Exclusive: LeToya Parts Ways With Label

Published: Saturday 31st Jul 2010 by Sam

That Grape Juice can EXCLUSIVELY reveal that R&B star LeToya Luckett has parted ways with Capitol Records – the label she’s called home since her solo debut in 2005.

Full story after the jump…

According to a source close to the situation, Luckett and the label (a subsidiary of EMI) have been at logerheads since the release of her ill-fated sophomore LP ‘Lady Love’. The album, which has sold just 120,000 copies to-date, was marred by a series of release date delays, minimal promotion, and confusing single choices.

With its predecessor (2006’s ‘LeToya’) having been certified Platinum, Luckett is said to have been disappointed with the label’s handling of ‘Lady Love’ – particularly the lack of priority and marketing dollars invested into its production and promotion.

While little is known about Luckett’s next move, the Destiny’s Child alumni  is set to make an announcement via her her official website shortly. In the meanwhile, work continues on the 29 year old’s 3rd studio album.

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Needless to say, this has been a long time coming. I vividly remember feeling as though the label were not maximising her potential as far back as her debut album, speak less of the atrocity that was the handling of ‘Lady Love’.

That said, in being honest, ‘Lady Love’ served up little-nothing in the form of hit (single) material, hence it’s fate – label drama or otherwise – was pretty much a done deal from the outset. One can only hope that Luckett’s new label ensure that her future efforts are ‘sellable’, as LeToya is very much the poster-child for what the industry would thrive on. Not only is she stunning (ticking the industry’s ” image-over everything” quota), she actually has talent. Here’s wishing her the best of luck…

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  1. oral anthony July 31, 2010

    i love Letoya and nearly all my DC girls!!!!

  2. mishka July 31, 2010

    I love Letoya she was my fave during the DC days!

    The little ugly chick did her wrong by involving her in the Matthew Knowles’s firing or whatever. Letoya deserves the same kind of success Bey or Kelly are enjoying now.

    I wish her the best of luck. She has it all!

  3. Durrel Jennings July 31, 2010

    Well this is great news in my hears! The label sucked..they did over J Holiday and Cherish as well. I’m glad she’s free. Now its all about who she lands with next…and don’t f*k it up! =)

  4. antertain July 31, 2010

    YES we’ve called for this to happen

    WASTED the quality of Lady Love did Capitol..

    Good Luck on New Venture LeToya and this is the best way forward i totally feel.
    Material should not be wasted!!!

  5. B July 31, 2010

    TOYA IS THE SURVIVOR OF THE DC DEPARTURE IT WONT BE LONG BEFORE SHES BACK SIGNED! KEEP YA HEAD TOYA!!!! BTW I BOUGHT LADY LUCK TWICE!!!!!!!

  6. jayden July 31, 2010

    DROPPED! beyonce prolly had something to do with it lol!

  7. T July 31, 2010

    Thank You JESUS! She so deserves a better label that will make her music/stardom a priority because the gurl has talent.

  8. TheYoungLion July 31, 2010

    About time they dropped that flop s***…. her career has been dead since 2007. Stick to acting and leave the tone deaf vocals at the house.

  9. FreshUrbanEnt July 31, 2010

    I NEVER EVEN KNEW SHE HAD A AN ALBUM OUT CALLED LADY LOVE SMH. OH WELL, SHE SHOULD GET ON THIS DANCE MUSIC CRAZE I’M SURE THT STYLE OF MUSIC WILL GET HER A HIT.

    CHECK OUT MY NEW ENTERTAINMENT SITE >>>> http://WWW.FRESHURBANENT.CO.UK

  10. Richard July 31, 2010

    Ever since Capitol was merged with EMI, things have been MESS! EMI is a joke of a label anyway. I hope she gets signed soon because her albums were so GOOD!

