| Beyoncé |

|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles |
| Born |
September 4 1981 (1981--) (age 26)
Houston, Texas, United States |
| Genre(s) |
R&B |
| Occupation(s) |
Singer, songwriter, record producer, music video director, actress, dancer, fashion designer |
| Years active |
1990–present |
| Label(s) |
Columbia, Sony Urban Music |
Associated
acts |
Destiny's Child, Jay-Z |
| Influences |
The Chi-Lites, En Vogue, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Karen Clark Sheard, Vanessa Williams, Janet Jackson, Michael Jackson, Prince, Diana Ross, Donna
Summer, TLC, Tina Turner, Mary J. Blige |
| Website |
www.beyonceonline.com |
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (IPA pronunciation: [bi.jɑn.ˈseɪ][1])
(born September 4 1981) is an American R&B singer,
songwriter, record producer, music video director, actress, dancer, and fashion designer. Knowles rose to fame as the creative force
and lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny's
Child, the world's best-selling female group of all time.[2][3][4]
After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, Knowles released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, in June 2003. The album became one of the biggest commercial successes of
the year, topping the album charts in the U.S. and the UK. It also spawned the number-one
singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby
Boy" and earned Knowles five Grammy Awards in a single night in 2004. Knowles' second album B'Day was released worldwide on
September 4 2006, coinciding with her twenty-fifth birthday.
The album spawned the UK number-one singles "Déjà Vu" and "Beautiful Liar", as well as the worldwide hit "Irreplaceable",
which reached number one in several countries. It also earned Knowles her seventh solo Grammy Award (she has won ten in
total).
Knowles also achieved success in the film industry, starring in such Hollywood films as the 2006 comedy The Pink Panther and the 2006 musical film Dreamgirls, which earned her two Golden Globe Award
nominations—one for acting and other for the song "Listen".
Early life
Knowles is the elder of two daughters born to Mathew and Tina Knowles in Houston, Texas. Her
parents decided on her first name as a tribute to her mother's maiden name.[5] Her maternal grandparents, Lumis Beyincé and Agnéz Deréon (a
seamstress), were French-speaking Louisiana Creoles.[5] She is the older sister of Solange Knowles, cousin
to Angela Beyincé (her personal assistant and song co-writer), and aunt to Solange's son
Daniel Julez Smith, Jr. By age seven, she was attending dance school and was a soloist in
her church's choir. Her dance instructor took an interest in
Knowles and took her star student to various competitions. Knowles went on to win over thirty local singing and dancing
competitions.
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, in the Alief
neighborhood of Houston.
Destiny's Child
-
Knowles and her childhood best friends LaTavia Roberson and Kelly Rowland along with LeToya Luckett formed a quartet that would perform in their backyards and at Tina Knowles' hair salon. After singing at local events,
they got their break when they entered Star Search.[6] The group, then named "Girl's Tyme",[7] were disappointed after losing the competition. Mathew Knowles, Knowles' 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.[8] 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 Records in 1996, it gave the entire family a second chance at making things work.
The group underwent several name changes—Girl's Tyme, The Dolls, Something Fresh, and Cliché—before sticking with Destiny's
Child, based on a passage from the Book of Isaiah in the Bible. After making their recording debut with "Killing Time" for the soundtrack to the 1997 film
Men in Black, the group rose to fame in 1998 with the Billboard Hot 100 top five, R&B number-one single "No, No, No Part 2". Even after much-publicized turmoil involving the departure of
LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson, Destiny's Child (eventually a trio) became one of the most successful
R&B/pop acts of the early 2000s, charting four Billboard Hot 100 number-one
singles, several top ten hits, and two number-one albums.
Their platinum-selling debut album, Destiny's Child, released in 1998,
was produced by Wyclef Jean and Jermaine Dupri and
featured the double platinum number-one single "No, No, No Part 2". The group's second album, The Writing's on the Wall, released in 1999, featured the number-one hits
"Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name",
besides the popular singles "Bug a Boo" and "Jumpin'
Jumpin'". It went on to sell eight million in the U.S. and twelve million copies worldwide. Furthermore, "Say My Name" won
two awards at the 2001 Grammy Awards: "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with
Vocals" and "Best R&B Song".
