Claim: Lisa Lopes was a founding member of TLC.

Lisa Nicole Lopes -LRB- May 27 , 1971 -- April 25 , 2002 -RRB- , better known by her stage name Left Eye , was an American hip hop singer , rapper , actress , songwriter and producer . She rose to fame in the early 1990s as one-third of the girl group TLC , alongside Tionne `` T-Boz '' Watkins and Rozonda `` Chilli '' Thomas . Besides rapping and singing background vocals on TLC recordings , Lopes was one of the creative forces behind the group . She received more cowriting credits than the other members . She also designed the outfits and stage for the group and brought concepts to the group image , album titles , artworks and music videos . Through her work with TLC , Lopes won four Grammy Awards .   During her short solo career , Lopes scored two US top-ten singles with `` Not Tonight '' and `` U Know What 's Up '' , as well as one UK number-one single with `` Never Be the Same Again '' . She also produced the girl group Blaque , who scored a platinum album and two US top-ten hits . Lopes remains the only member of TLC to have released a solo album .   On April 25 , 2002 , Lopes was killed in a car accident while on a retreat with her sister and others . She swerved off the road to avoid hitting another vehicle and was thrown from her vehicle and died instantly . The last days of her life were made into a documentary called The Last Days of Left Eye , which aired on VH1 in May 2007 .