In 1990, Beyoncé began attending Cynthia Ann Parker Elementary School, the state’s original Music Magnet school. Beyoncé could still undertake education even if she sang in the choir and received vocal coaching for one hour a day. She also went to Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and later to the Elsik High School in Alief. For two years, she was a member of the choir at St John’s United Methodist Church as a soloist.
By the time she was nine, Beyoncé was already a seasoned performer.
In 1990, Beyoncé met LaTavia Roberson at The People’s Workshop for the Visual and Performing Arts, a big annual event in Houston. This was where Beyoncé was spotted by Andretta Tillman, a local entrepreneur who had asked her to audition for an all-singing all dancing girl group that Tillman was putting together.
Girl’s Tyme
The original lineup for the girl group included 7 children and was called Girl’s Tyme. Beyoncé, LaTavia, and Beyoncé’s childhood friend, Kelly Rowland, were the core of the group, and would form the basis of Destiny’s Child a few years later.
Beyoncé’s parents established a boot camp approach for her participation in Girl’s Tyme. The girls would rehearse in Tina’s hair salon, in backyards, bedrooms and open spaces. Mathew Knowles even constructed a deck so that the girls have a place for their rehearsals.
Vernell Jackson, a family friend of the Knowles, recalled, “They were about nine or ten. They would do their little routines, and Mathew would ask us to critique: ‘Well, what do you think? What needs to be worked on?’ And they would start all over again. Beyoncé particularly always had that thing about, ‘I want to do it right.’ She wanted to work on it, like her singing and her voice lessons and her dancing. She always wanted to be maybe like Janet Jackson or Michael Jackson.”
It was during this time that Beyoncé heard Mariah Carey, an artist who became a megastar at 20 with her debut single, Vision of Love, and self-titled album released in 1990. She was credited with reintroducing melisma, that style of singing where the singer moves between several different notes in succession using a single syllable of text, into popular music with her powerful vocal style. After hearing Vision of Love, Beyoncé began practicing her own melismatic vocal runs.
Girl’s Tyme was eventually cut down to six members and began to draw some attention. According to Mathew Knowles, the manager of the group put Beyoncé as the group’s lead singer. Six months later, Kelly Rowland auditioned for the group and was accepted, and she recalled that Beyoncé “was the sweetest kid and very shy and very modest…” The girls became friends right away.
Girl’s Tyme sang everywhere. Angela Beyince, Beyoncé’s cousin and later on personal assistant, said, “Anybody that would listen to them sing, they were there.” The girls would also sing at Tina’s hair salon many times, and became local superstars in Houston.
Beyoncé became a part of the all-girl group Girl’s Tyme
Despite his successful career at Xerox, Mathew co-managed Girl’s Tyme with Andretta Tillman. He wanted to ready the girls by making them perform at every opportunity. Now with Rowland in the group, Girl’s Tyme became regulars at shows such as Miss Black Houston Metroplex Pageant and Black Expo.
Eventually, word about this amazing girl group reached the ears of Arne Frager, a West coast R&B producer who had previously worked with Mariah Carey, who flew to Houston to personally hear the girls sing. He wanted to have them signed to a major record label. He wanted the group to join Star Search, a TV talent show of the 80s and 90s, to showcase the group’s talent and let publicity run its course. And maybe a record label would be interested to have the group sign a contract. He then took the girls to The Record Plant Studios in Sausalito to record some demos.
Kelly Rowland told What magazine about what they went through in preparation for the talent show. “We went over interviewing skills, rehearsed eight hours a day, had voice lessons, exercise, everything you can think of to better our group.”
The girls performed after the reigning champions, a rock act called Skeleton Crew, had played. The host, Ed McMahon, introduced the girls: “Your challengers are a young group from Houston, welcome Beyoncé, LaTavia, Nina, Nikki, Kelly and Ashley, the hip-hop rapping Girl’s Tyme.” The girls sang All Over My Baby and gave a spirited performance. The girls were dressed in quilted Day-Glo tops, long shorts and Kicker boots. LaTavia rapped, Beyoncé took the vocal performance, and the rest street-danced in the background.
