Lauryn Noel Hill (born May 25, 1975)[1] is an American recording
artist, musician, 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 five Grammy Awards, including the coveted
Album of the Year and Best New Artist.[2]
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.[3] Today, she avoids publicity,
and is the mother of five children with Rohan Marley, the fourth
son of reggae musician Bob Marley.[4] Recently, she announced plans
to start a new studio album, twelve years after The Miseducation
of Lauryn Hill.
Lauryn Hill was born in South Orange, New Jersey, the second of
two children born to high school English teacher Valerie Hill and
computer programmer Mal Hill. As a child, Hill 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 Malaney played the saxophone, guitar, drums, harmonica,
and piano. In 1988, Hill appeared as an Amateur Night contestant
on It's Showtime at the Apollo. She sang her own version of Smokey
Robinson's song "Who's Lovin' You?", where she was booed
tremendously,[5][6] but persevered and ended up with audience applause.
Hill was childhood friends with actor Zach Braff and both graduated
from Columbia High School in 1993, where Hill was an active student,
cheerleader, and performer. Braff has spoken of Hill attending his
Bar Mitzvah in 1988.[7] In February 1992, Hill lost the Columbia
High School Talent Show to rock-and-roll band "Southern Cross"[citation
needed]. Hill enrolled at Columbia University in 1993 and attended
for about a year before dropping out to pursue her entertainment
career.[8]
[edit] Personal life
Hill and Wyclef Jean dated through the majority of the Fugees time
together, a relationship that friends have called "complicated".[5]
By 1994, Jean married his wife, Marie Claudinette and in the summer
of 1996, Hill met Rohan Marley, a son of reggae legend Bob Marley,
Hill soon became pregnant by Marley, who himself was already married.
For a long time, she kept the identity of the baby's father a secret
to almost everyone. Hill and Rohan have now five children together:
Zion David-Nesta Marley (3 August 1997); Selah Marley (12 November
1998); Joshua Marley (January 2002); John Marley (summer 2003) and
baby girl Sarah Marley, who was born in early 2008.[9][10][11][12]
Rohan Marley told People magazine in August 2008 that although the
baby is 7 months old, she is still without a name.[13][14]
Since 1998, Hill reportedly lived in both the Caribbean and an upscale
hotel in Miami,.[5][14] However, in August 2008, it was reported
that Hill was living with her mother and children in her hometown
of South Orange, New Jersey,[12] although Hill's net worth is still
reported to exceed $8.7 million dollars from her record sales, tours
and investments in Jamaica.[citation needed]
[edit] Acting career
Hill began her acting career at a young age, appearing on the soap
opera As The World Turns as Kira Johnson. In 1993, she co-starred
in Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit as Rita Louise Watson, in which
she performed the songs "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" (a
duet with Tanya Blount) and "Joyful, Joyful". It was in
this role that she first came to national prominence, with Roger
Ebert calling her "the girl with the big joyful voice".
Her other acting work includes the play Club XII with MC Lyte, and
the motion pictures King of the Hill, Hav Plenty, and Restaurant.
After her rise to musical stardom, she reportedly turned down roles
in Charlie's Angels, The Bourne Identity, The Mexican, The Matrix
Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.[5] She appeared on the soundtrack
to Conspiracy Theory in 1996 with "Can't Take My Eyes Off You",
and on Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in 2002 with the track "Selah".
[edit] Musical career
[edit] The Fugees
Main article: The Fugees
The Refugee Camp ("Fugees") formed after Prakazrel "Pras" Michel
approached Hill in high school about joining a music group he was
creating. Soon after, she met Michel's cousin and fellow Haïtian,
Wyclef Jean. At some point, Hill was nicknamed "L Boogie",
as she began to convert her poetic writing into rap verses. Hill's
singing gained worldwide acclaim with the Fugees' remake of "Killing
Me Softly with His Song", accompanied by a sample from Rotary
Connection's "Memory Band".
