What The Most Memorable Stars Of Diddy's Making The Band Are Doing Now

This article discusses domestic violence and child abuse.

MTV's "Making The Band" series began in 2000, spanning 12 seasons of wannabe artists fighting for their rightful spot on Sean "Diddy" Combs' record label. Year after year Diddy put singers to the test, putting them through serious boot camps to see who had what it took to be the next best star. Epic rap battles, sing-offs, and explosive arguments were just some of the many obstacles contestants overcame to avoid being sent home. If they made it to the end, they signed on to Diddy's label Bad Boy Records as either a solo act or as part of a group handpicked by the rapper.

"Making The Band" saw many careers take off, with each season focused on a different act of musicians. From O-Town and Da Band to Danity Kane and Day 26, several talented groups landed hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Diddy proved he could make a band, but could he make one last? If his track record has anything to do with it, the music producer does a better job of creating good reality television than creating stars. We haven't forgotten about Season 2 when the Bad Boy Records CEO had potential band members walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to get him a slice of cheesecake — an iconic moment in reality television history. But aside from Puff Daddy's outlandish requests, several artists achieved mainstream success — and some bandmates have even reunited and gone on tour since their cutthroat "Making The Band" days. We're taking a look at what the most memorable stars of the show are doing now.

Aubrey O'Day made her dramatic exit from Danity Kane in 2008 after Diddy claimed fame had taken its toll on the girl he had once signed four years prior. According to the Bay Boy Records CEO, O'Day had gotten caught up in the limelight, and her changed attitude was the reason for him firing the artist. "Tonight is a representation of the end of a chapter in my life; it's not the end of the book," the singer said told MTV prior to the Season 3 finale.

It wasn't the end of O'Day's book by a long shot. The artist went on to have a long career, but she was known more for her appearances across several reality television shows than she was for her vocals. In 2011, the Oxygen series, "All About Aubrey," documented her rocky attempt at a musical comeback, and the artist found several other television outlets to catch her fall. She starred in "Celebrity Apprentice" the same year, and claimed producers encouraged her to show more skin for Donald Trump's approval. "I would have been sent home if I didn't start looking hotter in the eyes of all mighty one that's now our president," she alleged on "Andy Cohen's Then and Now," during Trump's presidency.

In 2015, she starred in the E! Series "Famously Single" where she met fellow reality star Pauly D. The pair dated for over a year and starred in "Marriage Bootcamp: Reality Stars" before splitting up in 2017.

Shannon Bex got her start in 2005 when she was selected by Diddy to be a part of the girl group, Danity Kane. After releasing three successful studio albums, the band members called it quits on their joint musical career just four years later. Shannon went on to reunite with some of her former bandmates, Aubrey O'Day and Dawn Richard, to release the track "Lemonade" featuring Tyga in 2014. The newly formed group DK3 was launched that year without D. Woods and Aundrea Fimbres, and the three members went on a nationwide tour in 2018. 

DK3 never came close to reaching the same amount of success that Danity Kane had skyrocketed to in the early 2000s. Putting music on the back burner, Shannon decided to delve into a completely new career following the DK3 tour in 2018. "Singing and dancing weren't the whole of me," she admitted in an interview with Forbes, revealing she returned to the drawing board about what to do with her life following a multi-platinum career as an artist. 

She ultimately followed the lead of her brother Marshall Bex, who came to her with an idea for a streaming platform that brings storybooks to life in videos that have kids reading along. In 2018, Vooks was born, taking popular children's books and transforming them into a creative visual experience. "I feel every day is like Christmas morning," Shannon said of her new career. "And it's great to be part of something positive in this world right now."

After "Danity Kane" officially disbanded in 2009, Aundrea Fimbres went on to put her successful music career behind her. The star, along with bandmate D. Woods, was absent from the 2014 track "Lemonade" which featured Shannon Bex, Dawn Richard, and Aubrey O'Day reuniting after an eight-year hiatus. Per Billboard, the artist announced onstage that she would not be joining her former bandmates for a comeback tour in 2014, saying, "Two dreams of mine have been to be a singer and be on stage like this and to have a family. In a couple months, that's all coming true. I've gotten to do some amazing things with Danity Kane, but it's time for me to start the next chapter in my life."

Fimbres did go on to make some new music after she was featured in Dawn Richard's 2015 single "Phoenix," but nowadays the former Danity Kane star is focused on being a wife and mother. The artist is married to Joey Perez and has traded performances for a more domesticated life alongside her husband and his daughter from a previous relationship. "Four years down! Happy Anniversary," Fimbres wrote in an Instagram post celebrating her marriage to Perez in 2018. "No stage could ever compete with the love that I have found." The artist has gone quiet on her social media since 2019. As of this writing, her last Instagram post was a birthday tribute to her stepdaughter. 

