Biography of popular R&B and Hip Hop singer - Beyonce Knowles

Beyonce Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981 in Houston, Texas to hair stylist Tina Beyince and record manager Mathew Knowles. Known worldwide simply as “Beyonce”, this voluptuous beauty is not just a pretty face, but also an all-around independent woman who is a successful R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and businesswoman.

Beyonce grew up in Houston and studied in different performing arts schools. She was exposed to the arts at an early age – attending classes in ballet and jazz, but she was later discovered by her dance instructor to have an amazing voice. However, the young Beyonce was shy, but her passion in music overpowered her timidity, allowing her to join and win her first talent show singing John Lennon’s song, “Imagine” at only seven years old.

Beyonce in Destiny’s Child
By the time Beyonce was 8 years old, she became a part of a girl group called Girl’s Tyme alongside Kelly Rowland. With a new take on rapping and dancing, the six-member group attracted a nationwide audience, which led to the discovery of West coast R&B producer Arne Frager who later brought them to California for a recording that featured Beyonce. Under Frager, the girls joined Star Search, but lost the competition due to wrong song choice.

The group changed its name to Destiny’s Child. In 1995, Beyonce’s dad quit his job as a salesman for medical equipments and decided to manage the group. By this time, the group was cut down to four girls, but Beyonce and the group pursued their career by performing as open acts for other established R&B artists. With the costumes made by Tina Beyince and the undying support of Mathew Knowles, Elektra Records signed the group, but was later dropped before they could release an album.

Mathew Knowles and Destiny’s Child performed in local events and toured for four years before they eventually grabbed a record deal with Columbia Records in late 1997. Before the year ended, the group recorded their debut song, “Killing Time” for the soundtrack of Will Smith’s 1997 action film, ‘Men in Black’.

In 1998, Destiny’s Child became a success when they released their self-titled album with “No, No, No” as their first major hit. However, it was only until 1999 when Destiny’s Child released the album “The Writing’s on the Wall” that the group received complete stardom and 7 million album sales with songs like “Bills, Bills, Bills,” “Say My name” and “Jumpin’ Jumpin” rose to number-one in charts. Unfortunately, with fame and success comes controversy and lawsuits by two Destiny’s Child members, Roberson and Luckett, which led to them leaving Beyonce, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams on the spotlight.

The group’s loss did not affect their performance and success as the trio recorded “Independent Women Part I”, which appeared on the blockbuster movie “Charlie’s Angels” and topped the U.S. singles chart for 11 weeks. In 2001, the group released its third album, “Survivor” and sold more than 10 million copies to date. However, after they released the holiday album “8 Days of Christmas”, Destiny’s Child announced a ‘temporary’ break-up’ to fulfill solo projects.

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