In a recent interview with Kontrol magazine, Dirty Money’s Dawn Richard opened up about the demise of her former group Danity Kane. The 25 year old touched upon accusations of favouritism from Diddy within the group, their break-up, her apprehensions joining a new group, and more.
Extract after the jump…
The fame seemed to quickly fall shortly thereafter, as many rumors began surfacing and individual members of the group felt what they believed to be favoritism on Diddy’s behalf. “Puff doesn’t favor people, he’s a businessman and knows talent; it’s that simple”, Dawn immediately responds back during the interview. Although the plug was pulled on Danity Kane, Diddy quickly resurfaced with a new group featuring himself, Dawn Richards, and Kalenna Harper, who called themselves “Dirty Money”. When asked about her initial feelings of possibly being in a new group she responds, “I had a lot of armor on, especially with the situation with Danity Kane. I had the thought process of them being forever, so the idea of being in a new group was sort of skeptical, but the crazy thing is I had the idea of being in a group, hence, the whole reason for me doing “Making the Band”. It was a bittersweet thing; I wanted to be a part of something like that, so it was exciting to still be a part of a group, yet, scary knowing that I had to learn to like and to rely on a new set of people, one of them being my boss! The same guy who fired my previous group”, mentions Dawn laughingly. “I also wanted to kind of prove that the things being said, like the solo stuff weren’t true, because they really weren’t. I was battling to prove people wrong, to prove myself right, and then be a part of what I really wanted. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a movement with a group of people who shared the same passion, which I thought was Danity Kane, but when it disappeared and when the opportunity arouse itself I thought about making the right decision of joining another group because of my differences that people would not have understood”
Reading this has me missing Danity Kane that much more. Not only did they blow Dirty Money out of the water, they possessed so much promise. Oh well…
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That group was really something. They were no Girls Aloud in terms of star quality but they could sure sing and had some really great songs. Its a shame but that’s the way the cookie crumbled for the girls of DK
Please pray4tina .. Girls Aloud pale in comparison to Danity Kane
Puff knew he was going to break this group so he could have dawn in his group. He even stated on the reunion show that dawn is in the group and working on her solo project as well.
Diddy is dumb he should have just waited until after their 3rd cd and let them all go solo. They could have been the only girl group to have 3 consecutive platinum albums and protected their brand. (Who cares if they didnt like each other)
I LOVED DANITY KANE
THEY ALL HAD THERE OWN STYLE
I REALLY DIDN’T WANT TO GET .. THE DOLLHOUSE CD . THEY SEEMED LIKE A GAY GIRL GROUP LIKE THE CHEETAH GIRLS..LOL
BUT 7 MONTHS AFTER THE RELEASE. I FINALLY BOUGHT IT
AND I KID YOU NOT ..I PLAYED THAT CD 4 MONTHS STRAIGHT.
I WOKE UP, WENT TO BED . AND ALL OF MY FRIENDS THAT DIDN’T LIKE THEM
THEY BOUGHT THE ALBUM.. I STILL HAVE IT … IT’S OLD NEWS NOW
BUT DK AND I HAD OUR MOMENTS
I LIKED DAWN BETTER IN A GROUP ANYWAYS
Personally, I feel as if the Diddy/Dirty Money movement is something that’s gonna be temporary, like Puff’s previous release, Press Play in which he relied on other artist to carry the weight of success for him. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Puff is unsuccessful, but we all know, Puff is not an artist. He’s a mogul: a talent scout, an aspiring actor, a clothing designer and most importantly, a narcisstic maniac. However, as for Dawn and the Danity Kane situation, I honestly felt sorry for her. Ultimately, the imperative reasons that led to the dismantle of the group is because a lack of communication between Danity Kane and their label, Bad Boy/Atlantic in addition to incisive and constant rumors. It’s really unfortunate to see something like this happen to a promising talent due to problems of irrelevance sparked by informative gossip blogs, entertainment journalist and columns with negative information coming from both inside and outside the camps. I’m proud of all girls for thier successful endeavors outside of Danity Kane. You know how strong you really are once your light burns out…
You know, I don’t have much to say about Diddy’s decision. I stll believe that it was only partly his fault for the group’s dismantling and Dawn really does not say much in this interview (as usual). Either way, I still miss Danity Kane because they had such a unique talent that the industry needed and is dying without (i.e. the billy goat (lol). Don’t get me wrong I love ri-ri, but some of her vocal performances leave me skeptical. Danity Kane had such a raw talent. Their voices fill the stadium and it was beautiful and a blessing. I MISS U DK!!!!!