What's a girl band without a little drama? In 2014, a Danity Kane reunion was put to an abrupt halt following an altercation between Dawn Richard and Aubrey O'Day. Per Billboard, the latter bandmate shared an open letter with fans that claimed a fight had broken out in the recording studio, leading Richards to land a single direct punch on O'Day. She wrote, in part, "During a recent group meeting, a business conversation took a turn for the worst when my group member punched me in the back of my head while I was speaking to another associate." Shannon Bex appeared to corroborate her bandmate's story with her own note, writing, "All I know is what I have seen. I did not witness a shouting match, a catfight, or a brawl. I witnessed a single direct punch." 

As for Richard's account, she revealed in an interview with The Breakfast Club (via HipHollywood) that her bandmates had been secretly recording her vocal parts behind her back. "They told me they had studio the next day, and they went in the day before," Richard said, adding that the former Danity Kane stars were tracking the ad-libs she was supposed to record herself. "I blacked out," Richard revealed of the confrontation between her and O'Day, confirming it was a single punch and not an all-out brawl that incited within the studio. She added that although O'Day did file a police report, she opted not to press charges against her.

In 2008, D. Woods' decision to speak her mind in a discussion about Danity Kane's future with Diddy led to the artist being fired alongside her bandmate Aubrey O'Day. Despite her leaving behind the girl group that brought her immense fame, Woods went on to launch her own career as a solo artist. Following Danity Kane's disbandment in 2009, the star released her premiere single "Legalize Me," launching herself as a solo artist under her own record label Woodgrane Entertainment. She went on to perform at several high-profile events, including the 2009 NBA Play Offs Eastern Conference Finals where she sang the U.S. National Anthem, as well as the Pre-Grammy Awards Roots Jam session.

With her career as a solo artist achieving success, including some Grammy nominations, Woods elected to focus on her solo career rather than reunite with her former band members. When Danity Kane reunited for the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, the singer was absent from the event, taking to Twitter to reveal she would not be coming back to the band. "For the past couple of years, myself and the other DK members have been working on other projects individually, such as music, film, television, theater, and philanthropy and I have recently signed on to several projects that will have me committed for the next year." Tellingly, she ended the tweet by promoting her latest single, "Gold Mine," and the artist has continued to make and release new music ever since.

In 2006, during Season 4 of "Making The Band," Diddy formed the group, Day26. The group was made up of Robert Curry, Brian Andrews, Willie Taylor, Qwanell Mosley, and Michael McCluney, and they launched to success at the same time that Season 3's Danity Kane released their first album. Day26 topped the charts with their hit single "Got Me Going" off their 2008 debut album "Day26." 

After six years of making music together, the band decided to call it quits and attempt careers as solo artists. But what the public saw as a disbanding, the band members saw as an opportunity to grow. "We didn't really break up, we were taking a break. We weren't at each other's throats, group members didn't have issues. We just needed time away to grow and be with our families. Some of us needed to grow musically," Andrews told The Source. 

All five members of the boy band reunited to release an EP together in 2017, which led to a ten-year reunion tour after initial reunion shows sold out in a matter of hours. "Of course, we have our anniversary every year, but ten is just something special. Each anniversary we usually call each other to talk about it, but this one is special," Taylor told Billboard in 2017. The band members returned to the studio again in 2022, and announced more music to come following their 15-year reunion.

Donnie Klang was one of the few solo acts that Diddy chose to take on during the many seasons of "Making The Band." The star was one of the singers groomed for international success during Season 4 of the hit show, featured alongside the band members of Day26. He went on to launch his debut album "Just A Rolling Stone" in 2008, going on tour will Day26 and Danity Kane following his album release. 

Klang strayed from the limelight following his "Making The Band" days, but he still continued to work in the industry, releasing the single "Say You Won't Let Go" in 2017 and "Remember When" two years later. The artist went on to start his own recording studio, co-founding Loft Sound Studio alongside his production partner and bestie, Matthew LaPorte. As well as boasting clients like Jason Derulo and Madison Beer, the duo also utilize their vast industry expertise in helping to nurture the talent of people who may not know how to make a career out of their musical gifts.

Klang has gone on to have a family of his own while launching his own musical endeavors. The Brooklyn native is married to his wife Melissa, and the pair share two daughters together, Tatum and Paige.

Erik-Michael Estrada was a part of "Making The Band" in Season 1 which was originally shepherded by disgraced music mogul Lou Pearlman before Diddy took over as the series ring leader from the show's second iteration onwards. Estrada was a member of O-Town, alongside band members Trevor Penick, Jacob Underwood, Dan Miller, and Ashley Parker Angel. The group achieved mega-success with three million albums sold and two number-one hit tracks following their launch to stardom in 2000. 

