Who Is Beyonce?

Who Is Beyonce? Beyoncé Knowles is an American R&B singer, actress and fashion designer. She was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and as a child was exposed to music and dance at an early age. Beyonce Knowles rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of Destiny's Child, which was one of the world's best-selling girl bands of all time. Beyonce then released her debut solo album “Dangerously in Love” in 2003 which went on to become one of the most successful albums of the year. After Destiny’s Childs split in 2005, she released her second solo album, “B'Day” in 2006. Her third solo album ‘I Am... Sasha Fierce’ was released in 2008 and went on to earn her a record breaking six Grammy awards from hits like ‘Halo’, and ‘Single Ladies’. Beyonce’s fourth solo album’4’ quickly became her fourth consecutive number one album, meaning that she then became the third artist to ever accomplish this.

Beyonce had originally planned to release a follow-up to Dangerously in Love in March 2004, which would feature some of the left-over recordings from the album, but instead decided to concentrate on Destiny’s Childs final album named ‘Destiny Fulfilled’. And in April of the following year they began their final tour, on the final leg Kelly Rowland announced that the group would be separating to pursue solo careers.

In February 2006, she starred alongside Steve Martin in the comedy film, The Pink Panther, as international pop star, Xania. She later released her second studio album, B'Day, in September 2006; it debuted at number one, selling 541,000 copies in its first week. The lead single ‘Déjà vu’ only managed to peak at number four, while the second single ‘irreplaceable’ spent ten weeks in a row at number one. On April 3, 2007, Beyonce re-released ‘B'Day’, as a deluxe edition, featuring five new songs, including a duet with Shakira titled "Beautiful Liar" which reached number three in the States and number one in the UK.

Who is Beyonce With? In 2002, there were rumors that she had been dating Jay-Z, an American rapper who she has collaborated with a few times e.g. ‘Crazy in Love’ and ‘Déjà Vu’. After months of rumors they married in New York City on April 4^th 2008. It was around this time that she and Jay-Z that were listed as most powerful couple, and ‘Forbes highest earning couple’ at a combined total of $162 million between them. And they also managed to do the same the year after.

Knowles released her third studio album, ‘I Am... Sasha Fierce’, on November 14, 2008. Beyonce spoke about her alter ego ‘Sasha Fierce’, and claimed that this is who audiences saw on stage and she didn’t portray the true Beyonce Knowles as she was another person on stage. It debuted at number one and sold 482,000 copies in its first week, and in total it has sold over 7 million copies across the world. "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" were released as the album's joint first lead singles. The first lead single peaked at number three, while the second peaked at number one, becoming her fifth number-one single. "Single Ladies" spent four non-consecutive weeks at the top spot. After which she released six more singles from the album (Halo, Ego, Broken Hearted Girl, Sweet Dreams, Video Phone and Diva). Remixes of ‘Ego’ and ‘Video Phone’ were released featuring Kanye West and Lady Gaga.

At the 52^nd Grammy awards, Beyonce recieved ten nominations, and from that, won six awards and set the record for the most Grammy awards won on a single night by a female artist. However this was then tied by ADELE at the 54th grammy awards 2012.

On March 28, 2011, it was announced that Beyonce’s father and manager Mathew Knowles would no longer manage her. After which she hired her own team and began to manage herself.

Who is Beyonce ispired by? Beyonce’s' fourth studio album 4 was released on June 24, 2011. The album was inspired by several musicians, including Fela Kuti, The Stylistics, Lauryn Hill, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. It debuted at number one, with first-week sales of 310,000 copies. This gave Knowles her fourth solo debut at the top of the chart in a row; however the sales of the first week were the lowest of any of her albums. The lead single ‘Run The World (Girls)’ was also her lowest charting lead single to date as it only managed number twenty nine. The second single ‘The Best Thing You Never Had’ was then released on 1^st June 2011.

Today she is one of the best selling artists of all time, and in September 2009 she had officially sold a total of 75 million records.

See also - Beyonce Knowles - The Year of 4

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