Rozonda Thomas Net Worth: How Rich is the ‘Chilli’ from TLC?

Rozonda Thomas is an American R&B singer, actress, and dancer. She is mainly recognized for being one of the members of the girl group, TLC. The girl group was one of the best-selling girl groups during the 90s. As of 2023, Rozonda Thomas net worth is estimated to be around $8 million.

Who is Rozonda Thomas?

Rozonda Thomas is a Grammy-winning singer from Georgia. She joined the popular girl’s group, TLC in 1991 replacing Crystal Jones. After joining the group, she was promptly nicknamed, Chilli. The TLC sold a maximum number of records in the 90s and ultimately became the second group in terms of the number of records sold during the period.

Thomas was born on February 27, 1971, in Columbus, Georgia. Her mom, Ava Thomas is African American, and her dad, Abdul Ali is of Arab and Bangladeshi descent. She was primarily raised by her mom. In fact, she met her dad first time in 1996 when she reached 25. As a kid, she used to visit Seventh-day Adventist church with her great-grandmom, whom she called Big Mama. Thomas studied at Benjamin Elijah Mays High School and graduated in 1989.

Rozonda Thomas Net Worth & Career

 

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Rozonda Thomas began her career by working as a dancer. She has even worked as a dancer for the R&B group, Damian Dame. Thomas came into the spotlight after she replaced one of the TLC’s founding members, Crystal Jones in 1991. Thomas was later given the nickname Chilli by Lisa Lopes to retain the girl’s group reputation. Since she joined the girl’s group, TLC went on to sell more than 65 million records in the world. The girl’s group also became the best-selling American girl group of all time.

Thomas received four Grammy Awards while she performed with TLC. After the death of Lisa Lopes in April 2022, she occasionally performed as a duo with Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins. The duo also performed in a series of concert events in Asia. She and Walkins joined hands with VH1 to produce a biopic on TLC in late 2011. Thomas’ character was portrayed by actress, Keke Palmer in the 2013 TLC biopic movie, CrazySexyColl: The TLC Story.

Rozonda focused on her solo career in 2000. Soon after she completed the promotion for TLC’s third studio album, FanMail, she started working on her solo album. However, she ceased production of her first album after she had to work on TLC’s next album, 3D. Thomas was rumored to have signed a four-album deal with Akon’s record label, Kon Live Distribution in 2006. However, she denied the reports. Though, she confirmed that she has been receiving offers from many record labels.

The title of her debut album was confirmed as Bi-Poloar. However, the album was postponed due to constant delays and scheduling conflicts. Several songs from the album were leaked between 2006 to 2008. In Spring 2006, a single titled, Gamerproof featuring her TLC bandmate, T-Boz was leaked. Subsequently, another track, Straight Jack featuring Missy Elliott was leaked in February 2016.

Thomas released her first official solo song, Dumb, Dumb, Dumb in early April 2008. Following that, she was featured in R&B singer, Tyerese’s song Nothing On You in 2012. Then, she came up with her new song, Body in January 2016.

Rozonda has also made several guest appearances on various TV shows like Strong Medicine, Single Ladies, That 70s show, and The Parkers. She appeared in a brief cameo role in Kriss Kross’ music video, Jump in 1992. Later, she was featured in the 2000 TV movie, A Diva’s Christmas Carol.

In 2009, the New York City-based network, VH1 announced that they will be airing a reality series starring Thomas. The series was titled What Chilli Wants which documented her quest to search for love and manage her life with the help of relationship expert, Tionna Tee smalls. The first season of the reality series premiered in April 2010 and the second season premiered in January 2011.

Rozonda Thomas’s Boyfriend & Personal Life

Rozonda Thomas is currently linked up with Boy Meets World Star, Matthew Lawrence. According to sources, Thomas and Lawrence are in an exclusive relationship. The pair spent Thanksgiving and Christmas together in Atlanta. During that time, Lawrence was introduced to the TLC star’s family. The couple also went Instagram official with their romance by sharing a video dancing to Take On Me in their pajamas. The two captioned the joint Instagram post with three hashtags, #newyearsshenanigans,#onesiegang, and #wecute.

Thomas’ representative, Christal Jordan also confirmed their romance. Jordan stated that he has been with Chilli since 2005 and he has never seen her this in love. Rozonda became pregnant at 20 years of age while dating musician, Dallas Austin. She thought about aborting the pregnancy due to outside pressures and career aspirations. Despite that, she continued her relationship with Dallas and eventually bore his son, Tron in 1997. Thomas has also dated R&B singer, Usher. The pair broke up in December 2003. She claimed in an interview on The Bert Show that Usher cheated on her.

Rozonda Thomas Net Worth

Rozonda Thomas has earned an estimated net worth of $8 million as of 2023. She has made a whopping amount from being a member of the well-known girls’ group, TLC. In addition to her music career, she has also created a national education program about HIV/AIDS in 2003. Likewise, she started a non-profit organization, Chilli’s Crew in 2012 targeting to help girls between the age group of 13 to 17.