Beyoncé Knowles life and biography

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles , best known as Beyonce, born September 4, 1981 in Houston, Texas, United States is an African-American pop singer.

By age 21, Beyoncé Knowles had become a pop culture icon as the lead singer of Destiny's Child and an actress in MTV Networks' Carmen: A Hip Hopera and the Mike Meyers film Austin Powers in Goldmember. Her career began at age nine. "I've had the responsibility since I was fifteen of someone who is twenty-five or thirty, so now I have a lot of pressure," she told Paul Fischer of the Film Monthly Web site in July, 2002, "I employ a lot of people, I make a lot of adult decisions, and that has forced me to grow up a little faster."

Success with Destiny's Child

Knowles's father, Matthew, worked as a medical equipment salesman and her mother, Tina, owned and operated a hair salon. As a child in Houston, Knowles appeared regularly in local talent shows and beauty pageants. In 1990, at age nine, Knowles started performing as part of a singing and rapping duo with LaTavia Roberson, whom she met at an audition. In 1992, they added Kelendria "Kelly" Rowland, a school friend of Knowles. The trio spent their summer vacations practicing their act for up to five hours at a time and started to make the rounds of national auditions. They appeared on the television talent showcase Star Search, though they did not win. In 1993 LeToya Luckett rounded out the group and the quartet began performing under the name Destiny's Child, with Knowles singing most of the leads.

Matthew Knowles quit his day job and became the group's full-time manager and Destiny's Child became a popular opening act in Houston. In 1995 the group landed a recording contract with Elektra Records, but never released an album. The following year, Destiny's Child signed with Columbia Records and began to record tracks for its debut, self-titled album. Destiny's Child contained the No. 1 rhythm and blues and top-five pop hit "No, No, No," and the album eventually sold more than 1 million copies in the United States after its release in 1998. Its second album, The Writing's on the Wall, in 1999 made Destiny's Child into the most popular female vocal act in the country. The singles "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name" both hit No. 1 on the pop chart and the album eventually sold more than eight million copies. "Say My Name" earned the group two Grammy Awards, at the 2000 ceremony, for best R&B song and best R&B performance by a duo or group.

Soon after The Writing's on the Wall was released, Luckett and Roberson left the group, alleging that Matthew Knowles was favoring his daughter, with the agenda of making her a solo star. One replacement singer, Farrah Franklin, briefly joined the lineup while another, Michelle Williams, became a permanent part of the group, now performing as a trio. "We tried everything," Beyoncé Knowles, said of the controversy to Lucy O'Brien of Q in November, 2000, "Counseling with our church, our youth pastor. Rotating rooms. But it was two and two. Our vision of the group was different from theirs." She added, "It was a stressful time for Kelly and I. We were very depressed and hurt." In a profile by Jon Bream of the Minneapolis Star Tribune in September, 2000, Knowles was optimistic. "Controversy sells albums. If we didn't have the talent to back up the drama, we wouldn't be here. We are stronger than ever--spiritually, mentally, and vocally."

Carmen: A Hip Hopera

The furor did not hurt sales of the group's third album, Survivor, which made its debut at No. 1 in May, 2001, and sold more than 4 million copies. That month, Knowles made her acting debut in the MTV production of Carmen: A Hip Hopera, playing the title role in an updated version of the opera by Georges Bizet. Andrew Druckenbrod of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called Knowles "as seductive a Carmen as you will ever see," while Aïda Mashaka Croal of the Africana Web site labeled her performance "irresistibly packaged. . . . I pity the young boys who are surely watching."

Austin Powers in Goldmember

Knowles then played Foxxy Cleopatra, a 1970s private investigator, in Austin Powers in Goldmember, with Mike Meyers. As Knowles told Michael Beach of the Adelaide, Australia Advertiser in September, 2002, she was "very, very scared" to take on a role in a sequel to two successful movies. "I don't know anything about anything yet. But they made me feel comfortable. I didn't try to act like I knew what I was doing. I was just honest and I got through it." Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Knowles's sweetness plays nicely against the badass swagger of her talk and the fabulousness of her wardrobe and 'dos."

Knowles began work on her next acting role, opposite Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the romantic musical-comedy The Fighting Temptations, scheduled for release in 2003.

Meanwhile, Knowles and rap star Jay-Z released a duet, "Bonnie and Clyde," as the first single to Jay-Z's album, Blueprint II: The Gift and The Curse.