But it wasn’t enough. The Girl’s Tyme lost, partly because their song was the wrong choice. They were also placed in the rap category.
For the girls, losing was a painful thing. Beyoncé said about the experience, “That was my first time I lost something that I really wanted to win. We thought our lives were over.” Kelly Rowland remembered, “We ran backstage and burst into tears. I’ve never cried so much in my life. Imagine a bunch of 11 and 12 year olds crying like they were about to die.” It was to be Beyoncé’s first “professional setback” and the turning point in the group’s career. But Rowland knew there was a reason why it happened. “It was a good experience because that’s when we changed and started working harder.”
Girl’s Tyme competed in Star Search but lost to a rock act
For weeks after the competition, the girls would torture themselves by watching recordings of their failed performance again and again until one day, Mathew forbade them to watch any longer. He told the girls, “So you lost on Star Search. That’s just one TV show. Do y’all still want to be performers? Is that what you really want more than anything? Because if the answer is yes, are you just going to give up?”
The girls were taught about moving on, but the experience certainly galvanized Beyoncé. From that moment on, she was sure that it was what she wanted to do. Her father finally decided to give up his job at Xerox in 1995 so that he could work on the group with Tillman.
His resigning from his job reduced the household income by half. Tina told Rolling Stone in 2004, “Him leaving his corporate job was very scary for me. I don’t know many people who would give up a job making the kind of money he made. I thought he had gone a little nuts. I was like, ‘What are we going to do?’ I had a large salon and it was generating good money, but we were accustomed to two incomes. All of a sudden, we have to totally alter our lifestyle. But he’s just like that about whatever he does. He’s just really passionate.”
Mathew believed that the girls were going to go places. After Rowland’s inclusion into the group, Mathew got rid of the dancers and cut the original lineup to three members: Beyoncé, Kelly and LaTavia. The fourth member, LeToya Luckett, joined the group in 1993. Roberson recalled, “The vibe between the four of us was wonderful, and when we’d have our interviews and we would say we were sisters, it was true.”
Mathew set about arranging for singing lessons and daily rehearsals in the summer. And when it was school time, the girls would perform during the weekends and practice in the evenings. Kelly recalled that while the other girls their age were playing, she and her group mates were working. “But we still played. We had to make up our own games, but we made sure we had fun.”
Beyoncé’s mother was also involved in the group. She cut back her hours at the salon so what she could work on the girls’ hair and clothes. She became the group’s costume designer and continued to design their clothes throughout the Destiny’s Child era.
The biggest influence on the Girl’s Tyme was En Vogue, an R&B group composed of four females. Beyoncé would tell the Washington Post, “En Vogue were the biggest inspiration to Destiny’s Child. They all had their own individual look but they also looked like a group. They all had wonderful voices but they also had great harmonies. They had great songs, great routines. We would sit and watch them and pretend to be them.”
Mathew took the girls to auditions with some record companies and it seemed as though they were to achieve their dreams early on when Elektra signed them on. The girls moved to Atlanta to begin working on their first album, b
ut the company dropped them before they could even record anything. This put additional strain for the Knowles family. Mathew had to return to Houston and start again.
Due to the stress, Mathew and Tina separated briefly. Tina, Beyoncé, Kelly – who began living with the Knowles after she was accepted into the Girl’s Tyme- and Solange moved into a small house.
Meanwhile, Beyoncé was determined to make some improvements in the group by following these rules: “Rule one: start working out. Rule two: rehearse every day. Rule three: get some new songs. Rule four: learn how to sing a capella … Rule five: no matter what, keep up the good work. Rule six: quit watching Star Search – really, what kind of TV show puts small children against adults who are twice their age?”
