Lady luck: She shot to stardom with Destiny's Child, but for awhile there it looked as if LeToya Luckett's star was firmly in the descendant. Luckett co-founded Destiny's Child with her Houston schoolfriend Beyoncé Knowles, but the friendship fell apart following the group's breakthrough album, The Writing's on the Wall, on which Luckett co-wrote the massive hit, Say My Name. Luckett left the group in 1999 following legal wrangles and a very public spat with her former friend. It seemed like her chance for the bigtime had passed, but fortune favours the brave - in 2004 she launched her solo career and signed a deal with Capitol Records. Her debut album, simply titled LeToya, hit No 1 on the Billboard album charts in its first week; she may have been gone awhile, but LeToya was certainly not forgotten. "I just want to get my voice heard again and to allow people to know me outside of a group situation," says the 25-year- old H-Town chick. "I also want young girls who look up to me to know not to give up, even when people try and take you away from your destiny."
Learning curve: From the start, LeToya Luckett seemed destined for showbiz success. At five she sang in her local church, watched proudly by her dad, who was also a singer. She joined the children's choir and acted in school plays, along with her buddy Beyoncé. When the pair finished school, they formed an r'n'b quartet with Kelly Rowland and LaTavia Roberson, with the rather uninspiring name of Girl's Tyme. After trying out a number of other names, the girls finally settled on one they found in the Bible. Destiny's Child opened for TLC and joined Christina Aguilera on her first-ever world tour, but LeToya and LaTavia were not happy with the group's manager, Beyoncé's dad, who they felt was favouring his daughter over the other members. Several lawsuits later, and following numerous magazine articles in which the Destiny girls dissed each other, LeToya and LaTavia were out of the group. But LeToya waxed philosophical about it. "Being in that group taught me so much at a young age," she said, diplomatically. "I was happy to have that experience and to be a part of a movement like that."
Uptown girl: After firing off one more writ claiming that Destiny's Child's 2002 hit, Survivor, was about the split, LeToya formed a new group, Anjel, which never got off the ground. The fashion- conscious LeToya had better luck launching her upmarket boutique, Lady Elle, in uptown Houston. But the pull of music proved too much, and so, leaving her mom in charge of the shop, LeToya set about launching her solo career, determined to get the world to say her name again. "It's the world's first time hearing me and getting to know me as a solo artist," she says, "so what better way to get them to know me than call it LeToya?"
