TLC "CrazySexyCool" (1994)
TLC were started by Crystal Jones and her manager when they had the idea
to put together a girl-group with a hip-hop image. They enlisted Lisa
‘left-eye’ Lopes and Tionne Watkins and started shopping around
management and producers. The band’s name was made up from the first letter of
each member’s first name. Before they could be signed, Jones was
ousted from the group and Rozonda Thomas was bought on board. She was given the nickname 'Chilli' to keep the TLC moniker intact.
After a successful debut “Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip” the group set
about recording their second album. They cast aside the energetic,
colourful ‘teen’ image from the first album to recast themselves as a
more sultry, adult group. This, mixed with their genre-mixing of RnB,
soul and hip hop would create a blueprint for future artists such as
Destiny Child, Pussycat Dolls etc.
To my ears "Waterfalls" is the most obvious hit on the album, so not surprising that it was chosen as a single.
Despite the group's success, they filed for bankruptcy the next year,
partly due to the reported unfairness of their contracts and partly due
to Left-eye having set fire to the mansion of her football player
boyfriend... oddly, the two reconciled and went back to dating after
that!
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