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LaTavia Marie Roberson (born November 1, 1981) is a two-time Grammy Award–winning American singer-songwriter. She was an original member of Girl's Tyme which later became Destiny's Child. In 2000, she and fellow ex-Destiny's Child member LeToya Luckett formed another R&B group called 'Anjel'; however, all members decided to pursue solo careers. Since parting ways with the group, she has ventured into the realm of acting. She currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. As a child, she was the face of Soft and Beautiful's Just For Me Hair Care relaxer for kids.

1990-2002: Girls Tyme, Destiny's Child & Anjel[link]

1990-1997: Girls Tyme[link]

When LaTavia was nine years old, she and former best friend Beyoncé Knowles formed a group with other local girls, the group eventually became Destiny's Child. After singing at local events, they got their break when they entered Star Search. The group, then named "Girl's Tyme", were heartbroken after losing the competition. The group then developed into a quartet, the members being Beyoncé Knowles, LeToya Luckett, Kelly Rowland, and LaTavia. They also underwent several name changes—Girl's Tyme, the Dolls, Something Fresh, and Cliché—before sticking with Destiny's Child. Graduating from the Houston club scene, the group began opening for such acts as Dru Hill, SWV, TLC and Immature. They were shortly signed to Elektra Records in which LaTavia and Beyoncé made a video for the song "One Time". After Elektra dropped the girls they were signed by Columbia Records in 1997.

1997-2000: Destiny's Child Era[link]

In 1998, Destiny's Child released their self-titled debut album Destiny's Child. The singles were "No, No, No" featuring Wyclef Jean and "With Me". Their song "Get on the Bus" featuring Timbaland (which was released as a single in Europe) was on the Why Do Fools Fall In Love soundtrack. Destiny's Child toured as an opening act on TLC's FanMail Tour and Christina Aguilera's debut tour.

In 1999, Destiny's Child released their second album, The Writing's on the Wall. It became one of the biggest selling albums released by a female group and was certified eight-times platinum in the U.S. The album includes four hit singles, "Bills, Bills, Bills", "Bug a Boo", "Say My Name", and "Jumpin' Jumpin'".

In January 2000, in the midst of the success of The Writing's on the Wall, Roberson and member LeToya Luckett tried to make a break with manager Mathew Knowles because they claimed he favored his daughter Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland and was retaining too much of the group's profits. The pair said at the time they were only looking to secure outside management, but they soon found themselves on the outs with Knowles.^[1] When the "Say My Name" video debuted in February 2000, they were shocked to find themselves replaced by two new members, Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin.

Roberson and Luckett filed a lawsuit in March 2000 against Mathew Knowles and the group. This began a media battle in which the two sides exchanged barbs in magazine and newspaper interviews. Near the end of 2000, they agreed to a settlement that required them to drop the part of their lawsuit that targeted their former group members (though they retained the suit against Mathew Knowles) and required both sides to stop disparaging each other in public.

2001-02: Survivor Lawsuit & Anjel[link]

When it seemed as if the drama had subsided, shortly following the release of Destiny's Child remix album This Is the Remix in March 2002, Roberson and Luckett filed another suit against Destiny's Child. They claimed that the first single, "Survivor", from Destiny's Child's 2001 album Survivor violated their previous settlement due to its lyrics which they believed to reference the ugly split.

LaTavia and ex-member of Destiny's Child LeToya Luckett created a group called Anjel with two other girls. They did 22 tracks but did not release an album. The tracks, however, were leaked in the internet. The band appeared in Jagged Edge's music video 'Where The Party At Remix'. The record company was having difficulty so the group then parted ways for solo careers.

2007-present: Solo[link]

2007-09: Boulevard of Broken Dreams[link]

In 2007, LaTavia along with LeToya Luckett & Farrah Franklin appeared in Boulevard of Broken Dreams getting interviewed about what happened in there time in Destiny's Child.

In 2008, LaTavia was in a stage play called, Those Jeans. It's described as "a truly well written love story, about a fashion designer and a high fashion photographer, looking for love in all the wrong people". It ran from April 18, 2008 to July 12, 2008.

