TLC celebrated the 25th anniversary of their iconic ‘Fanmail‘ album, released on February 23, 1999!
To celebrate this milestone, the ladies surprised fans with some exclusive never-before-seen footage of behind the scenes clips from the music videos for the first two lead singles from the album, “No Scrubs” and “Unpretty“!
In new interviews for the anniversary with Sony’s legacy catalog, Legacy Recordings, T-Boz and Chilli took a trip down memory lane to discuss their feelings about the ‘Fanmail’ project.
“I was like, I’m gonna record this. This is the one!”, Chilli recalls on the first time she heard the “No Scrubs” demo with producer Shek’spere. “I knew it was a smash”.
Whilst discussing the follow up single, “Unpretty”, T-Boz explains, “It came from a personal situation of mine. Men were being verbally abusive to women, telling them to look down, telling them to look up — it couldn’t have been me! So, I thought of this word, and thought, oh, they’re making them feel un-pretty.”
“We have so many people who tell us that it helps them feel better about themselves — one of them was Lady Gaga. So, you never know who is listening and who the song touches”, T-Boz says. “I feel good!”
Fans were holding out for an anniversary edition of the album. This didn’t happen, unfortunately, but Vinyl Me, Please announced a 3rd Edition pressing of the ‘Fanmail’ album, on sale now.
You can purchase the stunning vinyl here. It comes with a limited bonus vinyl, featuring the Left Eye rap mix of “No Scrubs”, and the bonus track, “U In Me“.
Sony also finally released the complete set of EP’s from the ‘Fanmail’ era to digital platforms. This includes, “No Scrubs”, “Unpretty”, “Dear Lie” and “Silly Ho“.
‘TLC Forever‘ was three years in the making, initially announced in October 2020 and suffered major production delays due to the covid-19 pandemic. The final outcome was delivered officially to the world with a simulcast on both Lifetime and A&E on June 3, 2023.
The highly anticipated documentary was produced by the One Story Up production company, directed by Matt Kay and executive produced by Roger Ross Williams, as well as Bill Diggins and TLC.
The documentary delivered on it’s promise to delve deeper into the history of TLC, more than they have ever told before, told in the words of T-Boz and Chilli themselves. “And who better to tell it than us, while we’re still here to tell it”, T-Boz told Billboard.
TLC in 2001
The documentary has a unique perspective of capturing the raw reactions of Chilli, T-Boz and Diggins in a private screening, whilst they take time reminiscing about the past, as they watch the footage of themselves and add commentary and thoughts of what they were going through at the time. The footage was largely filmed by T-Boz on a camcorder that she carried around with her as they were on tour in the early days as well as lots of archive, behind the scenes footage, many never seen before.
From the beginning of the documentary, viewers are instantly kept on the edge of their seats, as the scene opens with an emotional T-Boz becoming upset while she reminisces about her struggles with her brain tumor diagnosis and subsequent surgery and recovery. Her main focus was to make it back so that she could continue to be a mother for her daughter, Chase Rolison.
“But she doesn’t want anyone to pity her,” Chilli tells Forbes, adding that she hopes the film will help viewers see that the women of TLC are human, that they aren’t just performers, and that not everything during the height of their career was smooth sailing. “I think that everyone will realize that we’ve never seen this side of Tionne before. I’m always crying, I’m a frequent crier, but in this she cried a lot.”
The synopsis for the documentary is set on documenting TLC’s journey as they prepare to perform at the 2022 Glastonbury Festival, billed as their biggest gig to date. Fans are taken on an emotional roller coaster, as we witness the extra lengths TLC needs to go through in order to get through a show or a tour successfully, ensuring T-Boz gets the appropriate care and rest that she requires to prevent her health from declining.
Diehard fans were delighted to learn than the documentary also touched on the career of TLC beyond the passing of the beloved Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in 2002. TLC revealed that the industry had turned on them once Left Eye passed and deemed TLC to be over. Although they were unhappy with L.A. Reid forcing them to complete the unfinished ‘3D’ album in favor of a greatest hits, the ladies made the most out of the situation and wanted to do the album justice, both for their fans and for Lisa.