I used to be a big DK fan and I still enjoy their music and would check out a new album. However, I would have liked them to release an album on their OWN without the help of a TV Show. I don’t know if I exactly miss them but I would like to know what would have happened next, musically. I used to be sad that they broke up until last summer when I discovered RichGirl and if they (RG) ever blow up, any attempts at a DK reunion will be OVER because the 4 girls of RG blow the 5 girls of DK out of the water (vocally, lyrically, dancing, and in natural beauty). But I enjoy DK though.
Danity kane was a supergroup diddy knows how to pick talent but not how to manage it
BFOXX as much as i love RG the pale in comparison to DK VOCALLY ,DANCING NATURAL BEAUTY AND DRESS SENSE , BUT THEY have potential , DK had the personality n star quality to match
now i love dawn
but when she basically said that she had talent and the other girls didnt it pissed me off
first off all dawn has such a low voice that is very good, but not great
and she cant even get close to hitting those high parts
and aundrea was definitly the best singer, even though all of them had amazing voices
this b**** needs to check herself
MY WHOLE TAKE ON THE DANITY KANE SITUATION IS OR WAS THAT AS SOON AS DAWN AND QUE HOOKED UP, THE PUBLIC DIDNT EVEN CARE ABOUT THE GROUP EVERYBODY WAS WATCHING THOSE TWO, SO DANITY KANE GOT LOST IN THE SHUFFLE. BUT I SEE DAWN IS DOIN HER THANG WITH DIRTY MONEY, SO KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. PS ARE U AND QUE STILL TOGETHER, TELL ME I WONT TELL NOBODY IT WILL BE OUR LITTLE SECRET
We all know she could only say so much.
i miss them so much.
i still believe its Diddy and Dawn’s faults that DK shattered.
but still I have to blame all 5 girls, cuz they needed to have a break and work things out, amongst each other.
but whatever, hopefully they can get back together in like 3-5 years or something.
I’ve said this a million times…DAWN NEEDS TO GO SOLO!!
so dawn is back to 25 now. She is 27
http://www.thebeatstop.b*******.com
Dawn needs to leave Diddy alone and go solo because diddy s*** is going to flop hard and she’s going to be out of work.
WELL I’VE BEEN WATCHING RERUNS OF MAKING THE BAND 4 LATELY AND I MUST SAY D. WOODS AND AUBREY, AFTER WATCHING, WERE KIND OF SMART TO START PLANNING THEIR SOLO CAREERS TOWARDS THE END OF DK. D. WOODS SAID IT HERSELF ON THE MO’NIQUE SHOW THAT SHE COULD TELL SHE WOULDN’T BE THERE MUCH LONGER. THE REST OF THEM KIND OF HAVE TO DO SOME DAMAGE CONTROL BECAUSE DAWN IS STILL WITH BAD BOY AND DIRTY MONEY HAS NO ALBUM TO SHOW AFTER LIKE 4 OR 5 VIDEOS AND A PACK OF SINGLES SO SHE’S BASICALLY A DIDDY CHEERLEADER AND BACK UP SINGER BUT HEY SHE’S