  11. me July 31, 2010

    Im so happy

  12. nickalus Randle July 31, 2010

    THAT IS SO GOOD- CAPITOL SUCKED! Her last album was too good to be on the shelves…her, Kelly, & BRANDY all need 2 do a nice little mix cd together (each singer gives 5 good hott songs), & go on tour..make their own label…

  13. T July 31, 2010

    Attention THEYOUNGLION: How is having two number one albums (One of those happen to be platinum) is considered a “flop”. I swear ignorance is going to destroy the planet. Lol

  14. Debe July 31, 2010

    Who cares . . .KATY PERRY >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> LEROY FUCKETT

    ANYWAY NOW SHE’LL GO TO ANOTHER LABEL AND GET ON HER KNEES AND SUCK THAT LABEL DRY. . .

    SHE AIN’T NOTHING BUT ANOTHER ASHANTI 2.0 FLOP

  15. Quiana July 31, 2010

    Glad she left.

  16. jadorefreak July 31, 2010

    and her album sold 135,000 not 120,000!

  17. JonathanGardnerTV July 31, 2010

    How can people say she flopped?

    LETOYA (2006)
    U.S.: #1
    U.S. R&B: #1
    UK: #57
    Canada: #66
    Japan: #37
    Sales: 1,000,000+
    Certfication: Platinum

    LADY LOVE (2009)
    U.S.: #12
    U.S. R&B: #1
    Japan: #57
    Sales: 135,000+

    Yes, Lady Love should have done a LOT better as it was a quality album but REGRET – its most successful single – reached #8 on U.S. R&B and #78 on U.S. as well as being ranked at #6 by AOL on their “Top R&B Songs of 2009” list.

  18. DMAC143 July 31, 2010

    Wow, this is disturbing but maybe it might be the necessary move she needed to be promoted and better realized for the great artist she is.

    Best of luck with your future endeabvours LeToya!!!

  19. Soulful Roses July 31, 2010

    THANK YOU JESUS!

    This situation right here is nothing but a blessing in disguise for Toya. I hope she finds a label that not only recognizes her raw talent, but is willing and ready to fight for her, because she has so much potential. Love you Toya. Wish you well on your journey 🙂

  20. likeCAESAR July 31, 2010

    Her “talent” is questionable. At least she got Capitol to pay for that nose job. It looks great! I wish her good luck. She needs it!

  21. smartee July 31, 2010

    JonathanGardnerTV, lol, you mean to tell me you don’t think selling 135,000 copies of an album is a flop? That is f**king humiliating! She didn’t even go Silver… 200,000 copies! And the only reason why “LeToya” was certified platinum is because her label wanted her to achieve some type of success since she was an ex Destiny Child member who had a solo career. I remember when it was certified platinum because I was a fan back then and I was confused. She only sold 600,000 copies and the album was done; hardly anyone was buying it anymore. They were generous enough to SHIP OUT the rest of the units, I guess hoping that it would sell since she had her last single being released titled “Obvious” but the single didn’t get anywhere.

  22. WTF? July 31, 2010

    “smartee”

    When you think about people not even knowing that she had an Album out because of NO PROMOTION from her Label, that amount sold is not bad at all. If the Album was promoted, it would have without question done 100 times better! Stop being a b*tch and get off her sh*t, you fruits are what’s wrong with Blogs. Y’all sit behind safeness of your Laptop and talk sh*t all day, she is far from a flop in Entertainment. She CAN sing, Act and has 3 Businesses!! What is it that your punk a** has??? Exactly, NOTHING but hopes of, oh never mind………..

    Lady Love is one of the Better if not the BEST R&B Albums or 2009, but a Hater would never admit to anything like that… ALL her singles were good, may not have came out in the right order but they were good!!!

    Oh and she didn’t get DROPPED!!!! <—BELIEVE THAT!!!!!! @jayden

  23. CONVERSATION CHAMBER July 31, 2010

    Now that she’s a free agent, she can sign with Music World. Make it happen Matthew!

  24. kekeluvsu_LeToya Luckett STAN July 31, 2010

    YES a WTF?

    Ignroance is bliss and HALF the ppl talking s*** don’t know, care, or even like LeToya for that matter. I get sick and tired of the dumb b****** that constantly talk s*** but have no clue as to what is going on. That’s what’s wrong with ppl’s these days. Get educated and then come back with an opinion on the situation.

