The Canadian-born singer and songwriter Esthero may sound familiar to most TLC fans because of her intimate collaboration with Left Eye on the track ‘The Universal Quest‘, from Lisa’s 2001 solo album, ‘Supernova‘.
What isn’t largely known is the close friendship and connection the two had developed after their insightful musical collaboration.
Esthero shared a moment she had with Lisa after thanksgiving in 2000, when she was given a book by Lisa of the inspirational and spiritual understandings of life on earth.
In the handwritten letter with the book, Lisa says, “Aside from a book called “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success” by Deepok Chopra, this book would be my favorite!“.
Speaking of the suggested book, “Letter to Earth“, Lisa continues. “[It’s] very easy to read! Lot’s of info! I hardly ever read a book from front to back cover because all of the answers are within. This shall serve you as great food for thought!”.
Esthero has also kept the lyrics to ‘Universal Quest’, handwritten by Lisa which she says is one of the most emotionally valuable things that she owns.
“I can’t tell you what she meant to me“, Esthero says about Left Eye. “I’m so glad we got to spend some time together and make music. #SHEro“.
The book ‘Letter to Earth’ by Ella Wise is currently available on Amazon.
For the latest on Esthero head over to www.esthero.net
TLC fans will have noticed the return of the hit TLC biopic CrazySexyCool The TLC Story back on their TV listings this week on VH1.
This is partly because Viacom have come to an out of court settlement with Perri ‘Pebbles’ Reid, throwing out her defamation claim and avoiding the need to go to trial.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a trial was set to begin on September 24 but the case was administratively closed on Friday after the judge was informed of the deal.
Reid filed a $40 million defamation lawsuit in 2014 after VH-1 aired CrazySexyCool. In a complaint, she objected to being portrayed in the TLC biopic as a “conniving and dishonest business woman who hoodwinked three innocent girls and exploited their talent for her own personal gain.”
Viacom attempted to get the case dismissed by presenting its film as a story told from the perspective of the two surviving members of TLC, who cooperated fully in its development. The media company urged the judge to recognize there was no actual malice in what had been broadcast and with nods to such films as Selma, The Social Networkand Ray, that creative liberties were often taken by those who make docudramas.
In a summary judgment opinion, U.S. District Judge Mark Cohen concluded that not everything Reid was upset about in CrazySexyCool was capable of defamatory meaning but some scenes were indeed capable of supporting a defamation claim.
Specifically, the judge allowed Reid to take Viacom to trial over scenes where she was shown pressuring the group’s members to sign contracts without sufficient time, for scenes showing Reid exerting control over lawyers for the group’s members, for scenes that conveyed the idea that Reid improperly deducted expenses and only paid TLC $25 a week, and for a scene conveying it was Reid’s decision to remove Chilli from TLC.
The fact that Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas cooperated with filmmakers ended up hurting Viacom as the judge accepted Reid’s word there may have been bias.
Viacom urged reconsideration by telling the judge he got the analysis of the actual malice standard wrong. Viacom contended there wasn’t any evidence how it had any reason to believe the information obtained was unreliable.
The judge responded that subjective doubt wasn’t the rule and that in any event, a conclusion about the filmmakers’ state of mind was something for a jury.
There won’t be a trial now thanks to the settlement.
Lin Wood, attorney for Reid, says terms of the resolution are confidential.
Viacom was represented by Elizabeth McNamara.
New airdates for CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story:
Tuesday 8/27 at 8pm
Saturday 9/1 at 9pm
Sunday 9/2 at 10:30am
Chilli is no longer actively looking for Mr Right, as she is currently dating someone that she is ‘testing the waters’ with, she revealed exclusively to Essence this week.
Staying true to her own word, she is also open to dating men outside of her own race, noting that her current love interest is not black, and she wants more women to be more open minded.
Chilli with photographer Robert Ector in 2010
“I want for women, especially for women of color, to not be so closed minded when it comes to love,” Chilli, who identifies as mixed, said. “God made all of us and you may not find your husband because you’re trying to stick to one group. You’ve got to be open.”
“You want the person who’s the best person for you, no matter what color he is”.
Chilli with Floyd Mayweather and Calvin Evans shooting for ‘What Chilli Wants’
“I usually know after two months…I can just tell. I’ve always known,” she said. “The day I turned 30, I got this kind of smartness or something, this maturity about myself…when your turn 30, you become more confident in how you feel about things, which is great. That way you can cut and weed out a lot of the BS you go through.”
But one area in Chilli’s life that has never had any BS is when she’s onstage performing with her group, TLC. The bestselling girl group is one of the featured acts on Netflix’s Once In A Lifetime Sessions, streaming now.
The eight-part music documentary takes fans behind the scenes to witness intimate performances by some of their favorite artists.
Chilli said that “it was an easy yes” to document their performance for a Netflix special, which features the other remaining member of TLC, Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins. The duo continue to tour as a group after the death of their third bandmate, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, who died in 2002 after a fatal car crash.
“We’re all about connecting with our fans and so to do this in a way where we could perform in front of a nice intimate setting for our fans and then kind of open up to let fans see how we record in the studio and having our live band there, it was just a great recipe for something delish,” she said.
“And it’s something new,” Chilli added, “we’re always very happy to be part of something new.”
Back in 2000, the ‘L’ of TLC, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes announced to the world that she was embarking on a solo career, and began work on her first solo LP, ‘Supernova‘.
The project, which was also released on her group’s label, Arista, was slated to be released on her chosen date of August 16.
This date was important to Lisa, who was a strong believer in the power of numerology. “Something weird happened in my family,” Lisa explained to MTV News in 2001.
“My father died on August 16th and his father was born on August 16th“.
“It’s a very significant release date“.
To accompany her wishes, Arista initially announced the album to be released that same week on August 14 (new album releases in the US drop on a Tuesday).
However, because Arista failed to keep to their promise of releasing the album on this specific date, Lisa decided it was important for the world to hear the album on this date and streamed the entire album on her website, Eyenetics.com.
The label, which had not yet paid Lisa for her existing work on the album, requested her to return to the studio to record more tracks for the album to beef it up.
Lisa declined respectfully, and because Arista defaulted on her contract conditions, she was allowed to be freed from her legal obligations on the label, later signing to Suge Knight’s Tha Row label in 2002, where Lisa renamed herself N.I.N.A. (New Identity Non-Applicable). The project is available in full online.
Left Eye’s Eyenetics website
‘Supernova’ was unlike anything Lisa had released in the past, choosing to educate her listeners on spirituality and numerology on tracks like “Universal Quest“, “A New Star Is Born” and “Breathe“. She also had more bold and self-assured tracks like “I Believe In Me“, “Let Me Live” and “Hot!“, the latter being her original choice for first single.
It’s guest appearances included Blaque, Esthero, Carl Thomas, Jazze Pha, Andre Rison and a posthumous collaboration with 2pac.
‘Supernova’ tracklist
Lisa also changed her vocal style on the album, to be more spoken word and poetic. She was aiming for a new sound, something different to what she had produced with TLC.
“TLC’s music is pretty much pop and R&B“, Lisa told BBC. “My music is a bit more eclectic“.
Lisa was intending to release a puzzle with the album, which would help the listener decide on what track to play on the album. It features in her ‘Block Party‘ music video.
Whilst competing for prize money for charity on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, she told more about it. “There’s a puzzle that comes with my album, it’s called a dodecahydon. So, I kinda created that and I do all of the computer graphics.”
Despite the album never getting a release in the US, it was released overseas, following the moderate success of it’s first single, ‘The Block Party”, which reached the top 20 in the UK.
This underrated masterpiece deserves a full worldwide digital release on iTunes. Perhaps it will appear on Spotify one day, hopefully.
Leon@TLCArmy
TLC-Army.com 