  Lauryn Hill was born May 26,
1975 in New Jersey. By the age of 24, Lauryn
had already been involved in a successful,
multi-platinum hip-hip group and had released
a solo LP that garnished universal praise and
commercial success. Early accomplishments for
Lauryn came in the form of being the
president of her class while in middle
school, singing in a gospel choir, joining
basketball and track, being homecoming queen,
and starting a 'breakfast club' for children
coming to school without eating breakfast.
Lauryn love for music led to her singing at
the Apollo at age 13 during amateur night
(singing a Smokey Robinson's "Who's Loving
You." Before graduating high school,
Lauryn was already seeking fame with acting.
Lauryn's acting career has included a stint
on As The World Turns (starting in
1991) and a role in Sister
Act II: Back In The Habit (1993). While in high
school, Lauryn also began singing with Wyclef
Jean and Pras Michel as the "Tranzlator
Crew" (which eventually evolved into the
Fugees in 1994). The Fugees hit it big on the
charts and in the record stores in 1996.
Lauryn is also involved in the non-profit
organization, The
Refugee Camp Youth Project who's goal is to
improve the quality of life for inner-city
children.
 # 22
Singles Artist of the Year
Lauryn hit the Top 40 with
"Can't
Take My Eyes Off Of You" (from the film Conspiracy
Theory).
 Lauryn released her
highly-anticipated solo LP, The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill. Lauryn explained the
LP's title: "...the concept of
'Miseducation' is not really miseducation at
all. To me, it's more or less switching the
terminology... it's really about the things
that you've learned outside of school,
outside of what society deems appropriate and
mandatory. I have a lot of respect for
academia... But there was a lot that I had to
learn - life lessons - that wasn't part of
any scholastic curriculum. It's really our
passage into adulthood when we leave that
place of idealism and naivete." The
first single "Doo
Wop (That Thing)" became her first solo Top
10 hit. A hidden track from the LP, "Can't
Take My Eyes Off Of You" was making waves
on the radio before the LP.
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill debuted at #1 on the
Billboard 200 Albums chart (and stayed for 4
weeks) with over 423,000 copies sold in its
first week and topped the Billboard R&B
Album chart for 6 weeks.
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill topped the
Billboard R&B Albums chart for 5 weeks.
Lauryn hit the Top 40 with
"Doo
Wop (That Thing)."
Lauryn topped the Billboard
R&B Singles Airplay chart with "Doo
Wop (That Thing)" for 9 weeks.
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was certified 2x
platinum by the end of the month.
Lauryn was hit with a $6 million
lawsuit by 4 musicians who are suing for
unpaid work on her solo LP.
Lauryn helped out Aretha Franklin with her LP, A
Rose Is Still A Rose.
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was certified 3x
platinum.
Lauryn hit the Top
10
with "Doo
Wop (That Thing)."
"Doo
Wop (That Thing)" topped the Billboard Hot
100 Singles chart for 2 weeks, the Hot 100
Singles Sales chart for a week, and the Rap
Singles chart for 4 weeks.
The single "Doo
Wop (That Thing)" was certified gold.
Lauryn topped the Billboard
Year-End Charts with the Top R&B
Album (The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill) and as the Top
R&B Album Artist - Female.
Accolades for Lauryn started
toward the end of the year with Rolling
Stone recognition for Best Album,
Best Single ("Doo
Wop (That Thing)"), Best Female Artist,
Best R&B Artist and the reader's poll
Best R&B Artist. Spin also named Lauryn
Artist of the Year and Best Album of 1998 and
People included Lauryn as one
of the "25 Most Intriguing People of
1998."
 # 28
Singles Artist of the Year
Lauryn won an American
Music Award for Favorite
Soul/R&B New Artist.
