Everything about Lauryn Hill totally explained
Lauryn Noel Hill (born
May 25,
1975) is a Jamaican-
American singer,
rapper,
musician,
songwriter,
producer, and
film actress. She initially established her reputation as the lone female member of
The Fugees. On
August 25,
1998 she launched her solo career by releasing the critically acclaimed
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, bringing the then-emerging
neo-soul genre to a wider commercial platform. After a four year hiatus, she released
MTV Unplugged No. 2.0; a live recording taped July 21, 2001 at
MTV Studios in
Times Square. She has won eight
Grammy Awards and is the mother of five children with
Rohan Marley, the fourth son of
reggae legend
Bob Marley.
Biography
Early life
Lauryn Hill was born in
South Orange, New Jersey. Hill was the second of two children born to high school English teacher Valerie Hill and computer programmer Mal Hill. As a child, Hill incessantly listened to her parents' Motown and 1960s soul records. Music was a central part of the Hill home. Mal Hill sang at weddings, Valerie played the piano, and Lauryn's older brother Melaney played the saxophone, guitar, drums, harmonica, violin, and piano.
Hill graduated from
Columbia High School in
Maplewood, New Jersey. Hill was an active student, cheerleader, and performer. She began her acting career at a young age. In 1988, 13-year old Hill appeared as an Amateur Night contestant on
It's Showtime at the Apollo. Hill sang her own version of
William "Smokey" Robinson's song "
Who's Lovin' You?". A nervous Hill sung far away from the mic and was heckled at first; but persisted and finished her song to a standing applause, though she didn't win.
Hill was childhood friends with actor
Zach Braff and they both graduated from
Columbia High School in 1993. Braff mentioned inviting Hill to his
bar Mitzvah in 1988.
Hill appeared on the
soap opera As The World Turns as Kira Johnson. In
December 1993, she starred in "" as Rita Louise Watson. In the film, she performed the songs
"His Eye Is on the Sparrow
" (a duet with
Tanya Blount) and
"Joyful,Joyful" . It was in this role, as Rita, that she first came to national prominence, with
Roger Ebert calling her "the girl with the big joyful voice". Although the
Sister Act films were originally conceived as vehicles for comedian
Whoopi Goldberg, the second installment won Hill equal notice.
Her other acting work includes the play
Club XII with
MC Lyte, and the motion pictures
King of the Hill (as Arletta the Elevator Operator),
Hav Plenty (1997), and
Restaurant (1998). She appeared on the soundtrack to
Conspiracy Theory in 1996 with "Can't Take My Eyes Off You and on
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in 2002 with the track "Selah".
Personal life
Since 1996, Hill has been a in a relationship with
Rohan Marley, son of the late reggae music icon
Bob Marley. Though she refers to Marley as her husband, it hasn't been confirmed publicly that they're legally married. According to an October 2003
Rolling Stone article by
Touré, Marley never divorced his first wife Geraldine Khawly, whom the article stated he married in 1993 and had two children; daughter Eden Marley, and son Nicolas Marley. However, in the summer of 2005,
Trace magazine interviewed Lauryn Hill and Rohan Marley; Marley said none of this was true and that many lies had been written about them.
Together they've four children: son Zion David Hill-Marley (
August 3,
1997); daughter Selah Louise Marley (
November 12,
1998); son Joshua Marley (
January 2002) and son John Marley (summer 2003). As of
October 2007, the couple were expecting their fifth child.
She has written a song about her eldest son, titled "To Zion", which can be found on her first solo effort,
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. A song titled "Selah", is featured on the
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood soundtrack.
Hill is noted as a
humanitarian, and in 1996 she received an
Essence Award for work which has included the 1996 founding of the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that supports a two-week overnight camp for at-risk youth, and for supporting well-building projects in
Kenya and
Uganda, as well as for staging a rap concert in
Harlem to promote
voter registration. In 1999 Hill received three awards at the 30th Annual
NAACP Image Awards. In 1999
Ebony named her one of "100+ Most Influential Black Americans". She was named with Congressman
Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others among the "10 For Tomorrow," in the
EBONY 2000: Special Millennium Issue.
Career
The Fugees
The Refugee Camp ("
Fugees") formed after
Prakazrel "Pras" Michel approached Hill in high school about joining a music group he was creating. Soon after, she met Pras' cousin and fellow
Haïtian immigrant,
Wyclef Jean. At some point, Hill was given the nickname "
L Boogie," as she began to convert her poetic writing into rap verses. Hill's singing gained worldwide acclaim with the Fugees' remake of "
Killing Me Softly with His Song", accompanied by a sample from
Rotary Connection's "Memory Band" (also sampled in
A Tribe Called Quest's "Bonita Applebum").
