Nancy Krulik - Lisa Lopes. The Life of a Supernova

LISA LOPES

the life of a supernova

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as unsold and destroyed to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this stripped book.

First Simon Pulse edition August 2002

Text copyright 2002 Nancy Krulik

SIMON PULSE
An imprint of Simon & Schuster
Childrens Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.simonandschuster.com

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Designed by OLanso Gabbidon

The text of this book was set in Garamond.

Printed in the United States of America

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Library of Congress Control Number 2002106904

ISBN 0-689-85690-3

ISBN 13: 978-0-689-85690-7

eISBN 13: 978-1-439-10409-5

To everyone at the Aquatics Center at the JCC of Manhattan. Thanks for helping me stay in shape and sane.

N. E. K.

Supernova: The rarely seen occurrence of a star that suddenly increases its light output to more than that of the sun, and then fades away.

May 2, 2002

The first few fans began arriving in the early morning, long before the doors would even open. Within a few hours there were thousands of fans lined up outside the hall. As it grew closer to noon, the limos began to pull into the parking lot. One by one the celebrities were helped out of their elegant cars and escorted inside.

Anyone who was anyone in the R&B world was in attendance. TLCs Rozonda Chilli Thomas arrived with R&B sensation Usher on her arm. Tionne T-Boz Watkins arrived with her husband, rapper Mack-10. Janet Jackson came with So So Def label chief, Jermaine Dupri. Tha Row record label founder Marion Suge Knight arrived with an entire entourage. Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown soon followed, as did Kenneth Babyface Edmonds,TLC producer Dallas Austin, and the R&B trio Blaque. Alicia Keys hobbled in on crutches, having injured her ankle. As the celebrities filled the room, TLC music blared from the speakers.

With each celebrity appearance the crowd outside the barricades cheered louder. The celebrities walked by solemnly, looking straight ahead. And all the while, TV cameras videotaped, news reporters took notes, and the paparazzi snapped shot after shot.

From the looks of things it could have been any TLC concert. After all, T-Boz, Left Eye, and Chilli always attracted celebs and common folk alike to their shows.

But today was different. This was not a concert. And although the event was billed as a Homecoming, no one was able to smile, cheer, or choke back their tears as the small white casket entered the church. In fact no one spoke. A hush came over the crowd as Lisa Lopess body was placed on the church altar.

In death, as in life, Lisa Lopes attracted worldwide attention. The car accident that took her life on April 25, 2002, was the lead story on news broadcasts throughout the United States. Newspaper editors rushed to send their reporters to Honduras, where Lisas car had flipped over into a ravine. Fans clogged her Web site, eyenetics.com , with so many e-mails that the site was forced to temporarily shut down, as was TLCs official site, tlcfanmail.com.

For her friends and fans it was hard to believe that Lisa was really gone. For so long, she had been such a dynamic force in the world of R&B music. As the rap queen of TLC shed added her signature high-pitched sound to many of their biggest songs, most notably their monster hit Waterfalls. Shed also helped discover and develop new acts like Egypt and Blaque.

Most importantly, in recent years, shed offered herself as a role model for her fans urging them to practice safe sex and to stay far from drugs and alcohol, speaking out honestly of her own struggles with alcoholism. Since adopting her daughter, Snow, two years before, Lisa had begun to take on childrens causes. At the time of her death shed been in Honduras working on plans for a childrens center shed begun building in the small Central American country.

For the first time in her life, Lisa Left Eye Lopes seemed to be truly at peace.

And now she was gone.

But as Lisa herself told MTV, I personally do not believe in death. We can call it transforming for a lack of better words, but as scientists would say, Every atom that was once a star is now in you. Its in your body. I dont care what happens or what people think about death. It doesnt matter. We all share the same space.

The world was lucky to have shared that space with Lisa Left Eye Lopes. And just as she professed, she will remain with us, as long as the fans remember her and continue to play her music. It is through her songs that Lisas message of empowerment and self-love will live on. Lisa Lopes. Gone but not forgotten.

This is her story.

Lisa Nicole Lopes was born May 27, 1971, in Philadelphia, PA. Lisas parents, Ronald and Wanda, brought their eldest daughter home to their house in the Logan section of the city.

When most people think of Philadelphia, they picture the Liberty Bell, Independence Mall, sailboats floating on the Delaware River, and a huge statue of William Penn standing high above the city. But Lisas neighborhood was far from that pretty picture.

The Logan section of the City of Brotherly Love is located in North Philadelphia, one of the citys poorest sections. In recent years, residents of Logan have been evacuated from their dilapidated houses because their homes were sinking into the ground. The neighborhood has also undergone many tests at the request of the Environmental Protection Authority, which demanded that toxic waste be cleaned up.

It was this less than picture-perfect world that Lisa called home during her early life. But Philly wasnt the only place Lisa and her younger siblings, Ronald Junior and Raina, spent their childhoods. Ronald Lopes Senior was a military man, and like so many others who choose the army as their profession, he was often transferred from base to base. With each new assignment, the Lopes family had to pull up stakes and move with him.

I was an army brat so I grew up in several neighborhoods, Lisa once explained to the Philadelphia Inquirer. I grew up in black neighborhoods. I grew up in white neighborhoods. I lived in Panama, where it was predominantly Spanish people or army kids. It was very multicultural for me as a child.

Many children who are forced to move over and over again become shy or standoffish, afraid to get too close to people, because they know that sooner or later theyll have to move on. But Lisa wasnt like that. In fact, everyone who knew her as a child remembers her as a bright, talented little girl with a charismatic sparkle in her eyesboth of them!

She was talking by the age of one. Once her younger siblings came around, Lisa was able to use her loquacious talents to keep them spellbound with her own creative stories about faraway lands. Later on she dabbled in fashion design, having learned how to sew by watching her mother. She also tried her hand at hairstyling and creative writing.

But Lisas true love was always music. At a very young age, it was obvious to everyone around her that she had true talent. By the time she was five years old, shed taught herself to play the piano and was already making up songs. From that moment on, Lisa knew what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She was determined to be an entertainer. Her talent was going to be her ticket to the stars.