Kelly Rowland was 27 when she was pronounced dead. The destiny's child singer was killed in a car accident while on the Asian leg of tour. News stations across America paid tribute to a woman who had sold over 200 million albums worldwide...
"The day I was declared dead was one of the worst of my whole life" says Kelly. One can only sympathise.
She's full of life today, bursting into an East London studio in an eye-catching golden dress to grace the bonnet of a £170,000 Cadillac for our cover.
But the memory of her premature death still knocks the wind out of her sails.
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Kelly Rowland: 'My 'death' freaked me out. You don't get to see how people will react to that. My Mum was hysterical'
"I was on a plane flying to Singapore when my PA told me about a report
that had surfaced on the internet that said I'd been killed. It was beyond surreal; the story came out of nowhere."
Earlier that same day, Kelly's gig in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, had been cancelled because of a terrorist bombing campaign in the city.
Rumour had it that on her way out of the stricken metropolis, she herself had become a victim of the attacks.
An explosion nearby had caused panic among fleeing residents and, in the subsequent dash for safety, it was said, Rowland's car had been involved in a head-on collision, killing her instantly.
"The whole of America thought I was dead but, at first, I had no idea. I heard the first whispers about it when I was about to take off from Jakarta.
"All I wanted to do was get off the plane and call my family but the crew wouldn't let me. When I landed in Singapore, I called my mum straight away. She was hysterical. As soon as she heard my voice, she burst into tears.
"Her friends had been calling her and the more people call you, the more scared you get."
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'Men are always wondering where they would fit in... so I could only be with someone who is secure in themselves,' says Kelly
Kelly, a self-confessed BlackBerry addict, had been unable to use her lifeline to home as it was broken, so she had been out of touch with her close friends, including Destiny's Child partners Beyoncé and Michelle Williams, for a couple of days.
That was enough to start the rumour that spread around the world.
"It freaked me out. You don't often get to see how people react to your death. It was so horrible for my mum and sister."
We are momentarily distracted from her recollections of this fateful day when I look up and see that an 18st member of Kelly's sizeable entourage is pounding towards me.
He's got a bag of McDonald's food in one hand and a BlackBerry in the other. His Texan accent booms, "It's for you…" at Kelly as the phone is thrust toward her.
At this point, Miss Rowland switches to another persona – that of a hugely successful, no-nonsense businesswoman.
During our interview she's been gracious, warm, humble and giggly.
She's also disarmingly pretty with a striking figure, but now, speaking on her phone, she's got her industry head on and it's fascinating to watch her in action.
She's dishing out demands and clarifying her position with the precision of an Atlanta actuary.
I don't mean she's coldly calculating; Kelly appears to be one of life's relentlessly upbeat people.
But it's clearly her business head that helped the Destiny's Child money machine roll out everything from singing toothbrushes to Kelly-branded underwear.
Today, her fortune is estimated at £15 million but it was a different story when she was growing up.
She was just seven when her mother fled with her to Texas to escape her alcoholic father.
She has never heard from him since.
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Destiny's Child, left to right: Kelly, Beyonce Knowles and Michelle Williams
"I have no idea if he knows who I am or what I've done – he must have been hiding under a rock if he doesn't," she says.
"I hope he's not dead – that would break my heart. But I'm not distraught over the situation. It's one that happens every day to lots of people."
Kelly really is destiny's child, it seems; her flight to an impoverished quarter of Houston shaped her future.
The church made the family feel at home and introduced them to the Knowles: Matthew and Tina and their daughters Beyoncé and Solange, all respected members of the black community.
Beyoncé and Kelly bonded over their love of The Supremes and The Spice Girls ("they showed us how a girl band could also be businesswomen"), and they formed a group with neighbours LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett.
"From that point on we were always together. We didn't have time for boys. We had a great work ethic and even when we were 14 or 15, we didn't take any **** from anyone."
The band toiled in local talent competitions – this was before the days of nationwide exposure through reality shows such as X Factor – before eventually signing to Columbia Records in late 1996.
Two years on, they had a worldwide smash with No, No, No.
Beyoncé's father, Matthew, had given up his job as a Xerox salesman to manage the band, but Roberson and Luckett said he was keeping a disproportionate share of the profits.