The Fugees' first album, Blunted on Reality, peaked at #49 on the
U.S. Hot 100. The album sold over two million copies worldwide. Blunted
on Reality was followed by The Score, a multi-platinum, Grammy-winning
album that established two of the three Fugees as international rap
stars. Singles from The Score include "Ready or Not", "Fu-Gee-La", "No
Woman, No Cry" (made famous by Bob Marley), and "Killing
Me Softly" (made famous by Roberta Flack).
[edit] The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998)
In 1996, 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.[15]
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.[16][17] Wyclef Jean initially
didn't support Hill recording a solo album, but eventually offered
his production help; Hill turned him down.[5] Hill was once an artist
on Ruffhouse Records. Several songs on the album concerned her frustrations
with The Fugees;[16] "I Used to Love Him" dealt with the
break-down of the relationship between Hill and Wyclef Jean.[16] "To
Zion" spoke about her decision to have her first baby, even
though many at the time encouraged her to abort the pregnancy so
as to not interfere with her blossoming career.[18]
The Miseducation contained several interludes of a teacher speaking
to what is implied to be a classroom of children; in fact, the "teacher" was
played by Ras Baraka (a poet, educator and politician) speaking to
a group of kids in the living room of Hill's New Jersey home.[15]
The singer requested that Baraka speak to the children about the
concept of love, and he improvised the lecture.[15] Though The Miseducation
was largely a collaborative work between Hill and a group of musicians
known as New Ark (Vada Nobles, Rasheem Pugh, Tejumold and Johari
Newton), there was "label pressure to do the Prince thing," wherein
all tracks would be credited as "written and produced by" the
artist with little outside help.[5][19] While recording the album,
when Hill was asked about providing contracts or documentation to
the musicians, she replied, "We all love each other. This ain't
about documents. This is blessed."[5] Hill, her management,
and her record label were sued in 1998 by New Ark, claiming that
they either co-wrote or co-produced 13 of 14 tracks on the album.[20]
The suit was settled out of court in February 2001 for a reported
$5 million.[2]
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.[2] The first single off the album was "Lost Ones" (US
#27), released in Spring 1998. The second was "Doo Wop (That
Thing)", which reached #1 in the Billboard charts. Other singles
released in support of the album were "Ex-Factor" (US #21), "Everything
Is Everything" (US #35), and "To Zion". At the 1999
Grammy Awards, Hill was nominated 10 times, becoming the first woman
ever to be nominated 10 times in one year: Hill won five Grammys
including 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. Hill set a new record in the industry, becoming
the first woman to win five Grammys in one night. Between 1998 and
1999, Hill earned $25 million from record sales and touring.[5]
Hill became a national media icon, as magazines ranging from Time
to Esquire to Teen People vied to put her on the cover. In the late
1990s, Hill was noted by some as a humanitarian. In 1996 she received
an Essence Award for work which has included the 1996 founding of
the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that supports a two-week
overnight camp for at-risk youth, and for supporting well-building
projects in Kenya and Uganda, as well as for staging a rap concert
in Harlem to promote voter registration. In 1999 Hill received three
awards at the 30th Annual NAACP Image Awards. In 1999 Ebony named
her one of "100+ Most Influential Black Americans". She
was named with Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others among the "10
For Tomorrow," in the EBONY 2000: Special Millennium Issue.
