Hip-hop group The Fugees have announced they are reuniting for their first live shows in 15 years, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of their seminal album, The Score.
The trio – Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel – rose to fame in the 1990s – thanks to hit songs including Fu-Gee-La, Ready Or Not and their cover of Killing Me Softly, all from the album, which topped the Billboard 200 in the US and charted at number two in the UK.
Debuting in the early ’90s as Tranzlator Crew, the group eventually adopted the name Fugees, a shortened riff on “refugees” that referenced cousins Jean and Michel’s shared Haitian-immigrant heritage. Their first album Blunted On Reality was released in 1994, but it was The Score that made them a household name.
Despite only being together for five years and two albums before they split for the first time, The Fugees made a huge impact on hip-hop music in the 1990s and won two Grammy awards for The Score and Killing Me Softly. The Score went on to have estimated sales of more than 22 million worldwide, placing it among the best-selling albums of all time.
Following a break-up amid tensions in the band, all three musicians went on to have solo careers. Jean released his debut album Wyclef Jean Presents The Carnival in 1997, while Hill and Michel followed in 1998, with The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill and Ghetto Supastar respectively.
The trio reunited for Fugees gigs in 2004 and 2005, but later split again.
Announcing the reunion tour, which will include a UK show in London, Hill said: “The Fugees have a complex but impactful history. I wasn’t even aware the 25th anniversary had arrived until someone brought it to my attention.
“I decided to honour this significant project, its anniversary, and the fans who appreciated the music by creating a peaceful platform where we could unite, perform the music we loved, and set an example of reconciliation for the world.”
“As I celebrate 25 years with The Fugees, my first memory was that we vowed, from the gate, we would not just do music, we would be a movement,” said Jean. We would be a voice for the unheard – and in these challenging times, I am grateful once again, that God has brought us together.”
The Fugees will play a one-off gig in New York on Wednesday before the tour starts in Chicago on 2 November. They will play eight US dates in total before a show in Paris and then at the O2 in London on 6 December. The tour will finish with gigs in Nigeria and Ghana.
The Fugees’ charitable fund also plans to link up with Global Citizen for philanthropic efforts around the tour, the band have said.
Tickets for the shows go on sale on 24 September.
