Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (or simply Beyoncé) (born September 4, 1981) is a
popular American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and fashion
designer. Knowles rose to stardom as the founding member and lead singer of R&B
supergroup Destiny's Child. After a series of commercially successful records
with the group, Knowles released her debut solo album, 2003's Dangerously in
Love, which spawned the highly successful hit song "Crazy in Love", and topped
both the R&B and Billboard 200 charts in the U.S., and the main album charts in
Canada and the United Kingdom.
Knowles has won nine Grammy Awards — six for her solo work, and three as a
member of Destiny's Child. She has a successful film career, having co-starred
in Austin Powers in Goldmember, one of the highest grossing films of 2002, and
having worked with Oscar-winning actors in each of her theatrical films.
Early life
Knowles is the elder of two children born to Matthew Knowles and Tina
Beyince in Houston, Texas; her maternal grandparents, Lumis Beyince and Agnes
Dereon (a seamstress), were French-speaking Creoles from Louisiana. Her parents
decided on her first name as a tribute to her mother's surname. By age seven,
she was attending dance school and was a soloist in her church choir. Her dance
instructor took an interest in Knowles, personally taking her star student to
various competitions. Knowles went on to win over 30 local singing and dancing
competitions.
Knowles and her former best friend LaTavia Roberson met Kelly Rowland and LeToya
Luckett. They formed a quartet that would perform in their backyards and in Tina
Knowles' beauty shop. After singing at local events, they got their break when
they entered Star Search . The group, then named "Girl's Tyme" , were
heartbroken after losing the competition. Matthew Knowles, Beyoncé's father and
Rowland's legal guardian, decided to help the girls reach their dreams of
becoming singers. He quit his six figure salary job as a multi-million dollar
equipment salesman at Xerox to manage the group. This decision by Mathew
eventually affected the whole family. Their income had been cut in half, causing
the family to move into two different apartments. When the group was signed to
Columbia in 1996, it gave the entire family a second chance at making things
work.
As a teenager, Knowles attended the High School for the Performing and Visual
Arts in Houston, where she showed her musical talents. She later went to Alief
Elsik High School, also in Houston.
Recording career
Destiny's Child
Destiny's Child was originally signed by Elektra in 1995, but were dropped
before they could release their debut album. The quartet was signed to Columbia
Records the following year, and their career took off. Destiny's Child rose to
fame in 1998 with the Billboard top ten hit, "No, No, No Part 2". Even after
much publicized turmoil involving new and exiting group members, Destiny's Child
(eventually a trio consisting of original members Knowles and Rowland, with
Michelle Williams) managed to become one of the most successful pop/R&B acts of
the late 1990s/early 2000s, earning four number one Billboard Hot 100 singles,
several top ten hits, and two number-one albums. The group also earned number
ones on various other Billboard and non-Billboard charts.
Knowles and Destiny's Child toured as an opening act for TLC before their
self-titled debut album Destiny's Child was released. The band was managed by
her father, Matthew Knowles, who is acknowledged as a strong force in Beyoncé's
life. Knowles is generally regarded as its leader.
Destiny's Child's self-titled debut album (1998) (Knowles in the far right)Their
1998 platinum-selling debut album was produced by Wyclef Jean and Jermaine Dupri
and featured the platinum-selling, number-one Hot 100 single "No, No, No". The
group's second album, The Writing's on the Wall, released in 1999, featured two
number-one hits in "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name". "Bug A Boo" and "Jumpin',
Jumpin'" were also popular singles from the album. "Say My Name" won two awards
at the 2001 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
and Best R&B Song, the latter of which was awarded to the songwriters, which
included Knowles.
Their next album, Survivor, proved to be another big success, going to number
one on both the American Billboard 200 and R&B Albums charts, as well as the
Canadian and the UK album chart. Two singles from the album went to the top of
the Hot 100: "Independent Women Part 1" and "Bootylicious", with the album's
title track reaching number two. In the United Kingdom, the first two tracks
released reached number one consecutively. "Independent Women Part 1" had been
the theme song for the film Charlie's Angels in late 2000, before the album's
2001 release. The title track, "Survivor", would win the group their third
Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. The album's fourth
single, "Emotion", was a cover of the Bee Gees hit of the same name; it
continued the group's impressive string of top ten hits.
In 2001, Knowles won the Songwriter of the Year award from the American Society
of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Pop Music Awards. She is the first African
American woman, and the second woman of any race to win the award.