[edit] Self-Imposed Exile and MTV Unplugged No. 2.0 (2000–2003)
After the release of her debut album, she explored other methods
of expressing herself, including creating an extensive amount of
music, poetry, and clothing designs.[citation needed] She started
writing a screenplay about the life of Bob Marley, in which she planned
to act as his wife Rita.[5] She also began producing a romantic comedy
about soul food with a working title of Sauce, and accepted a starring
role in the film adaptation of Toni Morrison's novel Beloved;[5]
she later dropped out of both projects due to pregnancy.[5] Hill
became dissatisfied with the music industry; she felt she was being
unfairly controlled by her record label, and disliked being unable "to
go to the grocery store without makeup."[15] She fired her management
team and began attending Bible study classes five days a week; she
also stopped doing interviews, watching television and listening
to music.[19] She started associating with a "spiritual adviser" named
Brother Anthony.[21] Some familiar with Hill believe Anthony more
resembled a cult leader than a spiritual advisor,[5][22] and thought
his guidance probably inspired much of Hill's more controversial
public behavior.[21][22][23]
"There were a number of different reasons. But partly, the
support system that I needed was not necessarily in place. There
were things about myself, personal-growth things, that I had to go
through in order to feel like it was worth it. In fact, as musicians
and artists, it's important we have an environment — and I
guess when I say environment, I really mean the [music] industry,
that really nurtures these gifts. Oftentimes, the machine can overlook
the need to take care of the people who produce the sounds that have
a lot to do with the health and well-being of society, or at least
some aspect of society. And it's important that people be given the
time that they need to go through, to grow, so that the consciousness
level of the general public is properly affected. Oftentimes, I think
people are forced to make decisions prematurely. And then that sound
radiates."
Hill talks about why she left music.[24]
In 2000, she dropped out of the public eye. She described this period
of her life to Essence: "People need to understand that the
Lauryn Hill they were exposed to in the beginning was all that was
allowed in that arena at that time… I had to step away when
I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too
compromised. I felt uncomfortable about having to smile in someone's
face when I really didn't like them or even know them well enough
to like them."[4] She also spoke about her emotional crisis,
saying, "For two or three years I was away from all social interaction.
It was a very introspective time because I had to confront my fears
and master every demonic thought about inferiority, about insecurity
or the fear of being black, young and gifted in this western culture."[4]
She went on to say that she had to fight to retain her identity,
and was forced "to deal with folks who weren't happy about that."[4]
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. "Fantasy is what people
want, but reality is what they need", she said during the concert. "I've
just retired from the fantasy part." 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. Unlike the near-unanimous
praise of The Miseducation, 2.0 sharply divided critics. AllMusic
gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, saying that the recording "is
the unfinished, unflinching presentation of ideas and of a person.
It may not be a proper follow-up to her first album, but it is fascinating."[25]
Rolling Stone called the album "a public breakdown".[5]
Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani wrote, "Hill's guitarwork is
multi-textured and fine-tuned but her vocals lack confidence and
seem to toe the edge of her range throughout the album. And though
the stripped-down nature of the show is fitting, many of the songs
sound as if they are still in their infancy."[26] Despite the
mixed reviews, 2.0 debuted at #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 and used as an interpolation by
hip-hop mega-producer Kanye West for his single "All Falls Down" (eventually
recorded by Syleena Johnson).
[edit] Vatican controversy
On December 13, 2003, Hill made headlines by denouncing "corruption,
exploitation, and abuses" in reference to the molestation of
boys by Catholic priests in the United States and the cover-up of
offenses by Catholic Church officials.[27] The statements were made
during a performance at a Christmas benefit concert at the Vatican.
Reading from a prepared statement,[27] Hill told the crowd of 7,500:
“
I am sorry if I am about to offend some of you. I did not accept
my invitation to celebrate with you the birth of Christ. Instead
I ask you why you are not in mourning for him in this place? I want
to ask you, what have you got to say about the lives you have broken?
What about the families who were expecting God and instead were cheated
by the Devil? Who feels sorry for them, the men, women and children
damaged psychologically, emotionally and mentally by the sexual perversions
and abuse carried out by the people they believed in? Holy God is
a witness to the corruption of your leadership, of the exploitation
and abuses which are the minimum that can be said for the clergy.
