Tionne Watkins

Tionne Tenise "T-Boz" Watkins (born April 26, 1970 in Des Moines, Iowa) is an African-American R&B singer; the lead singer of the successful group TLC. She has also worked as an actress, appearing in Hype Williams' 1998 film Belly.

The Watkins family moved from Des Moines to Atlanta, Georgia when Tionne Watkins was nine years old. After a career as a hair stylist, Watkins auditioned for Atlanta teenager Crystal Jones' music group 2nd Nature. Jones, Watkins, and Lisa "Left-Eye" Lopes eventually attracted the attention of Peri "Pebbles" Reid and her husband, LaFace Records chief Antonio "L.A." Reid. L.A. Reid had Jones replaced with Rozonda "Chilli" Thomas, and the group was signed in 1991 as TLC. TLC would go on to become the most successful act in the history of the label.

As a child, she was diagnosed with sickle-cell anemia; initially hiding details of her ailment form others, she went public with the disease in 1996 and is today one of the spokespeople for Sickle Cell Disease Association of America.

Watkins dated Jodeci member Dalvin DeGrate during the 1990s, and married rapper Mack 10 in August 2000.The couple's daughter, Chase, was born that October. In 2004 T-Boz filed for separation, alledging that Mack 10 regularly battered and terrorized her.

In addition to her work in TLC, Watkins has done some solo recording, including the singles "Touch Myself" (1996) for the Fled soundtrack, and "My Getaway" (2000) from the Rugrats in Paris soundtrack.