By Sylvia Tolliver
Contributing Writer
Destiny's Child, with songs like "Bug-A-Boo," "Say My Name," and "Bills, Bills, Bills," has been the voice of women across the country. But it may be the lack of voices singing in the group that caused a change in personnel.
In late February, when they video for their latest release, "Say My Name," was aired, people noticed that ex-members LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson were replaced by Michelle Williams, 19 and Farrah Franklin, 18. Lead singer Beyonce Knowles, 18, and Kelly Rowland, 19, were still in the group.
What people want to know now is, why the change? Freshman Ian Jackson expressed the aforementioned sentiment. "The former girls did not sing anyway, so it really did not matter," he said.
Even if that rumor is true, freshman Andrea Williams thought that Luckett and Roberson, both 18, should have been in the video for the song in which they 'supposedly' helped with background vocals.
"I thought the video looked stupid," Donita Scott, a freshman business major, said. "Those other girls shouldn't be in the video because they put forth no effort into making the song."
However, even before the video, there was controversy about whether or not Destiny's Child would break up as a whole. "Why? They're not doing so good, they've got a lot of fame and money," said Christina Gregory, a sophomore. "They were nominated for a Grammy, so I wouldn't see any reason why they would break up. Maybe some 'sisterly-internal' fighting (occured), but other than that I wouldn't see any reason for them to break up," she concluded.
One of the rumors circulating was that Knowles and Rowland were being paid more, causing Luckett and Roberson to quit. Other rumors suggest that Knowles was the only one permitted to sing the leads and that her mother had too much control over the group.
"They should have kept the old girls because the video was firstly irrelevant to the lyrics to the song, and more importantly, the girls just seemed planted there," said Dorothy Parker, a freshman accounting major.
Aside from the rumors, it's no rumor that they hit stardom on their second album, The Writing's On The Wall, released July 1999. The album has sold almost two million copies and earned the group Grammy nominations for Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the single, "Bills, Bills, Bills."
Sylvia Tolliver, a freshman, is a double major in African-American & African Studies and political science.