“Beyoncé then did another song I wrote called ‘632-5792,’ recalled Tony Mo. “It was dope what she did with that tune.”
“We were definitely getting pumped about Beyoncé after ‘632-5792,’ ” confirmed Lonnie. “As a producer, I quickly started to enjoy her. I saw that I could get technical with her and she could keep up. I would say, ‘Beyoncé, I need your timing to be a little different,’ or ‘I need you to create a character with this song. I need a vibe.’ Sometimes I would want more of a whisper in her voice, other times I would want more power. She could adapt and totally accommodate whatever I needed.”
“Then I would try her in the background—and she was amazing there too. I could layer her voice, and before you knew it, she was doing the lead, she was doing the background, and the whole record was just her. As a producer, how can you not be completely blown away by that?”
Kenny looked over at Ashley, who now seemed just a little stricken. “Oh, Lord, this is killing me,” Kenny finally muttered to himself after Beyoncé finished yet another one of her songs. Motioning to Ashley, he leaned over and whispered to Andretta, “I think we’re scarring this kid for life.”
“But this was your big idea, Kenny,” Andretta reminded him.
“Yeah, I know, but let’s think about what we’re doing here,” he observed, still looking at Ashley. “The kid’s only ten, ’Dretta. Come on, now. This isn’t right.”
Andretta had to agree. “Okay, that’s it for today,” she suddenly announced. She said they would all reconvene tomorrow in the same studio. As everyone began to close shop for the day, they couldn’t ignore that nothing short of a seismic shift had occurred in the careers of Girls Tyme and their handlers. From this point onward, nothing would be quite the same for any of them—certainly not for Ashley Davis, and especially not for Beyoncé Knowles.
Parents’ Reaction
Andretta Tillman knew she would have a difficult time explaining to Carolyn Davis why Beyoncé’s voice was now on songs that had originally been sung by Ashley. Everyone knew that Carolyn was Ashley’s biggest champion and that she was determined to see her become a major recording artist. The fact of the matter was that Ashley did have an immense talent, so it wasn’t as if Carolyn was delusional. Thus Andretta sensed that there would be problems when the parents finally gathered in her living room to listen to the songs the girls had recorded in Sausalito.
Complicating things was that even before the girls and their creative team left Sausalito, word started filtering through the record industry about Beyoncé. “As we were wrapping things up there,” Kenny Moore recalled, “the songs already started going out to various record industry executives for consideration. Before we even left town, things were popping off. The one name that kept coming back was: Beyoncé . . . Beyoncé . . . Beyoncé.”
Arne Frager confirms that it was clear from the initial reaction he’d gotten that his contacts in the industry wanted to hear more from Beyoncé, perhaps not to the exclusion of Ashley but certainly in tandem with her. It was also decided to fly LaTavia Roberson out to Sausalito to have her rap on some of the songs thus far recorded. She too was someone who seemed to be generating great interest, especially since she had a national television commercial for Pro-Line. “Record companies started wondering about me and Beyoncé as a duo,” LaTavia recalled. “I think they wanted us to be sort of a female version of Kriss Kross (a popular rap duo of the 1990s). When LaTavia showed up, Arne thought it would be interesting to shoot a video with her and Beyoncé just fooling around and shopping. He then added LaTavia to some of the songs. “In the end, we stayed a little longer in Sausalito than expected until we had a full album’s worth of songs, and I felt they were very good songs, too,” he recalled.
Upon the girls’ return to Houston, they learned that Arne had submitted the songs they’d thus far recorded to Prince, a recording artist with whom he had worked in the past. “He would call me two weeks later and say, ‘I love this stuff!’ ” Arne recalled. “He said, ‘These girls are incredible and I want to sign them to Paisley Park,’ his label. So that was the first nibble. I was hopeful.”