 Lauryn took home 5 Grammy
Awards including
Album of the Year (The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill), Best R&B Vocal
Performance - Female ("Doo
Wop (That Thing)"), Best
New Artist, Best R&B Album and Best R&B Song
(awarded to the songwriter) ("Doo
Wop (That Thing)"). She was also nominated
for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance ("Can't
Take My Eyes Off Of You"), Best R&B Song
(awarded to the songwriter) ("A Rose Is Still
A Rose" (by Aretha Franklin)), Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("Nothing Even
Matters" (with D'Angelo)), Best Rap Solo Performance ("The Lost
Ones"), and Producer of the Year
(non-classical). She had become the first
woman in Grammy history to achieve 11
nominations in 1 year. In her acceptance
speech for Album of the Year, Lauryn said,
"...this is crazy because this is
hip-hip music..."
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was certified 4x
platinum.
Lauryn hit the Top 40 with
"Ex-Factor."
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was certified 5x
platinum.
Lauryn hit the Top 40 with her
tribute to her son, "To
Zion."
Lauryn took home a Blockbuster
Award for Favorite New Artist - Female.
 Lauryn talked with reporters in
London about her concerns of vulgar lyrics:
"Motherhood... one thing I realized when
you have kids you should be careful with your
lyrical content. Most people wouldn't want
their kids to listen to music with
'motherf*****' and 'f*** that'... That has
had an impact on me as my son is very
impressionable. For a large part of the
community music is actually parenting. It's
like a surrogate parent."
Lauryn hit the Top 40 with
"Everything
Is Everything."
Lauryn was named New Artist of
the Year, Solo and won Album of the Year at
the Source Hip-Hip Music Awards.
The single "Everything
Is Everything" was certified gold.
Lauryn won 3 MTV
Video Music Awards for Video of the Year, Best Female Video, Best R&B Video, and Best Art Direction (Gideon Ponte) ("Doo
Wop (That Thing)") and was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Video.
Lauryn won 3 Soul Train Lady of
Soul Awards for R&B/Soul Album of the
Year, Best R&B/Soul Single, Solo ("Ex-Factor"), and Best
R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video ("Doo
Wop (That Thing)") and was nominated for
Best R&B/Soul Album.
Hill was nominated for 2 VH1
Fashion Awards for Most Fashionable Artist
(Female) and the Visionary Video Award.
 Lauryn was nominated for 3 MTV
Europe Music Awards for Best Female Artist,
Best Album, and Best R&B Artist and won a
a WB Radio Music Award for Artist of the Year
(Rhythm/Urban).
Lauryn could be heard on the The
Best Man soundtrack with her
version of "Turn Your Lights Down
Low" 'dueting' with the late Bob Marley.
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was certified 7x
platinum.
Lauryn could be heard on Rosie
O'Donnell's holiday LP, A
Rosie Christmas, on the track "Little
Drummer Boy."
Lauryn topped the Billboard
Year-End Chart-Toppers as the Top R&B /
Hip-Hop Artist - Female (singles &
albums) and Top R&B / Hip-Hop Album
Artist - Female.
MTV: 100
Greatest Videos Ever Made includes
"Everything
Is Everything" at # 52.
Additional awards won by Lauryn
over the year included 4 NAACP Image Awards
for Best Album, Best New Artist, Outstanding
Female Artist, and the President's Award for
the Refugee Project and 4 Soul Train Music
Awards for Best Female R&B/Soul Album,
Best Music Video ("Doo
Wop (That Thing)"), Best R&B/Soul or
Rap Album, and the Sammy Davis, Jr.
Entertainer of the Year Award (and was also
nominated for Best R&B/Soul Single,
Female).
Lauryn won 2 American
Music Awards for
Favorite Female Soul/R&B Artist and
Favorite R&B Album.
Lauryn was nominated for 2 more Grammy
Awards for Best Music
Video, Short Form ("Everything
Is Everything") and Best R&B Song
(awarded to the songwriter) ("All That I Can
Say").
Lauryn won a Soul Train Music
Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Female
("Ex-Factor").
Lauryn won 3 World Music Award
for World's Best-Selling Female R&B
Artist, Female Rap Artist, and New Artist.
