singer songwriter businesswoman record producer and music executive pebbles
was born perry arlette mckissack in oakland california the name pebbles she told the los
angeles times in 1988 was bestowed upon her as a child by her godfather he got it from a character
on the animated sitcom the flintstones she admits that even though she doesn't look like pebbles
the name stuck and became a part of her while growing up pebbles who is light-skinned and a
product of two black parents who each have one white parent says she faced the same problems
as many other light-skinned black children kids who were darker than me were hostile
to me sometimes that's just the way it is in the black community sometimes you learn to live with
it because i had my hair in a ponytail and had light skin they thought i was trying to be white
or trying to be better than they were they'd say she thinks she's cute and better than us
let's beat her up so i'd have to fight that part of growing up wasn't much fun after her parents
divorce when she was around six her mother raised her and her three siblings as a single parent
even though she didn't grow up in a musical family or singing in church like other artists
pebbles knew she was born to sing from the age of three or four and enjoyed listening to
what a variety of other artists had to offer she lists some of her main influences as phoebe snow
minnie riperton phyllis hyman and angela beaufil pebbles got her professional start as a teenager
in the early 80s singing back up for r b funk band can function soon after securing that gig
though she found herself pregnant she would go on to marry her daughter's father however the union
would only last a year pebbles wasn't going to let being a young mom and now a young divorcee
stop her from getting her singing career off the ground she focused on her writing and creating a
demo tape that demo would ultimately land her a recording contract with mca her self-titled
debut album was released in november 1987 one month after she dominated the charts with her
debut single girlfriend the song captured the number five position on the billboard hot 100
and number one on the r b hip-hop chart the moment pebbles first heard the track
she knew it would be a hit and she was willing to do whatever it took to get it from the co-writers
kenneth babyface edmonds and antonio l.a reid that wasn't going to be an easy feat since the song had
already been promised to another female songstress by the name of vanessa williams pebbles pulled out
all the stops to get her hands on the song which included paying eighteen thousand dollars and
turning over two of her cars a mercedes and a jaguar naturally when word got back to vanessa
she was not happy about it la even revealed years later that she never spoke to him again
even though the song became a hit the journey there wasn't without some major behind-the-scenes
drama specifically surrounding the making of the music video pebbles spoke candidly in an
interview that she wasn't happy with the way the video turned out at all which was
mainly a result of her not liking the production company in charge of putting it all together her
dislike of the video went so deep that when it was finished and turned into the record label
pebbles decided to use her own money and time to re-edit it to her satisfaction
her second single mercedes boy written by her would solidify pebbles as a bonafide pop star
when it rose all the way to number two on the hot 100
and gave her another number one ranking on the r b hip-hop chart
in 1989 pebbles married la after meeting while she was finishing her debut album they ultimately
got together while she was still married to her second husband and he had a girlfriend
as if that wasn't scandalous enough la would tell the story in his memoir of pebble showing up to
his home one day just after they'd gotten off a phone call where she questioned what he was
doing and smashed all his glass furniture in front of paula abdul who la was entertaining on a date
after that shocking event took place la figured it was time to move on
and ended things with petals but she had other plans she separated from her husband
rented an apartment in la's building and essentially ended la's relationship for him
with his girlfriend by packing up all of the woman's belongings and sending them to her
la fully admitting that he was very attracted to women with a little crazy in them surrendered
to her and the rest is history also around that time pebbles formed the atlanta based production
company pebbitone as well as her own record label sadie records the motivation behind the decision
was linked to her deep desire to start a girl group prior to putting a group together though
pebble's sophomore album titled always dropped in september 1990 it produced the tracks backyard
featuring sultan peppa love makes things happen with babyface the title track featuring johnny
gill and her cousin r b star cherelle and the top five hit giving you the benefit
pebbles then shifted her focus back to her girl group project she put the word out around town
that she was looking for young women who could sing one day while getting her hair done in a
salon pebbles thought to ask her stylist if she knew anyone she did the shampoo girl otherwise
known as tion t-boz watkins before pebbles knew it she'd be responsible for putting together
naming styling and securing the best producers songwriters and video directors
for what would become one of the most successful girl groups of all time known to the world as r b
hip-hop trio tlc the group signed with pebble's production company as well as
with her husband la and his partner babyface's record label lafays initially things look like
they couldn't be going any better for tlc but that definitely wasn't the case as words slowly
started to leak within the industry about how the actions of their mentor pebbles allegedly
led them down the road to bankruptcy fast forward to 2013 when the biopic the tlc
story aired on vh1 this was the moment when the group finally let loose all the juicy details
of their past financial woes and the major role they believed pebbles played in cheating them out
of millions of dollars according to pebbles though the accusations were complete lies
and as far as people questioning her about why she didn't speak up years ago about the situation
she told wendy williams that she legally could not due to a confidentiality agreement pretty
much everything in the movie related to pebble's actions she claims never happened she did not have
her own attorneys negotiate their contract she denies that the women were initially paid only 25
per week and she absolutely did not kick chile out of the group she attributes that act to t-boss
and left eye due to their ill feelings about chile's relationship with producer dallas austin
one thing that the movie did get right pebbles says is that she does wear chanel bags
when tlc filed for bankruptcy the ensuing conflict severely damaged pebble's marriage to la and it
would ultimately end in divorce another plausible reason for the strife in their relationship
also related to tlc was possibly the belief of pebbles that la and chile were sleeping together
pebbles would later file a 10 million dollar lawsuit against lefay's records
charging that the company tried to entice tlc away from her production company she also filed
a 40 million defamation lawsuit against viacom in relation to the biopic in the complaint she
objected to being portrayed as a quote conniving and dishonest businesswoman who hoodwinked three
innocent girls and exploited their talent for her own personal gain in 2018 a settlement had been
reached thus avoiding a trial the terms of the resolution remain confidential despite all the
drama going on with tlc pebbles was still able to focus on her own singing career enough to finally
release her third album titled straight from my heart in 1995. the project didn't do anywhere
near as well as her last two two years after that pebbles underwent a profound religious conversion
though she was baptized at a younger age it wasn't until this moment when she actually felt saved
now going by the name sister perry she founded women of god changing lives through christ
ministries in an in-depth interview with cbs in 2012 pebbles would reveal that it
was the calling from god to take her life in a different path that was the reason for her
disappearance from the music industry in 2000 pebbles took her fourth trip down the aisle
and married former major league baseball player otis nixon they would divorce four years later
after a 13-year music hiatus pebble released her fourth studio album and first gospel album
prophetic flows volume 1 and 2 in 2008. today pebble's main focus is her walk with god
and spreading the word to others she also decided to give marriage another try in 2012 and has been
married for the last 10 years she admits that she's been asked too many times to count over
the years if she'll ever get back in the studio to record new music or go out on tour as far as she's
concerned doing so would be outside of god's will she currently hosts live online services every
monday on her miracle mondays with sister perry facebook page ministering to thousands of people
all over the world thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget to subscribe
and turn on your notifications so you won't miss any future videos see you next time