Dangerously in Love, Knowles' debut solo album, appeared in June of 2003 and went multi-platinum, making her a superstar. 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 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. Yet in 2004, Destiny's Child defied the critics who speculated they would break up by releasing a new album, Destiny Fulfilled. Knowles also recorded duets with Stevie Wonder and Slim Thug, winning a Grammy for the former and an MTV Video Music Award for the latter in 2006.

Next, Knowles starred in The Pink Panther, released in February. Her second solo album, B'Day, hit stores in September. And at Christmastime, she starred alongside Eddie Murphy and Jamie Foxx in the musical Dreamgirls, playing the lead singer of the Dreamettes, a fictional 1960s pop vocal group resembling the Supremes. As 2007 began, with Dreamgirls in theaters and songs from B'Day, on the airwaves, Knowles was holding onto her status as the queen of R&B and translating it into Hollywood stardom. That year, she won the Grammy Award for best contemporary R&B album, for B'Day.

In 2009, Knowles released the album I Am... Sasha Fierce. On her Web site, she explained that the name refers to her imaginary alter ego: "I have someone else that takes over when it's time for me to work and when I'm on stage... that kind of protects me and who I really am." She added "Sasha Fierce is the fun, more sensual, more aggressive, more outspoken side and more glamorous side that comes out when I'm working and when I'm on the stage." Listeners evidently liked that fun, glamorous persona because by the end of June, 2009, the album had sold 4 million copies worldwide. However, Knowles was not about to rest on her success; she still wanted to grow as a musician and performer. She wrote on her Web site, "Even though I've been very successful and very fortunate, I want to still be challenged and still be nervous and still be anxious about all the things that make my career exciting."

September 13, 2009: Beyonce won the Video Music Award for Video of the Year Moonman, for Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).

January 31, 2010: Beyonce broke the record for the most Grammy Awards earned by a female performer in a single night; the star won a total of 6 trophies, including Song of the Year.

January 31, 2010: Beyonce won six Grammy Awards, including best female pop vocal performance for ôHalo,ö best traditional R&B vocal performance for ôAt Last,ö best contemporary R&B album for I Am... Sasha Fierce, best female R&B vocal performance, best R&B song, and a shared award for song of the year, all for ôSingle Ladies (Put A Ring On It).ö Source: 52nd Annual Grammy Awards

June 6, 2010: Beyonce won the MTV Movie Award for best fight (vs. Ali Larter) for Obsessed.

AWARDS

Grammy Award, Recording Academy, Best R&B Song, 2000, for "Say My Name"; Grammy Award, Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group, 2000, for "Say My Name"; MTV Video Music Award, Best R&B Video, 2000, for "Say My Name"; Billboard Music Award, Artist of the Year, 2000; Billboard Music Award, Artist of the Year, Duo or Group, 2000; Billboard Music Award, Hot 100 Singles Artist of the Year, 2000; Billboard Music Award, Hot 100 Singles Duo/Group of the Year, 2000; NAACP Image Award, Outstanding Duro or Group, 2000, for The Writing's on the Wall; Sammy Davis, Jr. Award, Entertainer of the Year, Soul Train Awards, 2001; American Society of Composers, Artists, and Performers, Songwriter of the Year Award, 2002; MTV Video Music Awards, MTV, for best female video and best choreography in a video, for "Crazy In Love," 2003; People's Choice Award, best female musical performer (shared with Faith Hill), 2004; . Grammy Awards for best R&B song and best rap/sung collaboration for "Crazy in Love," best female R&B performance for "Dangerously in Love," best contemporary R&B album for Dangerously in Love and best R&B performance by a duo or group with vocals for "The Closer I Get To You," with Luther Vandross, 2003; Radio Music Award, Top 40 artist of the year, 2004; Grammy Award for best R&B performance by a duo with vocals for "So Amazing" with Stevie Wonder, 2006; MTV Video Award for best R&B video for Check on It with Slim Thug, 2006; MTV Video Award for best R&B video, 2006; Grammy Award for best contemporary R&B album, 2007 (for B'Day); BET Awards for best video and best R&B female artist, both 2007 (for B'Day); International Artist Award, American Music Awards(for B'Day), 2007.

* 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.
* I Am ... Sasha Fierce, Columbia, 2008.
* 4, 2011

* 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.
* Obsessed, 2009.

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