WRITING TOO AND SHE’S A REALLY GOOD WRITER SO MAKE YOUR MONEY DAWN. AUNDREA JUST FINALLY GOT STARTED ON AN ALBUM AS WELL AS SHANNON AS ANNOUNCED VIA TWITTER. D. WOODS HAS HER DEAL WITH UNIVERSAL THROUGH HER OWN LABEL. BAD BOY IS NOT AN EASY SITUATION TO BOUNCE BACK FROM SO PLEASE DON’T HATE ON HER TOO MUCH BECAUSE WHILE SHE GOT A LITTLE BIG HEADED TOO QUICK, YOU HAVE TO ADMIT HER SMART MOUTH GOT HER PLACES. PEOPLE FELL IN LOVE WITH THAT. HERE’S HOPING THIS FOCUSES ON BOTH HER PERSONALITY AND HER MUSIC….MORE SO FOR THE MUSIC I’M HOPING PERSONALLY ANYWAY BUT THEN AGAIN THIS IS AUBREY SO I’M EXPECTING ALOT OF PARTYING AND A MTB4 DK BREAK UP DISCUSSION AND OF COURSE A CAMEO FROM D. WOODS AND SHANELL FROM YOUNG MONEY (D. WOODS’ SISTER). DK WAS A BAD ASS GROUP AND COULD HAVE GONE SO FAR AS A GROUP…..WITH ALL OF THEM. TOGETHER WITH YES EVEN AUBREY THEY WERE GREAT. AUBREY CAN SING, SHE’S PROVED IT BEFORE. IT’S ABOUT WHAT BAD BOY WANTED HER TO DO WHICH IS SCALE DOWN HER VOICE. YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO SING TO DO BROADWAY ANYWAY. SOMEWHERE WITHIN THE GROUP I THINK RED CARPETING AND PARTY HOSTING GOT IN THE WAY BUT THE GROUP WAS CONSTANTLY FIGHTING FOR THEIR SHINE WHICH IS HARD ON BAD BOY. LOOK @ THE GROUP BEFORE THEM, DREAM. WHERE ARE ANY OF THEM? THEY’RE KNOWN AS THE DK BEFORE BK. I UNDERSTAND WHAT HAPPENED HERE. I DON’T BLAME ANY OF THE MEMBERS FOR THE BREAK UP OF DK I BLAME DIDDY AND BAD BOY BECAUSE HE DOESN’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL HE IS DOING WITH A LABEL. BEFORE HE STARTED BEING A LOUD ASS ATTENTION W**** PUSHING ALCOHOL HE ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT HE WAS DOING. HE NEEDS TO SIT HIS ASS IN A CHAIR AND SHUT UP. BY THE WAY DID ANYONE ELSE FIND IT FUNNY THAT ALL OF THE ARTISTS FEATURED ON MAKING THE BAND 4 ARE NO LONGER APART OF THE BAD BOY FAMILY. AT LEAST DAY26 STILL HAS A LABEL WHICH IS ATLANTIC RECORDS, BAD BOY’S FORMER DISTRIBUTOR, ALTHOUGHT BAD BOY’S NEW LABEL INTERSCOPE RECORDS REALLY TAKES CARE OF THEIR ARTISTS. PUFFY HAS NO RIGHT TO TALK ABOUT ANYONE’S TALENT AFTER HE SIGNED HIS C** DUMP CASSIE AND I’M SO PISSED AT THE MISHANDLING OF DK AND HOW HE TREATED THEM AND DAY26 AND DONNIE KLANG (NOT THAT HE’S MAJORLY TALENTED BUT JUST A LITTLE) BUT HE CAN’T TALK ABOUT ANYONE AFTER HE SIGNED HER. AUNDREA SEEMS LIKE SHE CAN GO FAR BECAUSE OF HER VOICE IF SHE WERE TO SIGN A MAJOR DEAL AS WELL AS SHANNON BECAUSE SHE’S GOT THAT IMAGE AND THE BODY AND THE MOVES AND VERY NICE VOICE, IT CAN GO RASPY AND HIGH. D. WOODS IS AN ALL AROUND TALENT, BEAUTY, NICE VOICE, NICE BODY, SHE IS AN AMAZING SONGWRITER AND HER MOVES ARE NICE AS WELL AND SHE’S GOT LOADS OF PERSONALITY WHICH IS WHAT AMERICA FELL