As usual, Andretta had all of the parents to her home for a meeting during which the new songs were played for everyone. One by one, the tracks were played, and, one by one, it seemed that Beyoncé was the featured singer. LaTavia was also heard more than ever before. Ashley, though, was relegated to just a few small parts here and there. As the tunes played, Mathew and Tina nodded and smiled to one another, seeming pleased. Though Beyoncé had told them that she had sung more than usual, this was a real surprise for them—as it was for Carolyn Davis and her husband, Nolan. The Davises seemed to grow increasingly unhappy with each passing recording. By the time they got to the fourth song, they were staring straight ahead, not making eye contact with anyone in the room.
After all of the songs were played, everyone broke out into big applause and began to congratulate the girls on a job very well done. The youngsters were also elated, jumping up and down and squealing with delight, as they always did in victorious moments. Beyoncé and Ashley seemed to make an effort to not betray any indecision about what had occurred in the recording studio. However, it did seem that there was now some tension between them. When Beyoncé walked over to Ashley to say something to her, the little girl seemed to walk away from her. Beyoncé later caught up to her and said that she had some thoughts about the recordings, a way to maybe improve on their vocals. She wasn’t quite satisfied, which would be a normal state of being for her in years to come when it came to her art. However, Ashley didn’t seem interested in hearing any suggestions from Beyoncé—not at this moment, anyway.
Meanwhile, a disgruntled Carolyn pulled Andretta aside. “You all should have told me,” she told Andretta. “If I had known this was going to happen . . .” She didn’t finish her thought, but though she didn’t make a scene, she was clearly agitated. “I’m not sure how I feel about any of this,” she told Andretta quietly so as not to have Ashley overhear her. “I need to discuss it with Nolan.”
Andretta promised that Ashley would continue to be a featured vocalist, but also explained that “a few changes have to be made” in order for the group to be more viable as a commercial property for a record label. “We’ll straighten it out,” she said. “We all love Ashley.”
Carolyn said she would have to think things over. “You have to know that this is quite a shock,” she said. Then, after finding her hat and coat, she told Nolan and Ashley that it was time for them to take their leave. The Davises didn’t say goodbye to anyone; they just got out of there as quickly as possible.
“There’s sure a lot of interest in Beyoncé out on the West Coast,” Andretta told Mathew and Tina after Carolyn was gone.
“People are really loving her,” Kenny Moore added, according to his memory.
“Well, for a long time now, people have been saying she’s sort of special,” Tina said with a proud smile. She turned to Mathew for confirmation, but he didn’t say anything. From his expression, it was as if he was studying the moment, perhaps waiting to see what else Andretta and Kenny had to offer.
“So we’re going to feature her more,” Andretta said of Beyoncé.
With his arms folded across his chest, Mathew nodded a few times.
“Well, we know you’ll do whatever you think is best,” Tina told Andretta and Kenny.
“I’ve actually been thinking for a while that Beyoncé was the standout,” Mathew suddenly offered. “I even told Lonnie and Tony Mo. that I thought Beyoncé was more special than Ashley.”
“Shhhh, Mat,” Tina said, looking around to see if anyone was listening. “Keep your voice down.”
“Hey, I’m not saying anything that everyone here doesn’t already know,” Mathew said, not lowering his voice, and in fact maybe even raising it just a little.
Mathew Makes His Move
Why, oh why, did Andretta ever have to tell Mathew that Beyoncé was the standout in the group?” That would b
e the question Deborah Laday would ask many years after the fact in 2014. “I remember telling Ann, ‘You’ve made a big mistake here. That man did not need that information.’ ”
Almost six months had passed, with tensions still building behind the scenes. As Beyoncé became more featured in the group, Ashley was pushed more into the background. Mathew and Tina continued to watch with great interest from the sidelines, as did the disgruntled Carolyn and Nolan Davis.
In August 1992, Andretta had a serious bout with her lupus that landed her in the hospital for about a week. No sooner had she been released than she got a telephone call from Mathew wanting to meet with her. She agreed to see him, reluctantly, because she wasn’t well. When they got together at her home, Mathew was direct and to the point. “It’s pretty clear to me now that Beyoncé is becoming the star of this group,” he observed, according to what Andretta later recalled. “Would you agree with that?”
