TLC's Left Eye To Appear As Digital Projection At Reunion Concert
The TLC reunion at July's VH1-presented Mixtape Festival in Hershey, Pennsylvania is just the beginning. The 1990s hip-pop icons have big plans to honor of their 20-plus years in the business.
According to the Hollywood Reporter Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas will not only take the stage for the festival, but they will also release a new album and executive produce a VH1 made-for-TV movie slated to air in the fall.
Similar to Dr. Dre's legendary [article id="1683143"]holographic reunion with Tupac[/article] at last year's Coachella, the upcoming TLC tour will feature digital projections of late member Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes on a big screen to accompany the live vocals. In TLC's case, though, the Lopes footage will be archival and not newly generated digital performances.
"The word anniversary means a celebration. For us, her death will never be a celebration, it's still something that hurts," Watkins said in a statement. Though the full slate of dates have not yet been released, the TLC tour will be the pair's first extensive road work since [article id="1683858"]Lopes' death[/article] more than a decade ago in a car accident in Honduras at the age of 30."Lisa is our sister. You never get over losing a family member," Thomas said. "We love her and we miss her and that isn't ever going to change."
In February, MC Lyte revealed that rapper Lil Mama had been [article id="1701674"]cast as Left Eye[/article] in the VH1 biopic. A spokesperson for VH1 confirmed that the biopic is slated to air on the network in the fall.
In addition to Mama, the movie, "Crazy, Sexy, Cool: The TLC Story," will star KeKe Palmer ("Joyful Noise") as Thomas and and Drew Sidora ("Step Up") as Watkins. Charles Stone III ("Drumline") is set to direct from a screenplay by Kate Lanier ("What's Love Got To Do With It," "Set it Off.") Chilli and T-Boz are will consult and executive produce the project.
In 2003, Watkins and Thomas performed in New York in a show billed as their final appearance in front of video of Lopes. They also collaborated with Alicia Keys at the 2008 BET Awards and appeared on "American Idol" in 2011.
The best-selling female R&B group of all time, TLC released a quartet of hit albums during their career, beginning with their 1992 debut, Ooooooohhh ... On the TLC Tip, CrazySexyCool, FanMail and 2002's 3D.
