Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actress. Early in her career, she established her reputation as a member of the Fugees. In 1998, she launched her solo career with the release of the commercially successful and critically acclaimed album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The recording earned Hill 5 Grammy Awards, including the coveted Album of the Year and Best New Artist.

Following the success of her debut album, Hill largely dropped out of public view, in part due to her displeasure with fame and the music industry. After a four-year hiatus, she released MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, a live recording of "deeply personal songs" performed mostly solo with an acoustic guitar. In more recent years, she has recorded songs for soundtracks and mixtapes, as well as performing live at several music festivals.

In 1997, Hill began production on an album that would eventually become The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. The title was inspired by The Mis-Education of the Negro book by Carter G. Woodson and The Education of Sonny Carson, a film and autobiographical novel. The album featured contributions from D'Angelo, Carlos Santana, Mary J. Blige and a then-unknown John Legend. Songs for the album were largely written in an attic studio in South Orange, New Jersey and recorded at Chung King Studios in Jamaica.

Several songs on the album concerned her frustrations with The Fugees; "I Used to Love Him" dealt with the break-down of the relationship between Hill and Wyclef Jean. "To Zion" spoke about her decision to have her first baby.

In 1998, Hill released The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, which was both critically and commercially successful. It sold over 423,000 copies in its first week and topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for four weeks and the Billboard R&B Album chart for six weeks; it would go on to sell more than 18 million copies over the next decade. The first single off the album was "Lost Ones", released in Spring 1998. The second was "Doo Wop (That Thing)", which reached No. 1 in the Billboard charts. Other singles released off the album were "Ex-Factor", "Everything Is Everything", and "To Zion".

At the 1999 Grammy Awards, Hill broke records by becoming both the first woman ever to be nominated in ten categories in a single year, and the first woman to win five times in one night. Hill won the awards for Album of the Year (beating Madonna's critically acclaimed Ray of Light and Shania Twain's bestselling Come on Over), Best R&B Album, Best R&B Song, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. Between 1998 and 1999, Hill earned 25 million USD from record sales and touring.

After the release of her debut album, she explored other methods of expressing herself, but became dissatisfied with the music industry as she felt she was being unfairly controlled by her record label and unable to live a private life. In 2000, she dropped out of the public eye.

On July 21, 2001, Hill unveiled her new material to a small crowd, for a taping of an MTV Unplugged special. An album of the concert, titled MTV Unplugged No. 2.0, focused on the lyrics and the message rather than the musical arrangements. 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 had been absent from the public for a period of time and what she had found while away. Despite the mixed reviews, 2.0 debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum four weeks after its release. Despite Hill's departure from the media and celebrity, she continued to have some success in the music world. Her song "Mystery of Iniquity" was nominated for a Grammy without promotion or radio airplay.

In 2004, Hill contributed a new song, "The Passion", to The Passion of the Christ: Songs. Around this time, Hill began selling a pay-per-view music video of the song "Social Drugs" through her website. Those who purchase the $15 video would only be able to view it three times before it expired.

In 2007, a new album entitled Ms. Hill, which featured cuts from The Miseducation, various soundtracks contributions and other "unreleased" songs, was released. It features guest appearances from D'Angelo, Rah Digga and John Forté. Also, Hill released a new song, "Lose Myself" on the soundtrack to the film Surf's Up under her new professional name, Ms. Lauryn Hill.

In January 2010, Hill returned to the live stage and performed in stops across New Zealand and Australia on the Raggamuffin Festival, a music festival that celebrates reggae music. In April 2010, many of the songs that Hill had performed and recorded over the past six years were included on an unofficial compilation album titled Khulami Phase. An unreleased song called "Repercussions" was leaked via the internet in late July. On August 28, 2010 the song debuted at No. 94 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, making it her first Billboard chart appearance as a lead artist since 1999.

Music Videos

 * Doo Wop (That Thing)
 * Everything Is Everything