Beyoncé

1981—

Singer, actor

Pop singer Beyoncé made her name as part of the superstar R&B-pop trio Destiny's Child, but has emerged as a singular talent in her own right. A veteran performer before her pre-teens, Beyoncé was rehearsing while her schoolmates were goofing around. The payoff came with a string of Grammy and Billboard awards, number-one singles, and platinum-selling records with the group, including "No, No, No," The Writing's on the Wall, "Bills, Bills, Bills," "Bugaboo," "Jumpin' Jumpin'," "Say My Name," and Survivor. Destiny's Child, which eventually became the best-selling girl group of all time, formally disbanded in 2005, but Beyoncé's star continues to rise. In addition to her stellar singing career, she has starred in several feature films and finds time on the side—and makes big dollars in the process—to serve as pitchperson for a number of high-profile brands, including L'Oreal, Pepsi, and Tommy Hilfiger.

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, on September 4, 1981, to Mathew and Tina Knowles. A quiet girl, Beyoncé shocked her parents when she took the stage at a school talent show and belted out a version of John Lennon's "Imagine." "I wanted to be a performer," Beyoncé told the Chicago Tribune. "I was a shy girl until I was performing." She has cited her influences as Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Sheila E. She had collected a roomful of talent competition trophies before it dawned on her parents that their little girl could really have what it takes to become successful in music. The Knowleses were very different from the stereotypical overbearing stage parents; they only encouraged their daughter to have fun. They soon began taking her performances more seriously, however, and working with her on her dance moves and singing stylings, with her mother designing her costumes. Mathew Knowles, previously a successful salesman, became manager of Destiny's Child. Tina Knowles worked in a bank for years and later opened her own successful hair salon, before becoming the group's stylist and clothing designer.

Driven to Pop Stardom

Beyoncé's work ethic was strong, even as a girl. She dedicated herself to a regimen of dance and vocal classes. Her parents never made her practice or attend class, but they were always clear with her about the payoff of hard work. "I thought of rehearsing as fun," Beyoncé wrote later in 2002's Soul Survivors: The Official Autobiography of Destiny's Child. "It was my time to create dance routines and vocal arrangements. It seemed like playtime."

Things got more serious in 1990, when Beyoncé, still a young child, went up against fifty other girls to audition for a new female singing group called Girl's Tyme. With an ever-changing lineup—about one hundred girls were in and out of the group—Beyoncé made the cut and performed at banquets and other Houston events. Kelly Rowland joined Girl's Tyme around 1991, and she and Beyoncé became friends. Rowland and her mother—a nanny and single parent—struggled financially and moved often, until the Knowleses took Kelly in, giving her a more stable home. After Kelly moved in, she and Beyoncé were like sisters. Girl's Tyme appeared on the TV talent show Star Search in 1992.

Six members of Girl's Tyme rehearsed for months before appearing on Star Search. They were all about twelve years old at the time, and thought the show was going to be their big break. They were crushed when they lost, but maintained frozen smiles in front of the cameras, before crying uncontrollably once they got backstage. "We almost went crazy from crying," Beyoncé wrote in Soul Survivors. "A lot was riding on that performance." It was at that point that Mathew Knowles decided to become the girls' manager, "because he couldn't stand to hear me bawling anymore," Beyoncé wrote. After the loss the girls decided to call it quits—they were done with show business. Mathew convinced them to reconsider their hasty decision.

After the demise of Girl's Tyme, the group reorganized several times, with different lineups and new names, including Somethin' Fresh, Borderline, Cliché, the Dolls, and Destiny. At this point a quartet, the group was asked to record "Killing Time" for the Men in Black movie soundtrack in 1997, and were forced to stick with the name Destiny's Child. The lineup consisted of Beyoncé, Rowland, LeToya Luckett, and LaTavia Roberson. The girls were tight-lipped about the group; it was some time before even Beyoncé's childhood sweetheart knew she was a performer. They felt that their music was very personal, and that it was nobody's business but their own.

Redoubled Their Efforts

Mathew Knowles eventually quit his sales job to manage the group, and invested the family's money in helping his daughter succeed. The strain of being a husband, father, and manager took its toll on the family, and Beyoncé's parents separated briefly when she was fourteen years old. Tina moved with Beyoncé, her little sister Solange, and Rowland into a small apartment. Her parents eventually reunited. "The stability and support my parents provided when we were growing up at home has a lot to do with why Kelly and I are still around today," Beyoncé wrote in Soul Survivors.

