Beyoncé American Singer Born 1981 in Houston

Early life

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas. Her mother, Tina Knowles, ran a hair salon, and her father, Mathew Knowles, worked as a sales manager. She has a younger sister, Solange, who is also a singer. As a child she studied dance, sang in a church choir and won a school talent show at the age of seven. She later attended the High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Houston and then Alief Elsik High School.

At nine she met another girl at an audition for a vocal group, and soon afterward she joined a trio that performed rap and dance routines around Houston. The group appeared on the television contest Star Search in 1993 and did not win. In 1995 her father left his job to manage the act, and a contract with Columbia Records followed.

Career

The group took the name Destiny's Child in 1996. Its debut single, "No, No, No," arrived in 1997, and the second album, The Writing's on the Wall (1999), produced the chart-topping singles "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name." The final lineup was Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. Their third album, Survivor, appeared in 2001, and the group disbanded in 2005 after a farewell tour.

Her solo career began alongside a first screen role in the television film Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001) and a part as Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). Her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003), included "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy," both of which led the Billboard Hot 100. B'Day followed in 2006 with the single "Irreplaceable." The same year she played Deena Jones in the film Dreamgirls, and she took the role of the blues singer Etta James in Cadillac Records (2008). I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008) contained "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" and "Halo."

After founding the management company Parkwood Entertainment, she released 4 (2011) as her first album under her own creative direction. In December 2013 she put out the album Beyoncé without advance notice, together with a video for every track. The release helped popularize surprise and visual albums. She also co-directed the documentary Life Is But a Dream (2013) and voiced Queen Tara in the animated film Epic the same year. Lemonade followed in 2016, released as an album and an hour-long film on HBO. The Formation World Tour that year was the first all-stadium tour by a woman.

In 2018 she headlined the Coachella festival across both weekends, and the performance became the subject of the film Homecoming, released on Netflix in 2019. That year she voiced Nala in the remake of The Lion King and curated the companion album The Lion King: The Gift. She wrote and directed Black Is King (2020). The 2018 album Everything Is Love was made jointly with her husband, Jay-Z, as The Carters.

Renaissance (2022) is the first installment of a planned trilogy, and its single "Break My Soul" reached number one. Her concert film Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé followed in 2023. Cowboy Carter, the second installment, was released on March 29, 2024, with the singles "Texas Hold 'Em" and "16 Carriages." She took the album on the Cowboy Carter Tour across the United States and Europe in 2025.

Recognition

Beyoncé has won 35 Grammy Awards, the most for any artist. Her earliest wins came in 2001 for "Say My Name," and she received five at the 2004 ceremony for Dangerously in Love, including Best Contemporary R&B Album. At the 2010 ceremony she took six awards, among them Song of the Year for "Single Ladies." Lemonade won Best Urban Contemporary Album in 2017. In 2025 Cowboy Carter earned Album of the Year and Best Country Album, and she became the first Black artist to receive the latter.

She has also won 30 MTV Video Music Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Peabody Award. In 2021 she received her first Academy Award nomination, for the song "Be Alive" from the film King Richard. Each of her first eight studio albums has debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

Personal life

Beyoncé married the rapper Jay-Z on April 4, 2008. They have three children. Their first child, Blue Ivy Carter, was born on January 7, 2012, in New York City. Twins were born in June 2017.