TLC in 2000
In unreleased footage that was not included in the final release of the documentary, TLC can be seen in the studio working on songs for the ‘3D‘ album in 2001 with Raphael Saadiq with an unreleased TLC song, “Us“, playing in the background. T-Boz went on to explain why some of the original songs Lisa had completed before she died weren’t featured on the final release of the album.
“The ironic thing was, we did some songs that was unreleased by Raphael Saadiq, and there was this one song called “Us”, T-Boz explains. “It was talking about something happening to you and it wasn’t your time and thanking God. It was just an eerie song to listen to afterwards [after what had just happened to Lisa], and that’s why we didn’t use it because it was actually a good song, but it kinda spoke on what had just happened to her”.
TLC naturally went on hiatus after the release of ‘3D’ in 2002, giving them the chance to grieve the loss of Left Eye. They completed the album promo in 2003, ending with a performance at Z100’s Zootopia, billed as their final show ever. Fans across the world (including myself) made sure to be there at Giants Stadium in New Jersey to see TLC performing for the first, and potentially, last time, as a duo.
Fans were still hungry for TLC to continue, so they agreed to a reality talent show on UPN called ‘R U The Girl with T-Boz and Chilli‘ in 2005, which followed the ladies on a nationwide search for the perfect girl to perform a new song with them, “I Bet“, which the winner O’so Krispie did during the finale.
TLC in 2003
During the years that followed, Chilli recorded a couple of solo singles, launched her Bags By Chilli fashion line, became a Beachbody spokesperson and featured in her own reality show on VH1, ‘What Chilli Wants‘. T-Boz also recorded a couple of solo demos and during this downtime she encountered severe migraines and was later diagnosed with a brain tumor which took over three years of rehabilitation to become healthy again.
TLC took the opportunity to be the guest for Alicia Keys at the 2008 BET Awards, performing alongside SWV and En Vogue. T-Boz then became a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice in 2009 with Donald Trump, winning $20k for her chosen sickle cell charity in the process. TLC returned to the television screens in 2011 as guest performers on American Idol.
TLC on tour in 2021
T-Boz took part in her own reality show, ‘Totally T-Boz‘ in 2013. During this time TLC were also in talks for a potential comeback to the stage after successful spot dates in Japan and Las Vegas. The ladies were then approached by VH1 to executive produce their record breaking biopic, ‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story‘ in 2013.
The success of the biopic brought in a ton of new fans and a new wave of demand for the group. TLC enjoyed success on the festival circuit that year, performing at the Mixtape Festival and Drake‘s OVO Festival. The peak of that success reached when TLC were offered the opportunity to perform on VH1’s Super Bowl Blitz in 2014. With stakes so high, TLC put on the show of their lives and promoters were demanding to book TLC as a result of the high level of production and outstanding performance the ladies provided on the show.
With so many accolades and awards to their name, it would be easy to think TLC have completed their mission to dominate the industry. But not quite yet — as T-Boz says, “we’ve still got a lot to do!” This includes an upcoming TLC Broadway musical that is still in the works, as well as a possible animation based on the music of TLC and possibly a new reality show. Oh, and new music to accompany said projects, of course!
As a diehard fan, I can say that we would love to see TLC finally receive a place on the Hollywood Walk of Fame — long overdue! TLC also deserves a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We’d love to see more Lifetime Achievement Awards, too! Let’s speak these things into fruition and give the biggest girl group in the world their flowers!
TLC on tour in 2023
Catch TLC while you can on tour this summer on the ‘Hot Summer Nights‘ tour with Shaggy, En Vogue and Sean Kingston! Tickets available at Ticketmaster.com
The Atlanta-based LaFace Records had high hopes for their supergroup TLC after the multi-platinum success of their debut album, ‘Ooooooohhh… on the TLC tip‘ in 1992 and were keen to surpass the sales with the follow-up release, 1994’s ‘CrazySexyCool‘.
