Thirteen years ago today, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC died in a tragic car accident. The rapper was only 30 years old.
According to MTV, Left Eye was driving a rented Mitsubishi Montero SUV while traveling in Honduras, where she often visited. Lopes' personal spokesperson said the SUV tipped over and Left Eye died after sustaining a blow to the head.
A three-person group called Egypt, her brother, sister and two producers were also in the vehicle with her. According to authorities in Jutiapa, Lopes was not licensed to drive internationally and was apparently speeding and lost control.
Lopes had reportedly traveled to Honduras to volunteer at a children's development center and at the Usha Herbal Resource Institute, an herbal healing center.
Prior to her death, Left Eye was working on an album with her TLC bandmates. At least four tracks had been completed at the time and seven months later, T-Boz and Chili released 3D. The album debuted at No. 6 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA in 2002.
3D also earned the group two Grammy nominations.
Lopes enjoyed a successful run with TLC. The trio's 1992 debut LP, Ooooooohhh ... On the TLC Tip, spawned the top 10 hits "Baby-Baby-Baby," "Ain't 2 Proud 2 Beg" and "What About Your Friends." TLC also climbed the charts and expanded their fanbase with Crazysexycool and FanMail.
In her personal life, Lopes sparked controversy when she set fire to the home of her on-again, off-again boyfriend, football star Andre Rison, in 1994.
Back in 2007, VH1 offered up a look at the rapper's life and her final moments in a documentary titled The Last Days of Left Eye. The film features narrative, insight and commentary from Lopes up until the time of her tragic accident. The network released CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story back in 2013.
In February, it was reported that TLC had raised $430,000 via KickStarter for a new album.