    THANK GOD LeToya has left. It has been a long time coming since CRAPITOL f***** up on her last album. I can’t tell you how much this label NEVER invest in any of their black artist. It’s a shame to. LeToya will rise and prosper against this. Mark my words

  25. buwahah July 31, 2010

    lmao, the little ugly chick!

  26. RosaRubbel July 31, 2010

    ‘Lady Love’ deserved so much better! Songs like ‘Good To Me’, ‘Over’, ‘Regret’, ‘I Need A You’, ‘Drained’ & especially ‘Lazy’ are great R’n’B songs. I hope her next album can achieve some success, beacause she deserves it.

  27. raraskils July 31, 2010

    no single material, sam?
    ARE U KIDDING ME?

    SHE AINT GOT S*** ON ME had a LOT of potential to be a HUGE hit!!!
    esp now with all the electro-flavored r&b cuts taking over the charts…it simply wasnt marketed correctly!

  28. Ebony July 31, 2010

    Letoya would be better acting or modeling. Her cds are average and I BOUGHT both so i’m not a hater. She just does’nt have the it factor. When youre trying to sell something you need to make it appealing and make them want to listen. She’s just blah to me and so is Kelly Rowland

  29. LEEK July 31, 2010

    One thing that people have to know about EMI and it’s subsideraries is that they’re the smallest of the 4 corperate lables and they operate as an independant label. This means low promotions budget and money in the artist pocket. So selling 120,000 on an independant operating label is pretty good.

    Here are a few artists that have sweet deals at EMI:

    Bobby V.
    Omarion
    Trina
    Jacki-O
    Snoop Dogg (Exec. at Priority)
    Twista

  30. LEEK July 31, 2010

    Low Promotions budget, but more money in the artist’s pocket.

  31. UmYa August 1, 2010

    She just does’nt have the it factor. When youre trying to sell something you need to make it appealing and make them want to listen. She’s just blah to me and so is Kelly Rowland.
    ___________________
    Exactly.
    Talent may have been put on the back burner in recent years but having the “it” factor is important. You could have the best voice but if the music / persona doesn’t match it then bye b****.

  32. Commander for Kelly & Ciara August 1, 2010

    LADY LOVE.IF UR TALKING HARDCORE R&B HANDS DOWN HAS TO BE ONE OF THE BEST R&B Albums of 2009 most def..LETOYA HAS TALENT SHE GIVING US MUSIC THAT LACKS..BUT AGAIN NO1 APPRECIATES REAL TALENT ANYMORE..SHES GIVING ME AALIYAH THE WAY SHES GOING ABOUT HER MUSIC N HERSELF.. THEY WER BESTIES NEWAI.. BUT LETOYA IS WAT THE GAME NEEDS..DAT SWEET LIL RNB CHICK… SERIOUSLY..TOYA.. GO ON TOUR DO A FEW LIVE SHOWS..PROMOTE DNT WASTE UR ALBUM…. PLZ TELL ME WAT CHICK OF 09 DELIEVERED TRUE R&B the onli 2 i can think of.. i do love ciara but.. keri hilson’s 1st cd gave me da rnb that LACKED..but letoya str8 slayed i love her

  33. realchick August 1, 2010

    who cares RNB is dead along with the record labals nobody selling records beyonce alicia key mary j brady .ect all but gone tight pants and t paine sounding music is what mainstrem now sorry toy

  34. Anne August 1, 2010

    If it’s pretty good why did she leave/get dropped? I just don’t know how talented (or not) LaToya is because I haven’t seen any live performances by her. She didn’t have many TV promotional performances for either album. Maybe she can get a better deal but it just seems like it’s hard now a days for artists to acheive longevity and in many cases once they lose a record deal you never really hear from them again, especially for those artists who never really got the ball rolling in the first place like LaToya. She only has one semi-successful album so we’ll just have to wait to see if she’ll be able to get another deal or fade away like some others before her.