At a Glance …

Born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles on September 4, 1981, in Houston, TX; daughter of Mathew (a salesman and manager) and Tina (a stylist and designer) Knowles; married Jay-Z (a singer), 2008.

Career: Formed singing group Destiny's Child in Houston, TX, c. 1990; signed with Columbia Records, 1996; began acting career, 2001; launched solo singing career, 2003.

Awards: Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist Award, Lady of Soul Awards, 1998; Favorite Group: Urban/Hip-Hop Award, Artist Direct Awards, 2000; Artist of the Year, Artist of the Year: Duo or Group, Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year, and Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year: Duo or Group Awards, all Billboard Music Awards, 2000; Grammy Awards for best R&B song and best R&B performance by a group or duo, both 2001; Sammy Davis Jr. Award, Entertainer of the Year, Soul Train Awards, 2001 and 2007; Songwriter of the Year Award, American Society of Composers, Artists, and Performers, 2002; MTV Video Music Awards for best female video and best choreography in a video, both 2003; People's Choice Award for best female musical performer (corecipient), 2004; Grammy Awards for best R&B song, best rap/sung collaboration, best female R&B performance, best contemporary R&B album, and best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals, all 2004; Radio Music Award, Top 40 Artist of the Year, 2004; BET Award for best female R&B artist, 2004; Grammy Award for best R&B performance by a duo with vocals, 2006; MTV Video Award for best R&B video, 2006; Grammy Award for best contemporary R&B album, 2007; BET Awards for best video and best R&B female artist, both 2007; International Artist Award, American Music Awards, 2007.

Addresses: Office—Columbia Records, 550 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10022-3211.

It took six years for Destiny's Child to secure a recording contract, and it was a tough road. One of the most difficult things for Beyoncé, then still just a girl, was the strict diet regimen she had to follow. While Rowland and Roberson were wiry and could eat as they pleased, Beyoncé and Luckett were forced to eat nonfat foods and to abstain from fattening junk food. "It's a shame that a kid would have to worry about her weight," Beyoncé wrote in Soul Survivors, "but I was trying to get a record deal and that was a reality."

Mathew Beyoncé worked hard to raise record company interest in his girls. They traveled to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Oakland, California, regularly to perform in talent showcases, and lived in San Francisco for a couple of months to record their demo tape. Finally, when Beyoncé was about fourteen years old, Destiny's Child signed with Silent Partner Productions, an Elektra imprint. The four girls moved to Atlanta, where Silent Partner was based. They continued their academic studies with a tutor in the mornings, and spent the rest of the day in the recording studio. The deal with Elektra was short-lived—just a "little taste of a career," Beyoncé wrote in Soul Survivors. The group was dropped, but rallied and redoubled their efforts to get signed. Not long after the Elektra debacle, the group landed a contract with Columbia Records in 1996.

Waited Anxiously for Debut Album

Destiny's Child's self-titled first album took two years to finish, with hot hip-hop producer Wyclef Jean at the helm. It was during this time that Columbia hired a team of stylists to spruce up the girls' looks, to a disastrous and trendy result. Tina Knowles stepped in and became their official stylist and costume designer at this point. Not only did the girls know and trust Tina, but she also knew their personalities better, and was able to design stylish clothes that both flattered them and reflected their personal style.

The first single from Destiny's Child, "No, No, No," sold more than three million copies and pushed the album to gold certification for record sales. The album's great flaw, however, was that it did not present a singular style for the group. Listeners were confused about whether the group was straight R&B or hip-hop. Beyoncé stopped attending high school a few months into her ninth-grade year to record, rehearse, and tour. She continued her education with tutors until finishing her high school requirements in 2000.

The group's follow-up album, The Writing's on the Wall, was released in 1999 and made the serious impact that their debut had not. It featured a string of number-one hits, including "Bills, Bills, Bills," "Bugaboo," and "Jumpin' Jumpin'," which was Beyoncé's first serious attempt at writing and producing. Fueled by the hit single "Say My Name," the album went on to sell more than ten million copies.