An argument led finally, in 2000, to them being replaced with new member Michelle Williams.
The band would go on to become the most successful R&B act of the decade, amassing a £50 million fortune.
You'd expect someone who has arguably lived her whole life in the shadow of her bandmate, Beyoncé, to be reticent on the subject, but Kelly is clearly comfortable with her closest ally.
At every mention of "Bouncy" (as Kelly calls her), a huge smile spreads across her face.
"Let me tell you, Beyoncé is a total slob. When we were on tour or when we lived together, she'd leave her clothes and her knickers lying everywhere. I'm a clean freak, so I'd always be picking up after her."
In 2002, during a hiatus in the band's career, Kelly launched herself as a solo artist with the album Simply Deep.
The first single was the global No 1 Dilemma, a collaboration with rapper Nelly that recalled the soulful duets of Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye.
"I was worried I would fail but if you don't take a gamble, you won't get any rewards," she says.
She pushed herself further in 2003 when she appeared in her first movie, the horror film Freddy vs Jason, which saw the gruesome twosome from Nightmare On Elm Street and Friday The 13th come together.
"I'm completely terrified of horror movies and everyone on set knew that, so they'd play tricks on me.
"In one scene, the director had Jason burst through a door near me without telling me it was going to happen.
"He said he wanted to ensure I looked really scared."
Being a horror film, she naturally came to a sticky end.
"Jason threw me up a tree and impaled me and I slid down it with blood streaming everywhere – down my face and body. It was great. I'd do another in a heartbeat."
Her alarming levels of enthusiasm stretch to all things British, including our food and street fashion ("I'm here once a month. I'm ready to get a place here"), so it's unfortunate we don't have a British car for her to drape herself over.
"I might buy a Cadillac one day," she says looking at our gleaming pink prop.
"They are just so very sexy. But to be honest I prefer a big truck like a Range Rover. I drive one when I'm at home. I'm totally a Texas girl at heart. Put me in a cowboy hat behind the wheel of a massive truck and I'm happy."
But what about driving a gas-guzzler when the rest of the world is going green?
"Driving a truck has been my dream since I was a little girl. My car's like my baby, it means everything to me. I think about her every day. My sister's hugely into environmental stuff, and gives me a lot of heartache about it.
"She's got a Lexus Hybrid car but that thing doesn't look fun. When Range Rover makes a hybrid I'll go green. Until then, my apologies to Planet Earth."
Politics has always been a controversial area for Kelly. "There is a perception that I'm a supporter of George Bush.
"A long time ago, the band did a charity event and he was there but that doesn't mean I support him.
"People made out we were playing for him but back then we would play anywhere for anyone. Once we gigged at a day-care centre for about six kids... So we weren't backing Bush, we were backing our fans. He just happened to be in the audience."
Kelly's entourage begin to circle, chattering BlackBerrys and beeping mobiles in tow – she's got a jet waiting to whisk her off to Geneva for an awards ceremony.
But first, I need to talk about our particular elephant in the room – those distracting curves of hers that rival those of even Beyoncé.
She recently went public with news that she has had a boob job.
"I went from an A-cup to a B-cup," she says.
"I didn't want to have double Ds with my small frame – that would look nuts!"
She denies the rumour she did it to compete with the famously curvaceous Beyoncé.
Rather, Kelly says she had her eye on a dress.
"I was sick of not fitting into my tops and there was this really hot one I just wanted to fill out."
Not that even these drastic changes have helped her find a man.
"I'm single at the moment," she says.
Her father's struggles with alcohol have made her wary of potential partners.
"I'm not afraid of alcohol but I wouldn't choose a man who indulges in it. I wouldn't want my kids to go through what I did."
I suggest that it's because of all the extra zeros on her bank balance – men are intimidated by her. She agrees.
"Men are always wondering where they would fit in," she says.
"So I could only be with someone who is secure in themselves. I want a man who is comfortable with me giving things to him.
"I'm the kind of girl who's constantly buying presents, so if you're going to be with me you're going to have to deal with being spoilt." The queue starts here.
• Kelly Rowland's new single 'Daylight' is out on May 5.
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