[edit] 2009-11: Album Appearance & TRHOA

In 2009 LaTavia featured in the song 'Swagga Check' by Young Sween, in the album of 'The Goodie Room' which could be brought at iTunes, however the song on iTunes is mistakenly named as 'Holdin On To You' and the song on iTunes 'Swagga Check' is 'Holdin On To You' with LaTavia's name still featuring in them both. Artist Young Sween was signed to 'Fleet Street Records' when he made this album.

In 2010 LaTavia appeared in The Real Housewives of Atlanta speaking to her Lawyer Phaedra Parks about making a come-back - negative comments where coming back to say she was 'bitter', however LaTavia denies being bitter and added that shows like this are edited and they missed out a lot.

2012-present: Interviews, Modelling & Book[link]

In 2012 LaTavia has focused on Modelling career, and has done interviews (which can be seen on YouTube) and has now made a new twitter (@LaTaviaMarie), and has also confirmed she has wrote her book and is looking for 'it to be in the right hands', as she is looking for a publisher - after not being in the lime-light too often, LaTavia, on the 8th May with former bandmate & close friend LeToya Luckett, met one of the bandmates who replaced her (whom already hung out with LeToya) Michelle Williams for the first time ever, tweeting that it was nice meeting eachother and it was one of LaTavia's greatest nights of her life.

Television[link]

1998-: Acting TV Appearance[link]

Series/Episodes

• • 1998 Smart Guy as Herself "A Date With Destiny" (season 3, episode 10)

Movie

• • 1999 Beverly Hood as Girl#4

2007-: Non-Acting TV Appearance[link]

Documentary

• • 2007 Boulevard of Broken Dreams 'Episode: 2. Destiny's Child/Jonathan Brandis'
  • 2010 Real Housewives of Atlanta 'Date: November 10th 2010

Grammy Awards[link]

• • 2001, Best R&B Song "Say My Name"
  • 2001, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals "Say My Name"

References[link]

External links[link]

• LaTavia on Twitter
• LaTavia Roberson at the Internet Movie Database
• Inside the Buzz
• Sister 2 sister interview

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Mathew Knowles (born January 9, 1951) is an American music executive and manager.^[1] He is the father of Beyoncé Knowles and Solange Knowles and former manager of Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams and Destiny's Child.

Career[link]

Corporate Executive[link]

Before Knowles became a star maker in the music business, he had distinguished himself by a career in sales of office and medical equipment. Knowles moved to Houston in 1976 and began working for the Xerox Corporation, with whom he enjoyed a successful 10-year tenure, primarily as part of an specialist unit in the medical systems sales division. Knowles was the number-one medical systems sales rep for three of the four years he worked in that division. When Xerox closed its medical systems division Knowles was working as a CT/MRI sales specialist, selling diagnostic imaging equipment to hospitals and health facilities—and for two other major medical equipment companies, as well. He also worked in the area of neurosurgical sales, representing a wide range of devices and solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of neurological disorders. In 1992 Knowles left his career in corporate and medical sales to devote full-time attention to his growing music company.

Manager and producer[link]

Mathew Knowles was the manager of Destiny's Child and has worked as either a producer or an executive producer on many of the group's projects. Under Music World Artist Management, Destiny’s Child became a global phenomenon and was named the Best Selling Female Group of All Time in popular music, selling over 100 million records and collecting nearly 200 awards, including GRAMMY Awards, World Music Awards, American Music Awards, MTV Awards (U.S., Europe and Asia), Billboard Awards, BET Awards, NAACP Image Awards, and countless others. Billboard magazine ranked the group as one of the Greatest Trios of All Time and, in 2008, inducted them into the All Time Hot 100 Artists. Destiny’s Child was named on Billboard magazine’s Top 10 Artists of the Decade (2000-2009) and, as a solo artist, Beyoncé was crowned Billboard’s number one Artist of the Decade—Female (2000-2009) and number 4 Top Artist of the Decade (2000-2009). During that time, Knowles also launched and managed the solo careers of the other members of Destiny’s Child: Michelle Williams, Kelly Rowland. In addition to his work in music, Knowles is also one of the executive producers of the 2009 thriller Obsessed, which stars his eldest daughter Beyoncé. He has also ventured into television. Knowles executive produced and is featured in two international reality series: UK’s #1 rated show, Chancers, and the new series Breaking From Above, a six-episode program based on the British girl group From Above and their struggles to stay on top. The series airs on MTV International.

