wow, i dunno if any of yall have read this but decided to post cuz it kinda touched me, that whole thing with toyas mom is soo wrong all things considered
http://www.infinitymoveme...Child.html
theres also an article on there about Anjel which was toya and tavias group

Vibe Magazine Interview About the BreakUp
::Vibe: Feb. 2001::
::Feb. 2001 Issue::
It's a cloudy Sunday morning in downtown Houston. St. John's Methodist Church is packed with parishioners overcome by the power of the Holy Spirit. Worshipers wail a chorus of "amens" that echoes through the modest two-story building. While the crowd urges him to "preach" and "take your time, take your time," Pastor Rudy Rasmus, a laughing man with friendly eyes, roars, "Right now we're trusting you to fix our relationships, Lord; to put us back together like you intended us to be."
In the balcony of St. John's, a young woman sits crying. Her name is Beyoncé Knowles. Her head is bowed, but you can hear her tender whimpers; as her tears dot the well-worn landscape of her Bible. Her best friend, Kelendria Rowland, a.k.a. Kelly, sits two rows ahead, also in the throes of an emotional experience. Their friend and partner Michelle Williams would ordinarily be here as well but she's visiting family in Illinois. Beyoncé's parents, Mathew and Tina Knowles, are dry-eyed and squished into a neighboring pew; and her 14-year-old sister Solange sits quietly in the back with a gaggle of fresh-faced girlfriends.

In keeping with the casual dress code of the church, no one wears his or her Sunday's best. Beyoncé looks like she's en route to the gym in an Adidas tank top, matching track pants, and white Nikes. Kelly looks like she's ready to spend a day at the mall dressed in a pink

T-shirt, jeans, and flip-flops. Today they are not glamorous members of the super group Destiny's Child. Today they are in God's house, and their physical appearance does not matter. Knowing this, Beyoncé tilts her head toward the heavens and begins to rock slowly to and fro. Her tears trickle into soft exaltations. "Thank you, Jesus," she says. "Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus."

Later, over oxtails and candied yams at the popular Houston soul-food restaurant This Is It, Beyoncé and Kelly explain their earlier display of emotion. "People think that when we're crying we're upset, but we're not. We're just so thankful and happy that we've truly been blessed."

"So blessed," Kelly agrees. "So blessed." Indeed they have been.

Through more ups and downs than the Nasdaq and stranger subplots than a tawdry daytime soap opera, Destiny's Child have managed to establish themselves as America's preeminent girl group. They share the rarified air of bona fide stardom with young pop

phenomenons like 'N Sync, the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, and Christina Aguilera (the group opened for the blond genie in a bottle during her summer 2000 tour). Sexy midriff-baring ensembles and Lone Star State sass have helped the group sell close to 7 million albums in less than three years, garner two Grammy Award nominations, an NAACP Image Award, four Billboard Music Awards, and legions of devoted fans. The girls scored yet another big hit last October with "Independent Women, Part 1," the first single from the Charlie's Angels soundtrack.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg promises their representative John Battaglia, director of the music division at the Wilhelmina modeling agency. "I'm working on a cosmetics deal, a major soft-drink deal, and talking with a number of car companies. With everything [Destiny's Child has] planned for 2001, they're poised to take it to the next level, out of this stratosphere."

Those plans include February's release of their highly anticipated third album, Survivor. The girls describe their latest effort as more mature and easier on the men. The fact that there's a new album even worth discussing is somewhat surprising, but it's also a testament to the tenacity that goes back to the group's beginnings.

First stepping on the scene in 1997, the then Houston-bred quartet was composed of 19-year-old friends Beyoncé, Kelly, LaTavia Roberson, and LeToya Luckett. There was no discernible difference between them, Allure, 702, and the other R&B girl groups out at the time. Sure, "No, No, No," from the quartet's self-titled debut, was a hit (Wyclef Jean oversaw the single's remix), but for an album that eventually went platinum there was very little buzz. It appeared the children of Destiny had won an all-expense-paid trip to one-hit wonderland.

