Lauryn Hill
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Lauryn Noel Hill is a Grammy Award-winning American singer, rapper, musician, songwriter, producer, and film actress. Early in her career, she established her reputation in the hip-hop world as the lone female member of The Fugees. On August 25, 1998 she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, an album which helped to spur the neo-soul genre to a wider commercial platform. After a four year hiatus, she released MTV Unplugged No. 2.0; a live recording taped on 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.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] 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 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 began her singing 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 with the microphone far away from her mouth and was heckled at first; but she persisted and finished her song to a standing applause, though she did not win.
Hill was childhood friends with actor Zach Braff and they both graduated from Columbia High School in 1993, where Hill was an active student, cheerleader, and performer. Braff mentions inviting Hill to his bar Mitzvah in 1988 [1].
Hill began her acting career at a young age. Hill appeared on the soap opera, As The World Turns as Kira Johnson. In December 1993, she starred in " Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit" 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 Sister Act I and II were originally conceived as vehicles for comedian Whoopi Goldberg, the second installment won Lauryn equal notice.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "BRAFF: 'LAURYN HILL WAS MY COKE AND PEPSI PARTNER'". PR-inside.com. Retrieved on September 6, 2006.
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Lauryn Hill's personal website
- January 2006: Interview with Essence magazine 2005: They Call Me Ms. Hill
- July 2005: Lauryn Hill interview with Trace magazine
- June 2005: Lauryn Hill Def Poetry Jam Performance
- October 30, 2003: Rolling Stone magazine, "The Mystery of Lauryn Hill: She made one of the greatest albums of the Nineties—then what happened?" by Touré