The Fugees' first album,
Blunted on Reality, featured the songs "Boof Baf", "Nappy Heads" and "Vocab". "Nappy Heads" peaked at #49 on the U.S. Hot 100. The album sold over 2 million copies worldwide.
Blunted on Reality was followed by
The Score, a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album that established two of the three Fugees as international rap stars. Singles from
The Score include "
Ready or Not", "
Fu-Gee-La", "
No Woman, No Cry", and "
Killing Me Softly" (written by
Lori Lieberman and made famous by
Roberta Flack).
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
In 1998, Hill released
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, a commercially successful album that was also one of the most critically acclaimed releases of the 1990s.
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill sold over 423,000 copies in its first week and topped the
Billboard R&B Album chart for 6 weeks. The first single off the album was "Lost Ones" (US #27) followed by "
Doo Wop (That Thing)", which debuted at number one in the United States in the summer of 1998, along with singles "Ex-factor" (US #21) and "Everything Is Everything" (US #35). In 1999's
Grammy Awards, Hill was nominated ten times and won
Album of the Year (beating
Madonna's critically acclaimed album
Ray of Light),
Best New Artist,
Best Female R&B Vocal Performance,
Best R&B Song,
Best R&B Album, setting new records for women in the industry.
Soon after the album became a global success, Hill and her recording company were sued by Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Johari Newton and Tejumold Newton, known as New Ark Entertainment, who claimed to have been denied full credit and compensation for their assistance on the album. Initially, Hill fought back and denied what they claimed was production input. But the matter was settled, and they received an undisclosed amount of money and were given credit for drum programming and a small amount of production work.
MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2002)
On
July 21,
2001, Lauryn unveiled her highly-anticipated new material to a small crowd, for a taping of an
MTV Unplugged special. The 2002 released
MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 album exhibited a new Hill, as she focused on the lyrics and the message she was spreading rather than the musical arrangements. "Fantasy is what people want, but reality is what they need", she said during the concert. "I’ve just retired from the fantasy part."
Most of the songs featured only an acoustic guitar and her voice, somewhat raspy from rehearsal on the day before the recording. Hill used the set as an opportunity to give information on why she'd been absent from the public for a period of time and what she'd found while away. Critical reception was mixed, but the album received
platinum status.
Despite Hill's intentional departure from the media and celebrity, she continued to create commercially and critically successful music. Her song "Mystery of Iniquity" was nominated for a Grammy without promotion or radio airplay and used as an
interpolation by hip-hop mega-producer
Kanye West for his single "
All Falls Down" (eventually recorded by
Syleena Johnson).
In the months and years after the release of her debut album, Hill became increasingly disaffected with the music industry. In the
February 2006 issue of
Essence magazine, Hill described this time in her life:
For two or three years I was away from all social interaction. It was a very introspective time because I'd to confront my fears and master every demonic thought about inferiority, about insecurity or the fear of being black, young and gifted in this western culture. It took a considerable amount of courage, faith and risk to gain the confidence to be myself. I'd to deal with folks who weren’t happy about that. I was a young woman with an evolved mind who wasn't afraid of her beauty or her sexuality. For some people that’s uncomfortable. They didn’t understand how female and strong work together. Or young and wise. Or Black and divine'.
|
During this time, Hill stopped doing interviews, watching television and listening to music. She explored other methods of expressing herself, including creating and writing an extensive amount of music,
poetry,
screenplays, and clothing designs. Hill said:
People need to understand that the Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was allowed in that arena at that time. There was much more strength, spirit and passion, desire, curiosity, ambition and opinion that wasn't allowed in a small space designed for consumer mass appeal and dictated by very limited standards. I'd to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too compromised. I felt uncomfortable about having to smile in someone’s face when I really didn’t like them or even know them well enough to like them. |
and she went on to say:
I had to fight for an identity that doesn’t fit in one of their boxes. I’m a whole woman. And when I can’t be whole, I've a problem. By the end I was like, I’ve got to get out of here. |
Short-lived return of the Fugees (2004-2007)
The Fugees performed on
September 18,
2004 at
Dave Chappelle's Block Party in the
Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of
Brooklyn,
New York City. They headlined a bill that included a star-studded cast of hip hop celebrities. The concert featured Hill's nearly
a cappella rendition of "Killing Me Softly". The block party was recorded and directed by
Michel Gondry and released on
March 3,
2006, to movie theaters.
The Fugees also appeared at
BET's 2005 Music Awards on
June 28,
2005, where they opened the show with a 12-minute set.
