Tionne Tenese Watkins (born April 26, 1970), also known by her stage name T-Boz, is an American singer. Watkins rose to fame in the early 1990s as a member of the girl-group

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

. She has won four

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

for her work with TLC.

Early life

Tionne Watkins was born in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the county seat of Polk County, Iowa, Polk County with parts extending into Warren County, Iowa, Wa ...

, on April 26, 1970, to James and Gayle Watkins. She has written that she is of African American, Native American and Irish descent. Her parents divorced when she was young. Watkins' mother moved her from Des Moines to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, when she was nine years old, after living in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

for a short time.

Career

TLC

Crystal Jones held auditions for a singing group and chose Watkins, and Lisa Lopes. The group eventually attracted the attention of Perri "Pebbles" Reid and her husband, Antonio "L.A." Reid, head of

LaFace Records LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia, that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment from 2008 to 2011 and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achiev ...

. Jones was replaced with

Rozonda Thomas Rozonda Ocielian Thomas (born February 27, 1971), also known by her stage name Chilli, is an American singer, dancer and actress who is a member of the group TLC, one of the best-selling girl groups of the late 1990s. Early life Thomas was bor ...

and the group was signed in 1991 as TLC. In order to preserve the TLC name, Watkins is now named "T-Boz", while Lopes became "Left Eye" and Thomas became "Chilli". The successful group sold more than 65 million records. T-Boz has won four

Grammy The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

Awards as a member of TLC. Since Lopes' death in 2002, T-Boz and Chilli have performed as a duo. In late 2011,

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

announced plans to produce a biopic on the group. Watkins and Thomas signed on as producers. The film, '' CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story'', premiered October 21, 2013. The role of Watkins was portrayed by actress/singer Drew Sidora. Watkins' daughter, Chase, portrayed a younger Tionne in the film.

Solo work

In addition to her work with TLC, Watkins has recorded solo singles like " Touch Myself" (for the soundtrack of the 1996 film ''

Fled ''Fled'' is a 1996 American Buddy film, buddy action comedy film directed by Kevin Hooks. It stars Laurence Fishburne and Stephen Baldwin as two prisoners chained together who flee during an escape attempt gone bad. Plot An interrogator prepa ...

'') and " My Getaway" (for the soundtrack of the 2000 film '' Rugrats in Paris: The Movie''). Additionally, she has been a featured vocalist on songs such as "Ghetto Love" with

Da Brat Shawntae Harris-Dupart (née Harris; born April 14, 1974), better known by her stage name Da Brat, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, she began her career in 1992 and signed with Jermaine Dupri's So So Def Recordings two years l ...

, "Changes" with Society of Soul, "He Say She Say" with

Keith Sweat Keith Sweat (born July 22, 1961) is an American singer, producer and songwriter. An early figure in the new jack swing musical movement, he is known for his collection of hits including "I Want Her," "Make It Last Forever (song), Make It Last For ...

, "Different Times" with

Raphael Saadiq Raphael Saadiq (; born Charles Ray Wiggins; May 14, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He rose to prominence as a vocalist and bassist for the R&B band Tony! Toni! Toné!, which he formed with h ...

and "Be Somebody" with Paula Cole. She also featured on the song "It's Good" by YoungBloodZ. On January 22, 2013, Watkins released her first solo single in over 15 years titled "Champion". The song was released digitally, and proceeds went to help raise awareness for people suffering from blood conditions such as sickle cell and leukemia. On September 6, 2017, Watkins digitally released her latest single titled "Dreams" from her audiobook "A Sick Life".

Television and film

Watkins has worked as an actress, appearing in

Hype Williams Harold "Hype" Williams (born August 1, 1970) is an American music video and film director, film producer, and screenwriter. Early life Williams was born in Queens. He is of mixed African-American and Honduran descent. He attended Adelphi Univ ...

' 1998 film '' Belly''. She also appeared in two episodes of ''

Living Single ''Living Single'' is an American television sitcom created by Yvette Denise Lee that aired for five seasons on the Fox network, from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centers on the lives of six New York City friends who share perso ...

'', the first time guest-starring along with her bandmates and another time without them. Watkins served as one of the executive producers for the 2006 movie '' ATL'' featuring the rapper T.I. She also appeared on '' The Real Housewives of Atlanta'' as a friend of Kandi Burruss. Watkins made a guest appearance as

Pam Grier Pamela Suzette Grier (born May 26, 1949) is an American actress, singer, and martial artist. Described by Quentin Tarantino as cinema's first female action star, she achieved fame for her starring roles in a string of 1970s action, blaxploitati ...

in one episode of the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as dult swimand s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

series '' Black Dynamite''. In 2009, Watkins was a participant in the eighth season of '' The Apprentice'', finishing in 11th place. Watkins' reality TV show, '' Totally T-Boz'', premiered January 1, 2013, on the

network, and ran four episodes. The show chronicled Watkins' quest to create a solo album, reunite with bandmember, Chilli, and her life with her daughter Chase. In 2016, Watkins and Chili joined actress

Zoe Saldaña Zoë Yadira Saldaña-Perego ( , ; ; born June 19, 1978) is an American actress. Known primarily for her work in science fiction film franchises, she has starred in four of the seven List of highest-grossing films, highest-grossing films of al ...

onstage for her second round performance of " No Scrubs" on Spike's ''

Lip Sync Battle ''Lip Sync Battle'' is an American musical reality competition television series that premiered on April 2, 2015, on the American cable network Spike, later known as Paramount Network. The show is based on an idea by Stephen Merchant and John ...