That diamond-certified album was led by the single that blessed the group with their first Billboard #1 single, “Creep“. However, the LaFace Records label head Antonio “L.A.” Reid was very close to not going ahead with the track as a single at all, after a few subpar attempts at funding a music video to bring the single to life.
TLC, L.A Reid and Pebbles (1992)
The first music video for “Creep” that Reid commissioned in 1994 was directed by Craig Henry (responsible for directing “Flavor In Ya Ear” by Craig Mack) and was shot on location in Atlanta. Not feeling satisfied with the outcome of the video he went ahead and hired Lionel C. Martin to shoot the second attempt in Los Angeles. Martin had previously directed TLC videos including the debut single, “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg“, it’s follow-up, “What About Your Friends?“, and “Get It Up” from the Janet Jackson movie soundtrack, ‘Poetic Justice‘ in 1993.
After spending so much money on two music videos that didn’t do the single very much justice, Reid turned to his friend Sean “Diddy” Combs for some advice. Speaking with the Questlove Supreme podcast earlier this week, Reid admitted he was ready to pull the plug on the single release of “Creep” after feeling ’embarrassed’ about his failed attempts at securing a successful music video.
“We shot a video for “Creep” — it wasn’t very good. I was like, ‘damn’. So, we shot a second video for “Creep”, again wasn’t very good, so I was like, ‘fu*k, now I’m in trouble”, Reid reveals. “We shot two videos and they weren’t good and the world never saw them. I was embarrassed so I switched singles. “Creep” is no longer the single, so we’re gonna go with this song called “Kick Your Game” that Jermaine Dupri did”.
T-Boz, L.A Reid and Left Eye (1996)
Clive Davis, head of Arista Records and parent company to LaFace Records put his foot down after hearing Reid’s plan to change singles. “Hold it, hold it hold it! Why are you changing singles? What is this? What is behind this, you have to explain!” Dallas Austin, the producer of “Creep” was also unhappy with Reid not wanting to release his track as the first single. “He knew he had a great record, so I had to come clean”, Reid admits. “Well, truth be told, I made two horrible videos and I’m just too embarrassed to tell everybody. Clive just said, ‘get it right’.”
“So, I’m sitting with Diddy one day at the Helmsley Palace Hotel in New York, and I play him the TLC video that’s not good. He looks at me like, ‘oh my God, yo, this is horrible’, which does not make me feel any better about it”, Reid continues. “While I’m showing him the video on one television, on the other television was a video with Salt ‘N Pepa and En Vogue called “Whatta Man“, and it looks way better that our video. I looked at the video and said, ‘Who directed that?!’ It was Matthew Rolston. I called Matthew and asked him to do the “Creep” video — we got it right the third time. But we threw two videos away to get to the good one”.
When he was questioned if TLC had to pay back the costs for all of the music videos shot for “Creep”, Reid coyly responded. “Let’s look at it like this, we sell ten million albums — if you want the truth, I don’t know! That’s how I got my ass in trouble, because I didn’t know”, he admits. “I’m so good trying to make a great record, trying to get a great video, I’m spending people’s money and not realising it”.
While TLC held down the girl group side of the label, Outkast were the Kings of LaFace Records. Reid admits that hip-hop wasn’t his territory, so he put his faith in his artists like Outkast and Goodie Mob and what they brought to the table with guidance from Rico Wade of Organized Noize. When Outkast reached multi-platinum success with the ‘Stankonia‘ album, their working partnership became distanced before the next multi-platinum album was released, 2003’s ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below‘, which was a combination of two solo albums by the Outkast members, Big Boi and Andre 3000.
Chilli in Outkast’s “So Fresh So Clean” video
Similarities to this project were notable to the TLC solo album challenge that Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes had proposed to her group members Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas late in 1999, when Lopes felt her talent was not being utilised in the group the way she had wanted, so she wanted to present herself more freely with a solo project. Although her TLC sisters rejected the idea, Lopes continued her solo journey with the release of her debut solo album, ‘Supernova‘ in 2001, a project Reid admits he wasn’t blown away by.
