Portal:R&B and Soul Music/Selected biography/3
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LeToya Nicole Luckett (born March 11, 1981), known professionally as LeToya, is an American actress, R&B singer and songwriter. She is a founding member of the R&B female group, Destiny's Child with whom she won two Grammy Awards and after several commercially successful releases with the group, she was forced to leave.[1][2][3]
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's second album, Lady Love, is scheduled for a Spring 2008 release.[5]
Luckett was born and raised 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.[6] 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.[7] 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. Knowles and Luckett later became best friends and was invited to join Beyoncé's group.[8].
