Mathew Knowles Talks Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story

Mathew Knowles, who is best known for being the manager of Destiny’s Child and the father of Beyonce and Solange, released “Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story.” The book gives readers insight into the journey of the group that ultimately became Destiny’s Child.

Tell us about your book “Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story”.

Mathew Knowles: It’s a story of the 20 plus years (starting in 1992) of the journey that started with Girls Tyme. It started with over 20 plus
members of Girls Tyme that then became The Dolls, that then became Cliché, that then became Something Fresh, that then became Destiny, who then became Destiny’s Child. Again, that journey was 25 plus years. I would say there was a total of 25 members. It’s telling the story that has never been told before. I chose to have 10 other guests in the book who actually were very instrumental, who could tell the story accurately as well because there’s a lot of misinformation that’s out about Destiny’s Child, about how
they got started, and who did what, when, and where.

How long did it take to finish the book?

Knowles: It took me over two years to complete the book. I’m an author. This is my 5th book so it’s kind of like an album. You don’t stop with one record, you go into the studio and work on that and then you work on other records. You might come back to it or you might finish it, but I was working on another book “Public Relations and Media” that I had to stop and I wanted to finish that book based on timing. When you’re writing a number of books and doing a lot of public speaking, traveling, and running a major company, it’s kind of start and stop, so it took a while.

What was it like managing Destiny’s Child?

Knowles: I didn’t start out when it was Girls Tyme. I played the role of a parent so I was not involved in the first year I would say. I got more involved once they lost on Start Search which would be equivalent to losing on American Idol. We made changes in the organization and one of the ladies and I partnered together. Her name was Andretta Tillman. At the
time, there were seven members and they were trying to get record deals (believe it or not) with seven members including the dancers, which has never been heard of before in the music industry. It shows also how they didn’t quite understand the business at all. My role changed. I became the decision-maker… making decisions for the group as we went through that
journey of working with Darrel Simmons, who is Babyface and L.A. Reid’s partner to this day. They got signed to Elektra Records with Silvia Rome. That didn’t work out and the girls got dropped. They came back to Houston. Beyonce had really damaged her voice and we were concerned that she might never sing again. We went through that. Then we regrouped
and renamed the group from being The Dolls into being Cliché.

We started working even harder on being more focused in rehearsals and working with other producers in town in Houston. Then, Columbia Records saw the girls and did a showcase. They did a showcase earlier in their careers when they were very young, but I didn’t feel they were ready yet. They were too young and wouldn’t focus. In the middle of that showcase, I stopped the showcase. In this showcase, they did very well and the girls got signed. We had met with Tony Tony Tony’s, Dwayne Wiggins. My partner at that time had spoken with him. He had never even met me, hadn’t met the
girls, hadn’t met Andretta. We went to a showcase in New York and Columbia Records was excited and rather than looking at me for the offer, they looked at Dwayne and said “we are wanting to give an offer to you”. We are all kind of stunned because we didn’t really know Dwayne. He kind of walked in and just by being in the room, got a deal. He was gracious enough to know that over the first record because the records that really did well was “No,No,No” and he didn’t have anything to do with that so we
made that change and the girls got their record deal, they had been in 3 production deals earlier. There were changes made in the group and then there were changes made again in the group. Then we started strategically working on the girl’s solo careers in between the Destiny’s Child albums and there were ups and downs about that. That’s a quick version of the timeline.

Tell us about Beyonce going from being a shy girl to becoming so confident.

Knowles: I think Beyonce in some ways is still shy. She’s never been shy on the stage and that’s what we found out very early and I might be just going up to the school and picking her up and she was playing by herself. She was shy, but I think as success happened, people tend to want to be around you more when you’re successful. All the people that were haters, doubtful, or naysayers then, want to be around you at that point. On the stage from the very beginning, Beyonce’s always been that Sasha Fierce on the stage. Never has she been shy on a stage. If the stage was a boxing ring,
she would beat the hell out of you. Beyonce to this day is quiet. She’s not the most voicetress one or demands attention like some people. She’s a quiet person. I would say the shyness has passed.

What were the challenges you faced while trying to get the group to the next level?