IN LOVE WITH WITH AUBREY. LIKE I SAID IF WE’RE GOING TO HATE ANYONE FOR THE FALL OF DK HATE PUFF. AFTER ALL DK DID MOST OF THE WORK CONSIDERING WHAT THEY WERE GIVEN. THEY SCORED TWO #1 PLATINUM ALBUMS IN TWO YEARS WITH NEXT TO NO PROMO BESIDES THEIR SHOW. THANK GOODNESS THEY HAD THE HIT SINGLES THEY HAD AND THE SHOW AS WELL. IMAGINE WORKING WITH NO PROMOTION, NOT RELEASING SINGLES AND SHOOTING VIDEOS FOR THEM (SEE “RIGHT NOW” & “HOLD ME DOWN” FROM THEIR DEBUT) AND THE HIGHLY UNDERPROMOTOED ‘WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE’ WHICH WAS AN AMAZING ALBUM FROM START TO FINSIH. THEY HANDELED THAT WELL. “POETRY”, “LIGHTS OUT”, “SUCKA FOR LOVE” AND “IS ANYBODY LISTENING?” (WHICH WAS ALSO TALKED ABOUT AS BEING RELEASED AS A SINGLE) COULD HAVE ALL BEEN SMASHES HAD THEY HAD THE RIGHT HANDLING. THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN WITH INTERSCOPE INSTEAD OF PCD BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT A REAL GIRL GROUP LIKE DK WAS. LOOK AT HOW MANY VIDEOS PCD GOT FROM ONE ALBUM AND HOW MANY DK HAD IN THEIR WHOLE CAREER. I WILL SAY THIS…..PCD HAD ONE HIT ALBUM AND DK HAD TWO…..SO WHO’S THE CLEARLY THE BETTER GROUP HERE? I WANT DK BACK SO HERE’S HOPING THAT THEY ALL HAVE SUCCESSFUL SOLO CAREERS AND THAT THEY GET BACK TO MAKING MUSIC TOGETHER ON A GREAT LABEL SUCH AS ROC NATION/COLUMBIA, INTERSCOPE, OR JIVE RECORDS. DK SHOULD HAVE CONTINUED UNDER SOMEONE ELSE TO SHOW DIDDY THAT THEY DON’T NEED HIS ASS AND THEY ALSO SHOULD HAVE RELEASED THEIR THIRD ALBUM ‘FROM THE ASHES’ BECAUSE IF ‘WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE’ WAS EPIC JUST IMAGINE WHAT ‘FROM THE ASHES’ WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE. SORRY BUT I JUST MISS DK.
BTW DAWN’S IMAGE THESE DAYS IS LOOKING A LITTLE LOW RENT RIHANNA/POOR MAN’S KERI HILSON. DAWN YOU LOOK LIKE A BROKE DOWN KERI/RIHANNA! I’M SORRY BUT I’M SAYING THIS BECAUSE I LOVE YOU! YOU LADIES LOOKED WONDERFUL IN THE ‘WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE’ ERA. I LOVE YOUR FACE THESE DAYS BUT NOT YOUR HAIR. YOU HAVE A SMALL HEAD SO YOU NEED MORE HAIR ON IT. MAYBE YOU STAND OUT MORE THESE DAYS BECAUSE YOU LOOK ALOT BETTER THAN KALENNA OF DIRTY MONEY. THAT MUST FEEL GOOD. BUT IT CAN’T FEEL GOOD KNOWING THAT YOUR PROJECT IS GOING NOWHERE. AS OF RIGHT NOW, ‘LAST TRAIN TO PARIS’, CURRENTLY HAS NO RELEASE DATE @ THIS TIME. DIDDY SAID @ THE BET AWARDS THAT IT WAS UP TO JIMMY IOVINE, THE HEAD OF INTERSCOPE RECORDS. HE’S NOT ABOUT TO RELEASE SOME CRAP OFF OF HIS LABEL AND RUIN THEIR GOOD REPUTATION FOR QUALITY MUSIC AND HITS. THIS ISN’T ATLANTIC RECORDS ANYMORE DIDDY WHO JUST LET YOU PUT OUT ANYTHING ON YOUR LABEL AND HAVE THEIR LABEL DISTRIBUTE HOT GARBAGE.
