Left eye

Announcement, Appearance, News, Television, Tribute

TLC To Be Portrayed in Andre Rison Biopic ‘Wide Open’

Leon@TLCArmy's avatarLeon@TLCArmy 1 Comment

Andre Rison, the former Atlanta Falcon and previous boyfriend of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, has decided to produce a biopic based on his life, ‘Wide Open: The Andre Rison Story’, after the success of the 2020 Lifetime special, ‘Hopelessly In Love: Lisa Lopes & Andre Rison‘, a documentary that chronicled the ups and downs of their relationship.

Rison announced that the project was in the works last year and subsequently sent out a casting call in August to hire talent in Atlanta to play the various characters in the movie, including Tupac Shakur, Deion Sanders and of course, the members of TLC.

The actresses hired to play TLC are Ashanti Harris as Chilli, Tetisheri Moniz as T-Boz, and Chaz aka Pink B as Left Eye. Pink B has been compared to Left Eye for having very similar looks. She had a small cameo in the VH1 biopic, ‘CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story‘ in 2013, playing a friend of Lil’ Mama, who played Left Eye in that film.

Pink B says that although some people wanted her to get the role of Left Eye in the VH1 biopic, she wasn’t ready at the time. “I’ve experienced a lot and did acting classes and went through a spiritual change so now is better than ever!”, she said on Instagram.

Andre Rison will be directing the film alongside film director Jerry D. May. In a press release, it states that Rison ‘takes off the gloves and gives it to you raw in the real story behind the ESPN, VH1, fluff. Film director Jerry D. May and best-selling author Derrick Handspike teamed up to produce what many are calling one of the most anticipated celebrity biopic films since “The OJ Simpson Story”.’

Rison has an in-depth relationship with TLC. Not only was he the love of Lisa’s life, he was also very supportive of T-Boz and Chilli, helping all three ladies during the infamous lawsuit they went through in 1996 when they filed for bankruptcy.

We look forward to seeing what details he provides for us and how the portrayal of TLC will be in this movie!

Will you be watching ‘Wide Open’?

Interview, News, Television, Tribute

Kiely Williams Star of ‘BET Presents The Encore’: “3LW Were Inspired By TLC”

Leon@TLCArmy's avatarLeon@TLCArmy Leave a comment

Kiely Williams is a founding member of the R&B girl group 3LW, whose platinum self-titled debut album, ‘3LW‘, was released in 2000, with hits such as “Playas Gon Play“, “No More (Baby I’ma Do Right)”, and “I Do (Wanna Get Close To You)”, taken from the follow-up album, 2002’s ‘A Girl Can Mack’.

After Kiely ended her time with 3LW, which also consisted of members Naturi Naughton, Adrienne Bailon, and Jessica Benson (replacing Naturi in 2003), she took the opportunity to join another girl group in 2002 with Adrienne — The Cheetah Girls — along with Raven-Symoné and Sabrina Bryan — for the Disney franchise, until 2008.

Kiely has been most notably quiet since the groups ended, focusing on family life, but she has finally broken her silence this year, as she is one of the stars of ‘BET Presents The Encore‘, an experimental reality show to see how nine former R&B stars can come together to form a super girl group!

She spoke with BET’s Noteworthy this week to talk all things girl groups, and admits that she has a real passion for 90’s R&B. When the hosts asked Kiely about the 3LW influences from other girl groups before hers, Kiely proudly reveals that her group was very inspired by the style and the individual characteristics of the legendary TLC!

“We modeled ourselves after, I guess more TLC, with the idea that each person had their own individual style, and not having like, one main lead singer”, Kiely states about the magical formula that helped TLC stand out from the crowd. “People sung, people rap, people danced, people did everything”.

“We did it that way, rather than like with The Supremes model, where there is a lead singer and back up singers”, Kiely continues. “So, we definitely modeled ourselves after TLC, but still in our own little way. The idea for 3LW was little women, that we are — we might be small, but we are mighty! We know our business”.

TLC have always been supportive and open to other girl groups doing their thing, as they never saw girl groups as competition — they would rather compare themselves to guy groups like Bell Biv Devoe and Boyz II Men!

Back in 2001, Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes told MTV News that she indeed was a fan of 3LW. “Let’s see, I like 3LW. The first time I saw the ad, I did think it looked like a JCPenney ad”, Lisa jokes. “But, it took me to watch the video of the girls in action, and they are adorable. They are doing their [thing]”.

