Every pop music artist's career goes through ups and downs & major changes and swings in popularity over time. It's only natural. You can only stay at the top of the Billboard charts for so long before you begin to slip. But of all  the once hugely popular artists of the past two decades Lauryn Hill's fall from grace seems to be the most dramatic.
Just 14 years ago Hill, who first came to fame as a member of the Fugees with such hits as their rendition of "Killing Me Softly with His Song," was on top of the world  with her groundbreaking debut solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill which sold 8 million copies, won her five Grammys, and topped near every chart and list even beating out Madonna for Album of the Year. Since then Hill's career went into a rapid downward spiral with the artist retreating from the spotlight, shunning publicity and the music industry at large, and spending time on raising her large family. But when, over the past several years, she has occasionally returned to the public eye to perform it has been to generally negative reviews and/or controversy like when she spoke out at the Vatican condemning the Catholic Church over its child sex abuse scandal. Furthermore she has been routinely portrayed in the media as just plain "crazy." For the legions of dedicated longtime Lauryn Hill fans, who continue to stand by the erratic performer - known for being chronically late and putting on disappointing renditions of her own hits - wanting to support their favorite artist has proven to be an incredibly frustrating endeavor. Regardless these fans seem to stand by Hill no matter what in the hopes that she will (literally) get her act together  and return to her greatness of yore. Luckily for them it seems that their patience with Hill, who headlines the Hollywood Palladium (buy tickets) on February 14th & The Warfied in SF on Feb 16th (tix go on sale today), might finally be paying off as it seems like Hill may be back on track and that 2012 might be the year for the return of Lauryn Hill. The last time she was in the Bay Area, late last August when she headlined the Rock the Bells (RTB) festival at Shoreline, she did an amazing encore that won a standing ovation from the remaining audience at the Mountain View amphitheater.

Unfortunately most folks had left the large Bay Area venue by that late time in the long day last summer - either in a hurry to beat the parking lot exit rush or not entranced enough by the first part of Hill's set - and hence missed out. But those who stayed for the encore raved about how amazing she was: calling it her comeback performance and one of the best shows of the year. Such accolades were a phenomenally big improvement for the same artist who, just four years earlier when she played Oakland's Paramount Theatre, so disappointed fans that many walked out midway during her show and demanded refunds. In fact her Shoreline RTB set was even an improvement on her preceding summer 2011 California shows at both Coachella (lackluster was the consensus) and RTB Los Angeles a week earlier of which the LA Times wrote, "Lauryn Hill’s rendering of “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill” was disastrous, with the notoriously erratic artist woefully off-tempo from her thrashing backing band, leaving songs such as “Lost Ones” nearly unrecognizable."

When Hill plays LA and SF next month she and her band will again perform 1998's The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill in its entirety. But the fact that, despite all of these bad reviews and the justifiably erratic reputation that Hill has earned, that she continues to get booked as a headliner at big venues begs the question - why? Both promoters and fans that I've talked to say that it is because her core fan-base is still quite strong and that, despite her sketchy track record, that fans love her as a person, sympathize with the negative rep she's earned by the media, and believe that she will return to form - enough to go out and buy tickets for her shows. At last summer's Bay Area RTB's encore she did charged, energetic renditions of the Fugees "Fu-Gee-La" and "Ready or Not" and even brought out on stage Nas for his mid-nineties hit "If I Ruled the World" on which she joined him in on the memorable chorus. Let's hope that, for both Hill and for her dedicated fans, that she delivers high caliber performances at her two upcoming California shows next month and that 2012 proves to be the year of the return of Lauryn Hill.
  
Tickets for Lauryn Hill's Feb 14th, 7pm Hollywood Palladium show are now on sale here. Today, Friday January 6th, tickets go on sale for Ms. Lauryn Hill performing songs from MisEducation of Lauryn Hill at The Warfield on February 16th at 8pm. Tickets are available at AXS or by phone at 888-929-7849 and are priced at (before service charge) $49.50, $59.50, $69.50 & $90.