But what a difference the right army of producers and catchy lyrics can make. Kevin "She'kspere" Briggs, Rodney Jerkins, and writer Kandi Buruss helmed the project, infusing the good girls with a sexy edge. Following in the footsteps of TLC, Destiny's Child picked up where "No Scrubs" left off and galloped to the top of the charts with their multi-platinum second album, The Writing's on the Wall. Chockful of sophisticated, ball-busting, and often comical hits that berated brothers for being bothersome ("You make me wanna throw my pager out the window / Tell MCI to cut the phone chord / Break my lease so I can move / 'Cause you're a bug-a-boo"); shady ("Say my name, say my name / If no one is around you say, "Baby I love you" / If you ain't running game"); and on their watershed "Bills, Bills, Bills" just plain triflin' ("Now you've been maxing out my card / Giving me bad credit, buying gifts with my own name"), W.O.W. earned the group reputations for being everything from gold- digging male bashers‹a charge the girls heatedly deny‹to new-millennium feminists out to challenge the bitches-ain't-shit posturing that plagued much of late-'90s R&B and hip hop.

But if Destiny's Child are famous for their no-nonsense lyrics, they're certainly infamous for group line-up changes that would shock even Diana Ross. In December 1999, just after the girls had been nominated for two Grammy Awards, members LaTavia and LeToya split from the group. The two had been friends with Beyoncé and Kelly for close to 10 years, performing together since 1989. Michelle Williams, 20, a former backup singer for Monica, and Farrah Franklin, 19, an aspiring singer/actress, were swiftly brought on board to replace the newly departed members.

Exactly five months later Franklin got the boot. The rumor mill went totally haywire. "Something's not right with that group," some speculated. "It's that father. He's shady," others surmised of Beyoncé's father, Mathew Knowles, Destiny's Child's manager. With Mathew's wife Tina as their hairdresser and stylist, Beyoncé's sister Solange as a backup dancer/ singer, and Kelly‹who has lived with the Knowles family since she was 11‹as the second lead singer, the most popular theory of them all is that Destiny's Child has never been anything more than a nepotistic vehicle designed to promote Beyoncé's inevitable solo career.

Now a trio‹comprised of Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle‹they have swallowed each insult against them in silence. "The battle was not ours to fight; it was God's," Kelly explains. But the time for holding back is over.

The Knowleses' new 6 bedroom home is a bright, split-level cottage, decorated in a style that would best be described as nouveau riche. Leather furniture, faux leopard-skin rugs, and African art abound. A wooden statue floats facedown in the pool outside. Without question, Beyoncé's room, covered in pillows and Indian saris, is the most beautiful. Pictures of her boyfriend of four years, Lindell, are prominently displayed on her nightstand.

Kelly's room lacks similar flourishes; she says she hasn't had much time to decorate. Nevertheless, the space is comfortable. Sprawled out on her gigantic bed, the two girls open up, freely discussing their former group members.

"LeToya was like tone deaf," Beyoncé says. "She wasn't even originally a singer‹she was a rapper," Kelly adds. Beyoncé agrees, then continues: "LaTavia was originally brought in the group as a dancer. She was my best friend, and I wanted her to be in the group."

The girls agree that what LeToya and LaTavia supposedly lacked in talent they made up for in drive. "We were rare 9 and 10-year-olds, wanting to rehearse all day," Beyoncé says. "It was fun, but at the same time we wanted a record deal, we wanted to be singers, we wanted to be stars."

The girls followed their dream through several name changes (GirlsTyme, Somethin' Fresh, Cliché, Da Dolls, and Destiny) and a series of major disappointments (a Star Search loss in 1992, their former comanager Ann
Tillman dying of lupus in 1997, and Elektra Records dropping the act in 1995 because they were too young and undeveloped). In 1996 the group, now solely managed by Beyoncé's father, finally broke through and landed a deal with Columbia Records. The girls went from relative obscurity to rubbing elbows with Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston, their idols. The fairy tale was moving full steam ahead. But by the time they were gearing up to record a sophomore album, their tight bonds were beginning to unravel. "When we first came out we really were like sisters," Beyoncé says. "We were all very, very close. But we stopped getting along almost two years before the breakup. And in interviews we couldn't say we were unhappy, because we didn't want to let our fans down, because they're our number one priority. So we agreed to act like everything was okay, even though it wasn't." Grimacing at the bitter memory, Kelly adds, "It all felt like one big lie."

"It was like being in a bad marriage when you have kids and you act like you're happy," says Beyoncé. And act they did. But once the cameras stopped rolling it was a different story. Beyoncé and Kelly believe LaTavia and LeToya changed when "boys got in their heads"‹the "boys" being twins Brandon and Brian Casey from the group Jagged Edge. "They lost focus," Beyoncé says. "They didn't want to do interviews, rehearse, or take voice lessons. Anybody that met us could see that me and Kelly were one group and they were another. It was obvious." LeToya denies her ex-boyfriend Brian and his brother had

anything to do with the demise of that incarnation of the group. Nevertheless, the rift grew into a Grand Canyon-sized divide when Mathew Knowles had LeToya's mother, Pamela Luckett, ejected from the tour bus one evening in Baton Rouge. Knowles claims Luckett was not covered by the insurance company to ride in the vehicle, and that the girls didn't want her there. Outraged that someone would have the gall to kick "someone's mama off the bus," Brian says he and the guys of Jagged Edge, who were on tour with the girls at the time, left the bus in protest. "We were just so disgusted," Brian says. "Not for one minute did those girls [Beyoncé and Kelly] put themselves in LeToya's shoes."

