LaToya Rodriguez, better known as Toya, found some success on the charts with her 2001 hit single, “I Do!!” And that was about all we heard from her because the St. Louis native’s career fell off quickly. As of 2022, Toya hasn’t put out anything new, and some interesting information has come out about why her career stalled. Is L.A. Reid the reason her career didn’t take off as it should have. Here’s what happened to Toya.
From college student to superstar
Toya was born on July 22, 1983, to an African-American mother and a Puerto Rican father. She was named after La Toya Jackson. Obviously, her mother knew she was born to be a performer, and early on in her life, Toya expressed an interest in being a singer. She told Hip Online, “I have two sisters, and I’m the one who was always less shy and wanted to be onstage.”
After graduating from high school, she attended St. Louis University, all while working two jobs, writing songs and recording music in her spare time.
One day, she visited a St. Louis recording studio to see if she could get some beats. While there, she met one of Nelly’s managers and sung the gospel song “I Won’t Complain” for him right there on the spot.
He liked what he heard and asked her if she had a demo. Toya told MTV that, at the time, she was living by the motto: “fake it ‘til you make it.” So she lied and told him yes, then she rushed back home and spent the next three days recording music to create a demo.
Those 72 hours of hard work turned into Toya being offered a production deal with Hard to Hit Entertainment. When her demo was sent to L.A. Reid of Arista Records, he wanted to develop her into an artist, so he flew her out to New York City to audition.
As soon as she returned home from the audition, she received a call from Arista, and they offered her a record contract. Toya told Vibe, “My heart stopped. I dropped the phone and started screaming.”
Drew Dixon, the then-A&R at Arista said she was blown away by how focused and confident Toya was.
Taking over the charts and getting dropped
Toya’s life changed instantly. Her career was put on the fast track, and she began working on her debut album.
After seeing model Sean Newman in the music video of Kandi Burruss’ song “Don’t Think I’m Not,” Toya told MTV she was inspired to record the song “I Do!!”
The track was released in March 2001 and took well over six months to crack the top 20. In an issue of Billboard magazine, the publication wrote, “You have to hand it to Arista for sticking by the artist when it looked like she might be another casualty of increasingly narrow radio playlists.”
Because everything was happening so quickly, Toya said her dad didn’t even know she was signed to a label until after the music video for “I Do!!” was released.
Her self-titled debut album dropped in August 2001 with L.A. as the executive producer. The album also included appearances by Murphy Lee, T.I., and Loon.
After her album’s disappointing sales, she was dropped from Arista. There was a talk of reshuffling and all that stuff, but it was a bit deeper than that, and we’ll get into it in a bit.
Shifting her focus
Over the next few years, Toya focused on her personal life. She and former NFL player Tee Martin, welcomed their son, Kaden, in 2004, and a second son named Cannon arrived in 2012.
Toya was enjoying her life as a wife and a mother, but had she given up on music? Not quite.
In January 2011, she posted on Twitter: “really getting that itch to record again!!! Had a great workout today; gotta get back in the booth soon:)”.
However, the new music never surfaced.
Did L.A. Reid get in the way of her career?
Remember Drew Dixon, the A&R at Arista who was impressed by Toya when she first signed with the label? In 2017, Drew sat down with the New York Times and accused L.A. Reid of turning cold whenever she denied his unwanted overtures.
Drew added that when she declined his invitation to meet him late at night at his hotel, she worried that the artists she was working with would suffer the consequences. And she was right. L.A. completely scrapped the budget for Toya’s project.
In a statement to The Times, L.A. said: “I’m proud of my track record promoting, supporting, and uplifting women at every company I’ve ever run. That notwithstanding, if I have ever said anything capable of being misinterpreted, I apologize unreservedly.”
Drew wasn’t done, though. Three years later, she followed up her accusations with this 2020 tweet:
Toya has yet to publicly address the allegations.
Drew wasn’t the only woman to have made allegations against L.A. According to The New York Post, L.A. was essentially forced to leave his position as CEO of Epic Records in 2017 after a female employee accused him of inappropriate behavior. The woman claimed that L.A. requested that she lay in bed with him and made unwanted comments about her clothing and body.
What’s next for Toya?
While fans are still disappointed that Toya hasn’t released any new music since the early 2000s, she’s still thriving as a wife and mother. She regularly posts on Instagram about her two sons who are both baseball players with her oldest son now in college. She and Tee are still going strong and look just as in love as ever.
We wish Toya and her family all the best.