Making a connection: Grammy-winner Luckett wows ECSU crowd

LeToya Luckett, a Grammy Award winning singer who recorded her first chart-topping song 26 years ago as a member of Destiny’s Child, seemed right at home in Vikingland Thursday.

Luckett was the special guest at Elizabeth City State University’s Community Connections Performance and Lecture Series at the ECSU Fine Arts Center.

For many, Luckett is one of R&B music’s starlet recovery girls. Destiny’s Child, with four members, recorded its first hit in 1998 but a managerial controversy led to Luckett’s departure in 1999.

By 2006, Luckett was far removed from the edgy, glamorous girl group, proudly toting a singe, “Torn” from her debut album. Luckett’s kept busy ever since, expanding her list of accomplishments on one stage after the other.

To the ECSU crowd’s delight, Luckett led them on a musical journey, singing hits that connected the 43-year-old singer with a university crowd giddy for some homecoming fun.

Clad in pale blue-above the knee boots, a denim mini-skirt, and a white tank top flanked by a two-buttoned, white boyfriend blazer, Luckett was in full in command, leading the audience as they swayed their raised arms with her from tune to tune.

On a second’s notice she would aim the microphone at the audience, prompting them to finish the lyrics of each song. A swarm of synchronized voices easily finished her lines then bounced in place, right into the next tune. Whether it was Destiny’s Child hits like “No, No, No” or “Bills, Bills, Bills” or Luckett’s own music, the crowd clearly wanted more, more, more.

Luckett eventually settled down for a conversation, explaining what she had sought to achieve while transitioning from singer to actress. Luckett said she would look over the scripts of some of the roles she was offered before ultimately deciding “that one’s not for me.” In other cases, she would take the role, knowing it would be challenging.

“I wanted to be stretched, to do something different. I found myself wanting characters that stretch me,” she said.

When a member of the audience asked Luckett how she managed to separate herself from other performers, she talked candidly about the importance of being honest with yourself.

“It’s only one LaToya,” she said. “That’s what we sometimes forget when we are looking at other people so much — how to stay true to ourselves. There was only one Michael Jackson, one Whitney Houston and they were’t afraid to be themselves.

“The new artists are trying to sound like someone else they’ve heard instead of being themselves,” Luckett continued. “When I was growing up in ‘90s there wasn’t anther Celine Dion. For me I just do me.”

Luckett encouraged audience members to consider their options, determine how they can improve after encountering obstacles, even when those obstacles have left them disappointed or heartbroken. Wake up one day from the sadness, she suggested, and look for new opportunities.

“Don’t allow fear to keep you from something great,” she said. “It’s OK to have those pauses in life. There is nothing wrong with that. Pauses are important, while you are getting it back together, finding your swag again.”