Lauryn Hill

Community biography from

Lauryn Hill is an actress and multi-award winning, multi-million selling hip-hop artist from New Jersey.

She originally rose to fame as a young actress, appearing in the TV soap As The World Turns and the Whoopi Goldberg film Sister Act 2. As a musician she reached worldwide fame as the lead vocalist in The Fugees, whose 1996 album The Score was an international smash. Her voice was especially noticed on the hit singles "Ready Or Not" and "Killing Me Softly" (a Roberta Flack cover). The Score won Best Rap Album at the Grammys, and "Killing Me Softly" won Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group. The album went on to sell over 18 million copies worldwide.

Incredibly, she followed that up with an equally successful solo album called The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill (1998). It was universally acclaimed by critics and earned her an incredible five Grammys in 1999: Album of the Year, Best R&B Album, Best New Artist, and Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for hit single "Doo Wop (That Thing)". The Miseducation... has also gone on to sell around 18 million copies worldwide.

However, Hill had very mixed feelings about her own success and retreated from the public eye. Her return in 2002, MTV Unplugged 2.0 was met with bemusement by many. Recorded as a live show, it featured poorly performed acoustic songs that were heavily reliant on their confusing lyrics, and a performer who seemed on the verge of a breakdown. To some it was fascinating, to others it was a fiasco, but it still sold over two million copies thanks to the reputation she had built with her previous work.

The Fugees reformed in 2004 and went out on tour. Plans for a new Fugees album were shelved in 2007 because of personality clashes within the group.