BTW IS MY COMMENT LONG? YES BUT THAT’S WHAT THIS BOARD IS FOR AND I’M SPEAKING FOR EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN A FAN OF DK SINCE THE BEGINNING SO PLEASE READ IT! PLEASE READ! DK REUNITE! (WISHING LOL).
I only started liking Danity Kane after their song “Damaged” & that album it was on, cuz it was amazing. They could’ve gone far and lord knows America needed a girl group with some talent after DC3 [even though DC3 were far superior] called it quits..Then y’all ended up with PCD, LOL.
Sucked that Diddy pulled the plug, but also those b!tches should’ve pulled their G-Strings outta their asse$ and put the petty bullsh!t aside. Don’t really care for any of them as solo artist.
And to the person above who brought up Girls Aloud, I agree GA were more flashy & had better-their producers are amazing- music but DK were a bit more talented at least.
Oh Dawn, they were right, looks who is solo by Diddy side as a backup dancer.
^^ LOL exactly forgot to add that to my first comment.
She claims…“Puff doesn’t favor people, he’s a businessman and knows talent; it’s that simple”,…..Sorry to break it to you honey but you weren’t the best voice of the group. I mean none of them were exactly powerhouses— they could carry a tune, but Aundrea was obviously the best voice.
“THESE DAYS BECAUSE YOU LOOK ALOT BETTER THAN KALENNA OF DIRTY MONEY. THAT MUST FEEL GOOD. BUT IT CAN’T FEEL GOOD KNOWING THAT YOUR PROJECT IS GOING NOWHERE.”
Why this this make me LOL 5x’s over lol. you are right though, she wasn’t the prettiest one is dk and though her looks has improve, she still isn’t highly attractive to me, but anyway, I don’t think her solo career will go far and yes dm is only temporary, they’ve said so, all of them need to just absorb the moment.
one more thing, i don’t know why they aren’t successful, I like their songs *shrugs
Dawn has been 25 years old for the past 3 or 4 years. Interesting…
I like Dawn…but ummmmmm the rumors were true…u were writing and doing your solo or other group just like they said…not all of her fault but partly your fault for not being comepletely honest…im just sayin lol..
IKNOWTHETRUTH/IMISSDANITYKANE
Please turn your capslock button off! Thank you!
Danity Kane will never get back together well not with Dawn in it. Those girls are 25-30yrs old and should be looking at making money outside of the dying music industry otherwise they’ll be broke and washed up in their mid 30’s. In fact Dawn could easily be the stand out sucess of the group if she wrote a biography or a screen play chronicling the freaking lies she’s been living for the past how many years and the ones she continues to live and tell.
Whoever said she aint really say much in her interviews is spot on, keep it short, sweet and consistant so as not to get caught in your lie. SMH. One of these days this young lady will get a clue and stop dragging this lie out, admit she did some shady s*** that f***** up her respectability, her group and her chance at a sucessful and honest career in music. That’ll be the day she gain back her respect and credibility from DK fans and people that see her potential that is if she’s not so messed up that she can no longer tell the difference between truth & lies.
S*** , she not even a good liar. WASTED TALENT.
I actually do see her potential that’s the messed up part of it but she is too messy for things to come together. All her photo shoot she never quite gets it right, her interviews there’s always something missing, like she’s never fully comfortable or confident in who she is or what she’s doing like she doubt herself or doesn’t full believe so how can you expect others to buy into you if you’ve not fully convinced yourself you’ll always come across as fake.
She’s an attractive girl (those saying she’s unattractive) and always stood out for me as the stand out performer in the group and the one who drew me in. WTTDH was an amazing album which heavily features Dawns adlibs and verses there is no escaping it Dawn’s vocals are what takes a DK song to the next level and beyond so why not be content with being the less visible powerhouse of a platinum selling group? Aundrea was.
Diddy knows talent? What he saw in Dawn i don’t know… overrated at best. Danity Kane were ok (pop sound isn’t really my thang) but they were not all that… they were not Xscape, en vogue, SWV, TLC….
I don’t understand all this NEED for a girl group. i just NEED good music regardless of if its one girl or a group, one guy or a group.
The Big Mistake Puff made was not marketing them as an International group from the get go..
