10 Music Artists Who Quit In Their Prime
8. Lauren Hill
Many musicians struggle to find their feet after the break up of the group that brought them success, but Lauren Hill hit the ground running. Her acclaimed solo debut The Miseducation Of Lauren Hill debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold by the bucketload, and Doo Wop (That Thing) gave her similar success as a singles artist.
She received a record ten nominations at the 41st Grammy Awards, winning in five categories. The album went on to sell 20 million copies worldwide, nearing the success of her former band The Fugees’ biggest hit, The Score. In fact, The Miseducation of Lauren Hill actually outsold The Score in the US.
Despite having conquered the world of pop music and being inundated with acting offers, Hill began to find the pressures of fame underwhelming and decided to opt out of the spotlight. She dropped out of movie projects, fired her management team and stopped doing interviews.
Instead her time was taken up with bible study classes, which she started attending five days a week. She later told Essence magazine:
“I had to step away when I realized that for the sake of the machine, I was being way too compromised... For two or three years I was away from all social interaction. It was a very introspective time.”
A 2001 MTV unplugged performance drew largely negative reviews as she performed unfinished, acoustic folk tracks that seemed to abandon her former blend of hip-hop, soul and reggae. The show was released as a platinum selling live album but a studio follow up failed to emerge, despite Columbia records sinking millions of dollars into the project. Ever since, her musical performances and releases have been haphazard and sporadic.