Knowles: The challenge of putting the right group together after Star Search. The challenge of them in Atlanta. When they were The Dolls, they didn’t have any control of their career. There was the challenge of seeing mistakes being made from the name and the challenge of the parents when
they were minors because when you have children, you have parents who are equally involved. The challenge of just their personal development as young girls growing into young ladies to women. The challenge of that emotional growth and physical growth. The challenge of making changes. The challenge of working seven days a week, a brand-new work ethic, and working around the world. The challenge of deaths, my business partner/co-manager died in the process of lupus. It was just constant challenges.

The challenge of initially being a parent and being accepted. The challenge of Beyonce’s growth and personal growth that outgrew the other ladies. The challenge of how you manage with a fiduciary duty of making
sure you represent the group. Then, there’s the challenge of being a father and a manager and the challenge of being a manager and a husband. There’s a tremendous number of challenges. The book walks the readers through the obstacles and the challenges that were overcome and some of the highlights of this journey.

How did you deal with being a father and also wearing a manager hat?

Knowles: It’s a very difficult balance because again if I was just managing one artist such as just managing Solange and nobody else, that would be an easier balance. I know the media and their small minds only see Beyonce, but I have a daughter named Solange, so I had to balance between two
daughters in the industry and being a father and being their manager and then the other members of the group, and then being a husband and putting that hat on, so it’s a lot of hats that had to be worn

How does it feel to have daughters who are mega superstars?

Knowles: I’m very proud. I get to wear the father hat right now in their lives. I don’t look at the business anymore. Sometimes I do…sometimes I can’t help but see some things that maybe I would have done differently. I’m very proud of their success. They’ve done very well. I see a lot of me in their decision making and that makes me smile. I’m so proud that they’re
first and foremost good people. They give back to the community. In their success, they stay black. That makes me proud.

What advice would you give someone who wants to enter the music industry?

Knowles: The most successful people that I know in any industry whether it’s sports, music, even in corporate America…but more so in entertainment and movies. These people start out extremely young. To pick up the torch at 20, 21, 22, and anything older than that makes it extremely difficult. The reason for that is we’re in a one percent success rate. You look at Venus and Serena, you look at Tiger Woods, you look at Koby Bryant, you look at Michael Jordan, you look at Destiny’s Child. What do they all have in common? A lot of things. The Jacksons–they had a black father that played an instrumental role in their lives. “Black father”…I think the media forgets that there are many women writing articles that they forget the dads that have made these kids the most successful. There’s a book that I love that’s from Malcolm Gladwell called “Outliers” and it goes over and researches
successful people and what they all had in common, and it’s doing something 10,000 hours. For somebody starting out, they have to understand that the earlier you can start out, the better. This is not a hobby. With most people, they like it, it’s fun, it’s a hobby, but it’s not their passion. I tell those people to quit, “you’re wasting your time, you’re wasting your family’s time, you’re wasting your money.” It’s a waste of time.

I try to discourage more people than I encourage because the failure rate is so high and because people are not committed. This is not their passion, it’s a hobby, and they don’t want to put in the commitment of work. It’s a seven day a week gig. You’re going to have to sacrifice and give up a lot. With one of my students, I was like “why don’t you go to a seminar and get to meet people?” “Well, I can’t afford Dr. Knowles to go to Atlanta.” I called him on stage in class and I said “how much did your shoes cost?” And he said $250. Then I asked, “how much do those cool jeans you have on cost?” He said $125. I said, “how much that shirt cost?” He said $150. I said, “how much that watch cost?” He said $200. I said, “ok is this your only outfit?” He said no, it’s not my only outfit. I said “well, you just came up with $1,000 plus dollars. It won’t even cost you that to get there so why are you telling me you don’t have the money?” You don’t want to make the commitment,
that’s what it is. That’s what it requires and this is not microwave, this is put it in the oven. The thing about microwaves is you can get it immediately, but you can never eat it again. I never heard of people eat food that’s been in the microwave put it in the refrigerator. They got it in a package,
put it in the microwave, and then afterward put it in the refrigerator to put it back in the oven, it don’t work like that.

Normally the foods you buy that are just for microwaves, you use the one time. That’s how some of these people’s success are. It’s one time. They might have one song, they might have some success with one song on social media and think they’re a star. Then you never hear of them again.

Is there anything else you want everyone to know?

Knowles: Knowledge is power. The more knowledge we have, the more better off we are. Hopefully, it’s a good read.