"I think that was the beginning of the end," Tina confirms. The actual end came on December 14, 1999, a mere two weeks before the group was set to shoot the video for the W.O.W. smash hit "Say My Name." LeToya and LaTavia sent Mathew Knowles letters terminating their management agreement. "As of this moment, please do not transact any further business on my behalf, individually or as a member of Destiny's Child. You do not have any authority to do so," the letters stipulated. "[I think] we could've talked about [the problem] and figured out some kind of agreement. But they waited until our most vulnerable time and sent this disaffirmation letter, 'cause they felt like we would have to give them whatever they asked for. And the day they sent it we were devastated," says Beyoncé.

"There was a point where we did not eat," Kelly says. "We went into a huge depression." Beyoncé says she was incapacitated both emotionally and physically. "For two weeks I literally stayed in my room and did not move. I felt like I could not breathe. I had a nervous breakdown, because I just couldn't believe it. And it hurt so bad." Anger followed the sadness. Beyoncé and Kelly fired off their own impassioned missives to the estranged group members. In a letter dated January 17, 2000, Beyoncé wrote, "I have shared some of the best moments in my life with the two of you by my side. I have also shared some of the worst." She then went on to list several transgressions perpetrated against her by LeToya and LaTavia. "I never complained when you didn't sing one note on numerous songs on the album. I've never complained that when I was working my butt off in the studio, as I did on the last album, that the two of you were both either sleeping or on your phones approximately 80 percent of the time. I never complained when the two of you were lipsinging [sic] to my vocals on some of the videos and onstage. In fact, I only helped make our contributions appear to be equal to the public." By the end of her letter Beyoncé was clearly heated: "Approximately every three weeks (or less) there is 'drama' caused by one or both of you! It has been this way for at least the past two years and I don't deserve this!"

Kelly's letter had a similar tone: "I think it's so funny how every time there is something good going on with Destiny's Child, one of you will spring something on us [Beyoncé and me]," she wrote. "And before, I've tried to forgive and forget and move on, but I refuse to be run over and receive punches from y'all. Y'all have taught me not to take crap from anyone and to always watch your own back..."

Tina Knowles backs her daughter's claims. "From the time LeToya got in the group there was always drama, always jealousy, always madness," she says. "People don't know all the crap that we've been through with LeToya and LaTavia." By the time the management thing came, Beyoncé and Kelly had been so miserable it was the last insult they could take. Tina adds, "You give people an inch and they take a mile, and that's basically what happened. Beyoncé and Kelly kissed their butts all the time, spoke to them first, and then went into the studio and did all the work."

LeToya paints quite a different picture. "We weren't lazy. When it was time to write, when it was time to sing, we were ready to go," she says. "I want to put someone on the stand with a bible and have them say that we didn't work." She says her problems with the group stemmed from her refusal to just go with the flow. "This is the fourth time I've been kicked out," she says. "Anytime a contract came up, Mathew kicked me out of the group, because I wouldn't sign just anything. It was like a bad relationship. He would kick me out and then call back a few days later talking about, 'I need you, I need you, I need you.' He needs prayer. He needs a hug."

He may also need a good lawyer. A strongly worded 18-page legal petition filed by LeToya and LaTavia on March 21, 2000 accuses Mathew Knowles of "greed, insistence on control, self-dealing, and promotion of his daughter's interests at the expense of the plaintiffs." The document also alleges that Beyoncé's father "tried to assume and exercise authority far beyond that typically entrusted to a personal manager in the music industry and that, in his own mind, he was effectively the owner of Destiny's Child and complete master of the group." Though LaTavia declined to be interviewed for this article, LeToya says they both stand by what's alleged in the suit. "Everything was like, 'This is my group, my daughter is going to sing lead, deal with it,' " LeToya says. "He would say things like, 'If you don't like it, then you need to get another career. This is my group. I made it.' He believed it so much that it became a reality." The suit also accuses Knowles of leading Beyoncé and Kelly "on a rampage to destroy LeToya and LaTavia and their careers." And though the suit stops short of accusing Knowles of outright theft, it does state that "he made money from the girls working while the girls themselves made virtually none. Any efforts by the plaintiffs or their parents to monitor or question Mr. Knowles were squelched through intimidation, threats, or accusations."
"Mathew kept us in the closet," LeToya says. "He didn't want us to know the truth. The truth is that he wasn't right. He wasn't right in a lot of things he was doing."

