1995-2005Beyonce KnowlesLead vocals1995-2005
Kelly RowlandVocals1995-2005
LeTavia RobertsonVocals1995-2000
LeToya LuckettVocals1995-2000
Farrah FrankinVocals2000
Michelle WilliamsVocals2000-2005
They had four members for their first two albums, but their loyalties were divided. The group was managed by Matthew Knowles, Beyonces' father, and Kelly Rowland was close to the Knowles family - she even lived with them for a while. LeTavia Robertson and LeToya Luckett didn't like being managed by Knowles and felt he was taking advantage of them. They ended up leaving the group over what can charitably be described as creative and financial differences. They have not been kind to their former groupmates in interviews.
Michelle Williams was a backup singer for Monica before joining the group.
Destiny's Child had a surprisingly large following among drag queens.
An early version of the group had six members and appeared on the TV talent show Star Search in 1992, but lost.
In the early days of the Houston, Texas group, they went through a flurry of names, including Girl's Tyme, Something Fresh, Cliche, the Dolls, and Destiny.
Beyonce Knowles would later leave this group to go on to a solo career as simply "Beyonce," joining other mononymous artists like Cher and Bono.
Honors for the group include getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and winning "Best Group" at the BET Awards in 2001, 2005, and 2006. Billboard magazine also ranked them the 9th most successful group of the 2000s, and #68 in its ranking of all-time Hot 100 artists.
Kelly Rowland told Fader magazine in 2013: "The best thing about being with Destiny's Child is our friendship. I can call the girls, email them - it doesn't matter what time it is. I'm so blessed. I've been knowing B since we were 9, 10 years old. Michelle came onto a moving train and now she's one of the closest people to me in my life. I trust her and I trust B. What we have is very special. And it's something that some people, not even women, don't have: genuine friendship and love."
Destiny's Child's very first released recording was a song titled "Killing Time." It appeared on the soundtrack to the 1997 film,
Men in Black, along with a track by another then unknown R&B act called
Alicia Keys.
Destiny's Child's name arose when Beyoncé's mother picked out the word "destiny" from the Old Testament Book Of Isaiah. As there was already a group of that name, Columbia Records and Matthew Knowles agreed to append the "child."
After their second comeback in 2004 with the album Destiny Fulfilled, the Destiny's Child trio embarked on a convert tour that visited Asia, Australia and North America. As they were sponsored by McDonald's the tour name adopted the fast corporation's slogan and was labeled "Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It."
The US leg of the Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It tour grossed approximately $70.8 million. It was the highest-grossing tour for either a pop or R&B band since TLC's FanMail Tour, where Destiny's Child performed as an opening act in 1999.
According to LeTavia Robertson, she and Luckett only discovered they had been dumped from the group in 2000 when the video for "
Say My Name" was released, featuring new members Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin. After Franklin departed a few months later, Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams continued on as a trio.
"I never left Destiny's Child," Robertson told
People. "That is something that people say. But who would leave Destiny's Child? That's crazy! I was dismissed from the group."
"It was very difficult because of the way that I found out about it. I hate even talking about it, and it's been 20 years - but it is what it is," she continued. "We saw the 'Say My Name' video on TV, and that's how I found out I was no longer in the group."
Michelle Williams was suffering from depression during the height of Destiny's Child's fame, to the extent that she felt "suicidal." She recalled to US chat show The Talk:
"I was at that place where it got so dark and heavy because sometimes you feel like 'I'm the provider, I take care of people, I'm not supposed to be feeling this way - what do I do?'"
"I wanted out," Williams added. "It got really really bad to the point of being suicidal."