There is no acceptable excuse to defend the church."[28] ”
Hill called on the church leaders to "repent" and encouraged
the crowd to "not seek blessings from man but from God."[29]
She then performed the songs "Damnable Heresies" and "Social
Drugs".[29] High-ranking church officials in attendance included
Cardinal Camillo Ruini, Monsignor Rino Fisichella and Cardinal Edmund
Szoka.[30] Pope John Paul II was not present.[30] The segment was
cut from the television broadcast. Both the Vatican and Columbia
Records refused to issue official statements regarding Hill's actions.[31][32]
Monsignor Fisichella told reporters that Hill had acted "in
poor taste and very bad mannered. It showed a complete lack of respect
for her invitation and for the place where she had been invited to
perform".[33] The Catholic League called Hill "pathologically
miserable" and claimed her career is "in decline".[34]
Hill responded to the controversy on December 16: "What I said
was the truth. Is telling the truth bad manners? What I asked was
the church to repent for what has happened."[35] The following
day, several reporters suggested that Hill's comments at the Vatican
may have been influenced by her "advisor" Brother Anthony.[36]
[edit] Short-lived return of the Fugees (2004–2006)
The Fugees performed on September 18, 2004 at Dave Chappelle's Block
Party in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. They headlined
a bill that included a star-studded cast of hip-hop celebrities.
The concert featured Hill's nearly a cappella rendition of "Killing
Me Softly". The event was recorded by director Michel Gondry
and was released on March 3, 2006 to mostly positive reviews.[37][38]
In 2005, she told an interviewer that "The Fugees was a conspiracy
to control, to manipulate and to encourage dependence. I took a lot
of abuse that many people would not have taken in these circumstances."[39]
The Fugees also appeared at BET's 2005 Music Awards on June 28, 2005,
where they opened the show with a 12-minute set. One track, "Take
It Easy", was leaked online and thereafter was released as an
internet single on September 27, 2005. It peaked at #40 on the Billboard
R&B Chart. The song was mostly panned by critics, as The Village
Voice wrote, "Turns out that a Fugees reunion wasn't really
what anyone was waiting for; we just wanted Lauryn to start rapping
again."[40]
"I'm trying to open up my range and really sing more. With
The Fugees initially, and even with Miseducation, it was very hip-hop — always
a singing over beats. I don't think people have really heard me sing
out. So if I do record again, perhaps it will have an expanded context.
Where people can hear a bit more."
Hill talks about her work with The Fugees.[24]
The Fugees embarked on a European tour from November 30, 2005 through
December 20, 2005. The group played in Austria, Slovakia, Sweden,
Finland, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Italy, France, England, Ireland
and Switzerland. On February 6, 2006, the Fugees did a special "Reunion
Concert" in Hollywood, that was offered as a live webcast on
the Verizon Wireless website. The Fugees were featured in numerous
Verizon Wireless VCast advertisements in magazines and on TV around
that same time. A new song titled "Foxy" was made available
on VCast and a third new song was leaked, unofficially titled "Wannabe",
which uses the same hook as the Michael Jackson song "I Wanna
Be Where You Are". Old tensions between Hill and the other members
of the group soon resurfaced, and the reunion fizzled before an album
could be recorded. Jean and Michel both blamed Hill for the split.
Hill reportedly demanded to be addressed by everyone, including her
bandmates, as "Ms. Hill"; she also considered changing
her moniker to "Empress".[12] Her chronic tardiness — sometimes
stalling up to 45 minutes after the two had taken the stage to join
them — has been cited as another contributing factor to the
break up.[12] Michel told the press in August 2007, "Before
I work with Lauryn Hill again, you will have a better chance of seeing
Osama Bin Laden and George W. Bush in Starbucks having a latte, discussing
foreign policies… At this point I really think it will take
an act of God to change her, because she is that far out there."[41]
[edit] 2004–2009
Hill has been slowly working on a new album[5] and in November 2004
shot a music video. The album had a slated street date of November
2005, and neither it nor the music video have been released.[42]
It was also reported that as of 2003, Columbia Records had spent
more than $2.5 million funding Hill's new album, mostly spent on
installing a recording studio in the singer's Miami apartment and
flying different musicians around the country.[5] 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.[43]
Those who purchase the $15 video would only be able to view it three
times before it expired. In addition to the video, Hill began selling
