it was their common love of music and talent for singing that initially brought these three young
women together as it turned out their teamwork as a trio would be the key to take them all the
way to the top of the charts however just as they had begun work on their follow up album
the rug was abruptly pulled out from under them and they disappeared
let's find out whatever happened to r b group divine kia thornton from inglewood new jersey
nikki bratcher from irvington new jersey and tonya tash from brooklyn new york were just teenagers
when they were hand-picked to form divine in 1995.
originally they were each solo singers when they heard a new york-based entertainment group
was looking for local talent to form a girl group after hearing each girl
individually it was obvious that these three would be the perfect combination
renowned music industry executive ruben rodriguez ceo and founder of pendulum records signed them
and they were then ultimately released on his independent label red and entertainment
in the summer of 1998 they exploded right out of the gate with their debut single
lately it skyrocketed all the way to number one on the billboard hot 100 chart
the song was also released internationally but didn't fare as well on the charts as it
did in the u.s their debut album titled fairy tales dropped two months later
at the top of the year in january 1999 the group released their follow-up single
a cover of the george michael hit one more try the track made it into the top 40 on the hot 100
and the top 20 on the hot r b hip hop songs chart of course the next logical
step especially after achieving a number one hit would be to get on the road and they did
the trio got the opportunity to embark on a tour with boy band and sync and r b singer tatiana ali
who's best known for her role as ashley banks on the television sitcom the fresh prince of bel air
then after only one album and two successful singles the group went radio silent and disbanded
in 2000. in an interview with the love to laugh podcast in january 2021 kia and nikki
both admitted that they weren't into the innocent eclectic image the group portrayed they were more
the city girl type but had to be trendsetters and set themselves apart from all the other
girl groups out at the time however now looking back they agreed that it was a good business move
and they were in fact ahead of their time as far as the reason behind why a follow-up album
was never released both women have spoken about it all stemming from the legal issues they faced
over the group's name management did not do their due diligence to get the name trademarked
and they ended up getting sued over it sadly not only could they not continue with the name
but everything they'd worked for up to that point came crashing down
even their cds were pulled from stores since they were not allowed to distribute it under the name
they did move on to another record label but even though they had begun to work on new material
the issues they had going on were just too much to handle and they instead went their separate ways
nikki moved on and created her own company called nikki poo music she serves as project
manager artist developer and music consultant helping aspiring artists along their journey she
also became a mother she's active on social media via instagram twitter and facebook she's also the
creator of a private relationship focused facebook group based on a series of books she's written
called not wifey material she's even ventured into the beverage industry and is currently working
on a premier brand of cocktails made with only natural ingredients called envy in 2020 her life
was turned upside down with a serious medical issue she initially went in to have a minor
surgical procedure but it was then found out that she had stage four cancer of the small intestine
thankfully after chemotherapy treatment she can now add the title of cancer survivor to her name
seven years after divine broke up kia would audition for the sixth season of the singing
competition television series american idol she blew away the judges with her rendition
of aretha franklin's ain't no way even simon cowell said she was the best audition of the day
unfortunately she was eliminated during the hollywood rounds during the period between the
end of divine and the start of her american idol experience kia actually slipped into a depression
success of their debut album did allow the group to tour and perform for profit for a short time
but once the novelty fell off naturally so did the money she eventually had to swallow her
pride and get a regular 9-5 job where no one knew who she was since divine's songs and music videos
were still on heavy rotation on tv and radio in a facebook interview with vibe
sessions in april 2021 she spoke about all the emotions she was feeling at the time
it was very depressing well just one day we were stars and one day we weren't
right uh one day we were still even after we lost our deal we were still traveling
and doing shows overseas and that's where the money was coming from and that even stopped um
one day i had like i don't know maybe at that time fifty thousand dollars in the bank and then
you know i turned around it was like 200 and i was trying to figure out how to pay my last car note
you know so at that point me i speaking for myself personally at that point that's when i said i have
to get a job kia ended up going back to school got married and went on to have three daughters
now divorced she spends her time focused on her children as well as her business she
started a company called mommy power whose focus is uplifting encouraging
and inspiring women and mothers tanya tash is a busy traveling nurse and has teenage twin boys
she does have an instagram account but it is set to private
last winter the group was hoping to release a new single but life got in the way with
covid19 traveling and the political climate created by the recent elections today they're
still working on new material and thinking about putting together an anniversary album
they feel like the timing couldn't be better since so many other 90s r b stars have been reviving
their careers in the 2010s thanks for watching please like share and comment also don't forget
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