One track, "Take It Easy", was leaked online and therefore was released as an internet single on
September 27,
2005. It peaked at #40 on the
Billboard R&B Chart. The song wasn't without critics, as
The Village Voice wrote, "Turns out that a Fugees reunion wasn't really what anyone was waiting for; we just wanted Lauryn to start rapping again."
The Fugees embarked on a European tour from
November 30,
2005 through
December 20,
2005. The group played in
Austria,
Slovakia,
Sweden,
Finland,
Norway,
Germany,
Belgium,
Italy,
France,
England,
Ireland and
Switzerland.
On
February 6,
2006, the Fugees did a special "Reunion Concert" in
Hollywood, that was offered as a live webcast on the
Verizon Wireless website. The Fugees were featured in numerous Verizon Wireless VCast advertisements in magazines and on TV around that same time. A new song titled "Foxy" was made available on VCast and a third new song was leaked, unofficially titled "Wannabe", which uses the same hook as the
Michael Jackson song "
I Wanna Be Where You Are".
Pras confirmed in an interview that the Fugees reunion had stopped moving forward. He indicated that this was due to Ms. Hill having "some things she needs to deal with".
Controversies
Vatican statements
On
December 13,
2003, Hill shocked officials at a
Christmas benefit concert at the
Vatican by denouncing "corruption, exploitation, and abuses", in reference to the
molestation of boys by
Catholic priests in the United States and the cover-up of offenses by
Catholic Church officials.
Hill told the crowd of 7,000:
—I am sorry if I'm about to offend some of you. I didn't accept my invitation to celebrate with you the birth of Christ. Instead I ask you why you're not in mourning for him in this place? I want to ask you, what have you got to say about the lives you've broken? What about the families who were expecting God and instead were cheated by the Devil? Who feels sorry for them, the men, women and children damaged psychologically, emotionally and mentally by the sexual perversions and abuse carried out by the people they believed in? Holy God is a witness to the corruption of your leadership, of the exploitation and abuses which are the minimum that can be said for the clergy. There is no acceptable excuse to defend the church.
|
Hill called on the church leaders to "repent" and encouraged the crowd to "not seek blessings from man but from God."
There was silence for several minutes from the audience as many couldn't speak
English. There were cries of "Enough" and "Shame" from those who understood while others whistled and clapped before she picked up her guitar and performed two songs, entitled "Damnable Heresies" and "Social Drugs", both about social pressure. After her performance her comments were translated for Cardinal Camillo Ruini, head of the Italian Bishops Conference, who was sitting in the front row, and he walked out in protest. Among those in attendance were Edmund Cardinal Szoka, American-born President of the Pontifical Commission for
Vatican City, and President of the Governorate of Vatican City. The segment was cut from the television broadcast by the Church, and a full transcript of Hill's statement has yet to be released.
The global response Hill received was varied. Monsignor Rino Fisichella, one of the organizers of the traditional concert, said: "It was in poor taste and very bad mannered. It showed a complete lack of respect for her invitation and for the place where she'd been invited to perform", while the
Catholic League responded by calling Hill "pathologically miserable".
While returning to New York, Hill's only response to the press about the controversy was: "What I said was the truth. Is telling the truth bad manners? What I asked was the church to repent for what has happened."
Alleged racist statements
A unsubstantiated rumor circulated that Hill made the following
racist statement: "I would rather have my children starve than have white people buy my albums".
MTV publicly disclaimed the quotation, and after a discussion on
The Howard Stern Show, Hill herself called in to the show from
Norway to refute it. Hill has repeatedly asserted in interviews that the rumor is false, that she never made such statements, would never make such statements, and that she's in no way racist.