Reid stated that the TLC solo challenge didn’t get very far as the group were stronger together as a unit. “T-Boz had made a couple of solo songs [“Touch Myself” (1996) and “My Getaway” (2000)], and it was pretty clear to me that it was the ensemble that was the magic”, Reid admits. “I love T-Boz — I love them all but I have a particular love for her style, that raspy voice, she was the only girl I’ve seen approach it like a guy — I just thought she was so dope. But it was the ensemble that was the winner there. Lisa made a solo album before she passed away — may she rest in peace, I miss her so much.”
“She made a solo album — I wasn’t blown away by it. I didn’t think it was incredible at all. It was the kind of music that — I should have loved it if it were good”, Reid states his thoughts on the ‘Supernova’ project. “It wasn’t something that was outside of my thing. The way I describe Goodie Mob as outside of my thing, so I have to defer to them. [‘Supernova’] wasn’t outside of my sweet spot, I just didn’t think it was great. Chilli didn’t actually try to make a solo record as far as I can remember until many, many years later. So that [solo challenge] didn’t get very far”.
Despite Reid’s dissatisfaction in the Lopes solo project, he released the album overseas in the UK, Australia and Japan. On Lisa’s birthday May 27, 2022, her youngest sister Reigndrop Lopes announced that the Lopes family were aiming to release the ‘Supernova’ album to streaming platforms on August 16 as Lisa had originally wanted.
TLC in 1994 (Dah Len)
Reid reveals the secret to how he brought out the best of each of the producers for the ‘CrazySexyCool’ album and that he took a step back from music production to focus on the business side of the label whilst his LaFace partner Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds continued with the writing and production side.
“I had all of the producers on ‘CrazySexyCool’ competing and they didn’t really know it. I had Dallas working on it first, he was the architect, then I go and play it for Jermaine Dupri and go, ‘I know you can beat this’, then he did his piece”, Reid admits. “Then Kenny is competitive. You don’t need to put a battery in Kenny’s back, he’s so competitive so he sent his songs in. And then, I went to Rico Wade last and said, ‘here’s what everybody else gave me, what you got?’
“And he came up with “Waterfalls“.
Would you have liked a TLC triple solo album? Did you like the early “Creep” videos?
The year was 2009 when the blaxploitation 1970’s classic ‘Black Dynamite‘ was given a reboot on the big screen. That was when Cartoon Network‘s adult animated division Adult Swim decided to create an animated spin off series, based on storylines from the updated movie.
The original pilot episode of the animated series, executively produced by Carl Jones (‘The Boondocks‘), debuted in 2011. The series wasn’t released in full until 2012, lasting 2 seasons and airing 20 episodes in total.
T-Boz was no stranger to the world of animation. She had announced in 1999 that she was working on developing a cartoon with the Jim Henson Company, titled ‘It’s A Fly World’, although it never came to fruition.
She had also provided voice-over work for André 3000‘s Cartoon Network series ‘Class of 3000‘. “I did the voice, but they ended up going with someone else because I couldn’t get my voice to sound younger,” T-Boz told Billboard.
T-Boz was then hired by the Adult Swim company to play a guest role as Pam Grier on the second season of ‘Black Dynamite’. During this episode, Pam Grier is kidnapped along with some other top Blaxploitation actors, such as Rudy Ray Moore, and Jim Kelly, by the notorious Bill Cosby, who wants to transform actors into dignified representations of the black race.
“I was the reverse stripper,” T-Boz explained. “It was funny because I was supposed to be sexy, but I started off naked and put my clothes on.” While Bill Cosby is on his mission to force the changes, Black Dynamite, who is voiced by the original actor Michael Jai White, saves the day.
T-Boz later supplied her voice-over talents as a favor to The Asylum’s 2016 movie, ‘Trolland‘, where she played the character Jarvik. Ja Rule and Dick Van Dyke also star.
We hope to see T-Boz in more voice-over roles in the future, as well as acting roles!She starred in ‘After Masks‘ earlier this year.
Leon@TLCArmy
TLC-Army.com 