'' against actor

Zachary Quinto Zachary John Quinto (; born June 2, 1977) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Sylar, the primary antagonist from the science fiction drama series ''Heroes (American TV series), Heroes'' (2006–2010); Spock in the film ''Star Trek ...

. In November 2016, she began a two-month acting stint as Sheila, a hardened prison inmate, on ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...

''. Watkins would later return to Days of Our Lives as a recurring character, playing the zany ex-con Sheila, in both 2017 and 2018. In 2017, she lent her voice to a character in ''Trolland'', also known as ''Trollz'', a direct-to-DVD CGI-animated movie.

Other work

Watkins published a book of semi-autobiographical poetry called ''Thoughts'' on November 3, 1999. In 2005, Watkins and stylist Tara Brivic (who would later appear regularly on '' Totally T-Boz'') opened a children's boutique called Chase's Closet (named after her daughter). It was shut down years later. TLC also released a soundtrack album '' 20'' marking both the band's 20-plus year legacy in entertainment business and the release of their biopic, this album included a new track written by singer

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo ( ), is an American singer and songwriter. Regarded as a leading figure of Contemporary R&B#2000s, 2000s R&B music, he is the recipient of numerous accolades, includi ...

, "Meant to Be". They also had guest vocals on J. Cole's track " Crooked Smile". TLC celebrated their return with a series of highly publicized performances which included 2 dates: VH1's Mixtape Festival in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on July 27, 2013, and Drake's OVO Fest in Toronto on August 5, 2013. They released an album, ''TLC'', on June 30, 2017.

Personal life

As a child, Watkins was diagnosed with

sickle cell anemia Sickle cell disease (SCD), also simply called sickle cell, is a group of inherited haemoglobin-related blood disorders. The most common type is known as sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell anemia results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying ...

. Since the age of seven, she has been in and out of the hospital due to the painful condition. T-Boz opened up to the public about the disease in 1996; she later became one of the spokespersons for Sickle Cell Disease Association of America. In 2002, she was hospitalized for four months due to a flare-up of sickle-cell anemia. She is a national co-chair of the progressive organization Health Care Voter. On August 19, 2000, Watkins married rapper

Mack 10 Dedrick D'Mon Rolison (born August 9, 1971), better known by his stage name Mack 10, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and record executive. He was a member of hip hop supergroup Westside Connection along with WC and Ice C ...

. The couple's daughter was born prematurely in 2000. In June 2004, she filed for

divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...

, and requested a

restraining order A restraining order or protective order is an order used by a court to protect a person in a situation often involving alleged domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, assault, harassment, stalking, or sexual assault. Restraining and perso ...

against the rapper. In 2012, Watkins moved with the couple's daughter from Atlanta to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, in order for Chase to be closer to her father. In October 2009, Watkins said that she had had a potentially fatal

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

for three years. In March 2006, she was diagnosed as having a grape-sized acoustic neuroma on her

vestibular nerve The vestibular nerve is one of the two branches of the vestibulocochlear nerve (the cochlear nerve being the other). In humans the vestibular nerve transmits sensory information from vestibular hair cells located in the two otolith organs (the u ...

that affected her balance, weight, hearing, sight, and facial movement. Many physicians refused to remove the tumor due to her sickle-cell-related complications. Ultimately, she underwent surgery at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Watkins filed for bankruptcy in February 2011 and again in October 2011."TLC: Broke & Famous." ''Broke & Famous''. Exec. Prod. Joe Houlihan and Simon Lloyd. Reelz, October 6, 2017. Television. In an episode of the

Reelz Reelz (formerly known as Reelz Channel) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by Hubbard Broadcasting. The network's programming was formerly devoted to entertainment-oriented programming focusing on the Hollywood ...

TV series ''Broke & Famous'', entertainment reporter Viviana Vigil stated Watkins spent $9,000 a month and owed $770,000 on her home with a reported monthly income of $11,000, while another reporter Nina Parker cited Watkins's medical bills and brain tumor. In June 2016, Watkins announced that she had adopted a 10-month-old boy.

Publication

* *

Discography

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Music videos

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Watkins, Tionne 1970 births African-American Christians American contraltos African-American women singer-songwriters American women singer-songwriters American people of Irish descent American contemporary R&B singers Arista Records artists Cash Money Records artists Living people Motown artists Musicians from Des Moines, Iowa Participants in American reality television series Singers from Atlanta Writers from Des Moines, Iowa People with sickle-cell disease TLC (group) members Actresses from Des Moines, Iowa 21st-century African-American women singers 21st-century American women singers 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Iowa 20th-century African-American women singers 20th-century American women singers 20th-century American singers Singer-songwriters from Iowa