No, not that LeToya. Far from being a Jackson scion, LeToya Luckett is a survivor of another dysfunctional family, having been an original member of Destiny’s Child.
As with many break-ups, her split from Destiny’s Child was painful and unexpected – for her at least. Apparently, the first inkling LeToya had that all might not be sugar and sweetness in the DC camp was when the ‘Say My Name’ video came out and she wasn’t in it.
For her solo debut, the Houston native brings a little sass to the party, pursuing a hard-knuckled r’n b groove with occasionally memorable results. By the standards of such things, LeToya – which has lately rocketed to the top of the US album charts – certainly has underground chops: song-writing credits go to buzzy members of Houston hip-hop mafia like Just Blaze, Scott Scorch and Jazze Pha.
Unlike r’n b A-listers such as Kelis and – harsh but true – Beyonce, LeToya’s is an amorphous presence, and little of her persona remains after the ever shifting line-up of producers have had their fun. As each svengali gets their turn behind the mixing desk, so LeToya seems to lose a little of herself to their vision. By the end, the suspicion that, at the heart of the project exists a third rate Beyonce with a point to prove, is difficult to avoid.