“I will never forget the day we were millionaires for five minutes,” TLC’s Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins told the Guardian in 2017. She was recalling TLC’s heyday, when she and bandmates Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas and Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes were making hit after hit and millions after millions — mainly for the record company and their manager. They were broke due to a bad record deal the trio had signed.
The Atlanta-based group “owned the ’90s,” the Guardian reported. “Their brand of sultry R&B, silky enough to woo the masses but glitchy enough to keep them interesting, has made them the most successful U.S. girl group of all time. Their two biggest albums, ‘CrazySexyCool’ (1994) and ‘Fanmail’ (1999), sold more than 20 million copies between them, with other singles and albums helping to rack up a total sales haul of around 65 million worldwide.
But the 20-somethings were almost broke very little money in their bank accounts.
“I will never forget the day we were millionaires for literally five minutes,” said Watkins. “Because the check was written to us and we had to sign it over, back to (Pebbles, their former manager).”
Thomas added, “If I could go back, I would definitely change a couple of things business-wise. I have learned the hard way: sign your own checks, make sure your taxes are in shape and whatever your company is, it’s always good to get it audited. If you don’t have anything to hide, it’s not a worry.”
The group filed for bankruptcy in 1995, then was hit by the tragic death of Lopes, at age 30, in 2002, who died in a car accident while on holiday in Honduras.
