Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes remembered by TLC members, reunion tour planned
The band TLC, from left, Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas, Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, poses for photographers at New York's Radio City Music Hall in this file photo. (Sept. 7, 1995) Credit: AP file
The surviving members of seminal hip-hop/R&B trio TLC remembered Wednesday's 10-year anniversary of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' death by announcing a reunion tour for later this year.
TMZ reports that Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas booked several major cities for the tour with more to come. Most interestingly, however, is that the group plans to project Lopes' image onto a big screen and work her vocals into the live shows -- à la slain rapper Tupac Shakur's "appearance" at the recent Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.
"The word anniversary means a celebration," Watkins said in a statement. "For us, her death will never be a celebration, it's still something that hurts."
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of the group. Watkins and Thomas are producing a biopic for VH1. "This project is truly a dream come true for us," Thomas said in a statement. The project, which will be written by "What's Love Got To Do With It" scribe Kate Lanier, will chronicle TLC's rise to fame, beginning with 1992's "Ooooooohhh . . . On The TLC Tip."
Still, the surviving duo misses Lopes. "Lisa is our sister," Thomas added. "You never get over losing a family member. We love her and we miss her and that isn't ever going to change."
Lopes, 30, was killed in a car crash on April 25, 2002, while filming a documentary in La Ceiba, Honduras. The final month of her life was captured in "The Last Days of Left Eye," which aired on VH1 in 2007.
