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Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (born September 4, 1981) is a popular American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, and fashion designer. Beyoncé rose to stardom as a founding member of R&B group Destiny's Child. After a series of commercially successful records with the group, she released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003), which spawned the highly successful 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. Beyoncé 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 and co-starred in Austin Powers in Goldmember, one of the highest-grossing films of 2002.

Beyoncé released her second solo album, B'Day, on September 4, 2006 around the world and September 5, 2006 in the United States, to coincide with the celebration of her twenty-fifth birthday.

Early life

Beyoncé is the elder of two daughters born to Mathew Knowles and Tina Beyince in Houston, Texas. Her father is African American and her mother is an African American of Creole descent . Her maternal grandparents, Lumis Beyince and Agnes Dereon (a seamstress), were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles.[2] Her parents decided on her first name as a tribute to her mother's surname. Her sister is Solange Knowles, an actress and a singer. By age seven, she was attending dance school and was a soloist in her church choir. Her dance instructor took an interest in Knowles and took her star student to various competitions. Knowles went on to win over 30 local singing and dancing competitions.

Beyoncé 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' hair salon. After singing at local events, they got their break when they entered Star Search [3]. The group, then named "Girl's Tyme" [4], 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 [5]. 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, Beyoncé 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.

Destiny's Child

Main article: Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child were 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 of Michelle Williams and original members Knowles and Rowland) became one of the most successful R&B/pop acts of the late 1990s/early 2000s, charting 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.

File:Destiny's child (album).jpg
Destiny's Child's self-titled debut album (1998) (Knowles on 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, Beyoncé won the Songwriter of the Year award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Pop Music Awards.

File:Dc1s.jpg
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, Beyoncé 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 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.[6]

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". The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart and number six on the UK Top 75 chart.

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. When Houston hosted the 55th NBA All-Star weekend in 2006, Destiny's Child peformed a version of Starred Spangled Banner as one of their last performances together.

Solo career

During the autumn of 2002, Beyoncé was the featured vocalist on rapper Jay-Z's hit single, "'03 Bonnie & Clyde". In the spring of 2003, Beyoncé 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 that same year.

Dangerously in Love

File:Beyonce - Dangerously in Love - Album.jpg
Beyoncé on her solo debut Dangerously In Love (2003)

In 2003, Beyoncé released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love. The album entered the Billboard 200 at No.1 selling 317,000 copies in its first week. It was certified Platinum just one month later on July 29, 2003. 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 over eleven million copies worldwide [7]. 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 - thus becoming the first and so far, the only female artist to do so. Beyoncé was consequently one of the biggest-selling artists of 2003. [8]

File:CrazyinLoveCap2.JPG
Knowles in her 2003 music video "Crazy in Love"

Towards the end of the summer, "Baby Boy", Dangerously in Love's second single, which featured 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",Beyoncé 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. The songs peaked at number four and three respectively on the Billboard Hot 100.

At the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony, Beyoncé 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. Three other female artists hold this record: 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, Beyoncé released "Check on It", featuring Slim Thug and (in the official remix) Bun B. The song was from the Destiny's Child compilation, #1's and the The Pink Panther soundtrack and it was Knowles' sixth top five hit and third number one.

At the 2006 Grammy Awards, Beyoncé 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 from the Luther Vandross tribute album So Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross.

B'Day

File:Beyoncé - B'Day (2006).jpg
Beyoncé's sophomore album B'Day

B'Day was released worldwide on September 4, 2006 and on September 5, 2006 in the U.S. to celebrate Beyoncé's twenty-fifth birthday. Beyoncé's sophomore studio album includes all new music co-produced, written, and arranged by Beyoncé.[1] "Deja Vu", the album's first single, features Jay-Z with co-production by Rodney Jerkins. Other co-producers on B'Day include Rich Harrison, The Neptunes and Swizz Beatz.Beyoncé finished work on her second studio album in two weeks and has said the album's tracks came to her in a dream.[2]

The first single "Deja Vu" was a top 5 hit in the U.S., a #1 hit on the U.S. R&B chart and peaked at #1 in the UK.

The second single "Ring the Alarm",was leaked on the internet August 8, 2006. The video for "Ring the Alarm" was released on August 16, 2006 on Yahoo.com and peaked at #1. It's also #2 on the iTunes 100 chart.

As a bonus for Japan Beyoncé released an extra track called "Creole" and is Track 11 on the B'day album (Only in Japan).The other Bonus Tracks on the Rest of the World's version of B'day are also included on the Japan version except there are all together in one track .These tracks are - Check on it /Encore for the fans / Listen /Get me bodied (Extended Version). The Bonus track "Creole" might come up as a bonus track on a future cd single .


On August 27 2006, Beyoncé spawned her second UK number one single with "Deja Vu" climbing 20 spots to take the top spot over Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie". Counting her career with Destiny's Child, this becomes her fourth number one single in the UK. She made chart history again when "Deja Vu" became the eighth single to climb to the top position from outside the Top 20 (ie. from #21 to #1 for "Deja Vu"). Earlier artists to achieve this climb include The Beatles, Elvis Presley and John Lennon. After the download sales integration in 2005, she effectively becomes the first artist (and the first song) to top the chart from outside the Top 20 and the Top 10, as well as being the highest climber to number one.