Knowles claims he's innocent of any wrongdoing. For proof he points to an audit he commissioned (at an expense he says reached $30,000) that proves he wasn't improperly managing the group's money. Randy A. Bowman, LeToya and LaTavia's lawyer, says Knowles's audit has no merit. "Until a forensic accountant has looked through these records, we don't know if all the money that was paid to Destiny's Child is reflected in those audits," he says. "We have no way of knowing if he received a million dollars and accounted for $400,000 of it in the context of the records he turned over. So until we know everything that came in and what he did with it, we can't have confidence in any of the records."

LeToya also maintains that she and LaTavia didn't know they'd been dismissed until they saw the "Say My Name" video, featuring Michelle and Farrah in their places. "Our attorneys talked to their attorneys every day," says Beyoncé. "They got letters from us and calls from us, and they got a letter from the label, so I don't know why they're even saying they didn't know they were out of the group." The pair have since signed a deal with Arista Records and are very close to bringing on a third member.

These aren't the only sensational charges being leveled against the Knowles clan. Former member Farrah Franklin, who met the others when she was an extra in the "Bills, Bills, Bills" video, says the Knowleses are, "Kinda like a cult. They don't have friends who aren't in the Destiny's Child clique." Franklin also claims she was told to go to tanning salons and dye her hair red in order to be in the group. "Yeah, I told her she needed to get a tan when she first came in because she was replacing LaTavia, who was darker than her," says Tina Knowles.

Farrah says she explained the Destiny's Child's image hinged on each girl having an entirely different look and that she would only have to tan for the first video. Farrah claims she also lost some of her hair in addition to her own identity. "By the time Tina would do Beyoncé's weave, Kelly's pieces, and Michelle's weave, she would just run a pressing comb through my hair and do whatever to it," she sighs. "I was always last to get my hair and makeup done. As far as picking out outfits, I always got the leftovers, or what was once LaTavia's."

Farrah was given her pink slip last summer after missing an important series of engagements, namely a weeklong promotional tour in Australia. All agree she never really fit in with the group's image. It also didn't help that two months after Farrah joined the group she was found on the cover of Tariq "K-Flex" Nasheed's unabashed how-to-manipulate-women book The Art of Mackin', draped over the author, who is portrayed on the cover as an unsavory mack. "Destiny's Child does not have a bad-girl image," Kelly says.

Michelle, who hasn't been voted off of Destiny's Island, tows the group's line, calling Farrah "crazy" and her allegations "very unnecessary bullcrap that's absolutely ridiculous." And when Mathew Knowles told her to drop her more ethnic first name, Tenetria, and go by her middle name, Michelle, that's what she did, no questions asked. "Either way it was fine with me," she says nonchalantly, after struggling to remember why her name had to be changed in the first place. (Farrah claims Knowles thought it was too "soulful"). "They could've called me T.T., which is my nickname and it would have been fine. I wouldn't dare make that an issue. That's stupid. You're getting a paycheck every month," Michelle quickly clarifies. "I mean money ain't all it's about. But look at it‹you're traveling every day, flying first class, staying in the best hotels and you're tripping about a hair color and your name?"

The scene outside New York City's Apollo Theater is a study in controlled madness. Publicists zoom back and forth, frantically barking orders into headsets. Eager teenagers cluster on Harlem's 125th Street despite the night's uncomfortable drizzle. Their hungry eyes dart between the B-list celebrities strolling down the red carpet and the stretch limos rolling up the block. They're all here for a concert featuring TRL staples like Nelly, Lil' Bow Wow, and Samantha Mumba.

Mathew Knowles watches for the evening's headliners, Destiny's Child, to arrive. When word spreads the group is nearing the entrance, the crowd can barely contain themselves. But a big girl with school bully written all over her, is not impressed. "I can't stand me no Destiny's Child," she declares. "[Beyoncé and] them girls is dead wrong."

Knowles, within earshot, turns around and snaps, "That's my daughter!"

"So, I don't give a fuck!" the girl shoots back, ending the conversation. Knowles offers a sheepish grin, as if embarrassed by his unexpected display of emotion. At this moment he is not a collected manager of the group Destiny's Child, he is a father defending his daughter's honor.

