Chilli and TLC have a very solid fan base. They have sold a total of about 26 million albums making them the best selling female group of all time. Even through their many scandals- including bankruptcy, arson and sickness they have still retained their status as the biggest girl group ever.
Chilli is particularly known for showing the fans love. A friend of mine described her as the celebrity �most likely to hug you.� And I think the description fits perfectly. Even during the Fanmail concerts, Chilli would remain behind on stage hugging, waving, and blowing kisses at fans, long after everybody else had left the stage.
On a TLC video, Left Eye said about Chilli that "...Chilli does it a lot. Cause we'll be out of town on the set of BET somewhere maybe and people will run up to Chilli and say 'I'm your biggest fan" and stuff. "Can you call me tonight?" and she will say "Yeah!" And I mean, I sat up in a hotel room one night and Chilli had a pocketful of phone numbers and she went through every phone number and called all of them and said "I'm just calling cause I promised and I just wanna see how you're doing- Hi..." And they was like "I can't believe you called" and she was like "I knew you wasn't gonna believe me..."
Chilli herself, knows what it�s like to be a fan. She�s a Michael Jackson fan. On TRL, she told a story about her self as a fanatic. �I got in trouble� Another Michael Jackson episode. Remember when his hair caught on fire� With the pepsi commercial? Well, I called the hospital and I wanted to know if he was doing okay and the bill came and I got in trouble! It was long distance but it was all worth it cause I did (get through) They told me he was okay but they didn�t let me speak to him. I could NOT understand why they wouldn�t let me speak to him. I wrote a letter. I wrote a letter and I was like 'Hey, we need to meet"
Chilli refused the challenge to a CD face off from fellow group member, Left Eye, earlier on partly because of her fans. "I thought it was ridiculous. I was like why would I compete with my own group member? I didn't understand that mentality. I mean, I understand that for her it was for us to make a different kind of money. But I don't wanna make money that way. I don't want to tear my fans apart and make them choose. I mean, we all individually have our fans, but they collectively love us together."
- Chilli, Mademoiselle.
The fans do try to give back by writing poems and stuff about Chilli so if you have one that you want to share then email it to me at [email protected]
�I�d like to thank all of the TLC fans for always supporting us when we go through all of the stuff that TLC goes through.�
- Chilli, Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards, 1999.
