Iowa History Daily: April 26 - T-Boz of TLC

Iowa History Daily: On April 26, 1970, Tionee “T-Boz” Watkins, American R&B singer of TLC fame was born in the capital city on this date in 1970. The Grammy award winning artist shined as a major part of one of the 1990s most significant R&B groups.

T-Boz spent much of her childhood in Des Moines before her family relocated to Atlanta, Georgia when she was nine years old. In 1990, T-Boz responded to a call put out by Crystal Jones and Ian Burke requesting auditions for an all girl hip-hop group. Following the audition, T-Boz joined forces with Jones and Lisa Lopes to form a group initially called ‘2nd Nature.’ 

After an audition with Perri ‘Pebbles’ Reid, the group signed with her production company Pebbitone before eventually joining LaFace Records. The group also renamed themselves with an acronym representing each of their initials. Following the success of their initial release, “Ooooooohhh…On the TLC Tip,” the group found critical and commercial success. 

In 1996 the group won their first grammy for ‘Best R&B Album’ with the smash hit “CrazySexyCool,” as well as ‘Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals’ for “Creep.” Two more Grammy wins followed in 2000 with the release of “Fanmail.” The best-selling American girl group of all time with over 65 million records sold worldwide, TLC stands as the second most successful girl group all-time on the Billboard Chart behind only the Supremes. T-Boz continues to represent success with a variety of music, television, and other projects over the past 30 years. #IowaOTD #IowaHistoryDaily #IowaHistoryCalendar