Singer, songwriter, actress. Born in South Orange, New Jersey.
In 1998, Lauryn Hill released her solo debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, and became the first woman or hip-hop artist to win five Grammy Awards when she received Album of the Year, Best New Artist, Best Female R&B Performance, Best R&B Song (“Doo Wop (That Thing)”) and Best R&B Album honors.
A natural performer, Hill sang at Harlem’s Apollo Theater at age thirteen. Soon after, she met Prakazrel “Pras” Michel and his cousin, Wyclef Jean, and the three formed a band (which was at first called Tranzlator Crew, but later became the Fugees) and began performing in area clubs. While just a high school sophomore, Hill landed a recurring role on the television soap opera As the World Turns and soon after starred in Whoopi Goldberg’s Sister Act II: Back in the Habit. In 1993, instead of heading for Hollywood, Hill enrolled at Columbia University where she studied for a year before going on leave to pursue her career. That same year, the Fugees released their first album, Blunted on Reality, which met mixed reviews. In 1996, the group released a successful second album, The Score, which sold 17 million copes, making the Fugees the largest-selling rap group of all time and winning them two Grammy Awards (Best Rap Album and Best R&B Performance by a duo or group).
Hill’s first solo effort, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998), established her as a major talent in her own right. The album sold over 12 million copies and earned Hill five Grammy Awards, three American Music Awards, a Billboard Award, a Soul Train Award and an MTV Music Award.
After an extended hiatus, Hill returned in 2002 with MTV Unplugged No. 2.0. The album was generated from Hill’s two-hour acoustic performance on MTV’s popular series MTV Unplugged.
Hill is also a dedicated activist. She is the founder of the Refugee Camp Youth Project, which raises money to send inner-city children in her native New Jersey to summer camp. She has two children with long-term boyfriend Rohan Marley, Zion, who was born in August 1997, and Selah Louise, who was born in November 1998. Marley is the son of legendary singer Bob Marley.
