Melanie C aka Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls took the opportunity this week to celebrate her debut solo album, 1999’s ‘Northern Star‘, with the weekly pop podcast Track By Track to discuss the album in detail, track-by-track.
The year 2000 was a special time in music. TLC were on hiatus after the success of their mega-selling ‘FanMail‘ album and the record-breaking tour to support it, while the Spice Girls were also taking a break from world domination to focus on their solo projects.
Melanie C decided to team up with Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes on her debut solo album, which led to Melanie earning her first solo number one single in the UK in the summer of 2000, an exciting time for both TLC and Spice Girls fans!
The single in question was “Never Be The Same Again“. Melanie C gave us some beautiful memories of her time working with Lisa around the time of the single being released.
Melanie proudly states that the Spice Girls were huge fans of TLC. “I couldn’t believe my luck when I had the opportunity to work with [Lisa]. And she was perfect!”, Melanie exclaims.
Lisa was the only rapper Mel C wanted on the track with her. “She was the only person I wanted on that song. I was writing with Rhett Lawrence & we got to the middle 8 & all I could hear was a Lisa-style rap”, she recalls. “He gave her a call & next thing I knew she was on the track. So that was a wonderful experience”.
Melanie states that she shot the spiritual video with Lisa in Malibu, which features a scene with Lisa and Melanie performing tai chi moves together while Lisa lays down her iconic verse, once again proving why she was the perfect choice for the track.
Following the success of the single in March 2000, Melanie invited Lisa to promote the single with her in London for a couple of performances and interviews to help keep the track at number one for a second week!
At the time of the promotional run, Lisa told Top Of The Pops: Backstage how she felt about being part of the success with Melanie. “Now that we might be number one twice in a row, I feel like I’m running a marathon and I’m almost at the finish line!”, she says excitedly.
The solo recognition also meant a lot to Lisa, as she was seeking to launch her solo career in the UK. “It is important. I’m going to be coming back over here to do a solo project of mine, so it is always good to be recognised and especially if you can make that number one slot”.
Lisa and Mel C also stopped by at BBC Radio One, where Lisa further discusses her need to have her voice heard solo. “I’ve always wanted to do a solo album. I am an emcee, and I love TLC — but I’m very limited to the amount of work that I can actually do. It’s usually a few songs, 16 bars here and there, and I like to really strut my stuff.”
“But as far as the rumors, we’re fine. We haven’t broken up. We went through a little something last year, but it’s not the first time that we’ve been through something, it’s just the first time that it was publicized”, Lisa explains.
“The issues that have existed?”, Lisa continues, “personal differences when it comes to business decisions and the direction that we move forward in. It’s one group, with three different people with three different visions, so which direction do we go in?”.
Mel C co-signs with Lisa about the struggles of being in a group. “We have earned the right to yell at each other”, Lisa jests. “You spend so much time together that you become like sisters”, Mel adds. “And no matter what’s said you still love each other. You iron out your differences and you sort it out”.
Never Be The Same Again, my 1st UK No1 & my collaboration w/ the wonderful Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes. Myself & the @spicegirls were huge @OfficialTLC fans. Couldn't believe my luck when I had the opportunity to work w/ her. And she was perfect 😍 @trackbytrackuk#TBTNorthernStar
“Never Be The Same Again” will always be special to Mel C, not just because it blessed her with her first number one, but because Lisa was a part of it with her. “This will always be a very important song to me, obviously being my first UK No. 1 and really launching the whole album to new heights, but also sadly losing Lisa was so tragic, she was so young and such a huge talent, so I feel very lucky I was able to work with her and we have this piece of music, that we worked on together, forever”.
Melanie eventually got the chance to meet the rest of TLC in 2018 at the Mighty Hoopla in London, 19 years since she first worked with Lisa. Fans can always live in hope that the two biggest girl groups in history unite one day on tour. Lisa would have loved the idea.
Lifetime television premiered their limited 3-part docu-series ‘Hopelessly In Love‘ on January 4, 2020. The series details the ups and downs of the relationships between Anna-Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead, Biggie Smalls and Faith Evans, and the opening episode focused on Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes and Andre Rison.
The episode spoke to the friends and family of both Andre and Lisa, including his mother Merdice Brown-Coleman and sister Raquel, and Lisa’s sister Reigndrop Lopes, mother Wanda Lopes-Colemon, and close friends Trena Smith, cousin Tangi Foreman and previously unseen footage released by her family.
Andre himself confessed that he “was deeply in love” with Lisa. “It was dope,” he said. “She came by the house and pretty much never left.”
As you’ll recall, Lisa accidentally burned down Andre’s mansion during a falling out between the two. Despite that, the two still had love for one another and planned to get married sometime in the early 2000’s, though Lisa eventually called the wedding off, much to Andre’s devastation.
The docu-series reveals details of two miscarriages that Lisa had sadly experienced during her time with Andre, and rumors of an alleged spell of voodoo Lisa placed on Andre, something her family vehemently deny. “Lisa did not practice voodoo”, Reigndrop clarifies.
