Beyoncé Knowles

Singer-songwriter

After achieving early success with the group Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé embarked on a wildly successful solo career that included a string of hit albums. With more than twenty-five Grammy Awards to her name, she is the most nominated and the second most awarded female artist in Grammy history. She also built an acting career with high-profile roles in films such as Dreamgirls (2006) and Cadillac Records(2008). Beyoncé is also the CEO of Parkwood Entertainment, a multimedia company she founded in 2010.

Early Life

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, known mononymously as Beyoncé, was born on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas, to Tina and Mathew Knowles. Beyoncé has one younger sister, Solange Knowles, who also became a performing artist. As a child, Beyoncé attended St. Mary’s Catholic Elementary School, where she began taking dance classes. In the fall of 1990, at age nine, Beyoncé enrolled at Parker Elementary School, a music magnet school in Houston. Beyoncé was a member of the choir at Parker Elementary and a soloist in the choir at St. John’s United Methodist Church.

That same year, Beyoncé auditioned for an all-girl entertainment group called Girl’s Tyme. Also in this group of six were LaTavia Roberson and Kelly Rowland, two girls who eventually would join Beyoncé in the group Destiny’s Child. In 1993, Beyoncé began attending the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston. That year, a shake-up in Girl’s Tyme left the group with four members and a new name, Destiny’s Child, derived from a passage in the Book of Isaiah. Mathew Knowles became the group’s manager, and Tina its costume designer and stylist.

Life’s Work

In 1997, Destiny’s Child was signed to Columbia Records and released its self-titled debut album. Just two years later, the group’s second album, The Writing’s on the Wall, went multiplatinum. However, the group soon decreased in size again, this time to three members. Destiny’s Child’s third album, Survivor, debuted at number one in 2001 and continued the group’s run of success. That year, Beyoncé became the first African American woman to be awarded the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers Pop Music Award for pop songwriter of the year. The award honored her for three hit singles from Survivor. In 2002, before the age of twenty-one, Beyoncé left the group to begin a solo career.

Beyoncé released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, in 2003. She won five awards at the 2004 Grammys, and the album was certified quadruple platinum. Thus began a series of number-one albums and singles that affirmed her as an international star.

In 2005, after starting a fashion line called House of Deréon with her mother, Beyoncé briefly rejoined Destiny’s Child to release the group’s last album, Destiny Fulfilled. In 2007, she released her second solo album, B’Day, which went triple platinum and featured the hit single “Irreplaceable.” B’Day was named best contemporary R&B album at the Grammy Awards that year. In 2008, Beyoncé released her third album, I Am . . . Sasha Fierce, which included the hit singles “If I Were a Boy,” “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” and “Halo.” The album’s success gave Beyoncé the ranking of female artist with the most top-ten singles on the Billboard Hot 100 for the decade. She won six Grammy Awards, the most awards won on a single night by a female artist. That same year, Beyoncé married rapper Jay Z, her longtime boyfriend. In January 2009, she performed “America the Beautiful” at the presidential inauguration and Etta James’s “At Last” for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama’s first dance at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.

Beyoncé released her fourth studio album, 4, in 2011. The album’s most successful single was “Love on Top,” which won a Grammy Award for best traditional R&B performance. That year she also wrote an article for Essence, titled “Eat, Play, Love,” which won her an award from the New York Association of Black Journalists. In 2013, Beyoncé performed the national anthem at President Obama’s second inauguration and headlined the Super Bowl halftime show. From April 2013 to March 2014, she performed on the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, which became the most successful tour of her career and one of the most successful of all time.

On December 13, 2013, Beyoncé released her fifth album, Beyoncé, without having announced that she planned to do so. Despite the album’s surprise release and lack of promotion, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, Beyoncé’s fifth consecutive album to do so. The album featured a more electronic sound and darker themes than Beyoncé’s previous albums and received widespread critical acclaim. At the 2014 MTV Music Video Awards, she received the Video Vanguard Award, a lifetime achievement award, as well as three awards for individual videos. Her video for “Pretty Hurts” won the awards for best video with a social message and best cinematography, and “Drunk in Love,” which featured Jay Z, won best collaboration. In 2015, Beyoncé was nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning best R&B performance and best R&B song for “Drunk in Love” and best surround sound album for Beyoncé. Although not nominated for a Grammy Award in 2016, she made a surprise appearance at the award ceremony in order to present the award for record of the year. Also in 2016, Beyoncé launched her line of activewear clothing, called Ivy Park, in partnership with the British retailer Topshop.

“Formation,” the first single from her following album, was released on February 6, 2016, and Beyoncé went on to perform the song live at the Super Bowl halftime show that year. The album, Lemonade, was released on April 23, 2016, with little fanfare, but nevertheless debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart once again, making Beyoncé the first artist in the chart’s history to have her first six albums debut at number one. Along with the album, she released a sixty-minute short film of the same title, featuring music from the album and the poetry of British poet and activist Warsan Shire. Lemonade was given an even more enthusiastic critical reception than its predecessor, including a five-star review from Rolling Stone, marking only the twenty-third time the magazine had given out that rating in almost fifty years. Lemonade subsequently became Beyoncé’s sixth solo album to surpass one million in sales in the United States. In 2016, Beyoncé’s total solo album sales surpassed 17 million, making her one of the best-selling female artists in history.

