Good Morning! Today's song is Doo Wop (That Thing) by Lauryn Hill.
Lauryn Hill is an American singer active since 1988. I actually know her from Sister Act 2, and I didn't realize she was actually a singer until a few years ago. She sang in middle school, going to perform at an amateur night where she got through it despite the audience being awful. In high school she started the school's gospel choir, and started a group with friends called the Translator Crew. It's here where she branched out from just singing to include rap. She started acting in 1991, earning a role in Sister Act 2 in 1993. They changed their group name to The Fugees in 1994, which was a derogatory term about Haitian refugees, got signed in 1993, then released an album in 1994. A second album came out in 1996, earning them two Grammy awards, and the same year Hill started the Refugee Project, a non-profit outreach program. In 1997 the group split to pursue solo careers. Her first solo album came out in 1998, inspired by the issues with her former group and the birth of her child. In 1999 she became the first woman to be nominated for ten categories at the Grammys in a single year, and received four awards from the NAACP. In the 2000's she had lots of prospects, but she dropped out of the public eye, presumably overwhelmed by her fame and what came with it. She performed at MTV Unplugged in 2001, the recording released the next year with mixed reviews. She shut down her Refugee Project in 2002, then performed in Vatican City in 2003 where she openly condemned the coverup by the Vatican of Catholic priests misconduct. In 2004 the Fugees reunited, but tension caused their reunion to end within a year. She toured on her own sporadically after, but often showed late to her concerts and got booed by her fans. She released an album with old and new songs in 2007. After some more issues performing in 2008, she took a break, coming back in 2010 with a compilation album and a new single that got leaked. She spent more time touring before being hit with a lot of tax fraud allegations in 2012, failing to pay the restitution by 2013. She released a single in 2013, and was on deck to release an album, but instead was put in jail for three months for her fraud stuff. In 2014 she narrated a Swedish documentary. She has continued to perform since then, but seems to always arrive late to her own concerts. I don't know what to say honestly. I thought she was cool in Sister Act 2, and she seems like she's had a good career and the opportunity to make it better, but reading everything it sounds like the only person tanking her career is her. I'm almost sad to be featuring her now after seeing how many fans she's let down over the years. But this is the price of doing this blog. Sometimes I learn things about people that I didn't want to know, and now I'm sharing a little piece of it. I glossed over a bunch of personal history and religious stuff because this is already a lot, but you can look that up if you want. Oh well, until tomorrow.
Peace.
