For a while, Lauryn Hill (above) was the biggest and best pop star in the world. Her debut solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, was a near-flawless amalgam of hip-hop, soul and reggae; euphoric reviews, huge sales and a record-breaking Grammy haul were followed by a world tour that felt like a coronation procession. And then she vanished.
Hill broke cover in 2001 for an MTV Unplugged session of new, complicatedly introspective songs. Another two years passed but when journalist Touré came to profile her for Rolling Stone in 2003, it was reported that she was in thrall to a manager/preacher, more cult leader than business adviser. Rumours abounded of fabulous new music recorded in secret Miami sessions then junked.
In 2005, Hill reunited with her estranged bandmates from the Fugees for a European tour, but band leader (and former lover) Wyclef Jean claimed Hill needed psychiatric care. Subsequent appearances were beyond unpredictable: she recorded the theme to an animated film about surfing penguins and supplied a rap of heart-stopping brilliance to a Joss Stone album track. Then, once again, silence.
Last year, Hill appeared on the US Rock the Bells tour, and, in another interview with Touré, laughed off the previous decade, insisting that she'd simply been too busy bringing up her five children to make music. A new album was promised and we still live in hope. As Kanye West said in Champion: "Lauryn Hill say her heart was in Zion/I wish her heart still was in rhymin'."
