
Beyonce Giselle Knowles born on September 4, 1981 in Houston, Texas is
an African-American R&B singer, actress and songwriter in the group Destiny's Child.
Her father Matthew Knowles worked as Destiny's Child manager, while her
mother Tina Knowles designed the group members glittering costumes.
She
once attended The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in
Houston, Texas before finally stepping into music business.
Beyonce and her group were discovered by Whitney Houston.
During her time in the group, Beyonce was perceived as a leader for her
songwriting and producing expertise that led to many hit singles
"Jumpin Jumpin", "Bootylicious", "Nasty Girl", "Independent Women",
"Happy Face" and "Apple Pie a la mode."
At the beginning of their career, Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams (II), toured as an opening act for Christina Aguilera and TLC. Then in 1998, they released their group self-titled album, "Destiny's Child", which was produced by Wyclef Jean and Jermaine Dupri. Its single "No, No, No" peaked at No. 1 and the album itself went platinum.
In 1999, they released a second album "The Writing's on the Wall",
featuring two number one hits in "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My
Name" that won two awards at the 2001 Grammys for Best R&B
Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best R&B Song, the
latter of which was awarded to the songwriters, including Beyonce
herself.
Following both successful albums, Destiny's Child dropped "Survivor"
in 2001. It became another smash, topped both the American Billboard
200 and R&B Albums charts, ruled the Canadian album chart, and
generated success around the world. What's more, two singles from the
album, namely "Independent Women (Part 1)" and "Bootylicious", went to
the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
On top of that, "Independent Women (Part 1)" became the theme song for
"Charlie's Angels" in late 2000. Its title track "Survivor" gloriously
won the band their second Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo
or Group with Vocal.
Despite their soaring success, Destiny's Child decided to take a break
to pursue solo careers. But they returned in 2004 to produce two new
albums. The first album entitled "Destiny Fulfilled" and its first single "Lose My Breath" both reached the top 10 Billboard album and singles charts respectively.
Along with the group success, Beyonce's solo career also rose up. She won the Songwriter of the Year award from the ASCAP
pop Music Awards, making her the first African American woman and the
second woman of any race to win the honor. Gaining fame and success in
music production, Beyonce was curious to expand her career to acting,
which resulted in her starring in MTV's "Carmen" without any previous
training.
She continued her acting exploration by starring in "Austin Powers in Goldmember" as Foxxy Cleopatra opposite Mike Myers.
After that, Beyonce recorded a song and produced a music video, called
"Work It Out", used for the movie soundtrack that was a top 10 hit in
the UK and a top 40 hit in Netherlands, Australia, and Ireland. Later
during the fall of 2002, Beyonce worked with Jay-Z
on smash single, "03 Bonnie And Clyde". Both fell in love, started
going on a date, and got engaged before secretly tying the knot on April
4, 2008.
In the spring of 2003, Beyonce remade a duet with Luther Vandross,
called "The Closer I Get to You", originally performed by Roberta Flack
and Donny Hathaway. The song was included both on her debut solo album
and on Luther's "Dance With My Father" set, for which the two singers shared the Grammy for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals.
That year, Beyonce released her debut solo album "Dangerously in Love".
The first single "Crazy In Love" featuring a guest rap from boyfriend
Jay-Z quickly became one of the biggest hits of that summer, staying at
number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for ten weeks. Soon
afterwards "Dangerously in Love" went to the top of the album charts in
the UK and Canada, as well as on both the American pop Billboard 200 and
R&B charts.
To welcome the end of 2003 summer, her second single "Baby Boy" which featured reggae star Sean Paul
was launched. It climbed the charts, becoming one of the biggest hits
of 2003 and dominating radio airplay for the fall of 2003.
During the same time, Beyonce starred in the movie "The Fighting Temptations," for which she, together with rapper Missy Elliott,
Free, and MC Lyte, recorded a song for it called "Fighting Temptation"
that unfortunately failed to be popular despite the moderate success of
the movie itself.
As Beyonce's solo career got bigger, her group Destiny's Child was
disbanded in 2005. They marked their farewell with a special greatest
hits package titled "#1's".
Hitting the market October 25th the same year, it consisted of not only
some old tracks, like "Independent Women Part I," "Survivor," "Soldier,"
and "Jumpin', Jumpin' ", but also three brand new tracks, namely "Stand
Up For Love," "Feel the Same Way I Do," and that of "Check on It,"
which also is becoming the soundtrack for "The Pink Panther" (2006) which Beyonce starred in alongside Steve Martin, Kevin Kline, Jean Reno, and Jason Statham among others.
From the point on, Beyonce concentrated more on her solo career, even
invading the world of fashion by launching her new fashion line, "House
of Dereon", named after her grandmother, Agnes Dereon. "The whole theme
is taking nothing and turning it into something because that's what my
grandmother did with all kinds of fabrics. She just turned everything
into masterpieces, and that's what my mother does," so she said on the
line which features denim, handbags, casual sportswear, furs, and
footwear.
Her second solo album "B'Day"
arrived in 2006. It amazingly sold more than 540,000 copies in the U.S.
in its first week in stores, coming in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200
and making it her highest selling first week as a solo artist. One of
the hit singles in the album was "Deja Vu" which marked her studio
reunion with then-beau Jay-Z. That year, she also starred in another
movie "Dreamgirls", the Bill Condon-directed film adaptation of the Broadway show of the same name.
Beyonce made a groundbreaking album in 2008 by introducing a so-called
alter ego Sasha Fierce in a double-CD album "I Am .... Sasha Fierce".
Besides ruling the charts with her numerous addictive singles, she
garnered a total of eight Grammy Award nominations at the 52nd Annual
Grammy Awards ceremony. She eventually collected a record setting six
wins, the most awards won in one night. The only other singer who was
able to win six awards in one night was Adele in 2012.
Three years later while she was pregnant with her first child, Beyonce dropped her fourth album fittingly named "".
Though it failed to surpass the success of her previous album, it still
managed to do well on the chart, climbing to No. 1 on Ho 200. Due to
her pregnancy, she couldn't go on tour but made it up to her fans by
holding a successful "4 Intimate Nights at Roseland Ballroom" concert.gave birth to a healthy baby girl Blue Ivy in January 2012. She shied
away from the stage as she embraced motherhood while continuing to
support her husband's career which was as bright as hers.
After three years, she surprised her fans by releasing a self-titled album "Beyonce".
It was released exclusively online on iTunes. Despite no prior single,
announcement, and promotion, not to mention Target's refusal to put the
CD on their shelves, the album was a big success. It went on to become
the fastest-selling album in iTunes history with an estimated 828,000
sold around the world in its first three days, including 617,000 in the
United States.
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