Awards
Grammys
Career Statistics
Career nominations: 19
| Category |
Genre |
Song/Album |
Year |
Result |
| Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group |
R&B |
Killing Me Softly |
1996 |
Won |
| Best Rap Album |
Rap |
The Score |
1996 |
Won |
| Album of the Year |
Top |
The Score |
1996 |
Nominated |
| Best Female Pop Vocal Performance |
Pop |
Can't Take My Eyes Off You |
1998 |
Nominated |
| Best Female Rap Solo Performance |
Rap |
Lost Ones |
1998 |
Nominated |
| Best Female R&B Vocal Performance |
R&B |
Doo Wop (That Thing) |
1998 |
Won |
| Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group |
R&B |
Nothing Even Matters feat. D'Angelo |
1998 |
Nominated |
| Best R&B Song (award goes to songwriter) |
R&B |
A Rose Is Still A Rose - by Aretha Franklin |
1998 |
Nominated |
| Best R&B Song (award goes to songwriter) |
R&B |
Doo Wop (That Thing) |
1998 |
Won |
| Best R&B Album |
R&B |
The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill |
1998 |
Won |
| Best Female Rap Solo Performance |
Rap |
Lost Ones |
1998 |
Nominated |
| Best New Artist |
Top |
N/A |
1998 |
Won |
| Album of the Year |
Top |
The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill |
1998 |
Won |
| Album of the Year |
Top |
Supernatural (Santana album) |
1999 |
Won |
| Best Music Video (Short Form) |
General |
Everything Is Everything |
2000 |
Nominated |
| Best R&B Song (award goes to songwriter) |
R&B |
All That I Can Say - Mary J. Blige |
2000 |
Nominated |
| Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals |
Pop |
Turn Your Lights Down Low, with Bob Marley from The Best Man soundtrack |
2001 |
Nominated |
| Best Female Rap Solo Performance |
Rap |
Mystery Of Iniquity |
2003 |
Nominated |
| Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group |
R&B |
So High, with John Legend |
2005 |
Nominated |
Other awards nominated and won
As of 2006, Lauryn Hill has won over 30 awards, including eight Grammy Awards and three World best-selling Music Awards. In 1998 she was the first female solo artist awarded five Grammys in one year. Following her lead, Alicia Keys (2002), Norah Jones (2003), Beyonce Knowles (2004), The Dixie Chicks (2007) and Amy Winehouse (2008) also won five in one year.
1999 Award wins
American Music Award
Favorite Soul/R&B New Artist
Blockbuster Award
Favorite New Artist - Female
MTV Video Music Awards
Video of the Year
Best Female Video,
Best R&B Video, and
Best Art Direction (Gideon Ponte) - Doo Wop (That Thing)
Soul Train Lady of Soul
R&B/Soul Album of the Year
Best R&B/Soul Single, Solo (Ex-Factor)
Best R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video (Doo Wop (That Thing))
WB Radio Music Award
Artist of the Year (Rhythm/Urban)
NAACP Image Awards
Best Album
Best New Artist
Outstanding Female Artist
President's Award for the Refugee Project
Soul Train Music Awards
Best Female R&B/Soul Album
Best Music Video ("Doo Wop (That Thing)")
Best R&B/Soul or Rap Album
Sammy Davis, Jr. Entertainer of the Year Award
1999 award nominations
MTV Video Music Awards
Best Hip-Hop Video
Soul Train Lady of Soul
Best R&B/Soul Album
VH1 Fashion Awards
Most Fashionable Artist (Female)
Visionary Video Award
MTV Europe Music Awards
Best Female Artist
Best Album
Best R&B Artist
Soul Train Music Awards
Best R&B/Soul Single, Female
2000 Award Wins
American Music Award
Favorite Female Soul/R&B Artist
Favorite R&B Album
Soul Train Music Awards
Best R&B/Soul Single, Female (Ex-Factor)
World Music Awards
World's Best-Selling Female R&B Artist
World's Best-Selling Female Rap Artist
World's Best-Selling New Artist
2000 Award nominations
Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards
Best R&B/Soul Single - Solo (Everything Is Everything)
MTV Video Music Awards
Best Hip-Hop Video - Everything Is Everything
Best Direction (Sanji) - Everything Is Everything
Best Special Effects (Method) - Everything Is Everything
Discography
Solo albums
Singles
1 Peaked at the Hot 100 Airplay chart.
² The eponymous track off "The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill" was released in 1998 as "Deep In My Heart" as a promo single in Japan.
³ Peaked at the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart.
Appearances/Other Tracks
1996: "Stay Gold" (from the Young Zee album Musical Meltdown (Promo LP))
1996: "If I Ruled the World" (from the Nas album It Was Written)
1997: "Retrospective For Life" (from the Common album One Day It'll All Make Sense)
1998: "On That Day" (from the CeCe Winans album Everlasting Love)
1998: "A Rose Is Still A Rose" (from the Aretha Franklin album A Rose Is Still a Rose)
1999: "All That I Can Say" (from the Mary J. Blige album "Mary (album)"
1999: "Turn Your Lights Down Low" (from the Bob Marley tribute album Chant Down Babylon)
2002: "Selah" (from Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood Soundtrack)
2004: "The Passion" (from )
2005: "So High (Cloud 9 Remix) (from the John Legend re-released album "Get Lifted")
2007: "Music" (from the Joss Stone album Introducing Joss Stone)
2007: "Lose Myself" (from the Surf's Up soundtrack)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lauryn Hill'.
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