Andretta didn’t want to go that far. She would allow that Beyoncé was talented, but certainly not the star of the group. Mathew reminded her that she and Kenny had, months earlier, said Beyoncé was the group’s star attraction. Again, Andretta refused to concede as much, as if her instincts had told her that she shouldn’t encourage Mathew in this regard. “What we said was that people in California had been interested in her,” she stated. “That’s what we said.”
“That’s true,” Mathew said. “But, look, my whole thing is this,” he continued. “I want more of a hand in how this thing plays out for my daughter. I want to co-manage the group.”
“And there it is,” Andretta later recalled thinking to herself. She’d had her eye on Mathew for some time, wondering what he had in mind. Finally it was revealed: He wanted to co-manage Girls Tyme with her. When she asked him what he knew about managing a singing group, he explained that because he had a corporate background he felt he could contribute a great deal. After the two went round and round about it, Andretta cut the meeting short. “Okay, let me think about it,” she said.
“Sure,” Mathew told Andretta. “If you don’t agree, I can totally understand it,” he said, trying not to be boorish. He hastened to add, at least according to Andretta, that if they couldn’t come to terms, “I’ll be pulling Beyoncé from the group so I can manage her on my own.”
Now Andretta didn’t know what to think. It felt like Mathew had just issued an ultimatum; certainly, pulling Beyoncé from the act would affect everything. She asked to take some time to consider her options.
The next day, Andretta asked for a meeting with Tina at the Knowles home. When she arrived, Tina and Cholotte—Nicki and Nina’s mom—were happily chatting while sewing new outfits for the girls. After she excused herself, Tina went into the kitchen with Andretta. Immediately, Andretta wanted to know how Tina felt about Mathew’s proposal. Tina was quite clear. Her position was that if her daughter was going to continue to be involved in the group, things had to be run properly. If it was to be a family hobby—as she and Mathew had first envisioned it—that was fine and good and, as such, deserved the appropriate amount of attention and investment. Clearly, though, this venture had become much more than just a family hobby.
“I agree with my husband,” Tina finally said, “that the way to get this thing really right is for him to co-manage.” She pointed out that because of his work, Mathew had the communication skills to talk to promoters and possible investors. “You don’t know him,” she told Andretta, “but I can tell you that once he makes his mind up, there is no stopping him.” She said that he believed wholly in himself and refused to compromise. Tina’s mind was all but made up, and she could not be swayed: Mathew should definitely be allowed to co-manage the group. It was best not only for Beyoncé, she said, it was best for her entire family, all of this as per Tina’s memory in a later sworn deposition.
Andretta left Tina’s home feeling conflicted. Once back at her desk, she called Kenny Moore. “Mat is coming in at the last minute when there’s real interest in the group,” she told him, “and after all the money I spent to get them this far and all the legwork I put into this thing, now he wants a fifty-fifty split! Or he says he’s taking Beyoncé out of the group. Can you believe this shit?”
“Damn, that’s cold, ’Dretta,” Kenny said, according to his memory. “You think he really means it?”
“Yeah, I do,” Andretta exclaimed. “I think he’ll do it, too.”
“Everyone was up in arms about it pretty quickly,” Kenny Moore recalled. “On one hand, I remember thinking, ‘Okay, well, look, he’s the girl’s father and he has every right to want to look after her interests.’ But on the other, I was thinking . . . .‘Oh, hell no! That ain’t gonna happen.’ ”
In the days to come, Andretta even discussed with her creative team the option of moving forward without Beyoncé. After all, Ashley was such a strong vocalist, did they really need Beyoncé?
“Hell yeah, we need her,” Lonnie Jackson said, “if only because people in the record industry have been talking about her now for six months. What are we supposed to do, go back to everyone and say, ‘You remember that kid you liked so much with the funny name? Well . . . um . . . she’s not here anymore. Sorry about that. But we do have Ashley.’ ”
After finally conferring with her brother, To-to—who was opposed to the idea—Andretta reluctantly agreed to grant Mathew’s request. Or, as she told Deborah Laday and Denise Seals, “We have no choice but to go along in order to get along. We can’t let Mathew pull Beyoncé from the group. That would ruin everything we have worked for. So . . . he has to be the co-manager.”