Beyoncé, who performed the songs “Love Drought” and “SandCastles” at the 2017 Grammy Award ceremony, received nine nominations that year for Lemonade, including album of the year and record of the year. Although she did not win either category, Lemonade received the award for best urban contemporary album and “Formation” won the awards for song of the year and best music video. Nominated in the rock, pop, rap, and urban contemporary categories, Beyoncé was the first artist to be nominated across four genre categories in the same year.

Beyoncé also branched out into acting early in her career, appearing in the MTV television musical Carmen: A Hip Hopera in 2001 and the feature comedy Austin Powers in Goldmember in 2002. She had her highest-profile role to date in 2006’s Dreamgirls, a film adaptation of the stage musical about the turbulent rise to fame for a 1960s girl group. The role earned Beyoncé Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, among other honors. In 2008, she portrayed Etta James in Cadillac Records. Her credits also include The Pink Panther (2006) and the thriller Obsessed (2009). She released an autobiographical documentary film, Life Is But a Dream, on HBO in 2013. The film was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for outstanding documentary.

In 2018, Beyoncé won the BET Award for best female R&B/pop artist. Later that year, she and Jay Z embarked on a joint world tour and released an unexpected full-length digital album, Everything Is Love, together. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 and won the 2018 Grammy Award for best urban contemporary album. Beyoncé voiced Nala in the 3D-animated 2019 remake of Disney's The Lion King. At the same time, she released a companion album to the film, called The Lion King: The Gift. Also in 2019, she released a film and a live album, both titled Homecoming. Her efforts earned her the 2019 Grammy Award for best music film.

Beyoncé next appeared on the remix of rapper Megan Thee Stallion's song "Savage" in April 2020. She followed that with her own single, "Black Parade," in June 2020. The following month, Beyoncé released the visual album Black is King, which she wrote, directed, and produced. Black is King utilized the music from her previous film album The Lion King: The Gift. and was released on the digital streaming platform Disney+. Her accomplishments in 2020 were recognized in March 2021 at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. Beyoncé was nominated for nine awards and won four: best R&B performance for "Black Parade," best music video for "Brown Skin Girl," and best rap performance and best rap song, with Megan Thee Stallion, for "Savage." This success brought her total Grammy Award count to twenty-eight, making Beyoncé the most decorated female artist in Grammy history. The same year, she was included on the Time's list of 100 women who defined the last century.

On July 29, 2022, Beyoncé released Renaissance, her seventh studio album, to immediate critical acclaim. The album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, while the first single, "Break My Soul," reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Despite the success of the album, it was not met without criticism. In August 2022, she changed lyrics for the song "Heated" after disability charities and activists criticized the original use of the word "spaz"—a derogatory term for a form of cerebral palsy—in the song. In January 2023, Beyoncé faced further criticism for performing a private concert in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, a county where homosexuality is illegal.

In February 2024, following a Verizon partnership commercial shown during Super Bowl LVIII, Beyoncé released two singles, "16 Carriages" and "Texas Hold 'Em," both of which would be on her upcoming eighth studio album, Cowboy Carter. Released on March 29, 2024, Cowboy Carter was a blend of country and gospel genres. It featured collaborations with an array of artists including her daughter Rumi Carter, Miley Cyrus, Tiera Kennedy, Post Malone, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton, among others.

In addition to her two fashion lines, Beyoncé pursued other business ventures over the course of her career. In 2010, she founded Parkwood Entertainment, a multimedia company that houses all of her business endeavors, from music to apparel to film productions, and of which she remains chief executive officer (CEO). Parkwood essentially allowed Beyoncé to manage herself and take economic and creative control of her career. She also began curating new talent through Parkwood, signing artists such as the sibling acting and singing duo Chloe x Halle. Parkwood Entertainment was included on Fast Company's list of the most innovative music companies in 2021. Beyoncé introduced her hair care brand Cécred in February 2024, made to suit all hair types.

In January 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to her and Jay Z’s first child, Blue Ivy. In February 2017, Beyoncé announced on Instagram that she and Jay Z were expecting twins. Her announcement garnered more than 6.3 million likes within the first eight hours of being posted, shattering the record for the most-liked post in Instagram history. The twins, named Rumi and Sir, were born on June 13, 2017.

Significance

Beyoncé became an internationally famous singer, songwriter, and actor before her thirtieth birthday. In addition to her extensive musical achievements, however, Beyoncé is active in humanitarian efforts such as fundraising for orphanages and children’s hospitals. She cofounded the Survivor Foundation, which provided transitional housing to people displaced by Hurricane Katrina, and the Knowles-Rowland Center for Youth, a community outreach center in Houston.

Over the course of her career, Beyoncé has also become an increasingly vocal supporter of feminism and antiracism and has been active in political fundraising. For instance, she established the Formation Scholars Award Program for young women in 2017 and the BeyGOOD Homecoming Scholars Program for high-achieving students at four historically Black colleges and universities in 2018.

Bibliography

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