CEO[link]

Knowles founded Music World Entertainment in 1992. MWE is one of the world’s leading music and entertainment conglomerates, with record sales exceeding 300 million worldwide. Its worldwide platforms include record label ventures; management services for recording artists and producers; artist development services; endorsement and partnership deals, performance and event facilities; a master catalog series; film and television ventures; licensed merchandise products; and investment and property holdings. Knowles established several recording imprints under Music World Music, including Music World Gospel, Music World Kids and Music World Country/Compadre.The label has produced many artists such as Beyoncé Knowles, Solange Knowles, From Above, Sunshine Anderson, Trin-i-tee 5:7, The Pastor Rudy Experience, and J. Xavier.

Knowles also established joint ventures with Sony Music, Interscope/Geffen, Fontana/Universal, Integrity Africa, Fontana International and Sony Brazil. In addition, Knowles has negotiated mega endorsement deals and strategic partnerships with Fortune 50, 100 and 500 corporations across various industries, including Wal-Mart, BET, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, ESSENCE Communications, American Express, L’Oreal, General Mills, Verizon, Pepsico (Pepsi), McDonald’s, Nintendo, Giorgio Armani (Emporio Armani Diamonds), DirecTV, Chesebrough-Ponds (Vaseline), Ocean Pacific, Soft Sheen-Carson, Crystal Geyser, Samantha Thavasa and others.

In 2002, Knowles founded Spirit Rising Music, which is now Music World Gospel, as a faith-based record and management company under Music World Music. Music World Gospel is the largest owned and operated African American Gospel label in the world. Music World Gospel features a roster of award-winning recording artists, joint ventures and special projects including Trin-i-tee 5:7, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Brian Courtney Wilson, Micah Stampley, Juanita Bynum, Le'Andria Johnson, Amber Bullock, Andrea Helms, and Elder Goldwire, as well as ESSENCE Gospel, Ultimate Gospel, the Most Powerful Voices, The Gospel Superfest, Spirit Rising and The Pastor Rudy Experience brand compilations CDs. In 2007, through Music World Music, Knowles acquired the country music catalogue of Compadre, which includes recordings of GRAMMY award-winning artists and unique country music compilations featuring artists such as country singer and cultural icon Johnny Cash, as well as Billy Joe Shaver, James McMurty, Trent Willmon and Kate Campbell, among others. Knowles also launched the family oriented music imprint, Music World Kids. The label has released youth projects that include: Baby Jamz, Krazy Kuzins, Kid's Rap Radio and the Music World Kids CD 5-pack. The venture also has released music from Nickelodeon’s popular cartoon series, Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!

Personal life[link]

Born in Gadsden, Alabama, in 1952, Knowles is a 1974 graduate of Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, where he earned both a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. While studying at Fisk he held membership in a number of student and social organizations, among them the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, Eta Beta chapter at UT Chattanooga. He received a Doctor of Humane Letters from Fisk at the University’s 2008 Commencement Ceremony. Knowles holds a professorship at Texas Southern University, where he teaches a course on the entertainment industry in the School of Communications. Knowles is the recipient of the Century Award of Excellence (1911-2011) from the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He also received the 2011 Living Legends Foundation Award and was named the "2007 International Executive of the Year" by the Greater Houston Partnership. Knowles is an active and longtime voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) and serves on its GRAMMY Board Committee. In 2011, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Gospel Music Association.

Knowles was married to stylist and House of Dereon owner Tina Knowles in 1980. Together, they had two daughters, R&B singers Beyoncé and Solange Knowles, and two grandchildren, Daniel "Julez" Smith and Blue Ivy Carter ^[2] On November 11, 2009, Tina Knowles filed for divorce after several reports about Mathew's affair with actress Alexsandra Wright had surfaced. The reports went as far as claiming that Wright was pregnant with Knowles' child. After Wright's son Nixon was born, she requested a paternity test from Knowles, who had admitted to having an affair with her. The paternity test was positive and Knowles was ordered to pay child support to Nixon and Wright.^[3] Mathew and Tina Knowles' divorce was final as of December 2011 ending their 31-year marriage.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Music World Entertainment
• Mathew Knowles Best

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