Their following album, Survivor, proved to be another big
success, going to number one on both the U.S. Billboard 200 and the
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, as well as the Canadian and the UK Albums Charts. Two singles from the
album went to the top of the Hot 100: "Independent Women Part I" and
"Bootylicious", while "Survivor", the album's
title track, reached number two and "Nasty Girl", the final single,
missed the chart. In the United Kingdom, the first two tracks released reached number one consecutively. "Independent Women Part
I" had been the theme song for the 2000 film Charlie's Angels, before the
album's release. The title track, "Survivor", earned the group their third Grammy Award, "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or
Group with Vocals". The album has sold over ten million copies worldwide.
In 2001, Knowles won the "Songwriter of the Year" award from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Pop Music
Awards, becoming the first African-American female and second overall female songwriter
of all time to accomplish this.
After the three-year journey 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 in November 2004. The album hit number two on the
Billboard 200 and spawned the hits "Lose My Breath", "Soldier", "Girl", and
"Cater 2 U". It has sold seven million copies worldwide.
In 2005, Destiny's Child embarked on a world tour sponsored by McDonald's titled
Destiny Fulfilled ... And Lovin' It, visiting over seventy
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". The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and
number seven on the UK Albums Chart. #1's went on to sell three million copies worldwide.
Solo career
During the autumn of 2002, Knowles was the featured vocalist on rapper Jay-Z's hit single,
"'03 Bonnie & Clyde". In the spring of 2003, Knowles remade a duet with
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' Dance with My Father album, and the two shared the Grammy
Award for "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals" that same year. She has collaborated with Jay-Z on his eight
studio album, Kingdom Come, providing the vocals and the hook for the track entitled
"Hollywood".
Dangerously in Love (2003)
-
In 2003, Knowles released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love. The
album entered the Billboard 200 at number one selling 317,000 copies in its first week. It was certified platinum just
three weeks later on June 22 2003. Its first single, the
funky "Crazy in Love", was a track
constructed around a propulsive riff sampled from The
Chi-Lites' 1970 "Are You My Woman (Tell Me So)" and featured a guest rap from Jay-Z. It rapidly became one of the biggest
hits of that summer, staying at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks. Dangerously in Love went to
the top of the album charts in the UK, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland,
Norway, Greece, and the Philippines, and peaked on both the U.S. Billboard 200 and the R&B chart. The album has sold over
four million copies in the U.S. and over twelve million copies worldwide.[9] When her single and album simultaneously topped the main 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; she is the first and so far the only female artist to do this. Knowles
was consequently one of the biggest-selling artists of 2003.
Towards the end of the summer, "Baby Boy", the second single from Dangerously in
Love, which featured dancehall artist 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". Afterwards, Knowles released her third solo single, "Me, Myself and
I"; Dangerously in Love's fourth and final single, "Naughty
Girl", came out in mid-2004.
At the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony, Knowles won five Grammy Awards for her solo
effort, which included "Best Female R&B Vocal
Performance" for "Dangerously in Love 2", "Best R&B Song" for
"Crazy in Love", and "Best Contemporary R&B Album".
Three other female artists hold this record: Lauryn Hill (1999), Alicia Keys (2002), and Norah Jones (2003). She also won a BRIT Award in 2004 for "International
Female Solo Artist".
In December 2005, Knowles released "Check on It", featuring rappers Slim Thug and (on the official remix) Bun B. The
song was from the Destiny's Child's greatest hits compilation, #1's, and the soundtrack to the 2006 film
The Pink Panther. It was Knowles' sixth top five hit and third
number one in the U.S.
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 from the Luther Vandross tribute album So
Amazing: An All-Star Tribute to Luther Vandross.
