LeToya Nicole Luckett (born March 11, 1981 in Houston, Texas), known professionally as LeToya, is an American R&B singer-songwriter and actress. She was a founding member of the R&B female group Destiny's Child, with whom she won two Grammy Awards and released many successful commercial recordings. She later was unexpectedly replaced by Michelle Williams.¹²³

After signing a record deal with Capitol Records, she pursued a successful solo career. Her solo debut album, LeToya (2006), topped the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart in July 2006 and was certified platinum by the RIAA in December 2006. The single, "Torn", achieved records on BET's top ten countdown show 106 & Park. She was also named "One of the Best New Artists of 2006" by AOL and the "Top Songwriter of 2006" by ASCAP.⁴ Luckett plans to release a second album in early 2009.

Early life

Luckett was born in Houston, Texas, and grew up singing in her local Brentwood Baptist Church where she had vocal lessons to become an opera singer. Her father, who was also a singer, was very proud of his daughter's vocal talents and tried to promote her into the music business. Luckett is the eldest of two children; she has a younger brother Gavin.⁵ Luckett was given the opportunity to sing her first church solo at the age of five (5). "The lady just gave me the mic one Sunday and I sang", she recalls.⁶ Shortly thereafter, she joined the children's choir and began performing in plays at her elementary school. One day, she walked to her desk in class to find a girl sitting in her seat. Luckett asked her teacher to remove the girl from her assigned seat, who turned out to be Beyoncé Knowles. Both girls later became friends, and she was invited to join Latavia's & Beyoncé's group.⁷.

Destiny's Child

Main article: Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child original line-up, from left to right LaTavia Roberson, Beyoncé Knowles, LeToya and Kelly Rowland in the music video of "Bills Bills Bills" their first number one single.

In 1993, LeToya Luckett joined Beyoncé Knowles, LaTavia Roberson, and Kelly Rowland to complete the Houston-based R&B group, Destiny's Child. After being signed and later dropped by Elektra Records, the group eventually signed with Columbia Records in 1997, but not before signing with Mathew Knowles as their official manager. According to the E! Television Special, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Knowles forced the girls to sign with him before they could sign with the label. LeToya's mother requested the contracts be reviewed by an attorney, but Knowles denied the request. However, Luckett eventually signed with him and joined the group.⁸

After graduating from the Houston club scene, the group began opening for acts such as Dru Hill, SWV, and Immature, and released their 1998 self-titled debut album Destiny's Child. The album spawned two singles: the platinum "No, No, No Part II" (featuring Wyclef Jean) and "With Me". The group was featured on the Why Do Fools Fall in Love soundtrack with the song "Get on the Bus" (featuring Timbaland), and later toured as an opening act on TLC's "Fanmail Tour" and Christina Aguilera's debut tour.

In 1999, the group released their second album, The Writing's on the Wall. The album became one of the biggest selling albums released by a female group, and was certified eight times platinum in the USA. The album spawned four hit singles: "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Bug a Boo", "Say My Name" and "Jumpin' Jumpin'". In late 1999, in the midst of the group's rising success, Luckett and Roberson sent a letter to their management stating they wanted their own manager because of the increasing lack of communication from the group's manager Mathew Knowles (who is also Beyoncé Knowles' father). The pair said they never wanted to fire Knowles, but they did want to secure outside management to represent them fairly. Soon after, Luckett and Roberson found themselves on the outs with Knowles family and the group they helped create.⁹¹⁰ When the "Say My Name" music video debuted in February 2000, they were shocked to find themselves replaced by two new members, Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin.

Luckett and Roberson filed a lawsuit against Matthew Knowles, Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland, charging them with breach of partnership and fiduciary duties, and sought unspecified damages. Luckett and Roberson withdrew the case against Beyoncé and Kelly, but continued to sue Matthew Knowles. The case was eventually settled, with Luckett and Roberson continuing to receive royalties from their contributions as founding members of the group. When it seemed as if the drama had subsided, shortly following the release of Destiny's Child's, Survivor, Luckett and Roberson filed another lawsuit against the group in March 2002. They claimed that the album's lead single, "Survivor", violated their previous settlement due to its lyrics which they believed to reference the ugly split.¹¹

Life after Destiny's Child

Main article: Anjel

After several months of media speculation, it was announced via the MTV News website that Luckett and Roberson had created a new group called Anjel.¹² After several auditions, Naty Quinones and Tiffany Beaudoin were selected as members. The group recorded a twenty-two-song demo in Atlanta, Georgia, with the help of R&B group Jagged Edge. Their production company (581 Entertainment) which handled the group fell through, and all the members of Anjel went on to pursue solo projects. However, the recorded tracks were leaked onto the internet.

Lady L Boutique

In 2003, Luckett opened a successful clothing boutique in the Uptown Park shopping center in Houston, Texas called Lady L Boutique. The store is an upscale women's boutique featuring brands such as: Miss Me, Sky, Ed Hardy, and Joe Jeans. The store has been open for over five years, and there are rumors of a second location opening in either Houston, Miami, or Atlanta.

