up so well?
Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas: Well, I think it is a combination of the lyrical content — what we’re talking about in our songs is just something that you can relate to throughout the test of time — and the beat is great. So if you have a fun beat with lyrical content that resonates with you and, you know, a catchy hook, you might have something there.
What’s it like having Prince call you all his favorite group?
It was amazing. There will never be another Prince, just like there will never be another Michael Jackson. He’s one of the greats. So the fact someone like him thought that we were his favorite group, it meant a lot to us.
TLC, in addition to being one of the greats, has inspired greats like Missy Elliott and Destiny’s Child. When you were growing up in Columbus, Georgia, what were some groups that you looked up to?
Thank you. Oh, wow. Growing up I loved, obviously, the Jacksons, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson. Jody Watley. I loved Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, Elton John. I mean, I loved all genres of music. Only one I didn’t get into was the heavy metal. [Laughs] You know, that was a little tough for me. But I even, you know, can appreciate some country in those times and even today, throughout. I listened to a lot of different music.
Then as time went on, Seal and Sade became some of my favorite artists to listen to because of their lyrical content. Those two, the penmanship is amazing, like top tier. When you listen to a Sade or a Seal record, the lyrics, you’re like, “Wait a minute, what did they just say?”
That’s the same way I did with my son. He was exposed to all types of music, even jazz. When he was like 9, 10 years old, I was like, “Let me put you on to some Kenny G.” [Laughs]. So he loved it all. But yeah, I was into everything.
Do you have a cool story for making the “Waterfalls” music video?
Well, I have a couple of cool stories. One is just kind of funny. So I always hated makeup, right, more than Tionne and Lisa, and so I would always let them go first. And the makeup [for “Waterfalls] was beautiful. And I remember going into it, it was my turn, I looked around set and it’s so early in the morning, and I said, “OK, I don’t want any of this, a little bit of that,” you know, all of this, right?
I was like, “All right, don’t do all that to me.” And they still put all the blue eyeshadow on me, and I was about to have a heart attack, so I went into the bathroom and, like, wiped half of it off. Then, when it was time for us to go out in the water, which is the same place [at Universal Studios] they shot [parts of the movie] “Jaws,” which was so crazy to us, we’re so excited to be a part of that.
And so we were standing there, and Tionne was so nervous, because she can’t swim. And the thing that we were standing on, it was kind of level, but it would move about a little bit. But when I tell you, T-Boz was scared, oh my gosh, she was so scared.
They had like lifeguards in scuba suits, but you couldn’t see them, obviously, like surrounding us, just in case somebody fell in or something. But when F. Gary Gray [director of videos like Ice Cube’s “It Was a Good Day” and Outkast’s “Ms. Jackson” as well as films like “Friday” and “Be Cool”] said, “Action!” her fear went away.
Is there a classic TLC track that over the years has taken on new or just deeper meaning for you?
I don’t know about like necessarily taking on newer meaning, because it always just hits it every time. The songs that made the albums we really felt, you know what I mean. And so I would say “Case of the Fake People,” that was on [1994 album] “CrazySexyCool.”
I always kind of looked at that like it was like a part two of [1992 hit] “What About Your Friends.” It’s so relatable to just how people — whether it’s your friend or somebody you know you work with — they can just really be backstabbers.
You have to watch out for people like that, and just really just be aware of your surroundings, because everybody is not going to be honest with you. Everybody is really not your friend and all that. And so I really feel that those lyrics would really hit hard today. Because that’s just life, right? It was never a single. But I really feel like that song could hit today.
Was the debut album [1992′s] “Ooooooohhh… On the TLC Tip” as much fun to make as it sounds like, and the videos looked like?
Oh yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun. That was the beginning days, and we messed up the studio with bubbles and the water gun fights going on. Oh my gosh, it was just crazy.
Because we had never been in the studio before, so first time recording, so it’s the first time recording an album and it was just fun, no-stop. Staying up recording until like five in the morning. On your way home to go to bed like 6:30 a.m. and sleep all day until two and have to be at the studio for five in the evening to do it all over again. That was life, that first album.
Unlike many top ‘90s groups and bands who’ve lost a vocalist, TLC never replaced Lisa with a full-time member. Can you talk about that decision?
Number one, no one could ever fill Lisa’s shoes, right? And Lisa did not sing — Tionne and I are the singers, even though we did rap on like our first album it was just for fun, like the Marley Marl song we did, “Das da Way We Like ‘Em.” We’re clearly the singers, but just the thought of it [replacing Lopes fulltime in TLC] just never, ever sat well with us at all. Like, nobody in TLC can be replaced.
Like before I even met them, when they were another group, 2nd Nature, and it was the three of them with the other girl [Crystal Jones] it didn’t work yet, because the three of us are supposed to be together. And when I first got in the group, and they were trying to replace me, not necessarily the girls, but, you know, it was, they were looking for a replacement, and it didn’t happen, because it’s supposed to be the three of us, just us.
And so with that being said, after her [Lopes’] passing, it was never a thought. I mean, it was definitely brought to us. People would mention it, and all that was like, “Nuh uh, we’re not doing that.” So I think the fans really appreciated the fact that we never replaced her or tried to.
I have to ask about “No Scrubs,” which was a mega-hit and has since more than a billion streams [on Spotify]. The first time you all were working on that song, did you have any idea it was going to be this kind of golden thing?
When I first heard [sings the opening riff], it didn’t even get to the verse, I said, “Turn that up.” Because the producer She’kspere was playing some tracks and stuff and I was listening, and when I heard that, I said, “Wait, turn that up.”
He turned it up, and I said, “I’m recording that. Tomorrow.” And he said, “All right.” It’s funny, because it sounded totally different with us not on it yet, but I knew it. Like, this is a bona fide hit. I went in there, I did that song, backgrounds and all, and then Tionne came and did her harmonies and stuff, and Lisa later put her rap on it.
Now, mind you I had no clue that we’d be here today and a billion streams because you just don’t know, but I knew it was a smash, instantly. I didn’t have to hear it twice or anything. I didn’t even hear the whole thing, and I knew something was special about that record.
TLC performs 7:15 – 8:15 p.m. Saturday at the inaugural South Star Music Festival in Huntsville, Alabama. Tickets and more info at southstarfestival.com.
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Publish date : 2024-09-24 14:52:00
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