Destiny's Child's final album, #1's (2005). Beyoncé Knowles (middle of the
three)After the three year hiatus that involved concentration on individual solo
projects, Knowles rejoined Rowland and Williams for Destiny's Child's fourth
(and so far final) studio album, Destiny Fulfilled, released November 2004. The
album hit number two on the Billboard 200 and spawned the hits "Lose My Breath",
"Soldier", "Girl" and "Cater 2 U". The album title itself was a hint that
Destiny Fulfilled may in fact be the last Destiny's Child album and so far that
has been be the case.
In 2005, Destiny's Child embarked on a world tour sponsored by McDonald's
titled, Destiny Fulfilled and Lovin' It, visiting over 70 cities throughout
Australia, Asia, Europe and North America from April to September. On June 13,
2005 it was announced that the group would disband after their world tour ended
in September 2005.
In October 2005, the group released their final album, entitled #1's, including
all of Destiny's Child's number-one hits and most of their well-known songs. The
Greatest Hits collection also includes three new tracks, including "Stand Up for
Love" and "Check on It". The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200
album chart and number six on the UK Top 75 chart. The song "Check on It" was
Knowles's third number one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
In 2005 at the World Music Awards, Destiny's Child were given the award for the
biggest-selling girl group of all time with record sales of over 50 million.
Solo career
During the autumn of 2002, Knowles was the featured vocalist on singer
Jay-Z's smash single, "'03 Bonnie & Clyde". In the spring of 2003, Knowles
remade a duet with the late Luther Vandross, "The Closer I Get to You",
originally made famous by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. In this version, the
vocal parts are switched, with Vandross taking Flack's part and Knowles taking
Hathaway's. The song was included on both her solo debut album and on Vandross's
Dance With My Father album, and the two shared the Grammy for Best R&B
Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
"Dangerously in Love" (2003)In 2003, Knowles released her debut solo album,
Dangerously in Love. Its first single, "Crazy in Love", featured a propulsive
riff and a guest rap from Jay-Z, rapidly becoming one of the biggest hits of
that summer, staying at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for
eight weeks. "Dangerously in Love" went to the top of the album charts in the UK
and Canada, and peaked on both the American Billboard pop (Billboard 200) and
R&B charts. The album has sold over four million copies in U.S. and more than
eight million copies worldwide. When her single and album simultaneously topped
the pop charts in both the U.S. and the UK, she became the first act to achieve
this feat since Men at Work in 1983 and The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and
Rod Stewart in the 1960s and 1970s. Knowles was consequently one of the
biggest-selling R&B artists of 2003, and Dangerously in Love was the 6th
biggest-selling album in the United States.
Knowles in her 2003 music video "Crazy in Love"On the televised celebration of
July 4 in 2003, Knowles provoked controversy with the Grant Memorial Association
for her performance of "Crazy in Love", in which she danced in a "patently
inappropriate" way on the steps of the tomb of President Ulysses S. Grant.
Grant's great-grandsons Ulysses Grant Dietz and Chapman Foster Grant spoke up on
Knowles' behalf. "The way the world is now, who cares?" said Chapman Grant, "who
knows? If the old guy were alive, he might have enjoyed it".
Towards the end of the summer, "Baby Boy", Dangerously in Love's second single,
which featured dancehall star Sean Paul, began to climb the charts. It went on
to become one of the biggest hits of 2003, dominating radio airplay in the
autumn of 2003, and spending nine weeks at number one — one week longer than
"Crazy in Love".
Fresh from the success of "Baby Boy", Knowles released her third solo single,
"Me, Myself and I" towards the end of 2003; Dangerously in Love's fourth single,
"Naughty Girl", came out in mid-2004. Both songs peaked at number three,
respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100.
At the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony, Knowles won a record-tying five Grammy
awards for her solo effort. These awards included Best Female R&B Vocal
Performance for "Dangerously in Love 2", and Best Contemporary R&B Album. The
other female artists who hold this record are Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah
Jones. She also won a Brit Award in 2004 for Best International Female Solo
Artist in United Kingdom which made her the first female solo artist to have won
prominent awards both domestically and internationally in the same year.
In December 2005, Knowles released a new song, "Check on It", featuring Slim
Thug. The song is from the Destiny's Child album, #1's and the The Pink Panther
soundtrack and is Knowles's sixth top five hit and third number one.
At the 2006 Grammy Awards, Knowles won a Grammy in the category of Best R&B
Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals for the song "So Amazing", a duet with
Stevie Wonder for Luther Vandross tribute album So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute
To Luther Vandross.
