What Ever Happened To Diddys Band, Danity Kane?
Danity Kane was arguably one of the hottest girl groups of the mid-'00s, put together by Diddy on his former MTV show Making The Band. DK consisted of Aundrea Fimbres, Shannon Bee, D. Woods, Aubrey O’Day, and Dawn Richard, who were all determined to prove themselves in the music industry — and they definitely didn’t disappoint.
Their self-titled debut album in 2006 shot straight to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 200, with its lead single “Show Stopper” entering the Top 10, showing clear signs that these girls were well on their way to superstardom.
Their sophomore record, Welcome to the Dollhouse, followed in 2008, and was another hit for the group, reaching the top spot yet again with first-week sales of 236,000 copies, making it the band’s consecutive No. 1 album.
But by the year’s end, things had taken a drastic turn after Bad Boy exec Diddy had shockingly decided to fire Woods and O’Day after the two women had gotten into an argument with the hip hop mogul, leaving the rest of the group to disband shortly after.
But what happened next? Here’s the lowdown…
Aubrey And D. Woods Get Fired
Fans were stunned by Diddy’s decision to fire two members of Danity Kane — particularly since this was already an established group with two No.1 albums under their belt.
Judging by their success, it was evidently clear they had built a generally large following and were doing just as well as the likes of the Pussycat Dolls, who had also experienced mainstream success following the release of their debut album in 2005.
In a 2019 interview with Us Weekly, O’Day recalled the devastating moment she found out she was not returning for a third album with her band members.
“Diddy broke us up in the height of our fame on national television, on MTV. I want to talk about what we’re going through, because I think what Danity Kane has gone through since then is so powerful for women, for people, for artists.
“We have had to learn everything the hard way since we were broken up by [Diddy] on national television.”
After a six-year break, in August 2013, Danity Kane announced they were working on a comeback, with the exception of D. Woods and Fimbres, who decided to pursue other career ventures.
Just two months before the album was scheduled to hit stores in October 2013, Richard and O’Day had an explosive fight in the recording studio that had allegedly turned physical, according to Daily Mail.
The altercation was believed to have been so intense that both girls refused to continue working with one another, causing the group to split once again.
Still, the album’s release went ahead, but with very little promotion or marketing. While the project was supported by two singles, “Lemonade” ft Tyga and “Rhythm of Love,” DK3 peaked at No. 44 on Billboard’s Hot 200 and was more than likely going to be the band’s final album.
In July 2019, O’Day spoke with Variety about Diddy and how he had tarnished Danity Kane’s future with his decision to fire two of the band’s group members over a disagreement.
“Puff is a very difficult person to work with. Everything had to be perfect,” she told the publication. “I remember times where he looked at my toenails and was like, ‘What is your third toenail doing? Go get that sh– fixed before you walk into a room.’
“Or we would be in rehearsals performing an hour-and-a-half set over and over and he would walk in for five minutes with a camera and say, ‘Aubrey, why are you sweating? You look like a wet dog. You’re the hot one, so do you think anyone wants to see that?’”
O’Day added that a lot of the girls lived in fear during their time in Danity Kane because nobody wanted to make Diddy angry or — even worse — find out they were not invited back to record another album with the band they practically started.
“We were scared to death with what would happen with Puff each day,” she added. “There was just no room for error. Diddy was one of the most intense people you could ever work with.
“I experienced everything from race [remarks] to sexism and a lot of it was scary. I have a very strong mom who wasn’t necessarily a nurturer and I remember one time as a kid I hit my knee and as it was bleeding everywhere, she said, ‘Suck it up Aubrey!’ That was proper training for what I would experience on ‘Making the Band.’”
In 2020, it was confirmed that Danity Kane had officially disbanded for good, which saddened a lot of fans, but a few of the girls are still working on solo projects, such as Richard, who released her sixth album Second Line: An Electro Revival in April 2021.
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