autographed posters and Polaroids through her website, with some
items listed at upwards of $500.[43] In 2005, she told USA Today, "If
I make music now, it will only be to provide information to my own
children. If other people benefit from it, then so be it."[39]
When asked how she now felt about the songs on 2.0, she stated "a
lot of the songs were transitional. The music was about how I was
feeling at the time, even though I was documenting my distress as
well as my bursts of joy."[39]
She has toured several times in recent years, though most of her
concerts have received mixed reviews.[44][45][46] Hill is often late
to concerts (sometimes by over two hours) and reconfigures her well-known
hits in to "unrecognizable scat chants" while "sporting
frizzy orange hair and exaggerated makeup".[12][47][48] On some
occasions, fans have booed her and left early;[49] some fans have
also demanded their money back after concerts.[50] On October 6,
2005, Hill emceed and performed two songs at the Take Back TV concert
launching Al Gore's CurrentTV.[51][52][53] In June 2007, Sony records
said though Hill has "consistently recorded over the past decade" and
has what amounts to "a library of unreleased material in the
vault", she had recently re-entered the studio "with the
goal of making a new LP."[54] Later that same year, a new album
entitled Ms. Hill, which featured cuts from The Miseducation, various
soundtracks contributions and other "unreleased" songs,
was released.[55] It features guest appearances from D'Angelo, Rah
Digga and John Forté.[56] Also in June 2007, Hill released
a new song, "Lose Myself" on the soundtrack to the film
Surf's Up under her new professional name, Ms. Lauryn Hill. The song
is also played over the credits.
Reports in mid-2008 claimed that Columbia Records currently believe
Hill to be "on hiatus."[12] Rohan Marley disputed these
claims, telling an interviewer that Hill has enough material for
several albums: "She writes music in the bathroom, on toilet
paper, on the wall. She writes it in the mirror if the mirror smokes
up. She writes constantly. This woman does not sleep". One of
the few public appearances Hill made in 2008 was at a Martha Stewart
book-signing in New Jersey, perplexing some in the press.[57] On
November 4, 2008, Hill was scheduled to perform at the Avo Session
Basel music festival in Basel, Switzerland. Her concert was canceled "for
personal reasons".[58] In April 2009, it was reported that Hill
would engage in a 10 day tour of European summer festivals during
mid-July of that year. She performed two shows for the tour and passed
out on stage during the start of her second performance and left
the stage. She refused to give refunds to angry consumers for the
show. On June 10, Hill's management informed the promoters of the
Stockholm Jazz Festival, which she was scheduled to headline, that
she would not be performing due to unspecified "health reasons."[59]
Shortly afterward, the rest of the tour was canceled as well.[59]
[edit] 2010-Present
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. She performed songs
from the Miseducation album and some Fugees hits. On April 19, Hill
appeared at the Tanzania Education Trust Gala And Reception in New
York City for a Charity Event. When making this public appearance,
she was asked by paparazzi whether she is working on a new album,
to which she replied "Yeah, possibly", suggesting that
she may be working on new projects, and possibly a sophomore album.[60]
On May 23, Hill returned to her alma mater, Columbia High School
in Maplewood, NJ to perform for a benefit entitled, "Gotta Sing,
Gotta Dance, Gotta Give", which was held to raise money for
the renovation of the school's historic auditorium.[61] On June 8,
it was announced that Hill would be the very special guest performer
at Rock the Bells Festival series. Five days later, Hill appeared
at the Harmony Festival in Santa Rosa, California, her first live
American performance in several years. In a June interview with NPR
reporter/producer Zoe Chace as part of NPR's 50 Great Voices Series,
Hill confirmed that she was planning to begin recording again[62]
and discussed her hiatus and five children.[63] Ronald Isley of the
Isley Brothers confirmed he worked with Hill on an upcoming album
as well.[64] On September 8, 2010, Isley and Hill's duet, Close To
You, a remake of the classic song by Burt Bacharach and Hal David,
was leaked online.[65][66]
"There are a lot of different creative energies out there right
now. I respect the different sounds that I'm hearing. It's been such
a long time since I've gotten my voice and my ideas out [...] In
terms of collaborations, that's not even something I've been thinking
about per se. I'm happy that people are still making music. That
we still have a platform with which to make music. It's gonna be
interesting to see what the future holds."
