Thousands attend TLC star's funeral

Thousands of people packed a large Georgia church today for the funeral of Lisa ‘‘Left Eye’’ Lopes, the colourful rapper in the R&B trio TLC. She died in a car crash a week ago in Honduras.

The funeral at Lithonia was open to the public, and hundreds of fans lined up in the early morning to get inside the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, which holds 10,000 people.

‘‘You get a lot of artists out there that try to go with the flow, but Lisa was not a follower. She was a leader,’’ said 28-year-old Shannelle Lewis, who arrived five hours before the service and was first in line.

Lopes was part of the Grammy-winning TLC, one of the best-selling female groups of all time.