1999 was a very tumultuous year for Beyoncé. Both Luckett and Roberson left Destiny's Child, leaving a swirl of rumors and litigation in their wake. The media pitted them against Rowland and Beyoncé, and turned it into a no-holds-barred drama. Beyoncé remained mum on the subject other than to say that egos, emotions, competition, and money were at the root of their problems. "Once Destiny's Child started to get successful, that's when we found out who our friends really were," Beyoncé wrote in Soul Survivors. "Our whole world changed, and that makes friendship way more complicated. Sometimes I still get mad about it, and sometimes it hurts, but it's now to the point where it's ridiculous," she told Ebony. "All I want to do is go into the studio, write my music, do my movies and perform. I'm not trying to hurt anybody, or offend anybody."

Drew Attention with Controversy

If there was an upside to the split, it was media attention. The media had overlooked Destiny's Child before, but with scandal and drama attached, the group became a hot commodity. "Destiny's Child was always very talented," Beyoncé told Newsweek, "but I think the thing we were lacking was controversy. I think in order for your group to be successful your story has to be interesting. Our story was very squeaky clean, so I thank God for the controversy. I'm happy because it helps me sell records." They appeared on numerous magazine covers, and record sales soared. Because they were in the public eye, however, they needed to replace Luckett and Roberson swiftly, before the split upset their growing popularity. Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin rounded out the quartet in early 2000, and Destiny's Child was back on track. Franklin left the group five months later during a publicity tour. Destiny's Child hit the stage as a threesome at an Australian concert soon after, and never looked back. They toured with such hit acts as Christina Aguilera and TLC.

After the media blitz about yet another Destiny's Child lineup change died down, Beyoncé set to work on Survivor, the group's third album, which she both produced and cowrote. Beyoncé penned the album's title track after a wise-cracking morning DJ quipped harshly that being a member of Destiny's Child was like being on the reality-TV show Survivor. She wrote "Happy Face" about the face she has to put on when she gets down. "There are so many people out there who want to be in my shoes," she wrote in Soul Survivors. "Of course, they don't realize my shoes are uncomfortable and they give me blisters—but I can't complain. People think I live in an MTV Barbie World, but I don't. I am by no means a living doll."

Beyoncé wrote the song "Independent Women Part I" even before the director of the film Charlie's Angels asked the girls to contribute to the movie's soundtrack. The song salutes hard-working women who provide for themselves rather than depending on others. It broke records worldwide and was one of the biggest-selling singles in history. Beyoncé was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2000 for writing the song. "It seems that the songs I write because of extreme anger, happiness, or sadness become the biggest hits," Beyoncé wrote in Soul Survivors. "I guess that's because a lot of other people can relate to them. For me the studio is where I got to get stuff off my chest…. It's my therapy." Out of five Grammy nominations in 2000, Destiny's Child, at the 2001 Grammy ceremonies, took home two awards—one for best R&B song for "Say My Name," and one for best R&B performance by a duo or group.

Hit Big Screen as Foxxy Cleopatra

2001 was a banner year for Beyoncé. Destiny's Child not only won two Grammy awards but earned five Billboard awards as well, taking home the award for artist of the year for the second year in a row. The day after the Billboard awards show, however, the press was reporting the group was through. The media pounced on a remark Beyoncé made about needing a break from four years of nonstop touring, recording, and promoting Destiny's Child, twisting it into headlines that the group was breaking up. Destiny's Child did not break up, but the girls did take a break. Williams and Rowland each released a solo album, and Beyoncé began developing an acting career and working on her own solo album.

Beyoncé made her acting debut as Carmen in the MTV production of Carmen: The Hip-Hopera to favorable reviews in 2001. Her major Hollywood break came with Austin Powers in Goldmember, starring comedian Mike Myers. In it, Beyoncé played Meyers's sexy sidekick, secret agent Foxxy Cleopatra, who was a composite of the black action-film heroines of the 1970s. She also performed the film's theme song, "Hey Goldmember." As the film's producer, John Lyons, told Jet, Beyoncé "can do anything and have this amazing career in both music and film. If she wants it."