Mathew continued honing the girls’ act and organizing their rehearsals with Tina creating their costumes. The girls would go to Headliners for practices, the same place where Beyoncé spent some of her time when she was younger. Not all of her salon memories were happy though. She remembered one very embarrassing experience.
“One time I had a boyfriend who came with me to the hair salon. He was talking to me so I wouldn’t get bored, but I fell asleep under the dryer with my mouth open, and saliva started dripping out. Instead of waking me up, he just watched it all fall, and I woke up with my mouth open and this saliva puddle in my lap. I was like, ‘Oh my God!’ that was the grossest thing I had ever done.”
That was just one of the moments when Beyoncé was less than poised. She talked about feeling ugly and being overweight. She recalled that she was about 10, her mother gave her “this really ugly haircut and I was really chubby. So chubby that my family used to all lie me down flat so that they could zip up my jeans. It would take four of them and I would lie there on the bed while they all got to work on it.”
Chapter 3 – The Destiny’s Child
With Elektra’s rejection still fresh, the girls realized that if they want to be successful, they had to take it to another level. And they had to change their name, Girl’s Tyme, which they thought was synonymous to failure. They had many ideas in mind: Borderline, Somethin’ Fresh, Cliché, The Dolls and Destiny. At the end, they were choosing between the last two. Tina had found the word destiny in her Bible in the Book of Isaiah right at the page where she used a picture of the girls as a bookmark. Mathew added the name child. Destiny’s Child was born.
Mathew Knowles got rid of the dancer and cut the original lineup to four girls, which would become the Destiny’s Child
The group played gigs in the surrounding areas and were constantly encouraged by the artists whom they supported. Mathew, who by then had already established his own production company, Music World Entertainment (MWE), was the one who secured a deal with label Columbia Records for the girls.
Mathew took the girls to New York to again showcase their talent at Columbia where they had to sing a capella in front of Teresa LeBarbera Whites and A&R creative Kim Burse in a conference room at Sony’s headquarters. Beyoncé recounted, “there were a bunch of men and women of all different races sitting so close. We could put our arms out and touch them if we wanted to. It was that small and informal. It felt too intimate – being that close and having to make eye contact was very scary.’
The group performed without microphones and sang their version of Bill Withers’ Ain’t No Sunshine alongside their own vocal workout, Are You Ready. Those who watched their audition gave no indication whether it was a success or a failure. The girls returned to Houston with a sinking feeling.
The girls heard nothing for several weeks and were down-hearted. And then one day, a letter arrived in the mail. When Beyoncé and Kelly read the contents of the acceptance letter, they were overjoyed. At last!
Andretta Tillman was still the girls’ co-manager, but when the girls signed on to Columbia, Mathew also wanted them to sign his management contract with Music World Entertainment. Roberson and Luckett and their parents had reservations about signing with Mathew Knowles but eventually signed.
Teresa LaBarbera Whites assigned senior Columbia publicist Yvette Noel-Schure to Destiny’s Child. Noel-Schure was the best and shrewdest in the business and was key in helping to make Mariah Carey an international star.
The girls began work on their first album but tragedy struck when Andretta Tillman, the group’s co-manager and founder, died of lupus in 1997. It was a sad moment for the girls, but they knew that they had to work hard so that Tillman’s initial hard work in making them a success would be compensated. Destiny’s Child first three albums had songs that were dedicated to Tillman.
Embarking on First Album
The girls recorded their major label debut song Killing Time for the soundtrack for the 1997 movie, Men in Black. The soundtrack album became very popular and topped the Billboard charts for a week by the end of July 1997. Killing Time featured Beyoncé’s deep voice and introduced the group to the world of music.
The debut album
Being signed to one of the world’s biggest record companies was a dream come true for Destiny’s Child after going through ups and downs in their young lives. They had appeared on a platinum soundtrack album and worked with people who had worked on Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall. And now there were very excited to work on their very own debut album.