Thus Mathew and Andretta made their co-management deal; he would get half of a management commission (usually about 10 to 15 percent) of all money and all deals, and Andretta would get the other half. Of Andretta’s 50 percent, her partner Kenny Moore would take 10 percent. Andretta and Kenny’s was a deal made between very good friends who were just trying to come up with a way to continue to work with a young Beyoncé Knowles. “We weighed all of the options, and we felt that, in the end, Beyoncé was going to be a big enough star that this gamble would eventually pay off,” Kenny Moore recalled.
The ever-enterprising Andretta also made a side deal with Deborah and Denise, which most people didn’t know about at the time and some don’t even today. Both would remain silent partners of Tillman’s in whatever happened with the girls.
It wasn’t the money, though, that was at issue with this new arrangement as much as it was the power of the position. Now Mathew would have an equal say in all decisions. Because he was Beyoncé’s father, the idea of such control gave everyone pause.
Andretta didn’t tell her team and the parents about the finalization of the deal, not yet anyway. She could be secretive, even with her own colleagues. Kenny knew about it, of course, but no one else. Andretta continued to procrastinate about the announcement for a few days, until finally Mathew did what he would do many more times in the weeks, months, and years to come: He took matters into his own hands.
A Fateful Meeting
On a hot summer night in July 1992, Andretta Tillman and Denise Seals pulled up in Denise’s car in front of Mathew and Tina Knowles’s home at 3346 Parkwood Drive. The first thing they noticed was what looked like a security guard standing in front of the entrance. “What the hell?” Denise asked. The two women sat in the car, stunned. “Is this to keep Deborah out of the meeting?” Andretta wondered. Denise didn’t know for sure, but it certainly seemed that way. Earlier, Mathew had been very specific that he didn’t want Deborah Laday to attend this particular parents’ meeting. It was actually unusual to have such gatherings at the Knowleses. Usually they were held at Andretta’s. This meeting was different, though, or so Mathew had explained to Denise. He specifically said that he wanted her and Andretta to be present, but not Deborah.
Mathew had been at loggerheads with Deborah for several months. In fact, anytime Deborah had any exposure to Mathew, it didn’t go well. “I’m just gonna have to kill him,” sh
e had jokingly told Andretta. When Andretta asked why, Deborah said that Mathew had been questioning her and Denise’s contribution to Girls Tyme in light of Andretta’s participation. She said that Mathew had also continued to threaten to pull Beyoncé from the group, “and then let the chips fall where they may”—Deborah’s words, not Mathew’s. At one point, Deborah said that Mathew, no doubt equally exasperated by her, even mentioned facetiously that he was in possession of a gun. Deborah said she told him, “Oh yeah? Well, I’ve got a bigger gun!” She concluded to Andretta that life was too short for such drama. Andretta suggested that Deborah let her handle Mathew. However, Deborah didn’t think Mathew could be “handled,” she said, “and the shame of it is that Beyoncé is very good, though I don’t think she is worth all this!”
Now, days later, Denise was sitting in front of Mathew’s house with Andretta, watching a security guard as he paced back and forth in front of the front door. They weren’t sure what to think. “Giiiiiirl,” Denise said, drawing out the word, “this is ridiculous.” Andretta had to agree. “We are just working women,” Denise went on, “single mothers trying to make something happen for our children.” She said she couldn’t believe that Mathew would have a guard stationed in front of his house as if to protect his family from criminals. “Like we’re gonna start a riot or something?” she asked. At that, they dissolved into gales of laughter.
After the two made their way to the front entrance, the guard sized them up and then opened the door for them. In the entryway, they found Tina. She greeted them both with smiles and hugs, made a sharp right into the living room, and then took a seat. Denise and Andretta followed.
Becoming Beyoncé Page 10