TLC: Trio Minus One
TLC, perhaps the most successful, ground-breaking and acclaimed all-female music group of all time, is back on the music scene with a fourth album, "3D."
The new album is a tribute to their friend and group member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, who died in a car accident in Honduras in April 2002.
The Early Show sat down with TLC members Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas to discuss their new album and group's future without Lopes.
Watkins and Rozanda felt it was important to go ahead with the album they had started working on with Lopes, who was responsible for the title and blueprinted the visuals for "3D." Lopez contributed as a collaborating writer to four of the key singles on the album, including "Girl Talk," the first single that features a no-holds-barred rap by Lopes.
"3D" features some of the music industry's hottest producers, including The Neptunes, Missy Elliott and Timbaland, Rodney Jerkins, Organized Noize, Babyface, Darryl Simmons, Raphael Saadiq, Eddie 'Eddie Hustle' Clement and longtime TLC collaborator Dallas Austin.
Ever since the 1993 release of "Oooooh On The TLC Tip," their quintuple platinum debut album, TLC has been raising the musical temperature with each successive project. The Atlanta-based trio's first album, an exciting blend of rap, hip-hop and R&B, spawned three Top 10 hit singles, with the memorable "Ain't Too Proud To Beg" leading the pack, followed by "Baby Baby Baby" and "What About Your Friends."
The group's 1994 set, "CrazySexyCool," resulted in Left Eye, T-Boz and Chilli's unprecedented breakthrough into global fame and recognition. With $13 million in sales, the album achieved platinum or gold status in eighteen countries.
"3D" is the follow-up to 1999's "Fanmail" album, which sold over 9 million copies. As a trio, the group had sold 27 million albums and 9 million singles worldwide in less than a decade, and impacted popular culture through music, style and fashion. Their first three albums garnered them five Grammy awards, six Soul Train awards, as well as various American Music Awards. MTV Music Awards, Billboard Awards and a Brit Award.