LaToya "Toya" Martin (born LaToya Lacole Rodriguez; July 22, 1983), better known by her

mononym A mononym is a name composed of only one word. An individual who is known and addressed by a mononym is a mononymous person. In some cases, a mononym selected by an individual may have originally been from a polynym, a word which refers to one o ...

, Toya, is an American R&B singer from St. Louis, Missouri, best known for her 2001 song, " I Do!!", which reached number 16 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Early life and education

Toya was born LaToya Lacole Rodriguez on July 22, 1983, to a Puerto Rican father and an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

mother. She was named after La Toya Jackson. She graduated from Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School in St. Louis County, Missouri.

Career

Toya’s career jump started when Courtney Benson and Tony Davis signed Toya to their production company, Hit City Music Group. The two also managed another St. Louis native, Hip Hop superstar Nelly. They took Toya to Arista Records, where then-label chief L.A. Reid signed her to a major record deal instantly. Toya’s first single " I Do!!" had major chart success. And led to her self-titled debut album later that same year, which landed on the

Billboard 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...

. Her second single was 2002's " No Matta What (Party All Night)". In January 2011, Toya announced via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that she would like to record music again. In April 2013, she stated that she was attempting to record music again.

Personal life

Toya is married to Tamaurice "Tee" Martin, the wide receivers coach for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

. On March 15, 2004, their son Kaden Martin was born. In 2012, Toya gave birth to a second child, another son Cannon, according to her via Twitter.

Discography

Albums

* 2001: '' Toya'' — US #109

Singles

Other appearances

*"Stick Out Ya Wrist" (with

Nelly Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, actor and entrepreneur. He embarked on his music career with the hip hop group St. Lunatics in 1993 and signed to Universal ...

), from the ''

XXX XXX may refer to: Codes and symbols * 30 (number), Roman numeral XXX * XXX, designating pornography ** XXX, an X rating ** .xxx, an internet top-level domain intended for pornographic sites * XXX, a symbol of the straight edge lifestyle * XXX, t ...

'' soundtrack (2002) *"Same Ol Dirty" (with Murphy Lee), from '' Murphy's Law'' (2004) *"I Had A Dream" (with Terror Time), from ''Hard Times In Da Country'' (2006)

References

https://instagram.com/toyamartin

External links

* * 1983 births African-American women singer-songwriters American musicians of Puerto Rican descent Living people Midwest hip hop musicians Musicians from St. Louis People from St. Louis County, Missouri Singer-songwriters from Missouri 21st-century African-American women singers Singer-songwriters from North Dakota {{US-entertainer-stub