Letoya Luckett

LeToya Luckett was an American actress and singer who was best known as one of the original members of the multi-platinum selling R&B group Destiny's Child. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Luckett began singing in her church choir when she was barely out of diapers, and before long began singing solo during the Sunday service. Her passion for singing only intensified once she entered elementary school. Luckett became actively involved in the school choir and also sang in various plays put on by the school. It was also during this early period in elementary school that Luckett struck up a friendship with another young gifted singer named Beyoncé Knowles. Impressed by Luckett's raw vocal talent, Knowles asked Luckett to join her all-girl R&B group called Girls Tyme. Luckett agreed, and with the addition of LaTavia Roberson, and Kelly Rowland, the group was formed. Girls Tyme would later be renamed Destiny's Child, and in 1998 they released their self-titled debut album. The album spawned the hit single "No, No, No," thus catapulting Destiny's Child to mainstream success. With their follow up album, however, The Writing's on the Wall, Destiny's child skyrocketed to unimaginable success, after the album sold an astounding 8-million copies, thus making The Writing's on the Wall one of the best-selling albums by an all-female group ever. In the midst of all the success The Writing's on the Wall was generating, however, Luckett and Matthew Knowles, who was Beyoncé's father and the manager of Destiny's Child, had a falling out. As a result, Luckett and LaTavia Roberson were fired from the group in early 2000. Undeterred, Luckett embarked on a solo career in the early 2000s and in 2006 released her platinum-selling debut album LeToya. She would go on to release two more solo albums in the years that followed, although neither equaled the success of her debut. In addition to her singing, by the early 2010s Luckett began to act in films and TV shows. She appeared in the films "Preacher's Kid" (2010) and "Killers" (2010), and additionally nabbed a recurring role on the HBO New Orleans-themed music drama "Treme" (HBO, 2010-13). Luckett continued nabbing acting roles throughout the 2010s, including "Heavenly Match" (2014), a recurring role on the comedy series "Single Ladies" (VH1, 2011-15), as well as a recurring part on the OWN dramatic series "Greenleaf" (OWN, 2016- ). In early 2018 Luckett appeared on the scripted true crime series "Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and Biggie" (USA Network, 2018). The series, about the 20-year old murders of hip-hop icons Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, premiered on the USA Network in February of 2018.