LeToya Luckett
LeToya Nicole Luckett-Coles is an American R&B singer and actress. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a founding member of the R&B girl group Destiny's Child, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. As a member of Destiny's Child, she achieved four US Top 10 hit singles, "No, No, No", "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Jumpin', Jumpin'", and
"Say My Name", sold over 25 million records, and won two Grammy Awards. In the 2000s, she began her solo career after leaving the group and signing a record deal with Capitol Records.
Her solo debut album, LeToya, debuted at number-one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, and was certified platinum by the RIAA, that same year. The lead single, "Torn", reached the Top 40 in the U.S., and set records on BET's top ten countdown show 106 & Park. Luckett was awarded Top Songwriter at the 2006 ASCAP Rhythm and Soul Awards. Luckett's second solo album, Lady Love, debuted at number-one on the U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The album included the Tank co-penned single "Regret" featuring rapper Ludacris. She returned to music in 2017, releasing her third studio album, Back 2 Life, which marked her first independent release. The album was preceded by two singles: "Back 2 Life" and "Used To".
As an actress, Luckett made an appearance in the feature film Killers, and starred in the lead role of Angie in Preacher's Kid. She later portrayed Stacey in the film From the Rough, while subsequently appearing on the second season of the HBO drama series Treme. Luckett has also starred in television series, such as the VH1 comedy-drama Single Ladies, the OWN drama Greenleaf, the Starz crime drama Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and the BET+ drama series Divorced Sistas.
Early life
LeToya Nicole Luckett was born on March 11, 1981, in Houston, Texas to Pamela and Darrell Luckett. She is the older of two children, with a younger brother named Gavin. She grew up singing in her local Brentwood Baptist Church. She also took 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 get her in the music business. Luckett was given the chance to sing her first solo at the age of five. "The lady just gave me the mic one Sunday and I sang," she recalled. 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 there. Luckett asked her teacher to remove the girl, Beyoncé Knowles, from her assigned seat. They later became friends and Luckett was invited to join Beyoncé's singing group Girl's Tyme, which later became Destiny's Child.Career
1993–2000: Destiny's Child and departure
In 1993, Luckett joined Beyoncé Knowles, LaTavia Roberson, and Kelly Rowland to complete the Houston-based R&B group, Destiny's Child. The roles of the group consisted of Knowles as lead vocalist, Rowland as second-lead vocalist alongside Roberson and Luckett as background vocalists with Roberson as alto adding the low notes and Luckett as the soprano adding the high notes to the group's harmony, with occasional leads too. After being signed and later dropped by Elektra Records in 1995, the group began working with D'wayne Wiggins and eventually signed with Columbia Records in 1997, but not before signing with group manager Mathew Knowles, Beyoncé's father. According to the E! Television Special, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Mathew forced the girls to sign management agreements with him before they could sign with the label. Luckett's mother requested the contracts be reviewed by an attorney, but Mathew denied this request. However, Luckett eventually signed with him and joined the group. After graduating from the Houston club scene, the group opened for established acts such as Dru Hill, SWV, and Immature, was included on the Men in Black movie soundtrack, and released their 1998 self-titled debut album Destiny's Child. The album spawned two singles: the platinum "No, No, No Part II" and "With Me". Subsequently, the group made it on the soundtrack album of the romantic drama Why Do Fools Fall in Love with the song "Get on the Bus", and later toured as an opening act on TLC's "Fanmail 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. As opposed to the first album, Luckett had more contribution to the second album in terms of co-writing. The album spawned four hit singles: "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Bug a Boo", "Say My Name", and "Jumpin' Jumpin'". The two singles "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name" were also nominated for Grammy awards, which "Say My Name" won in two different categories. The album had also been released in a "Houston Special Edition" which included a bonus track, where Luckett sung lead along with the other members, titled "Can't Help Myself".
In late 1999, in the midst of the group's success and rise, Luckett and Roberson asserted that they wanted their own manager because of the increasing lack of communication with manager Mathew Knowles. The pair said they never wanted to fire Knowles, but wanted to secure outside management to represent them. Soon after, Luckett and Roberson found themselves ostracized by the Knowles family and the group's management. When the music video for "Say My Name" debuted in February 2000, they were replaced by two new members, Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin. Luckett and Roberson filed a lawsuit against Mathew, Beyoncé, and Kelly, 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 Mathew. The case was eventually settled, with Luckett and Roberson receiving royalties for their contributions as founding members of the group. 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. The case was again settled out of court.
2001–2008: Solo debut, ''LeToya''
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. After several auditions, Naty Quinones and Tiffany Beaudoin were selected as members. The group recorded a 22-song demo in Atlanta, Georgia, with the help of R&B group Jagged Edge. The group also appeared in Jagged Edge's video for "Where the Party At ". However, the production company which handled the group collapsed and all the members of Anjel went on to pursue solo projects. The recorded tracks were later leaked onto the Internet.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 song, "You Got What I Need", was released in 2004, followed next year by "All Eyes on Me". She was 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. LeToya's self-titled debut album was released in July 2006 and debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts. LeToya was certified gold after one month and by 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 in the U.S.
The album is a hip-hop inspired R&B production. Producers 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 Luckett's debut single, but "Torn" was ultimately selected instead. The ballad was released in March 2006 and became an R&B hit. The song climbed the Billboard charts, peaking at number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.
Although Torn was still receiving airplay, her second single, "She Don't" was released to radio, and the video premiered on BET's Access Granted in July 2006, featuring Slim Thug. The single received moderate success, reaching number 17 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 promotional money was frozen, therefore the single was never officially released. Luckett 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 received multiple nominations from the NAACP, the Soul Train Music Awards, and the Teen Choice Awards. BET promoted Luckett on 106 & Park, ''The Center, The Black Carpet, and with a three-part reality series special called The H-Town Chick which aired from May to July 2006. The series chronicled Luckett's experiences during her summer promotional tour and insight about 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" in an online submitted video. In addition to a nationwide radio tour, club performances, a brief European and Asian appearances, Luckett participated in the 2006 "Pantene Total You" Tour, the "Cingular Live in Concert" series, and was invited by Mary J. Blige to join her summer tour, The Breakthrough Experience Tour,'' as her opening act.
In July 2006, while opening for a Mary J. Blige concert, Luckett announced that her upcoming album would be titled Lady Love; she then introduced and performed two new songs "Lady Love" and "Don't Let Me Get Away". On December 10, 2007, a buzz track, Swagger, that features rappers such as Slim Thug, Killa Kyleon and Bun B leaked onto the Internet. In 2008, Luckett was featured on Webbie's single "I Miss You" which was a moderate success.