Musicians - Lauryn Hill

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	Musicians - Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill (born May 25, 1975 in South Orange, New Jersey), is a seven time Grammy award winning musician, and record producer, initially establishing her reputation as the most visible and vocal member of The Fugees, then continuing on to a solo career, releasing The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Soon after, she denounced her fame and began writing more spiritual and introspective songs.

Biography

Early career and The Fugees

Lauryn Hill attended Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. She was an extremely active, vocal student, a cheerleader, and a performer at several talent shows and school functions. As a child, she performed "Who's Loving You" at Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater, in which she confidently finished her song before an initially hostile audience. Hill began an acting career very early, and her roles included the TV show As the World Turns (as "Kira Johnson" in 1991), and the film Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit. Hill performed a wedding song on an episode of the former, but it was Sister Act 2 that truly showcased her vocal abilities.

The Refugee Camp (Fugees), or Tranzlator Crew, as they were once called, formed after Prakazrel "Pras" Michel approached Hill in high school with an invitation to join his music group. Soon after, she met Pras' cousin and fellow Haitian immigrant, Wyclef Jean, rather comically in the studio. Hill recalls that Wyclef's clothing was adorned with Batman logos and sergeant badges the day she met him, and he spoke in a thick patois accent (which fooled Hill into believing that he was Jamaican). At some point, Lauryn Hill was christened L Boogie, as she began to convert her poetic writing into increasingly impressive rap verses. Though the Fugees had formed in 1988, Hill's membership was somewhat disrupted by her acting and her education at Columbia University.

The Fugees' first album, Blunted on Reality, which featured the songs Nappy Heads and Vocab, was much-hyped but fell short of expectations. This was followed by The Score, a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning album that established all three Fugees as international successes. Singles from The Score include Killing Me Softly with His Song, Ready or Not, Fu-Gee-La, and No Woman, No Cry. A versatile, urban flavor was added to covers of Roberta Flack, Bob Marley, and the Delfonics, to create songs that many consider to be hip-hop classics.

Hill has an incredibly acrobatic and soulful voice, which was demonstrated early on, in her renditions of Joyful, Joyful and His Eye is on the Sparrow (a duet with Tanya Blout) in Sister Act 2. Her nuanced, honey-sweet singing voice first dominated a popular music record in the Fugees' remake of Killing Me Softly, accompanied by Wyclef's funky twangs of the guitar. Since her emergence, Lauryn Hill has made her presence known as one of the few artists in the industry who can both sing and rap skillfully, switching between the two styles more frequently than other talented artists such as Queen Latifah and Missy Elliott.

Her other acting work includes the film King of the Hill (film) (as "Arletta the Elevator Operator"), the play "Club XII" with MC Lyte, and the motion pictures Hav Plenty (1997) and Restaurant (1998). She appeared as a singer on the soundtracks for Conspiracy Theory in 1997 (on the track "Can't Take My Eyes Off You") and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in 2002 (on the track "Selah", a song dedicated to her 2nd child, daughter Selah ).

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

In 1998, Hill released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, a critically and commercially acclaimed album. The first, and biggest, single off the album was "Doo Wop (That Thing)", which went to number one in the United States in the summer of 1998. In 1999's Grammy Awards, Hill was nominated eleven 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 a new record for women in the industry.

Soon after the album became a 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. They received an undisclosed amount of money and were given credit for drum programming and a small amount of lyrical, instrumental and production work.

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