Music icon was notoriously booed on stage for an unbearable 30 seconds on famous stage

Music icon Lauryn Hill was booed during a disastrous 2016 show but long before that she was booed at the Apollo Theater when she was just 13.

It’s hard to imagine anybody wishing to boo Ms. Lauryn Hill. The 48-year-old American singer-songwriter and rapper is one of the most celebrated and influential musical figures of the 1990s. Across her solo career and work with Fugees, iconic tracks include Killing Me Softly With His Song, Doo Wop (That Thing), and Ready Or Not. Fans would be thrilled to see her perform in the past, present, or future. And yet, her talents weren’t met with applause right away…

Lauryn Hill was 13 when booed during Apollo Theater performance

Before Lauryn Hill became iconic, the Apollo Theater was already a legendary institution. Some of the greatest musical acts of all time had delivered incredible and renowned sets there, including Bob Marley.

With such a cultural significance to New York, taking to its stage to perform comes with some baggage.

The venue hosted a competitive event called Amateur Night, and each Wednesday unknown talents would perform with the hopes of winning over the crowd. However, the Apollo crowd was already infamously difficult to please.

Ultimately, if the crowd wasn’t enjoying the performance they would boo—there was zero room for speculation as to how your performance had been received. To give you a level of just how important the event was, Jimi Hendrix won it in 1964.

When a 13-year-old Lauryn Hill took to the stage to perform Who’s Lovin’ You by the Jackson 5 (also previous winners) in 1987, the pressure was on. To even be performing to such a legendary crowd was an achievement.

It may be bizarre to comprehend now, but the beginning of her set was met with an even louder chorus of boos from the crowd. Rather than rattling her nerves, the boos kept the future celebrity determined and she continued to belt out the song in an admirable effort to impress. Gradually, she did just that, winning the crowd over. She may not have won Amateur Night, but she certainly won that audience.

Lauryn Hill was later booed during a disastrous 2016 performance

With the Apollo decades behind her, there was an incident in 2016 in which Lauryn was once again booed on stage.

The singer arrived late to an Atlanta tour date, taking the stage over two hours later than scheduled. Due to the strict curfew, the plug was pulled on her set, ending it 40 minutes early. Frustrated and desperate to hear more material live, the crowd booed.

She addressed the incident in a statement on Facebook at the time: “For every performance that I’ve arrived late to, there have been countless others where I’ve performed in excess of two hours, beyond what I am contracted to do, pouring everything out on the stage.”

She continued: “Our challenge is to figure out the best way to accommodate the vitality, spontaneity, and spirit that make the performances worthwhile and special to begin with, while also making that experience available and accessible to others.”

Although she acknowledged “regret [at] not being able to give you a full show” she foreshadowed plans to make it up to Atlanta fans.

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