Dangerously in Love, Beyoncé' debut solo album, appeared in June of 2003 and went multiplatinum, launching her into the elite ranks of the entertainment industry. The album, its singles, and its videos won her two MTV Music Awards in 2003 and five Grammies the following year. She had become a superstar in her own right, continuing her acting career, dating hip-hop king Jay-Z, and signing a licensing agreement in early 2005 with the Tarrant Apparel Group for the clothing line she and her mother had created, The House of Dereon. In 2004 Destiny's Child defied critics who speculated they would break up by releasing a new album, Destiny Fulfilled. Beyoncé also recorded duets with StevieWonder and Slim Thug, winning a Grammy for the former and an MTV Video Music Award for the latter in 2006. Destiny's Child formally disbanded in 2005, but by then Beyoncé was poised to move forward as a solo act.

Accelerated Movie Career

In 2006 Beyoncé starred in The Pink Panther, released in February. Her second solo album, B'Day, hit stores that September, and the album earned her another Grammy in 2007, for best contemporary R&B album. Toward the end of 2006 she starred alongside Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx in the movie version of the musical Dreamgirls, playing the lead singer of the Dreamettes, a fictional 1960s pop vocal group resembling the Supremes.

With Dreamgirls in theaters and songs from B'Day, on the airwaves, Beyoncé was the undisputed queen of R&B by 2007. More awards followed later that year. In June she received two BET Awards—best video for "Irreplaceable" and best R&B female artist. In November she was given the Best International Artist Award at the American Music Awards, making her the first African American woman to be so honored.

Even before a new album was scheduled to release at the end of 2008, Beyonce's name found the headlines earlier in the year. In March she was tapped to star in an upcoming motion picture about the life of legendary singer Etta James. A month later, following much speculation and rumormongering, it was revealed that she and longtime beau Jay-Z had gotten married, a story that made the cover of People Weekly. But controversy was never far behind. That summer, celebrity gossip Web site TMZ posted a story claiming that Beyonce's skin tone had been lightened in a widely run L'Oreal ad that had appeared in several major fashion magazines. L'Oreal denied the claim, but the matter had brought criticism from many corners of the blogosphere. This was not, however, the kind of scandal capable of derailing a career as supercharged as that of Beyoncé.

Selected works

Albums with Destiny's Child

Destiny's Child, Columbia, 1998.

The Writing's on the Wall, Columbia, 1999.

Survivor, Columbia, 2001.

8 Days of Christmas, Columbia, 2001.

Destiny Fulfilled, Columbia, 2004.

Albums as solo artist

Dangerously In Love, Columbia, 2003.

B'Day, Columbia, 2006.

Albums as contributor

Men in Black, 1997.

Why Do Fools Fall in Love?, 1999.

Life, 1999.

Romeo Must Die, 2000.

Charlie's Angels, 2000.

Films

Carmen: The Hip-Hopera, 2001.

Austin Powers in Goldmember, 2002.

The Fighting Temptations, 2003.

The Pink Panther, 2006.

Dreamgirls, 2006.

Sources

Books

Knowles, Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams, with James Patrick Herman, Soul Survivors: The Official Autobiography of Destiny's Child, HarperCollins, 2002.

Periodicals

Associated Press, August 7, 2008.

Chicago Tribune, July 23, 2002.

Ebony, July 2002, p. 36.

Jet, August 12, 2002, p. 58; March 10, 2008, p. 38.

Newsweek, May 21, 2001, p. 54.

New York Times, February 23, 2001, p. E25.

People, December 25, 2000-January 1, 2001, p. 130; May 7, 2001, p. 39; April 21, 2008, p. 60.

Time, January 15, 2001, p. 128.

USA Today, May 1, 2001, p. D1; April 18, 2002, p. D2.

Online

"Beyonce Knowles Biography," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/search/article.do?id=9542479 (accessed August 13, 2008).

"Beyonce Knowles' Biography," FOXNews.com, April 15, 2008, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,204978,00.html?sPage=fnc/entertainment/beyonce (accessed August 13, 2008).

Leahey, Andrew, "Beyoncé: Biography,"allmusic, http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:axfuxq8jld6e˜T1 (accessed August 13, 2008).

"Celebrity Central: Beyoncé Knowles," People.com, http://www.people.com/people/beyonce_knowles/biography/0,,20004431_10,00.html (accessed August 13, 2008).

Official Beyoncé Web site, http://www.beyonceonline.com (accessed August 13, 2008).

—Brenna Sanchez and Bob Jacobson