Going solo

After the Anjel project fell through, Luckett joined with Noontime, an Atlanta-based management/production company. Along with Noontime, she recorded a five song demo and eventually signed with Capitol Records in 2003. Soon after, she began working on her debut solo album. The first promotional single, "You Got What I Need", was released in 2004, followed next year by "All Eyes on Me". She featured on "My Promise" with her label mate Houston on his debut album It's Already Written, "What Love Can Do" on the Coach Carter soundtrack, and on "This Is My Life" with former boyfriend and rapper Slim Thug on his album Already Platinum.

Over the next few months, several new LeToya records appeared online and on mixtapes and were even played on local radio stations in the USA and Europe. At the end of the year, Capitol Records released the What It Do! mixtape. It was hosted by LeToya, mixed by DJ Brandi Garcia, a Houston radio DJ, which included a few songs from her debut album, freestyles, and some of her favorite hip/hop records from Houston-based artists.

LeToya era

LeToya's self-titled debut album, was released on July 2006 and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts, outselling the compilation Now That's What I Call Music! and Pharrell Williams's debut album. The album was certified gold after one month and as of December 2006, the album had been certified platinum. Luckett and Beyoncé Knowles are the only members of Destiny's Child to have an album debut at number one on the Billboard 200 and achieve platinum status.¹³¹⁴¹⁵

With LeToya being marketed as "The H-Town Chick", the album featured hip-hop inspired R&B production. Producers on the album included Jermaine Dupri, Scott Storch, Teddy Bishop, B. Cox, and musical guests Slim Thug, Mike Jones, Paul Wall, and Bun B. "All Eyes on Me" was originally chosen as LeToya's debut single, but she selected "Torn" instead. She stated she "had to go against the grain" to get that single released, but it proved to be a good move. The ballad (produced by Teddy Bishop and a personal favorite of LeToya's) was released March 2006 and became an R&B hit. The ballad has been compared to Natalie Imbruglia and Mary J. Blige's past hit singles. The song climbed the Billboard charts, peaking at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and became the number one song on urban radio. The video became the "official summer video" on BET's 106 & Park after spending a record breaking twenty-four days as the most requested video, making LeToya the first artist since 2003 (and first female since Aaliyah in 2001) to do so. The video was eventually retired from 106 & Park at number two.

Although Torn was still receiving major airplay, her second single, "She Don't", was released to radio and the video premiered on BET's Access Granted in July 2006 featuring LeToya's ex-boyfriend, Slim Thug. The single received moderate success, reaching number seventeen on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart. In November 2006, "Obvious" was selected as the third single. According to Billboard, the song had a 94% chance of becoming a hit, but due to the merger of Capitol Records and Virgin Records, all promotion and money was frozen, therefore the single was never officially released.¹⁶

At the end of 2006, "Torn" was ranked as the number four video on BET's Notarized, which ranks the top 100 videos of the year. "She Don't" ranked at #74. LeToya was also named "One of the Best New Artists of 2006" by AOL Music, number two on Rap-Up magazines' Top 5 Breakthrough Artists of 2006, and had received multiple nominations from the NAACP, the Soul Train Music Awards, and the Teen Choice Awards.¹⁷

Promotion and tours

BET promoted LeToya heavily not only on 106 & Park, The Center, and The Black Carpet, but with a three-part reality series special called The H-Town Chick, which aired from May to July 2006. The series chronicled LeToya's experiences during her summer promotional tour and insight on her life since Destiny's Child. BET also hosted a contest that gave fans the opportunity to decide the final outcome of the "Torn" video. Cingular hosted a Lip-Sync contest that awarded those who best performed "Torn" best in an online submitted video.¹⁸

In addition to a nationwide radio tour, club performances, a brief European and Asian tour, LeToya was asked to participate in the 2006 Pantene Total You Tour, the Cingular Live in Concert series, and was personally invited by Mary J. Blige to join her summer tour, "The Breakthrough Experience Tour", as her opening act.¹⁹²⁰²¹