Lisa’s love for 2pac is also scrutinized as a major reason as to why her relationship with Andre became so troubled. 2pac and Andre were close friends, he wasn’t aware that Lisa already had feelings for 2pac when he met her in a club back in the 90’s. Andre later admits that it was hard for him to shake off his trust issues.
Both Trena and Suge Knight admit that Lisa had strong feelings for 2pac, which was mutual. 2pac wanted to be with her in the long-term, so refused to be intimate with her.
“They slept in the same bed together. We stopped over at ‘Pac’s house. They never was intimate, though”, Trena confirms. “He was like her soul mate. Lisa loved 2Pac, but Andre wasn’t going nowhere”.
The legendary video director Hype Williams, who dominated the music scene during the late 90’s and beyond, is set to help one of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes’ dreams finally become a reality — he wants to release a book using photographs he shot with her in Honduras back in 2001.
Left Eye originally had plans to release a book, which she wished to title, “Open“, to feature a variety of exclusive photographs she shot with Hype in Honduras. The Lopes family initially cited lack of Lisa’s input as reasons why the book was discontinued after her unfortunate passing in 2002 — she hadn’t written enough material to create the book.
Hype Williams recently took to social media (Oct 30) and shared numerous throwback photographs of some of his greatest moments on his video sets and photo shoots with Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Busta Rhymes, Diddy, Ma$e, Aaliyah, Mariah Carey, Kim Kardashian, Kelis and Foxy Brown.
He also posted a beautiful shot of Lisa from a photo shoot he did with her in 2001, wearing a bubblegum pink Paul Frank flannel pyjama set.
Left Eye in Honduras (2001)
“Left Eye was the sweetest! Like my little baby, and a good friend!”, Hype reminisces. He recalls the time he spent with her in Honduras on the photoshoot. “We shot this in Honduras at Usha Village about one year before she passed. Literally hundreds of rolls of film!”, he exclaimed. “One of the great lights!”.
Following the overwhelming outpouring of love from TLC and Left Eye fans, Hype thanked everyone and told them, “The real thing to do would be to release them all as one Lisa Lopes book. That’s what she wanted”, referring to her planned book, “Open”.
Lisa’s younger sister, Reigndrop Lopes, co-signed his sentiments once she saw his comments a week later. She urged Hype to release the book, saying, “Let’s do it! That’s what she wanted!”.
Left Eye in Honduras (2001)
Hype later announced that the proposition was indeed going to become a reality. On Nov 8, Hype wrote a statement:
“Actually Lisa’s sister and I are going to be working together to release all of them in [a] special limited book and gallery show. Paying homage and tribute to Left Eye and putting the pics out there the way she originally intended”.
Hype then shared a candid shot of himself shopping with Lisa at a local grocery store in Honduras. In the caption he said, “Me and lil Left Eye, grocery shopping in La Ceiba Honduras ❤❤❤ circa 2001”.
Hype Williams directed the 1999 MTV VMA-winning TLC music video, “No Scrubs“, as well as Left Eye’s debut solo release, “The Block Party“, in 2001. Hype made his feature length movie directional debut in 1998 with the film, ‘Belly‘, starring Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins, Method Man and DMX.
Lisa will most definitely be proud to know that another one of her dreams will soon become a reality.
The family of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes officially unveiled the brand new headstone that they have commissioned for the beloved TLC star on November 9, along with the creator Tim Morris aka Cemetery Tim, responsible for the recent Eazy-E headstone.
Siblings Reigndrop and Ronald Lopes and mother Wanda Lopes-Coleman unveiled the masterpiece in Zillah, Washington at an exclusive free public event, open to all of her fans that were able to attend and witness the creation with her family.
The all-new headstone features some one-of-a-kind designs and modern features to complement the stunning colors and smooth finish. Explaining some of the headstones finer details, Tim said, “This is a bronze marker, it’s mounted to the full ledger which is granite. It has brilliant impressions”.
Wanda and Reigndrop feel the 3D image of Lisa
Tim goes on to explain how he has included the lyrics to her original “Waterfalls” rap, just as it was present on her original headstone, as well as a preserved copy of her autograph, her foundation official logo, special words and photos of the family with Lisa and it even features a QR code, which fans can scan and find out more information about the Lisa Lopes Foundation.
The main photo of Lisa in the center of the headstone, which was photographed by director Hype Williams in Honduras, is in fact 3D. “It’s three dimensional, so you can actually feel Left Eye”, Tim explains. “You can feel her hands, her body and her lips. It’s definitely one-of-a-kind”.
Reigndrop kisses her sister’s newly-created headstone
Tim met Lisa’s family through an email earlier this year, he told Yakima Herald. “They wanted to see some of my work and I sent them some drawings of projects that I was working on. They liked what they saw and asked me to create a one-of-a-kind [headstone] for Lisa”, he said.
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