TLC
The best-selling American girl group since the Supremes. T-Boz, Left Eye, and Chilli fused hip-hop, R&B, and a playful safe-sex message into era-defining hits — "Waterfalls," "No Scrubs," "Creep" — in baggy streetwear that a generation copied.
TLC formed in Atlanta in 1990, with the lineup settling in 1991 around Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas. Their 1992 debut, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip, introduced their mix of new-jack-swing R&B, rap, and cheeky sex-positive style — Left Eye famously wore a condom over one eye of her glasses.
The 1994 album CrazySexyCool made them superstars. It spun off the four-week No. 1 "Creep" and the seven-week No. 1 "Waterfalls," won two 1996 Grammys, and became the first album by a girl group to be certified Diamond, moving over 20 million copies worldwide. FanMail followed in 1999 with the anthem "No Scrubs," cementing four career No. 1 singles alongside "Unpretty."
Across their run they sold more than 60 million records, the biggest American girl group since the Supremes. The story turned tragic in April 2002, when Left Eye died in a car crash in Honduras; T-Boz and Chilli have continued as a duo, but the trio's '90s peak is the era that defined them.
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