Lisa Lopes Dies: TLC Loses Its Fearless Voice

Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes died in a car accident in La Ceiba, Honduras, on April 25, 2002, at age 30. She was driving a rented Mitsubishi Montero on a narrow mountain road when the vehicle swerved to avoid a truck, rolled several times, and crashed. Lopes was thrown from the vehicle. All other passengers survived. Born Lisa Nicole Lopes on May 27, 1971, in Philadelphia, she was the creative fire behind TLC, the best-selling American girl group of all time. The group's three albums sold over 65 million copies worldwide. "CrazySexyCool" in 1994 was the first album by a female group to be certified diamond by the RIAA. Lopes earned her nickname by wearing a condom over her left eye as a visual statement about safe sex. Her lyrics tackled subjects that mainstream pop actively avoided: HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, inner-city violence, and the exploitation of women in the music industry. "Waterfalls," written by Lopes, addressed both the AIDS epidemic and drug dealing in the same song and became TLC's biggest hit. She was also the group's most volatile member. In 1994 she set fire to the sneakers of her boyfriend, Atlanta Falcons receiver Andre Rison, in his bathtub; the fire spread and burned down his mansion. She pleaded guilty to arson and served five years of probation. The incident only increased her public profile. At the time of her death, she was in Honduras working on a documentary about spiritual healing. A camera crew traveling with her had been filming continuously; some of the footage was later incorporated into a documentary. TLC never replaced her and continued as a duo.