Lady Love era

In March 2007, LeToya hosted the 21st Annual Soul Train Music Awards with Omarion and signed a publishing deal with Warner-Chappell in April 2007.²²²³ She remained busy by writing and recording for her Second Studio Album which is expected to be released around 2009. Some of the producers she is collaborating with include her longtime writing-producing partner Teddy Bishop, The Writing Camp, Walter Milsap, Raphael Saadiq, Neff-U, Adonis, Tim & Bob, Bryan Michael Cox, Jim Jonsin, Rodney Jerkins, and Babyface.²⁴²⁵ In July 13, she said through an interview for The Salinas Californian website, that her album will have a 1980's influence on her songs and during the event, LeToya announced that the album is officially going to be named Lady Love, then she introduced two new songs "Lady Love" and "Don't Let Me Get Away", but no further details concerning the release date were revealed. On December 10, 2007 a buzz single, Swagger, that features rappers such as Slim Thug, Killa Kyleon and Bun B leaked onto internet through Luckett's official fansite, surprisingly the song makes a reference of Beyoncé's song, Upgrade U, on September 15, 2008 another song called "Somebody Else" leaked onto the internet, initially it would be included in her album, the song features Avant and was just a demo record. More details were revealed about the album, that was originally set to drop on the eve of 2008, but has been pushed back to 1st Quarter 2009, other production names were announced, those who include Bridge, Danja, JR Rotem, Pharrell Williams, Polow da Don, GL Production, Adonis, RedOne, Oak, Fernando Garibay, D'Mile, Jonas Jeberg & Cutfather, Ryan Tedder, the Underdogs, Soundz, Bangladesh, Stargate, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, Dr. Luke, Teddy Riley, Benny Blanco, Bloodshy & Avant, Timbaland, Sam Sparro and Tricky Stewart as well as the songwritting staff, which Luckett herself co-wrote most of her songs with the collaboration of Cristyle, Dave Young, Johnta Austin, Kandi Burruss, Kayla Shelton, Teedra Moses, Marsha Ambrosius, Cathy Dennis, Torica, Toby Gad, The Clutch, Jim Beanz, Claude Kelly, Ne-Yo, The Dream, and Walter Milsap. Luckett, herself, announced via her MySpace that her new single from her new album is coming soon. Luckett was included in the sixth edition of Sounds Of The Season, a holiday album made by a partnership between NBC Universal with Target, Universal Music and EMI Special Music Markets, she duets with Nat King Cole, also in the album are Ne-Yo, Faith Evans and others. ^{2627282930313233343536373839404142434445}

Guest appearances

LeToya is featured as guest artist in many albums, including Mims' "Without You", C-Murder's "Now That You're Back", Gucci Mane's "G-Love (You Don't Love Me)" and Mike Jones' "Bonnie & Clyde". Two songs that feature LeToya as guest artist were released as single, Ali & Gipp's "Almost Made Ya", that song contains samples of Brandy's "Almost Doesn't Count", which was released as single in June 2007 and Webbie's "I Miss You" that contains samples of Diana Ross' "Missing You". LeToya will appear as guest artist in her labelmate, Alphamega's, debut album. It is rumoured that LeToya will be featured on Mims' next album.^{46474849505152}

Acting career

Luckett's first role on television was on the WB show "Smart Guy" in 1998.⁵³⁵⁴⁵⁵ She also had an appearance in the movie "Beverly Hood" in 1999.⁵⁶

LeToya was officially added to the cast of the JD. Lawrence, stage play Rumors as the character Michelle. She hit the road from January 31, 2008 to March 2, 2008.⁵⁷

Discography

Main article: LeToya Luckett discography

Mixtapes

• 2004: What It Do!

Albums

• 2006: LeToya
• 2009: Lady Love

Awards and nominations

1998

• Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards
  • Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo: "No, No, No"
  • Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist: "No, No, No"
  • Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year: "Destiny's Child"

2000

• Artist Direct Awards
  • Favorite Group: Urban/Hip-Hop: "The Writing's on the Wall"

• Billboard Music Awards
  • Top Pop Artist: "The Writing's on the Wall"
  • Top Pop Artist - Duo/Group: "The Writing's on the Wall"
  • Top Hot 100 Artist: "The Writing's on the Wall"
  • Top Hot 100 Artist-Duo/Group: "The Writing's on the Wall"
  • Top Hot Dance Maxi-Single Sales Artist: "The Writing's on the Wall"
  • Top Hot Dance Maxi-Single Sales Artist-Duo/Group: "The Writing's on the Wall"

• Grammy Awards
  • Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: "Bills Bills Bills" (nominated)
  • Best R&B Song: "Bills Bills Bills" (nominated)

• MTV Video Music Awards
  • Best R&B Video: "Say My Name"

• NAACP Image Awards
  • Outstanding Duo or Group: "The Writing's on the Wall"

• Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards
  • Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo: "Say My Name"
  • Best R&B/Soul Album of the Year: "The Writing's on the Wall"

2001

• BMI Pop Awards
  • Most Performed Song of the Year: "Bills, Bills, Bills"
  • Most Performed Song of the Year by Duo or Group: "Say My Name"

• Grammy Awards
  • Record of the Year: "Say My Name" (nominated)
  • Song of the Year: "Say My Name" (nominated)
  • Best R&B Song: "Say My Name" (won)
  • Best R&B Vocal by Duo or Group: "Say My Name" (won)

2006

• Celebrities' Choice Award
  • Best Music Video: "Torn" (nominated)

• Groovevolt Music Awards
  • Best R&B Female Performance: "Torn"

• Teen Choice Awards
  • Female Artist Breakout (nominated)

2007

• NAACP Image Awards
  • Outstanding New Artist (nominated)

• ASCAP's Rhythm & Soul Awards
  • Top Songwriter or Publisher
  • Top Song: "Torn"

• Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards
  • Best R&B/Soul Single, Female: "Torn" (nominated)

• Urban Music Awards
  • Best Music Video: "Torn"

References

External links

• Official website
• Official fansite
• LeToya's Myspace
• LeToya at Singersroom
• Sister 2 Sister Interview