The group broke up in 2003 (and later came back together in 2019), and Estrada moved to Los Angeles to try his hand at acting. However, it wasn't until 2014 that he started to land jobs in indie fare, including a lead role in "The Bang Bang Brothers," and a supporting role in the ensemble boy-band-zombie-western, "Dead 7," alongside pop royalty like Nick Carter and A.J. McLean of the Backstreet Boys and *NSync's Joey Fatone (and no, your eyes don't need adjusting — the film is somehow very much real).

Since their split, Estrada and several of his former bandmates have gotten back together to make music as O-Town once again. All of the original band members except for Ashley Park Angel reunited to release "Lines & Circles" in 2014, nearly 15 years after they first made music together. "We all wound up in the same place, and we were able to get done what we needed to get done to reunite. At that point, things didn't seem so far-fetched anymore," Estrada told Glamour at the time.

Ashley Parker Angel was another one of "Making The Band's" success stories following his time on the show in Season 1, having been selected to join O-Town. The band's music was met with immediate success when the group's debut album went triple-platinum and their hit singles topped the charts. After becoming an international sensation and even opening for the likes of Britney Spears, the group split to pursue their respective solo careers, as is the pattern with most boy bands.

While O-Town officially reunited in 2014 and continues to tour and release new music as of the time of writing, Angel is notably absent from the group. Years prior, the artist had decided that reuniting with his former bandmates wasn't in the cards. "O-Town was one of the greatest chapters of my life, so when the idea of a reunion was brought to me, of course, I was intrigued," the artist told TMZ in 2011. "However I have made the decision not to be a part of an O-Town reunion. It was a difficult decision, but ultimately necessary to move on with the next chapter of my career." Angel went on to document the start of his solo career in 2006 on his MTV reality show "There And Back." After releasing his own solo album, he went on to enjoy a Broadway career, starring in "Hairspray" in 2008 as well as "Wicked" in 2018. 

R&B singer Sara Stokes rose to fame when she was selected by Diddy in 2002 to be a part of Da Band. She was featured on "Making The Band" Season 2, ultimately making the cut to be in the music group alongside Chopper Young City, E. Ness, Babs, Freddy P., and Dylan Dilinjah. Sadly, their success was short-lived, as Diddy pulled the plug on the band during the 2004 "Making the Band," finale, shortly after the release of their debut album "Too Hot for T.V." In a statement published by AP (via Entertainment Weekly), he expressed that he was frustrated by the band's lack of professionalism and constant squabbles.

During her time on "Making The Band," Stokes appeared to be constantly at odds with her band members due to the demands of her then-husband Tony. Per the Detroit Free Press, the two were accused of being involved in several incidents of domestic violence against each other from 2009 onwards, culminating in Stokes serving 93 days in prison for violating her probation agreement, per TMZ. In the BET reality show, "From the Bottom Up" (via Madame Noir) she claimed it was unfair that she served time while her husband did not. 

Tony acknowledged that their relationship could be violent, telling the Detroit Free Press, "A lot of that stems from her childhood and from my childhood." Speaking to the outlet, Stokes revealed that she had experienced repeated sexual abuse as a child. In 2014, the two split when Tony filed for divorce from Stokes, per TMZ.

If you or someone you know may be the victim of child abuse, please contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child (1-800-422-4453) or contact their live chat services.

If you or someone you know is dealing with domestic abuse, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.

Dylan Dilinjah was another member of Diddy's R&B group Da Band which was formed following Season 2 of "Making The Band" in 2002. While he may have gone down in history by being spoofed by Dave Chappelle, Dilinjah wasn't thrilled about seeing himself on television. "I hated watching myself because you don't see how you are until you watch yourself," he told Essence. 

Still, the grind paid off for Dilinjah as a solo act, and following the disbanding of Da Band in the early 2000s, he went on to pursue his own career. His 2017 album "Pain 2 Power" even earned him Grammy consideration. "I was very Kanye on this one where I wanted perfection," he admitted to Essence. "We're in consideration right now. It's not a nomination yet, but we're in consideration for a Grammy." Dilinjah has continued to release singles with the track "Just Like You" debuting in 2020. 

Once upon a time, he had talked to Kanye West about a potential collaboration with Da Band, but his bandmates shut down the idea at the time. The group also had an opportunity to work with Will.I.Am, which they also turned down. "The Will.i.am sound wasn't with them and they all left the room," he told Essence. "The only people left was me and Sara, then Sara left and it was just me and Will.I.Am was like, 'I love what you're doing, but if the whole group is not doing it what can I do?'"