Destiny's Child Reunite for NBA

Destiny's Child will reunite for a farewell performance at the 2006 NBA All-Star Game at the Toyota Center in their native Houston on February 19th. The eight-time Grammy-winning R&B girl group, in what is being called their last-ever performance in their hometown, will sing the national anthem before the game, televised on TNT.

After releasing their fourth studio album, Destiny Fulfilled, the trio — Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams and breakout star Beyoncé Knowles — last summer announced their plans to break up once their world tour wrapped in September. During their tour's final stop, in Vancouver, Rowland broke into tears on stage, saying to Williams and Knowles, "I love you. You are my angels. I love y'all so much." Beyoncé added, "Destiny's Child started when we were nine years old. This isn't something somebody put together. This is love."

But before hanging it up completely, the R&B princesses had some unfinished business, making what was then dubbed their final televised appearance together at the Fashion Rocks benefit concert at New York's Radio City Music Hall later that same month. Making a glamorous entrance, parading through the facade of a store that read "House of Dereon," Beyonce's new clothing line, the trio ran through a medley of hits, including "Independent Women," "Say My Name," "Survivor" and "Lose My Breath."

With the group going their separate ways, Rowland is set to appear in three episodes of the UPN series Girlfriends, and the self-titled follow-up to her solo debut Simply Deep is due June 13th. Williams will release her third solo effort in late summer. Beyoncé will hit the big screen in her fourth film, a remake of The Pink Panther, starring alongside Steve Martin. Her fifth movie, a remake of the musical Dreamgirls opposite Jamie Foxx, is due in December.

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Song Stories

“1999”

Prince | 1982

“I don’t consider myself a great poet,” Prince told Rolling Stone. “I just know I’m here to say what’s on my mind.” In the case of the apocalyptic party anthem “1999,” he was worried about then-president Ronald Reagan’s foreign policies. The song’s melody is based on a riff borrowed from the Mamas and Papas’ “Monday, Monday,” and Prince originally envisioned the first verse with three-part harmony but later split the vocals between himself and members of the Revolution. Because Warner Bros., with whom Prince was locked in a contractual battle, owned the original’s masters, Prince rerecorded the song and appropriately released that version in 1999.

More Song Stories entries »

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