B'Day (2006)
-
Knowles' second studio album, B'Day, was released worldwide on September 4, 2006 and on September 5,
2006 in the U.S. to coincide with the celebration of Knowles' twenty-fifth birthday. In its first
week, the album sold more than 541,000 copies in the U.S., immediately coming in at number one, making it her highest first-week
sales as a solo artist. This is also the highest first-week sales of any solo female artist in 2006, a record which used to be
held by pop singer Christina Aguilera whose album Back to Basics sold 346,000 copies in its first week. In the UK, it
debuted at number three with sales of 45,000 copies, and, with combined sales with the deluxe edition, has sold 497,000 copies
and has been certified double platinum. "Déjà Vu", the album's first single,
features Jay-Z and co-production by Rodney Jerkins. Other co-producers on B'Day
included Rich Harrison, The Neptunes, and
Swizz Beatz. Currently, the album has been certified triple platinum in the U.S. for
shipments of over three million copies. The album has had worldwide success selling over seven million copies worldwide.[10]
The album's lead single "Déjà Vu" became a top five hit in the United States and a number-one hit on the U.S. R&B chart
and the UK chart, making it Knowles' second UK number-one single, when it climbed twenty spots to take the top spot over
Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean's "Hips Don't Lie" in the week of August 27, 2006.
The second single, "Ring the Alarm", was leaked to the Internet on August 8, 2006. The video for "Ring the Alarm" was released on August 16, 2006 on Yahoo.com and peaked at
number one on the website's videos chart. "Ring the Alarm" became Knowles' highest-charting single debut, when it debuted at
number twelve on the singles chart but only peaked at number eleven.
Outside North America, "Irreplaceable" was released as the album's second international
single in October 2006. The single debuted at number eighty-seven on the Hot 100—where it would later spend ten consecutive weeks
at number one—and number forty-two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The
song peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart and number one on the
Australian Singles Chart. It also took over on the Irish Singles Chart, peaking at number one in its second week. "Irreplaceable" is her fourth number
one and her eighth top ten hit as a solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, as well as her fourth number-one hit on
the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. In December 2006, a Spanish-language
version of "Irreplaceable", called "Imprescindible", was released.
On December 6, the nominations for the 2007 Grammy
Awards were announced, and Knowles received five, of which she won "Best Contemporary R&B Album".
On February 28, "Beautiful Liar", a duet with
Latin superstar Shakira, and "Upgrade U", Knowles' fifth
collaboration with Jay-Z, were released as the latest singles from B'Day. To promote the new releases, Knowles premiered
music videos for both singles on MTV's Total Request
Live and BET's 106 &
Park on February 28, 2007, respectively.
Deluxe edition and B'Day Anthology Video Album
Knowles re-released B'Day as a deluxe edition on April 3, 2007. It features new tracks—including "Beautiful Liar", which made Billboard history when it jumped from number ninety-four to number three on the Hot 100 in one
week on April 7, 2007, and "Amor
Gitano", a duet with Mexican singer Alejandro
Fernández used as the theme song for the Colombian telenovela Zorro: La Espada y la Rosa. Also included are Spanish-language versions of
"Irreplaceable", "Listen", and "Beautiful Liar".
On April 2, full-length videos for "Get Me Bodied",
"Green Light", and "Suga Mama" premiered on BET to
promote B'Day Anthology Video Album released on the following day. A fifty-seven-second preview of "Kitty Kat" was included also, appearing as an intro in the
video for "Green Light". Sony BMG has released all
of the videos (with the exception of "Still in Love (Kissing You)") from the DVD to their official music video website,
Musicbox.[11]
In Australia, the deluxe edition of B'Day was released on April 16, 2007. Unlike the U.S. release, the Australian edition comes packaged in a CD/DVD combo featuring nineteen tracks on the CD and twelve music videos on
the DVD. The Australian release does not feature the track "Still in Love (Kissing You)" on either the CD or DVD. However, the CD
does feature the tracks "If" and "Check on It", which are not featured on the U.S. release. Additionally, "World Wide Woman"
appears as a hidden track on the U.S. release while it is an officially-listed track on the
Australian disc. Finally, apart from the track "Amor Gitano", the Australian disc does not feature any of the Spanish tracks. The
European and the Asian edition of B'Day are the same as the Australian release.