Knowles is currently hard at work on her sophomore solo album. She has been
working 12-hour days so she can complete her new album which will be released
September 12, 2006.
Film career
In 2001, Knowles, without any previous experience, turned to acting,
starring alongside actor Mekhi Phifer in the MTV made for television movie
Carmen: A Hip Hopera.
In the summer of 2002, Knowles co-starred in the film Austin Powers in
Goldmember, playing Foxxy Cleopatra opposite Mike Myers as Austin Powers. The
film is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Highest-Grossing Box
Office Film Comedy. Knowles also recorded a song called "Work It Out" for the
film's soundtrack. "Work It Out" was a top-ten hit in the UK and a top-forty hit
in the Netherlands, Australia, and Ireland, despite being Knowles's biggest
commercial disappointment to date in the U.S, where radio stations barely played
the song and the video received very minor exposure, playing only on digital
video channels, MTV Jams and VH1 Soul.
In 2003, Knowles starred opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the film The Fighting
Temptations, and recorded a song for it called "Fighting Temptation", with
rappers Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free. Unlike Knowles's own singles, the song
did not become popular, although the film was a moderate success at the box
office.
Knowles co-starred in the film The Pink Panther, playing the role of Xania, an
international pop singer, opposite Steve Martin, who plays Inspector Clouseau.
The film was released on February 10, 2006 and was #1 at the box office on
opening weekend [9]. With Austin Powers in Goldmember and The Pink Panther,
Knowles now has starred in two films that opened at #1 at he box office; her
films have grossed over $438,025,632 worldwide.
Knowles has completed filming the movie Dreamgirls, about a 1960s singing group
loosely based on The Supremes, as the Diana Ross-based character Deena Jones.
The film is scheduled for release on December 22, 2006.
Philanthropy
Knowles, music producer David Foster, and his daughter, Amy Foster Gillies,
wrote Destiny's Child's single "Stand Up for Love" for World Children's Day, an
event which takes place annually around the world on November 20 to raise
awareness and funds for children's causes worldwide. Destiny's Child lent their
voices and support as global ambassadors for the 2005 World Children's Day
program.
Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland, along with Matthew Knowles, Tina Knowles, and sister
Solange Knowles recently announced the formation of the Survivor Foundation, a
charitable entity set up for the purpose of providing transitional housing for
Hurricane Katrina victims and storm evacuees in the Houston, Texas area. The
Survivor Foundation extends the philanthropic mission of the "Knowles-Rowland
Center For Youth", a multi-purpose community outreach facility in downtown
Houston.
Discography
Albums
Dangerously in Love (2003)
Untitled (September 12, 2006)
Hit singles
The following singles reached the top ten in the United States and/or the United
Kingdom. Also included are the peak positions in Canada, Australia and on the
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
Year Title Peak positions
US Hot 100 US R&B/Hip-Hop UK singles CAN singles AUS singles NZ singles
2002 "Work It Out" 7 21
2003 "'03 Bonnie & Clyde" (with Jay-Z) 4 5 2 4 3
2003 "Crazy in Love" (featuring Jay-Z) 1 1 1 2 2 3
2003 "Baby Boy" (featuring Sean Paul) 1 1 2 2 3 3
2004 "Me, Myself, and I" 4 2 11 7 11 14
2004 "Naughty Girl" 3 8 10 2 9 6
2005 "Check on It" (featuring Slim Thug) 1 3 3 20 1
Filmography
Beyoncé, center, in Austin Powers in Goldmember, as Foxxy CleopatraYear Title
Role Other notes
2006 Dreamgirls Deena Jones December 22, 2006 Release. Finished filming and is
now in Post-Production.
2006 The Pink Panther Xania Debuted at #1; $81,954,023 domestic gross, as of
4/09/06
2004 Fade To Black Herself Music Documentary
2003 The Fighting Temptations Lilly Debuted at #3 est. grossed $32,000,000
worldwide source
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember Foxxy Cleopatra Debuted at #1; grossed
$296,633,000 worldwide source
2001 Carmen: A Hip Hopera Carmen Brown straight to TV & DVD
Awards
Endorsements and products
House of Dereon - Her clothing line, named after her maternal grandmother, is
sold in LeToya Luckett's boutique, Lady Elle, in Houston,as well all major US
Department Stores.
Pepsi
L'Oréal
Tommy Hilfiger fragrances
True Star — 2004
True Star Gold — 2005
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