Beyonce Knowles, born September 4th, 1981 in Houston, Texas, is an American singer, songwriter, actress and a music producer. She expressed in singing career early, possibly influenced by her father Mathew, who was a record manager and her mother Tina, a costume designer. While in school Beyonce took up dancing classes and participated in several talent competitions, including a singing of John Lennon’s “Imagine”. She was also involved in her high school choir and was a lead singer in her church choir. She auditioned in several talent search shows, including “Star Search” with her band Girl’s Tyme but that did not prove successful. When Beyonce was 14, her father quit his job at the time and spent his time training the band.
When the band was renamed to Destiny’s Child and signed to Columbia Records, they were picked to record a track “Killing Time” for the “Men in Black” soundtrack. Two albums followed including “Destiny’s Child” and “The Writing on the Wall”, spawning several hit singles, such as “No, No, No”, “Jumpin’ Jumpin’”, “Say My Name” and winning Grammy Awards for the Best R&B Performance and the Best R&B song. Their next album “Survivor” was a huge hit, debuting and spending eleven weeks on top of the charts selling over ten million copies. “Bottylicious” and “Survivor” were the hit singles of the album with the latter earning a band Grammy’s Best R&B Performance award.
After the group’s further work was put on hold, Beyonce started a solo career by releasing a soundtrack single “Work It Out” for “Austin Powers in Goldmember” soundtrack, a movie she also starred in, and was featured in singles, including Amil’s “I Got That” and Jay-Z’s single “03 Bonnie & Clyde”. Her debut album “Dangerously in Love” sold over 4 million copies and yielded two hit singles “Crazy In Love” and “Baby Boy”, receiving her first solo Grammy Award in the category “Best Female R&B Vocals. Her brief re-unification with Destiny’s Child sent her on a “Destiny Fullfilled” tour and spawned several hit singles, such as “Lose My Breath”, Soldier” and “Stand Up for Love”. During this time she also recorded a track “Check on It” that was included in “The Pink Panther” soundtrack, reaching top spot in the United States.
Beyonce’s following two albums both proved to become commercial successes. “B’Day”, an album which coincided with her 25th birthday, debuted on the top of the Charts yielded several hit singles, including “Deja Vu” and “Irreplaceable”, and earned her another Grammy award. “I am… Sasha Fierce”, an album in which she said she tried to convey her stage personality, was an instant hit, spawning top singles “If I Were a Boy” and “Single Ladies”, which were actually released on radio prior to the album’s release.
Beyonce Knowles