Hill talks to MTV.[67]
An unreleased song called "Repercussions" was leaked via
the internet in late July.[68][69] On the issue of August 28, 2010
the song debuted at #94 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
(which peaked at #83 the next week), making it her first Billboard
chart appearance as a lead artist since 1999; last song on the charts
being her cover version of Bob Marley's "Turn Your Lights Down
Low" which reached #86 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #49 on the
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.[70][71] In April 2010, all of the songs
that Hill had performed and recorded over the past six years were
included in an unofficial release titled "Khulami Phase".[72]
The album also features a range of other material found on the Ms.
Hill compilation.[72] On August 28, Hill performed at Rock the Bells
Hip Hop festival on Governor's Island in Brooklyn. Friends Mary J.
Blige, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Chris Rock, John
Legend and Jay-Z also appeared on stage. Hill performed several songs
from The Miseducation, including To Zion, during which she brought
her five children on stage. On November 5, Hill headlined the University
of Miami's annual Homecoming concert. Hill performed several songs
in front of a very large and responsive crowd. Her hour long set
included songs from the Miseducation album such as, Lost Ones, Ex-Factor,
To Zion (during which she brought her son Joshua on stage and allowed
him to sing into the microphone), a few Bob Marley songs, and several
Fugees tracks. Hill was announced to headline the 6th Annual Jazz
in the Gardens, in Miami Gardens, Florida in December 2010. She will
perform on the first day of the 2-day concert, March 19, 2011, along
with Jazmine Sullivan, Charlie Wilson, Al Jarreau, and Doug E. Fresh
with Slick Rick "The Ruler".[73]
[edit] Humanitarian
In the late 1990s, Hill was noted by some as a humanitarian. In
1996 she received an Essence Award for work which has included the
1996 founding of the Refugee Project, an outreach organization that
supports a two-week overnight camp for at-risk youth, and for supporting
well-building projects in Kenya and Uganda, as well as for staging
a rap concert in Harlem to promote voter registration. In 1999 Hill
received three awards at the 30th Annual NAACP Image Awards. In 1999
Ebony named her one of "100+ Most Influential Black Americans".
She was named with Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and others among
the "10 For Tomorrow," in the EBONY 2000: Special Millennium
Issue.
[edit] Legacy and influences
Lauryn Hill has been cited as an influence by many, especially those
in the neo-soul movement of the 2000s. Musicians who have acknowledged
Hill's importance include Prince,[12] John Legend,[74] Alicia Keys,[75]
D'Angelo,[15] Mary J. Blige,[2] and Jazmine Sullivan.[2] In 2005,
Talib Kweli released a song about the singer, titled "Ms. Hill",
on Right About Now.[76][77] Rapper, singer, and song-writer Nicki
Minaj has also revealed her influence from Hill. Michelle Obama,
wife of U.S. President Barack Obama, told the BBC that she frequently
listens to Hill's music on her iPod,[78] while 2008 Republican presidential
candidate Senator John McCain's daughter Meghan stated that her father
listens to Hill: "I borrowed his car once in D.C., and I was
like, looking through [his] CDs, and I was like, 'Oh, Lauryn Hill.'"[79]
Actors Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington are also reportedly fans
of the singer.[12] D'Angelo, who appeared on "Nothing Even Matters," referred
in an interview to at least one church reportedly having used the
song in a service.
[edit] Discography
Main article: Lauryn Hill discography
Studio albums
* 1998: The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Live albums
* 2002: MTV Unplugged No. 2.0
[edit] Filmography
* 1998 - Restaurant .... Leslie
* 1997 - Hav Plenty .... Debra
* 1996 - ABC Afterschool Specials .... Malika
* 1993 - Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit .... Rita Louise Watson
* 1993 - King of the Hill .... Elevator Operator
* 1992 - Here and Now
* 1991 - As the World Turns .... Kira Johnson