  35. teammonica August 1, 2010

    @ EBONY
    WOW ANOTHER HATER.. LOL .. IT’S FUNNY YOU TALK ABOUT KELLY
    BUT YET BECAUSE OF PPL LIKE YOU.. SHE ‘S OVER IN THE UK MAKING #1 HITS
    AND IT’S SAD THAT IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT . THE UNITED KINGDOM SUPPORT US MORE THEN WE DO ..’ WHY’. BEACUSE WERE TOO PICKY & JUDGEMENTAL
    AS MUCH AS THE HATERS GONNA DISAGREE SINCE KELLY BEEN BACK SHE’S BEEN DOING REAL GOOD FOR HERSELF.
    2 #1 HITS AND 1 TOP 50 DANCE CHARTS.. WITH NO CD
    EVERY SINCE SHE LEFTED MATTHEW THING BEEN GOOD FOR HER

  36. kekeluvsu_LeToya Luckett STAN August 1, 2010

    @ Realchick

    Learn how to spell before you start writing. RANDB is not dead trust and believe that. Dance music is just a higher market right now. Things change everyday. And each genre of music comes and goes but it comes right back. So you and anybody else can save that bull ➡

    And another thing. This whole “IT” factor thing. Really?! LeToya doesn’t have that?! 😆

    God bless the ignorance.

  37. realchick August 1, 2010

    @KEKELUSU_LETOYALUCKETT you need to learn how how to spell and stop playing captain save a h** toya my girl too but the black potion of the music companies are dying fast white folks ain’t buying our albums

  38. BENJAMIN August 1, 2010

    So the little round offices on Hollywood & Vine didn’t do her up right huh? Well…..with all of their focus on Katy Perry, the California Girl is their top priority. Corrine B Ray is also signed to Capitol, and she isn’t doing that well either.

  39. ChaseKILLS August 1, 2010

    “little in the form of a hit”…. “Regret” went top 10 without Capitol and was like #2 most urban during it’s run. Which is the massive example at how bad Capitol didn’t WANT to do anything with LeToya.

  40. Get’em August 1, 2010

    Good rittens to a clown ass label like Crapital. I am so glad my girl got rid of those racist basturds. Letoya is already flying high without those trashbags. They wouldn’t know R&B if it slap their lame asses in the face. She is way to talented and beautiful to be playing with a f*cked up so record label. Letoya already has a endorsement deal and a 3rd album on the way and movie roles she has already landed. Now ain’t nobody going to stop her shine. GOOOOO LETOYA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  41. change is good August 1, 2010

    ciara needs to get away from ignorant losers in her record company too. they seem to expect her to sell up to lady gaga level WITH NO PROMOTION. IT IS ABOUT TIME SHE STOPS FEEDING THESE N8GGERS ON HER TALENT, AND GETS WITH A COMPANY THAT KNOWS SHE NEEDS POP STATUS TO SELL IN ALL MARKETS.

  42. realchick August 1, 2010

    i can’t wait to letoya make her annoucement about her upcoming movies deal and it’s not a made for BET movies ether very very mainstream type flicks good luck toya

  43. mr.M August 1, 2010

    She’s a flop just like ALL DC girls

    Fatyonce and everyone . HA

  44. Kyle August 1, 2010

    I think this is a good move for her but I don’t really see her being a main “priority” at other labels either. Needless to say, I really think Letoya has established herself as a respectable R&B artist. I don’t think she needs to fit into the mainstream market because then she’ll just sound like everyone else and be called a copycat. “Lady Love” was praised by the more adult-oriented R&B crowd and I really think it showed Letoya’s growth and maturity. Good luck to her and best believe I will support her with her future projects. GO LETOYA!!

  45. Dave August 1, 2010

    Lady Love was a smash(quality and songs). The shady b****** stick to the “it” girls with little to no talent and pay all your money for mediocre. quality music >>>> 1 hit wonder manufacturing magic

  46. lilmrsunshine August 1, 2010

    Mark my words shes joining the same label as kelly nd the they be doing. Song 2gether

  47. Ki August 2, 2010

    Letoya obviously felt like she needed to move on to get to the next step in her career. I can’t blame her. She is talented and deserves a place to be able to showcase that to the fullest.

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