MTV's Sway Calloway conducted an in depth TV interview titled All Eyes on Beyoncé. B'Day, the upcoming movie Dreamgirls, and Beyoncé's future career plans as a solo artist were topics discussed. The special aired on MTV on August 16, 2006.

Beyoncé won the MTV Video Music Awards for best R&B video for "Check On It".

Beyonce performed "Deja Vu" with Jay-Z at the annual Fashion Rocks concert on September 8, 2006.

Film career

In 2001, Beyoncé turned to acting, starring alongside actor Mekhi Phifer in the MTV television movie Carmen: A Hip Hopera.

In the summer of 2002, Beyoncé co-starred in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember, playing Foxxy Cleopatra opposite Mike Myers and Michael Caine. The film is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Highest-Grossing Box Office Film Comedy. Beyoncé also recorded the song "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 Beyoncé'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, Beyoncé starred opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the film The Fighting Temptations, and recorded a song for it called "Fighting Temptation", featuring Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free. Unlike Knowles' own singles, the song did not become a hit, although the film was a moderate success at the box office.

Beyoncé 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 its opening weekend [9]. With Austin Powers in Goldmember and The Pink Panther, Knowles now has starred in two films that opened at #1 at the box office; her films have grossed over $481,364,728 worldwide.

Beyoncé has completed filming the movie Dreamgirls, the film adaptation of the hit 1981 Broadway musical 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.[10]

Recently, movie sites have started a possible rumor of Beyoncé returning to the Austin Powers franchise to reprise her role as Foxxy Cleopatra.

Philanthropy

Beyoncé, 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.[11].

Controversy

  • Animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have voiced concern over Beyoncé wearing and using fur in her clothing line, House of Dereon.[12] After winning an online eBay auction, offered by VH1 for the Save the Music Foundation, to dine with Knowles in June 2006, two PETA members confronted the singer at the restaurant in New York City about her use of fur. [13] Knowles did not respond, and the PETA members were escorted out. [14]
  • On August 25, 2006, PETA wrote a letter of concern to Beyoncé, about the actions made to baby alligators in a photoshoot. Knowles spoke to Arena magazine about the photoshoot for Ring the Alarm, where a baby alligator's mouth shut. She told Arena, "There was a shot where I held an alligator. (It) had (its) mouth taped -- that was my bright idea." Knowles added, ""He was really cute, but since his mouth was taped, he didn't have any way to defend himself. He was upset, so he peed on me. That was an experience." The organization contacted a biologists, who wrote a letter to Beyoncé. "As a specialist in reptile biology and welfare, I'm concerned about your posing with a terrified baby alligator for your new album cover." He added, "Humans and alligators are not natural bedfellows, and the two should not mix at events such as photo shoots. In my view, doing so is arguably abusive to an animal." [15]
  • Beyoncé and Matthew Knowles have each released statements in which they said that the upcoming release and pre-sale date for Knowles's new album were not set in response to the upcoming release of an album by LeToya Luckett, a former member of the now-defunct Destiny's Child. "I have enormous respect and admiration for LeToya as an artist and a business woman and I wish her incredible success with her debut CD and her career," Beyoncé said. "LeToya and I have known each other since childhood and, because of all we've been through, I know that we both really care -- and want what's best -- for each other." Beyoncé added that she is pleased that LeToya has included House of Deréon (Beyoncé’s clothing label) in her new boutique and it "makes me sad that people are trying to stir up a controversy where there is none." Her father and business manager Matthew Knowles seconded his daughter's remarks. [16]

Discography

For complete discography, see Beyoncé Knowles discography.

Albums

  1. Dangerously in Love (2003)
  2. Live at Wembley CD/DVD (2004)
  3. B'Day (2006)

Number-one singles

The following singles reached number one in the United States Billboard Hot 100 or Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. Their peak positions are shown, along with the peak positions for the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Europe. For a full singles discography, see Beyoncé Knowles discography#Singles.
Year Single Peak positions
U.S. Hot 100 U.S. R&B UK CAN AUS EUR
2003 "Crazy in Love"
(featuring Jay-Z) 		1 1 1 2 2 1
"Baby Boy"
(featuring Sean Paul) 		1 1 2 2 3 4
2005 "Check on It"
(featuring Slim Thug) 		1 3 3 5 — 6
2006 "Deja Vu "
(featuring Jay-Z) 		4 1 1 13 12 2

|-

Filmography

File:Goldmember poster.jpg
Beyoncé, center, in Austin Powers in Goldmember, as Foxxy Cleopatra
Year 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; grossed $158,399,967 worldwide [3]
2004 Fade to Black Herself Music Documentary
2003 The Fighting Temptations Lilly Debuted at #3, grossed $32,445,215 worldwide[4]
2002 Austin Powers in Goldmember Foxxy Cleopatra Debuted at #1; grossed $296,633,907 worldwide[5]
2001 Carmen: A Hip Hopera Carmen Brown television movie & straight-to-DVD

Awards

Further information: Beyoncé Knowles awards and nominations

Endorsements and products

See also

References

  1. ^ [1]
  2. ^ WENN, Beyonce breaks vacation to record Dream album
  3. ^ Box Office Mojo The Pink Panther
  4. ^ Box Office Mojo The Fighting Temptations
  5. ^ Box Office Mojo Austin Powers in Goldmember

Websites

Interviews

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