Beyoncé

Beyoncé: biography

Beyoncé is a popular American singer, dancer, and actress; she works in the R’n’B genre. Her albums broke records in the number of Grammy Awards and the time her songs topped various charts. Music critics believe Beyoncé has made a significant influence on music styles and contributed to the pop music sphere.

Beyoncé Knowles was born in the largest city of Texas, Houston. Both parents were engaged in creative activities: the father Matthew Knowles was engaged in professional recording, and the mother Tina Knowles was a costume designer. It was Tina who created the majority of dresses for her daughter’s stage performances. Beyoncé’s sister Solange Knowles also became a popular singer.

Beyoncé took interest in performing at elementary school. The girl was engaged in choreography and singing; her ear for music was fascinating. She achieved the first success when she was seven: the little girl was nominated for the Sammy Award as the artistically talented child; besides, she won the local singing contest among school children. After that, the young singer could be noticed in many competitions; she won about 30 victories in such events.

As a middle-school student, Beyoncé was a soloist in the St. John's United Methodist Church choir; she sang there for 2 years. Thus, the girl gained much stage experience in her early childhood, learned how to behave in public, and could experiment with her voice.

Music

In the course of time, little Beyoncé became the member of the girl’s dance rap group “Girl’s Tyme” where there were 6 people. The group was created to participate in the famous American talent TV show “Star Search.”

The group’s performance was a failure which gave Beyoncé the negative experience as well. After that, the group was reduced to a quartet. Matthew Knowles started working with the girls’ band and renamed it into “Destiny’s Child.” Initially, the girls were just performing opening acts at popular R’n’B groups’ concerts. In 1997, they managed to sign a full contract with the recording company “Columbia Records.”

“Destiny’s Child”

In a year, the group had the first album released; as it often happens with musicians’ debuting works, its title was the same as the group’s name. The public interest in “Destiny’s Child” was moderate. However, the song “Killing Time” became the soundtrack for the blockbuster “Men in Black,” and the most popular single of the album “No, No, No” won several awards as the best R’n’B song.

The second album “The Writing’s on the Wall” brought the real success. It became super-platinum: more than 8 million copies were sold. The album included several hit songs, such as “Bills, Bills, Bills,” “Jumpin’ Jumpin’,” and “Say My Name” which eventually were awarded Grammy.

However, success is often accompanied by misunderstanding. There were quarrels in the group, the quartet turned into the trio, the participants were changed, and Beyoncé was the only member who worked in both teams.

The renovated group presented several albums: “Survivor” (2001), “8 Days of Christmas” (2001), and the final recording “Destiny Fulfilled” (2004). Despite new Grammy Awards and millions of copies sold, they could not surpass the popularity of the second album; the break-up was just the matter of time.

Solo career

Taking into account these circumstances and her burning desire to become a solo singer, Beyoncé started her own career. The young woman had tried herself as a solo singer before, for instance, she recorded the soundtrack for the movie “The Best Man” in 1999, sang and acted in the hip hopera “Carmen” in 2001, starred in the movie “Austin Powers in Goldmember” and recorded the solo single “Work It Out” for this project.

However, the full-fledged solo career began in 2003 when Beyoncé released her debuting album “Dangerously in Love” which became platinum 4 times and topped the most popular music chart in American Billboard. This recording brought Beyoncé 5 Grammy Awards.

The main single “Crazy in Love” recorded together with Jay-Z added to the list of the singer’s achievements Grammy and several other awards. The song topped Billboard Hot 100 for 8 weeks in a row.

The second album “B’Day” came out in 2006 and repeated the commercial success of the first album. Although some music critics expressed not-so-positive opinions about it, the album managed to win another Grammy. In addition, Beyoncé recorded the song “Beautiful Liar” together with another popular singer Shakira.

The work on the third album “I Am… Sasha Fierce” was combined with acting in the movie “Cadillac Records” where Beyoncé played the blues singer Etta James. The new prizes followed soon after the release: NAACP Image Award, Billboard, BET, and other awards.

The song “Halo” from this album placed the fifth in Billboard Hot 100; thus, the singer broke the record of the number of songs in this music chart. Fans all over the globe loved the song, and the powerful “halo” sounded on the radio in many countries.

Beyoncé attracted the audience with her unique visual style of performing: she used choreography, eccentric costumes, and light experiments to vary her shows. The singer’s physics also helps her create the original image: Beyoncé’s height is 169 cm., and her weight is 59. With these parameters, she has a feminine body: her breast, waist, and hip measurements are 89, 66, and 102 cm. correspondingly.

Beyoncé’s videos provide even more visual freedom: her music videos are short movies with a particular plot and deep ideas. Thus, her videos are often nominated for prestigious awards.

In 2009, there singer’s music video “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” was involved in the scandal at the BET Awards Ceremony. Beyoncé won the Award for Video of the Year but it was Taylor Swift who won the Best Female Video Award. When Swift came to the stage to receive her prize, the rapper Kayne West took the country singer’s microphone and said that Beyoncé was the winner and called the music video “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” the best. Later, he apologized.

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards was Beyoncé’s career peak: she was nominated in ten categories and won six awards.

Personal life

Beyoncé started dating her first boyfriend when she was 12; this relationship was more like a friendship and lasted for about 7 years. The young people broke up because of Beyoncé’s career that was rapidly developing.

In 2002, Beyoncé met the rapper Shawn Corey Carter known as Jay-Z. They recorded the song “Bonnie & Clyde” together and created a music video. According to Beyoncé, their relationship was developing slowly: they went on the first date after a year and a half after they had met. She also emphasized she did not want to get married as soon as possible. Officially, Beyoncé and Jay-Z married only on April 4, 2008.

In August 2011, Beyoncé told her fans she was pregnant at the MTV Video Music Awards ceremony.

In January 2012, the singer gave birth to the daughter Blue Ivy Carter. It is interesting that Beyoncé was registered incognito under the name of “Ingrid Jackson.” She realized that public events should be distinguished from private life matters; she tries to reduce the reporters’ involvement in her family affairs. Beyoncé prefers to tell her fans about her life on her Instagram page; she has 101 million followers.

Present days

On February 6, 2016, Beyoncé presented her new single and music video “Formation.” The premiere performance took place at Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show where Beyoncé was a guest star. The single preceded The Formation World Tour.

On April 14, Beyoncé and TopShop launched the sports clothing line for women “Ivy Park.”

On April 23, the singer presented the new album “Lemonade” which was number six in her studio music albums and number two in her visual albums.

On April 27, the singer officially announced the world tour and gave the first concert of The Formation World Tour.

In 2017, media rumors had it that the singer was pregnant. On February 1, Beyoncé confirmed she was expecting twins. As Beyoncé told journalists, the couple wanted children and this coincidence was a double blessing for them.

In June 2017, the 35-year-old singer gave birth to two children, a boy and a girl.

Discography

• 2003 – “Dangerously in Love”
• 2006 – “B'Day”
• 2008 – “I Am… Sasha Fierce”
• 2011 – “4”
• 2013 – “Beyoncé”
• 2016 – “Lemonade”

Filmography

• 2001 – “Carmen: A Hip Hopera”
• 2002 – “Austin Powers in Goldmember”
• 2003 – “The Fighting Temptations”
• 2004 – “Fade to Black”
• 2006 – “The Pink Panther”
• 2006 – “Dreamgirls”
• 2008 – “Cadillac Records”
• 2009 – “Obsessed”
• 2013 – “Life Is But a Dream”

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