To celebrate the 20th anniversary of their group, TLC is releasing a new album that will include a redone version of their hit “Waterfalls”, and standing in for Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes will be Japanese pop star Namie Amuro.
The Lopes family is reportedly hurt that T-Boz and Chili declined to even tell them about the new album and say it’s disrespectful to replace any of Left-Eye’s vocals with someone else, especially on one of the group’s more memorable tracks. “Waterfalls” spent seven weeks at number 1 on the Billboard charts and is still named as a fan favorite.
“I did not know about it until a fan posted it online. I mean it would have been nice if they would have given us a heads up before being surprised,” Lisa’s sister, Reigndrop Lopes said.
Lisa died tragically in a car accident in Honduras in 2002. The group is working on a made-for-tv movie in which she will be portrayed by Lil Mama, and are planning to go on tour later this year. The comeback could mean big things for T-Boz and Chili; in the mid-90s, after seeing multiple successes with their albums, the group discovered they were bankrupt.
“This is how a group can sell 10 million records and be broke and everyone get ready to do your math,” Left Eye once said in an interview.
The girls ended up seeing only $50,000 apiece in both 1993 and 1994 despite the huge amounts of records they were selling, and they ended up owing money to the record label. Sadly, T-Boz later had to file a personal bankruptcy claim after she said the father of her child failed to pay support.