Beyoncé

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter was born on September 4, 1981 in Houston, Texas. She began pursuing her music dreams from a young age, auditioning for an all-girl singing group that would be named Girl’s Tyme at age eight. After the group failed to win Star Search, her father Matthew Knowles quit his job to manage the group full-time.

The Knowles patriarch would re-shape and re-name the group Destiny’s Child, and they would eventually be signed by Columbia in 1996. Destiny’s Child would go on to become one of the biggest and best-selling groups of all time, with hits like “Say My Name,” “Jumpin’ Jumpin’” and “Survivor.”  The group would release five albums between 1998 and 2004, with all three members launching their solo careers before they decided to end that musical chapter of their lives.

Beyoncé’s first recording as a solo artist was a feature on her future husband’s song “’03 Bonnie & Clyde.”  She released her debut album Dangerously in Love in 2003. Led by the hit singles “Crazy in Love” and “Baby Boy,” the album would quickly solidify the singer as an icon in her own time and go on to become one of the best-selling albums of the 21^st Century.

Albums like B’Day, I Am… Sasha Fierce and 4 would further cement Beyoncé as not only one of the greatest pop stars of all time but also one of the best singers and live performers of her generation. During this time, she explored her skills in the acting world, starring in Dreamgirls and Cadillac Records.

In 2013, a decade into her solo career, Beyoncé’s stardom was kicked up a notch. That spring, she headlined the Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, where she reunited Destiny’s Child. Later that year, she released Beyoncé, a surprise-dropped “visual album” that explored a darker, deeply personal and more avant-garde musical approach from the star and change the music industry forever. The album was not only critically acclaimed but a massive commercial success, selling one million digital copies in the first week.

In 2016, she took her artistic vision a step further with Lemonade, a raw album and complementing film that addressed marital infidelity. It was her sixth Number One album and saw all 12 tracks charting on the Billboard Hot 100.

As her career has progressed, Beyoncé has continued to explore high concepts in her music. She collaborated with Jay-Z on the album Everything Is Love and later made a companion album to 2019 film The Lion King (and followed the companion album with a musical film that served as a companion to the companion album).

Now, Beyoncé is in the midst of pursuing a three-act musical project that explores the history of Black music. Her love letter to disco and house music, Renaissance, was released in 2022 and was followed by a world tour and concert film. In 2024, she dropped Cowboy Carter, her country, gospel and Americana opus that features Linda Martell, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and a selection of rising, Black country stars. — Brittany Spanos