Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes will appear on TLC’s new album.
The singer died in a car accident at the age of 30 in 2002, but her bandmates Tionne ‘T-Boz’ Watkins and Rozanda ‘Chilli’ Thomas wanted to honour her memory by including her voice on their upcoming self-titled LP.
T-Boz explained: "It’s her talking. It’s from an interview.
"We took some live music and played under it and made it a beat. It’s the essence of Lisa that you remember her for–the live, the funky, the spunky energy that she had."
The ‘No Scrubs’ hitmakers used a kickstarter campaign to make their first studio album in 15 years, and were able to raise over $430,000 for the record thanks to donations from fans, including Katy Perry, Bette Midler, and New Kids on the Block.
But the pair insist they had no idea the fundraiser would be so successful and hadn’t been convinced it was a good idea when they set it up.
T-Boz told E! News: "We had no idea. We broke records for the biggest campaign ever in two days…It was amazing because we were really skeptical about doing it in the first place, and then when our manager brought it to us and explained the freedom we could have and how we could do it in a fun way with rewards [for the fans]. We came up with some rewards and made it really cool."
And despite a long wait since they last released a record, the ‘Waterfalls’ group believe the new album has come at the right time.
T-Boz added: "Timing is everything, and it just felt like the right time.
"The fans were urging and asking, so we did it. We found a good avenue to do [it], and it just felt right. So we went for it. Why not?"