Welcome to The Dollhouse was sooo ready for it and Danity Kane was meant to be a supergroup (tensions or not)
The group had major issues with just being marketed mainly in USA especially after the success of the debut album. Plus they were getting robbed of money by managers so that didn’t help
The LANE was and still is open for them if they could work it out because even though the personal relations dynamic wasn’t perfect the group vocal and dancing dynamics were.
DK didn’t last long but they left a strong point with the two albums
I am a big Danity Kane myself however some things that Diddy put on TV should have not been shown. I am mean if he fired Aubury and D.Woods without the public knowledge would Danity Kane still be a group…
The record label had to a lot to deal with Danity Kane break up! They was promoted correctly. Managers they had wasn’t right! I mean to be honest I would reither see them having Matthew Knowles as their manager because knowning him, them girls would have been paid!
I would like to see another Danity Kane album, they are the first female group to have two back to back number one albums… Destiny’s Child, TLC or Spice Girls have not done that. They were just at the peak of a crazy ride… I deff did see Danity Kane being something like Destiny’s Child, and I believe that’s they want to do solo things, however none of them would be as big as they were without being in the group
while she is a talented singer…personality wise she SUCKS… if she wanted to be apart of a movement which she thought was danity kane shouldn’t she have stood up and said no you fired my group and im in the group too therefore i no longer want to do business w/ you? Nope it was a smooth transition as Dirty Money ended and it was just her and Andrea remaining….Drea got the boot and she became apart of Danity Kane… i can’t put my finger on it…but when you have a girl group and the 2 black girls in it don’t get along there are apparent problems/turmoil… quite sad i miss DK…
I miss DK so much. Those girls were talented and ready to take over the world but diddy mess them up – He was the major problem. They werent getting paid, were not being marketed properly (as an international girl band) and that might have caused some tension in the group.
Hopefully they might get back together in future. We’ll have to wait and see.
nothing tops danity kane in terms of girl groups. especially when hearing both albums, the progression is amazing. that group is very, very, very missed.
I was in the mall in one of my favorite stores and Danity Kane’s Damage came on! Wow! I miss these ladies. I wish they could have put aside self and made things work. A part of me hopes they some how will get back together because let’s face it, none of them are doing so great on their own. Yeah, Dawn is a part of Dirty Money, but its nothing compared to Danity Kane. Sorry Dawn. I love ya!
Maybe when the Diddy/Dirty Money era is over and Dawn leaves Bad Boy, we’ll get to hear what she really thinks. Danity Kane were huge in the US and could have been big worldwide but like Girlicious and other bands, their record label wasted them. Now Aubrey is trying to start off a solo career and star quality wise, Aubrey has it. Dawn’s voice is haunting and on tracks like Broken Promises with Que, she KILLS it! But the truth is, no large record label is gonna be interested in any of them as solo artists unfortunately but if they all got back together with a new label in the future without Diddy, i really think they could rock out. A few years to think and grow could do them good =)
Ok i loved DK, BUT number 1 if these girls wanted to move forward and be a group that would be remembered in the music industry they needed to sort out their problems cuz without chemistry and a good relationship between each other u won’t be able to make good music!! And secondly imma HUGE DC fan and YALL CAN’T COMPARE DK TO DC OR TLC CUZ THESE TWO GROUPS ESPECIALLY DC WAS AND STILL IS THE BEST FEMALE GROUP OF ALL TIME (lyrically, mentaly, physicaly, as a performer, vocaly…)!!!!!!!!!!! And one last thing why yall blaming Dawn i mean she got a good oportunity she took it, i know she’s not no whitney houston or beyonce or anythin but the girl can at least put some feelings and emotions in her songs!!!! If DK really wants to come back they could do it without Diddy or Dawn but they have to work hard and thrive theirselves forward, its not gonna be easy… Remember these girls are hitting their 30s and if they don’t start now its gonna be too late…
for the people who brought up girls aloud or whatever their name is you said they were bigger or a bit talented i forgot abit but they werent as successful as danity kane they only had success in london and no where else in the planet unlike Danity Kane they were a real success and they should come back i miss them hopefully one day soon 😀