Mathew Knowles, 6'4", is a blunt, direct man. He still walks like the college basketball player he once was. Mustached and well groomed, he's the type of man older women call "fine." Before he entered the music industry he worked in sales and marketing for 20 years, selling CT and MRI scanners. He's fond of trite maxims like "failure to plan is planning to fail." When you ask him why he picked

Farrah as a replacement if she couldn't really sing, he curtly answers "imaging. Plain and simple." Knowles is flattered when compared to Berry Gordy for his business acumen. However, when it comes to power, Knowles says, "I wish I had the influence that people give me. You think MTV is gonna allow me to call up and say, 'Oh, I'm Beyoncé's dad, so I want you to let her host this show.' Or, I can call and say, 'Hey, I'm Beyoncé's dad, so I want her to write the song and then you're going to invest millions on it.'" He may not hold sway over MTV, but it's clear he's used to wearing the pants in the Knowles's household.

One evening while Tina discusses the severed relationship with Jagged Edge on the phone, Knowles picks up another receiver and interrupts the conversation to make clear he's not about to let some lawsuit-filing ingrates [LaTavia and LeToya] destroy everything he and the girls have built in the last decade. "Let me tell you what I'm not going to let you, Tina, do. You're not going to embarrass Columbia Records. You're not going to have two artists on the same label fighting.

"Destiny's Child is bigger than its members for the same reason that it doesn't matter who runs Coca-Cola," Knowles explains. "It's a trademark. It allows you to be able to change members. As long as you got a hit song there will always be a Destiny's Child. The day there's not a hit song it don't matter if Beyoncé's singing. If you ain't got no hit songs, it's gone. It's as simple as that."

Such pronouncements may sound terribly cold, but according to music historian Patricia Romanowski, co-author of Supreme Faith and Temptations, in order to survive in the dog-eat-dog music industry you've got to play hardball and no one does it better than family-run organizations. "There's a high level of discipline in these entities. You're either with the team or you're not. Nobody takes any crap because the whole family is at risk," she says. "The groups that succeed are less forgiving. They get rid of the problem. It's very Darwinian, survival of the fittest."

Kelly scoffs at the suggestion that her surrogate dad is heartless, controlling, or a bit of an egomaniac. "He's my hero," says Kelly. "Mathew has sacrificed so much for us. He

didn't have to take me in. He didn't have to sell his house and his cars for us. He didn't have to give up his life for Destiny's Child," says Kelly.

When asked whether he's a better father or manager, Knowles fumbles then replies, "I continually work on being a better father. But with Beyoncé, I've had to compromise being a father to be a manager."

And it ain't easy being Beyoncé. Never have the words "don't hate me because I'm beautiful" applied more. In Minnesota, she walked onstage and was greeted by a sign that read beyonce is a bitch! She recalls another time when a "hater" stood front row center mouthing the words, "You ain't cute, you ain't cute." It's a lot for one person to handle. "There's so much pressure on me," Beyoncé says, her voice cracking slightly. "I have to work double-time, because everybody in the audience is trying to say that the only reason I got something is because of my dad. I've got to be extra tight.

I have to prove myself every day. It's really unfair, because nobody else has to do that. It's not Sisqo's fault when he sings lead. It's not Coko's fault that she sang lead. The haters make me feel bad about singing lead, when that should be something that I'm happy about. Sometimes I wish my father wasn't the manager, so people would just stop attacking me." She continues, "Whenever something goes wrong in the group, it's my fault. Blame

Beyoncé. Somebody left the group, it's Beyoncé's fault. Kelly broke her toes [an injury sustained on the road that almost curtailed the tour], it's Beyoncé's fault."

One wonders what people will make of Beyoncé when she decides to take a break from the group and pursue solo projects. The lead singer denies published reports that she has already signed a three-record solo deal with Columbia for $1.5 million, but does confirm that all the members are negotiating solo deals. "Kelly wants to do an alternative album, and Michelle wants to do a gospel album."

Beyoncé plans on keeping her sound the same.

Now inside, far away from the rumors, the haters, the liars, the former members, and the lawsuit, the ladies of Destiny's Child are in a dressing room at the Apollo, gearing up to go before the audience. After a quick practice, the girls huddle in a close circle. Kelly leads the group prayer. "God bless our voices, let our melodies be tight. Let our dances be tight," she begs. "God, we ask you to fill us up with your light. We have no reason to be sad or negative." The room grows as warm as a Methodist church on Sunday as

Kelly closes her prayer: "Thank you, God, for bringing us to each other." Amen.