All-female group TLC, formed in Atlanta in 1991 by Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, were the most successful of the 1990s in offering a light-hearted funk-soul-pop mixture. Mostly crafted by producer Dallas Austin, Ooooooohhh... (1992) and its single Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg established their sound as well as their stylish image.

Lopes wrote much of CrazySexyCool (1994) and Baby-Baby-Baby, the album that sold 11 million copies in ten years thanks to the hit singles Creep, Red Light Special, Waterfalls and Diggin' on You. Released amid great fanfare for the member's private lives, Fanmail (1999) still yielded No Scrubs and Unpretty. On the other hand, Lopes' much anticipated solo album, Supernova (2001), was a commercial disaster.

Watkins was hospitalized for anemia in 2001. Lopes, who had been an alcoholic addict, had had close encounters with the law, and was routinely fueling media frenzies with her polemic statements, died in a car accident in 2002 at the age of 30 and her second album Eye Legacy (2002) caome out seven years later.