Lauryn Hill

After their massive success with The Score album in 1996 and a subsequent run of hit singles like Fu-Gee-La, Killing Me Softly and Ready Or Not, the three Fugees drifted apart. While Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel both enjoyed solo successes and became involved in various other projects, Lauryn Hill eclipsed them all with her 1998 album The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill, which broke the record for first week sales by a female artist. Largely written by Hill while pregnant, its enlightening mix of hip hop, reggae, soul and pop was inspired by two books The Education Of Sonny Carson and The Miseducation Of The Negro, and included hit singles Lost Ones, Nothing Even Matters, Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You, Doo Wop (That Thing) and To Zion. It is regarded as one of the best albums of the 1990s and won her five Grammies but, pregnant again, the very private Hill eschewed publicity and effectively disappeared from public view in the wake of its success. She went on to have five children with her partner Rohan - fourth son of Bob Marley - and adopted a more spiritual lifestyle. In 2001 she appeared with an acoustic, stripped down sound on an MTV Unplugged Special, resulting in an album of the show and re-joined The Fugees for a brief reunion tour in 2005. Internal disputes, however, soon drove them apart again and Hill subsequently played occasional solo concerts amid constant rumours of an imminent release for the long-awaited follow-up to The Miseducation...

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