Singer Lauryn Hill was once part of which group?

Singer Lauryn Hill was once part of the Fugees. The New Jersey hip-hop trio made Hill a major star before her influential solo career.

The group formed around Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean, and Pras Michel in the early 1990s. Its name was derived from “refugees,” reflecting the members’ Haitian heritage and the group’s themes of displacement, identity, and resilience. Their sound blended hip-hop with reggae, soul, R&B, and live instrumentation.

The Fugees’ 1996 album The Score became their breakthrough, producing major songs such as “Ready or Not” and “Killing Me Softly.” Hill’s singing and rapping made her the group’s most prominent voice, while the album earned the trio Grammy Awards.

Hill later left the group’s spotlight for her 1998 solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. That success sometimes causes people to remember her primarily as a solo artist, but the Fugees were the group that first established her internationally.