Tonight is going to be a huge night for aspiring Madison-area R&B girls group Trilogy Tril who will get a chance to meet, converse and hang out with their musical idols – ’90s supergroup TLC.

Makahya Drake and Jhanae Harris of Trilogy Tril will get to spend some quality time with TLC as they prepare for their concert performance at the Wisconsin State Fair. They’ll get to go backstage where they will be able to communicate directly with TLC and ask questions about their work process, professional history, and tricks of the trade.

“The girls are really excited. That’s one of their celebrity icons that they really look up to,” music producer Gregory Doby, who runs Unidec Music and manages Trilogy Tril, tells Madison365. “They literally have been antsy this whole week so it’s going to be a great experience.”

TLC will rock the main stage at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee tonight at 8 p.m. The group was formed in Atlanta in the 1990s and rose to fame with No. 1 hit singles like “Waterfalls,” “No Scrubs” and “Creep.” Since then, TLC has sold over 85 million records and is recognized as the best-selling girl group in the nation. The group has won five Grammys and received 12 nominations, as well as three Billboard Music Awards, an American Music Award and multiple other honors.

Trilogy Tril may be excited to meet and talk with TLC tonight, but so is Doby.

“Oh, man. You know it. They are legends,” he says. “I’ve been working with the youth for a long time and have created this opportunity before. That experience was so awesome that I felt like we needed to do this again.”

Trilogy Tril

When Doby first launched the Celebrity Music Mentors Program back in 2014 he provided the opportunity for Madison youth artist Sam Wright a.k.a.“Pretty Boy Hefner” to meet and collaborate on a song and video with hip-hop pioneer Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of the famous hip-hop trio Run-DMC.

“TLC tonight is going to be a great opportunity, too. I’m very excited,” Doby says. “This whole process with TLC has been pretty easy. It can sometimes be difficult to work with celebrities and getting them to buy into the program because they live very busy lives. But this was an easy process. They are very open and we’re excited about this opportunity.”

Trilogy Tril’s music blends pop, hip-hop, and urban soul. This year they won a Madison Area Music Award for youth song of the year. They have performed quite a bit around Madison and Wisconsin over the last four years with a message in their music that promotes girl power, advocates for anti-bullying, and inspires youth to have fun and change the world.

“TLC will spend some time with Trilogy Tril and the girls will be able to ask them some questions and see the process behind the scenes while they are preparing for the concert,” Doby says. “TLC will be able to give them advice and tell them about their journey and give them some pointers on what the next steps should be for them.”

TLC is currently made up of the line-up of Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins and Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas. Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes died in 2002, and instead of replacing her, the remaining members chose to continue as a duo.

For the two generations of musical groups, tonight’s get-together will be about the music, but it’s also about life.

“It’s definitely not just about music, it’s about mentoring that next generation,” Doby says. “That’s really what it’s about. Sometimes these kids see these icons and they don’t see them on a personal level and really get in-depth about what it takes to be successful. So they’ll get to learn the ins and outs about that tonight.

“The girls are super excited. They can’t wait,” he adds. “We’re going to document and video the whole thing so it will be something they can always have and remember.