“Look, this is how it is”, Lisa concludes. “Anybody can copy TLC — either you got it, or you don’t.”

Kiely reveals why she loves girl groups so much. “For me personally, growing up, I was always a fan of Total, Xscape, Brownstone, the list can go on and on. But I love R&B girl groups. I love 90’s R&B in general. I think it was the best era”.

Watch ‘BET Presents The Encore’ every Wednesday 10/9c on BET

Announcement, Appearance, Interview, News, Television

Shamari DeVoe Star of ‘BET Presents The Encore’: “Blaque’s Career Ended When Our Mentor Left Eye Passed Away”

Leon@TLCArmy's avatarLeon@TLCArmy Leave a comment

Shamari DeVoe of the much loved girl group Blaque, founded by Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, is currently starring in the cable television ratings winner, “BET Presents The Encore“, a reality show about nine former R&B artists coming together to form a super girl group!

Along with Shamari on the show are Pamela Long from Total, Kiely Williams from 3LW and the Cheetah Girls, Aubrey O’Day from Danity Kane, LeMisha and Irish Grinstead from 702, Felisha and Fallon King from Cherish and the only solo artist in the house, Nivea.

During the show, Shamari spoke about being thankful for Lisa’s mentorship and how the tragic 2002 passing of Lisa in a car accident in Honduras affected the career of her group, Blaque.

“The first album, ‘Blaque‘, was multi-platinum. And then, we were in the movie, ‘Bring It On‘. We were on top of the world!”, Shamari proudly tells the show’s producers about her career highs. “We had it all”.

Shamari shared the spotlight with her two Blaque group members, Brandi Williams and the late Natina Reed, who passed away in 2012. Blaque were discovered by Lisa’s brother, Ronald Lopes, who introduced them to Lisa and she had them signed up to Left Eye Productions company, eventually leading them to a recording contract with Columbia Records in 1996.

“Blaque are the protégé’s of Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes of TLC. She was our mentor — and then she passed away”, Shamari recalls. “That just stopped our whole career”. With the loss of Left Eye, Blaque also lost their biggest cheerleader.

“I definitely felt let down by the industry,” Shamari admits to The Guardian. “There was a point where I lost my passion to ever want to sing again.” Their second album, ‘Blaque Out‘ was scrapped by the label after online leaks, and the third album, ‘Torch‘, was also scrapped in 2003.

However, after heavy public demand in the form of fan petitions over the years, Blaque won back the rights to their recordings from one-time manager Mathew Knowles, and the album finally came out in 2019, 20 years since their debut.

“It feels really good to finally release it,” says Brandi. “And with us able to own these songs now, and our fans still wanting to hear them, I actually think this is perfect timing.”

“We’re doing this for Natina and Lisa”, Shamari adds.

Watch ‘BET Presents The Encore’ every Wednesday 10/9c on BET

Announcement, Competition, News, Tribute

Funko Europe Launch TLC Pop! Rocks Vinyl Figures

Leon@TLCArmy's avatarLeon@TLCArmy 7 Comments
Credit: Megan Dove

The wait is finally over for European fans of TLC who have been patiently awaiting the release of the Funko Pop! Rocks line of TLC figures, which come complete with a set of Chase variants.

The TLC Funko Pop! Rocks are styled as the girls in the iconic “Waterfalls” video! They come with limited editon Chase variants in a translucent style, replicating the scenes of the video where the ladies turn into water!

The pops were initially announced back in October 2020 after news surfaced online about the development of the TLC line. Since then, they received a US release in January 2021 and have since sold out for the time being on the official Funko website.

Fans over in Europe can now finally be reassured that they can now get their own set of TLC pops which were released today on the official FunkoEurope.com site. The European site went live in November 2020, giving Funko fans in Europe some relief at not having to resort to US imports.

We love the attention to detail on these TLC pops. From the iconic sideburns on T-Boz, slick baby hairs on Chilli and the trademark line under Left Eye‘s left eye and ’80’ tattoo on her arm, the number on Andre Rison’s football shirt!

You can order your favourite pops right now on FunkoEurope.com and if you’re lucky enough, you have a 1 in 6 chance of receiving a chase Variant, too!

A BIG thank you to the team at Funko Europe for keeping us updated with the latest official information and for sharing a little ‘TLC’ with us, we appreciate you!

To be in with a chance of winning a regular set of TLC Pop! Rocks figures, simply comment below on this website post and tell us the name of your favourite TLC album!

We’ll close the competition on March 31, 2021 and announce the winner on our social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! Good luck!