Destiny’s Child’s self-titled debut album was released in February 1998. Sixteen producers worked with the girls who recorded the songs throughout 1997. The album’s hit single No, No, No was released in November 1997. The song came in two parts. The A-side featured the sweet ballad produced by Rob Fusari and Vincent Herbert. Whites at Columbia believed that Destiny’s Child needed a strong single for their debut single release. And while the album was about to be printed, No, No, No was recut with Wyclef Jean.
The girls were in the Sony office in New York when Wyclef Jean walked by the door. By then he was an ubiquitous person and made his name as part of the trio The Fugees and was the go-to person. The girls introduced themselves and performed a capella for him.
Wyclef was impressed and asked them to sing on his We Trying To Stay Alive remix. And according to guest star etiquette, he must return the favor. He was, in some ways, responsible for forging Destiny’s Child’s future trademark staccato style of singing.
Wyclef Jean worked with the girls for their lead single
In 2000, Beyoncé recalled, “We were in the studio one night with Wyclef, all really tired. I sang melody to the fast music track for a joke and Wyclef said, ‘That’s hot! Do it like that.’” She did as she was told, and that became the defining sound that the girls would soon use to their advantage.
The single was accompanied by a music video which showed the girls sitting on the stoop of a brownstone singing to Wyclef’s acoustic guitar before he interrupts and tells the girls that what they need to do is “drop a phat beat for the clubs and they’ll lose their mind.” Then the girls’ silhouettes are shown dancing while Wyclef announces that the version is the remix. Wyclef makes the bold claim in his rap that Destiny’s Child “went from a dream to the young Supremes.”
The single climbed up the R&B charts and reached the top on March 21 for the whole week. It reached the US Top 40 and made it to the UK Top Five in early 1998, partly due to Wyclef’s popularity. Eventually, the single would reach no.1 in the US and UK charts. In 1999, the single was credited double platinum. It was a good start for the girls.
Beyoncé would look back on that day when she first heard the single in the radio with bursting joy. She was driving to pick up her sister from school. “She and all her friends were walking out, and the song started playing,” she told Ebony. “It was unbelievable – we jumped out and started running around the car. We screamed and laughed and cried and danced and sang and all of that. My sister was so embarrassed – she was like, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ And then she heard the song, and she’s like, ‘Aaaahhhh!’ And she dropped her bag and started running around the car, too.”
The rest of the album was not as strong as
the single No, No, No but it showed promise. The single My Time Has Come featured one of the tenderest moments in the album, with Destiny’s Child singing with astonishing emotion for Andretta Tillman.
Wyclef provided the girls some inspiration that would shape their future appearance. He took them to Cancun, Mexico to record with him and shoot the video. The girls’ outfits that Columbia provided got lost somewhere and Tina Knowles realized that she must create something for the girls to wear. She recalled, “I went to the army surplus store and got real camouflage outfits and converted them into sexy costumes.” Wyclef then asked the girls, “Who styled you?” and Beyoncé replied, “My mom.” He said, “She needs to style you all the time.”
And that was the start of the camouflage craze during the group’s Survivor album. And from that point on, Tina Knowles officially became the group’s principal stylist.
In 1998, Destiny’s Child served as supporting act for Boyz II Men on their 1998 summer tour in the United States, further increasing the group’s profile. Their album was a prolonged seller due to the group’s increasing popularity. The girls used the boot camp training that Mathew Knowles had instilled in them as they capably handled a variety of daft questions during television interviews. The group showed that they were equal personalities: LaTavia was full of street smarts, Kelly was sweet, LeToya was ditzy and Beyoncé was in control. They were always asked about their upbringing and family, which they answered politely.
Their debut album continued to be a success, reaching number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 14 on the Billboard R&B chart, and number 45 in the UK charts. The album sold over 3 million copies and was certified gold. Beyoncé recalled that “the first record was successful but not hugely successful. It was a neosoul record and we were 15 years old. It was way too mature for us.” But the album helped the group to establish their name. And in August 1998, the group was personally invited by Whitney Houston to play her 35th birthday party.
Modern Divas Boxed Set Page 14