Editing Lauryn Hill (section)

=== 1975–1990: Early life ===
Lauryn Noelle Hill was born on May 26, 1975, in [[East Orange, New Jersey]].<ref name="nickson"/><ref name="academy"/> Her mother, Valerie Hill, was an English teacher and her father, Mal Hill, a computer and management consultant. She has one sibling, an older brother named Malaney Hill, a computer engineer, who was born in 1972 and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania .<ref name="time-Farley" /><ref name="people-mostbeaut"/><ref name="Foege"/> Her [[Baptists|Baptist]] family moved to New York for a short period before settling in [[South Orange, New Jersey|South Orange]].<ref name="academy"/><ref name="rs-kot"/>

Hill has said of her musically oriented family: "there were so many records, so much music constantly being played. My mother played the piano, my father sang, and we were always surrounded by music."<ref name=academy>{{cite web|title=Lauryn Hill Biography and Interview|website=achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/#interview|access-date=April 3, 2019|archive-date=February 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220101935/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/lauryn-hill/#interview|url-status=live}}</ref> Her father sang in local nightclubs and at weddings.<ref name="nw-allison"/><ref name="nyt-so"/> While growing up, Hill frequently listened to [[Curtis Mayfield]], [[Stevie Wonder]], [[Aretha Franklin]], and [[Gladys Knight]];<ref name="encyclopedia358" /> years later she recalled playing [[Marvin Gaye]]'s ''[[What's Going On (Marvin Gaye album)|What's Going On]]'' repeatedly until she fell asleep to it.<ref name="academy"/>

In middle school, Hill performed "[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]" before a basketball game. Due to its popularity, subsequent games featured a recording of her rendition.<ref name="time-Farley"/> In 1988, Hill appeared as an Amateur Night contestant on ''[[Showtime at the Apollo|It's Showtime at the Apollo]]''. She sang her version of the [[Smokey Robinson]] track "[[Who's Lovin' You]]". Stumbling out of the gate to hit her notes, she initially garnered a mixed reaction from the crowd, but persevered through the performance, which ended in applause.<ref name="rollingstone" />

Hill attended [[Columbia High School (New Jersey)|Columbia High School]], where she was a member of the track team, cheerleading squad<ref name="time-Farley"/><ref name="people-mostbeaut"/> and was a classmate of actor [[Zach Braff]].<ref name=Elle>{{cite news |last=Solomon |first=Michael |title=Stars Who Went to High School Together |url=http://www.elle.com/pop-culture/best/stars-who-went-to-high-school-together-654244-7#slide-7 |url-status=live |magazine=[[Elle (magazine)|Elle]] |date=April 6, 2012 |access-date=July 9, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131007091001/http://www.elle.com/pop-culture/best/stars-who-went-to-high-school-together-654244-7#slide-7 |archive-date=October 7, 2013}}</ref> She also took violin lessons, went to dance class, and founded the school's gospel choir.<ref name="nyt-so">{{cite news |last=Jacobs |first=Andrew |title=Pop Superstar's Vote for Her Town: Lauryn Hill and 5 Grammys Are Firmly in South Orange |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/26/nyregion/pop-superstar-s-vote-for-her-town-lauryn-hill-5-grammys-are-firmly-south-orange.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |url-status=live |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 26, 1999 |access-date=July 7, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304171516/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/26/nyregion/pop-superstar-s-vote-for-her-town-lauryn-hill-5-grammys-are-firmly-south-orange.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm |archive-date=March 4, 2014}}</ref> Academically, she took advanced placement classes and received primarily [[Academic grading in the United States|'A' grades]].<ref name="people-mostbeaut"/><ref name="nyt-so"/> School officials recognized her as a leader among the student body.<ref name="nyt-so"/> Later recalling her education, Hill commented, "I had a love for—I don't know if it was necessarily for academics, more than it just was for achieving, period. If it was academics, if it was sports, if it was music, if it was dance, whatever it was, I was always driven to do a lot in whatever field or whatever area I was focusing on at the moment."<ref name="academy"/>