Tron Austin is all grown up. Now 25 years old, he’s a husband and embarking on his career journey in music. Still, he hasn’t forgotten who’s inspired him the most, his mother, Rozonda “Chilli” Thomas of the iconic Grammy-award-winning group, TLC. Austin appears in the new Paramount+ series Family Legacy, reflecting on what it was like growing up on the road with TLC and his close-knit bond with his mother.
“I think honestly some of my favorite memories are just seeing them in their zone,” Austin exclusively tells PEOPLE. “Because I see the rehearsals too, right? So they’ve rehearsed to like 8, 12 hours a day, working like dogs, man. And I would see that all that hard work comes to fruition whenever they do the shows, and there’s 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, whatever the stadium is.”
He continues, “It’s like they’re just doing their thing, and everyone’s all in; for me to take that in was inspiring for me, both as an artist myself and as an aspiring father.”
The artist comes from a certified legacy-filled musical background, with his mother Chili, 52, and music producer Dallas Austin, 52, but he didn’t start his own career in the industry until he was 18 years old. The singer revealed he had to prove to his parents that he was serious about a music career, so he completed an EP alone.
“I produced everything, I wrote everything, and I gave it to my parents, kind of letting them know that this is what I want to do in life. And since then, finding myself as an artist was probably the biggest hurdle because, alright, you come from that, but you really have to be yourself and do it for yourself. So that’s the biggest thing I’ve taken away from the experience as an individual, that trying to become your own artist requires a lot of time, patience, and finding yourself,” he says.
Since the beginning, his mother has been supportive of her son’s musical aspirations and his personhood, which has meant everything to him, from dancing to his music on TikTok (and killing the choreography, by the way) to bring him along on tour with TLC this summer as a drummer. She’s a proud and present mom.
“We always had talked about this, because I was like, ‘If I don’t have the chops, please let me know because I don’t want to pursue the wrong path in life just because I saw you do it,’ ” he shares.
“She let me know that I really have a genuine talent and I can really pursue this because it’s just in me. That felt good to know that support was there.”
Austin hopes his appearance in Family Legacy helps tell TLC’s journey throughout the years and will highlight his mom’s tremendous dedication to her family and her sacrifices.
“We see the backstage, we see the costumes coming off of microphones, and I don’t think that people get to see that part, that we really appreciate our parents a lot for doing what they do and putting themselves on the line like that,” he says.
He continues, “It’s a very hard job, and you can’t be there all the time; even when you have kids, you have to keep going in this direction. As an aspiring father, I think of how I want to do similar with my kids. I want to make sure I’m there as much as possible, but they also understand that daddy needs to do what daddy needs to do, which doesn’t change the love between us.”
The love between Austin and Thomas is stronger than ever, even as his mother spreads her wings in the dating department with her new beau, Matthew Lawrence.
“Oh man, I just like seeing her happy, you know? As someone who is now five years into my relationship, I love seeing humans connect and witnessing that genuineness. I feel that from him. We’ve only met a couple of times because they’re really building their relationship since she’s very careful about that kind of stuff,” he shares.
Austin continues, “I wish them all the best and I think he’s a great guy,” he continues. “I do MMA and he said that he recently started doing jujitsu, so we have some commonalities and stuff that we talk about. I’m really happy for her.”