Lauryn was nominated for a Soul
Train Lady of Soul Award for Best
R&B/Soul Single - Solo ("Everything
Is Everything").
The video "Everything
Is Everything" was nominated for 3 MTV
Video Music Awards for Best Hip-Hop Video, Best Direction (Sanji), and Best Special Effects (Method).
VH1: 100
Greatest Albums includes The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill at # 37.
Lauryn was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with
Vocals
("Turn Your Lights Down Low" with Bob Marley from The
Best Man soundtrack).
After 2 years, a lawsuit against
Lauryn by 4 musicians claiming they weren't
compensated properly for work on her LP was
settled.
VH1: 100
Greatest Videos includes:
# 74
- "Doo Wop (That
Thing)."
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill was certified 8x
platinum.
 Lauryn released a double LP of
her Unplugged appearance on MTV - MTV
Unplugged No. 2.0.
Lauryn appeared on the
soundtrack for Divine
Secrets Of The Ya-Ya Sisterhood with
"Selah."
MTV
Unplugged No. 2.0 was certified
platinum.
Lauryn ranked #
22 on VH1: 100
Sexiest Artists.
Rolling Stone:
50 Essential 'Woman In Rock' Albums includes The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill at # 32.
Lauryn was
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance -
Female
("Mystery Of Inequity").
VH1: 50
Greatest Hip Hop Artists includes Lauryn at # 17.
 Lauryn appeared at a Vatican
concert and according to the newspaper La
Repubblica, unexpectedly used the forum
to speak her mind against abusive priests.
Rolling Stone:
The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: # 312:
The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill.
Lauryn could be heard on the Passion
Of The Christ: Songs compilation with
"The Passion."
# 311 on the Top Pop Artists
of the Past 25 Years chart.
Lauryn was
nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal
Performance by a Duo or Group ("So High"
with John Legend).
Lauryn could be heard on the Joss Stone LP Introducing
Joss Stone with the track
"Music."
Entertainment Weekly:
100 Best Albums of the Last 25 Years included The
Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill at # 2.
July 9: Lauryn began serving
a 3 month prison sentence for tax evasion.
iTunes
Amazon.mp3 |
The Miseducation Of
Lauryn Hill
Released: August, 1998
US: 10x Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 1 (for 4 weeks)
Rolling Stone
review: 
Tracks: "Intro"
- "Lost Ones" (with D'Angelo) -
"Ex-Factor" - "To
Zion" - "Doo Wop (That
Thing)" - "Superstar" -
"Final Hour" - "When It
Hurts So Bad" - "I Used To Love
Him" - "Forgive Them
Father" - "Every Ghetto, Every
City" - "Nothing Even
Matters" - "Everything Is
Everything" - "The Miseducation
Of Lauryn Hill" - "Can't Take
My Eyes Off You" - "Sweetest
Thing" (Mahogany Mix) |
iTunes
Amazon.mp3 |
MTV Unplugged No. 2.0
Released: May, 2002
US: Platinum
Billboard
peak:
# 3
Rolling Stone
review: 
Unplugged Tracks: "Intro"
- "Mr. Intentional" -
"Adam Lives In Theory" -
"Interlude 1" - "Oh
Jerusalem" - "Interlude 2"
- "Freedom Time" -
"Interlude 3" - "I Find It
Hard To Say (Rebel)" - "Just
Like Water" - "Interlude
4" - "Just Want You
Around" - "I Gotta Find Peace
Of Mind" - "Interlude 5" -
"Mystery Of Iniquirty" -
"Interlude 6" - "I Get
Out" - "Interlude 7" -
"I Remember" - "So Much
Things To Say" - "The
Conquering Lion" - "Outro" |
| Note: Song title and
position links lead you to the song's Top
40 chart run (from the ARC Weekly Top
40)
and LP links take you to Amazon.com for that LP (often
including track listings and sound
samples). |
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