In the week of April 22, the deluxe edition of B'Day and the B'Day Anthology Video
Album that include the song "Still in Love (Kissing You)" were pulled from distribution due to a lawsuit filed by
English singer Des'ree. The lawsuit is over Knowles'
cover of Des'ree's 1998 "I'm Kissing You" which was granted permission—within certain
limits. For one thing, they would allow use of the song, but not in video form. They would also allow use of the song only if the
title was not changed. Despite follow-ups, they didn't hear back from Knowles' camp. On March
27, according to the complaint, they discovered that Knowles and her record label planned to proceed with their plans to
include the song on the re-release anyway which they changed the title to the song and made a video from which they didn't follow
copyrighted laws. In a letter they wrote to Knowles' lawyer and her distribution group Sony, the Royalty Network called the move
"completely unacceptable. Des'ree is apparently seeking $150,000 in damages".[12]
More singles have been released from the deluxe edition of B'Day. "Amor Gitano" was released as a CD single in
South America and other countries such as Mexico; "Get Me Bodied" has been released in
North America; and the Freemasons remix of "Green Light" has been released as the
fifth UK single.
Knowles has embarked on her lengthy The Beyoncé Experience concert tour
which has sold out various shows worldwide. Opening acts included Robin Thicke (in North
America),[13] Lemar (in
Europe),[14] Katy Shotter (in North America and the UK),
and Chris Brown (in Australia).[15] She is touring from April 10 to November 12, 2007.
Knowles' new live DVD, The Beyoncé Experience: Live, which was
recorded on September 2, 2007 at Los Angeles' Staples Center, is slated for a
November 20, 2007 release.[16]
Third studio album (2008)
In an interview, Knowles stated that she is going into studio in December to begin work on her third studio album.[17] As reported by Scratch magazine, producer Timbaland was recently signed on to
produce the majority of the album.[18] In an interview,
Timbaland stated that the outcome of the album will be "huger than life".[19]
Film career
In 2001, Knowles turned to acting, starring alongside actor Mekhi Phifer in the MTV
made-for-television film 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 and Michael Caine. Knowles 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 Knowles' 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", alongside female rappers 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.
Knowles co-starred in the film The Pink Panther, playing the role
of Xania, an international pop star, opposite Steve Martin, who plays Inspector Clouseau. The film was released on February 10,
2006, and was number one at the box office on its opening weekend.[20] "Check on It", which was recorded for the film, became a huge success and gave
Knowles her first number-one hit from a soundtrack. With Austin Powers in Goldmember and The Pink Panther, Knowles
appeared in two films that opened at number one at the box office; the two films have grossed over $481,364,728 worldwide.
Knowles' latest film work is Dreamgirls, the film adaptation of the
1981 hit Broadway musical about a 1960s singing
group loosely based on Motown all-female group The
Supremes, as the Diana Ross-based character Deena Jones. The film received a limited
release on December 15, 2006 and a wider release on
December 25, 2006. On December
14, 2006, Knowles was nominated for two Golden Globe
Awards for the film Dreamgirls—"Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy"
and "Best Original Song" for "Listen".[21] The film opened at
number three at the box office with an eight-million-dollar opening weekend. Knowles was quoted to say this was her first real
acting film. Dreamgirls was nominated for eight 2007 Academy Awards—including
"Best Original Song" for "Listen"—, of which it won two.[22] The film has passed the $100 million dollar gross mark in
the United States.
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.
Knowles and Kelly Rowland, along with Mathew Knowles, Tina Knowles, and sister Solange Knowles announced the formation of the
Survivor Foundation, a charitable entity set up for the purpose of providing transitional housing for 2005 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.
Knowles had food drives during her The Beyoncé Experience tour in Houston on July 14,
Atlanta on July 20, Washington, D.C. on August 9, Toronto on August 15, Chicago on August 18, and Los Angeles on
September 2. "I want my tour and Survivor Foundation to encourage people to get involved in
the fight against domestic hunger, Pastor Rudy's ongoing mission to help the least among us, and the work of America's Second
Harvest. Any help—donating time, money or food—will make an enormous difference", she stressed.[23]
The Survivor Foundation announced a new project called "Knowles-Rowland Temenos Place Apartments", in support of St. John's
Downtown and Temenos Community Development Corporation. The housing development is the result of a collaboration with
House of Deréon founders Tina Knowles and Beyoncé Knowles, Survivor Foundation, Inc.,
the City of Houston, and St. John's Downtown (church home of the Knowles family). The project was designed to provide permanent
living accommodatio