The ongoing lawsuits brought by former members of DESTINY’S CHILD LATOYA LUCKETT and LATAVIA ROBERTSON have been withdrawn.
The year 2000 witnessed a startling series of events in the group after singers LaToya and LaTavia asserted that fellow vocalists Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland “forced” them out of the group they had been a part of since the age of eight. LaToya and LaTavia also claimed that the group’s manager, Matthew Knowles, (who is Beyonce’s father and Kelly’s uncle) had not paid them equally for the sales of the group’s self-titled debut album.
The ousted duo were swiftly replaced by vocalists Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin, only for Franklin to subsequently leave the group, citing exhaustion. In an ironic twist of fate, Destiny’s Child went on to become America’s most successful female group of last year based on their second album, ‘The Writing’s On The Wall’.
Robertson and Luckett have now dropped the suits against Beyonce and Kelly, but have confirmed that they fully intend to continue their suit against Matthew Knowles.
Meanwhile, fresh from news that her group is leading the nominations for this year’s Grammy Awards, its been revealed that Beyonce is to make her acting debut.
Although the third Destiny’s Child album, ‘Survivor’, is due next month, Beyonce has begun filming an MTV movie loosely based on the classic ‘Carmen Jones’,.
The film has been updated for the modern hip hop audience and will star Mekhi Pfifer ( ‘Crooklyn’ and ‘High School High’), rapper Mos Def and Tommy Hilfiger model Sam Sarpong (brother of T4 presenter June). Beyonce plays the lead character, Carmen Brown, a Philadephia rapper who moves to LA with hopes of pursuing an acting career.
Sam Sarpong told NME.COM: “Mekhi and I play cops, but we’re also trying to get with her. As it happens, she doesn’t give my character the time of day ‘cos she starts seeing Mekhi’s character, but she leaves him for a famous rapper. It’s gonna be a good movie. ”
According to Sarpong, the movie will be released in the spring in the States and will be aired on MTV internationally sometime after that.