Memorial Of Left Eye
Thousands
of fans and friends gathered at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in
Lithonia, Georgia, Thursday morning (May 2) to say goodbye to flamboyant TLC
singer/rapper Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.
Close to 10,000 mourners — including Lopes' former TLC-mates Tionne "T-Boz"
Watkins and Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas — made the trip to the Atlanta
suburb for Thursday's funeral service for Lopes, who was killed in a car
accident in Honduras last week at the age of 30. Usher, Arista Records CEO L.A.
Reid, Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, Babyface, Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown,
Timbaland, Mack 10, Da Brat, Raphael Saadiq and Monica were also among those
paying their respects at the two-hour service.
Fans began lining up outside the church as early as six hours before the doors
opened at 10:30 a.m. for the ceremony. Some traveled hundreds of miles from
across the U.S., clutching CDs, posters and hand-painted portraits of the late
artist. Their enthusiasm almost overwhelmed the church, as the once-orderly line
turned into a crowd when the doors were opened. However, all made their way into
the church for the start of the service.
"I consider myself TLC's #1 fan and if my mom wouldn't have brought me up
here, I'd go find a way to get up here," said Brandon, who made the
pilgrimage from Florida for the service.
"It really saddened me, so I decided to get something in memory of her that
I wouldn't regret doing," Jason of Hartford, Connecticut, said of the Lisa
"Left Eye" Lopes tattoo he flashed on his arm outside the church.
"I did it just to remember her. She was a really nice person ... very
creative and different from everybody else out there. I did it the day after her
death."
Lopes was remembered as much for her music as for the person behind it on
Thursday, with fans and friends alike recalling a warm, caring and giving
person.
"There was such a wonderful person inside of Lisa," said Bob
Goldstone, a publicist who worked with TLC. "As the other members of TLC
said, she would give the shirt off her back to help somebody and often did.
That's what I think they've all been so touched by. People actually appreciated
that and have come out to pay their respects."
The ceremony opened with a video montage of Lopes, followed by words from Dekalb
County CEO Vernon Jones, L.A. Reid, Lopes' aunt Pamela Young, and her brother
Ronald Lopes. R&B duo Mary Mary and members of Egypt, a group that Lopes had
been mentoring, performed in honor of Lopes. Bishop Eddie Long presided over the
ceremony, which paid tribute to both Lopes the artist and Lopes the
humanitarian.
The singer's mother, Wanda Lopes, provided the service's most emotionally
charged moment, reciting a poem that she had written for her daughter before her
death. Bernice King, daughter of late civil rights leader Martin Luther King
Jr., also struck a chord during her statements about the late singer's spirit.
Following the service, Lopes' family and friends headed to an undisclosed site
where the singer will be interred in a private ceremony.
Thursday's public funeral comes one day after family and friends paid their
respects during a private ceremony held at a different location in the Atlanta
area.
Lopes was killed last Thursday when the SUV she was driving flipped over and she
suffered fatal head trauma. Eight others were in the vehicle with her, but none
of the other passengers suffered potentially fatal injuries.
This Information was found here: