Beyoncé

 EARLY LIFE

She was born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles at Park Plaza Hospital in Houston, Texas on September 4, 1981. 

Beyoncé in 2008. Wikipedia

Her mother, Tina Knowles (née Beyincé; currently Lawson). is of Creole descent, which means she has some African and French roots.  Her father, Mathew Knowles, is African American. 

Her younger sister, Solange Knowles, is also a singer-songwriter.

As a child, Beyoncé charged her parents' house guests $5 each to watch her perform.

She went to several performing arts schools, and took part in singing and dancing competitions as a child. She won her first school talent show with her rendition of John Lennon's "Imagine." 

Beyoncé was nicknamed Dumbo because of her big ears by other children at school, recalling: "I used to get teased because they were bigger than my head."

CAREER

Beyoncé started the girl group Girls Tyme in 1990. Her father Mathew became her manager.

Beyoncé made her national television debut as part of Girls Tyme as a pre-teen on Star Search, the largest talent show on national TV at the time. The Houston girl band lost to a group named "Skeleton Groove."

After years of limited success, the original quartet were signed in 1997 to Columbia Records as Destiny's Child. The R&B group was launched into mainstream recognition following the release of the song "No, No, No." 

Originally a quartet, the group eventually became a trio whose members were Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, and Michelle Williams. They became the world's best-selling girl group of all time, selling over 85 million records worldwide.

Beyoncé released her solo debut album, Dangerously in Love, in 2003. Two singles from the album—"Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy"—topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In 2003, Beyoncé came under fire from the Grant Monument Association for dancing in a "patently inappropriate" way on the steps of the tomb of President Ulysses S. Grant. President Grant's great-grandson defended her saying, "If the old guy were alive, he might have enjoyed it."

In early 2001, Beyoncé landed her first acting role in the MTV made-for-television film, Carmen: A Hip Hopera, starring alongside American actor Mekhi Phifer.

Her first major movie was playing Mike Myers' love interest, Foxxy Cleopatra, in Goldmember (2002). 

In 2006 she co-starred in Dreamgirls, the film version of the 1981 Supremes-inspired Broadway musical. It received acclaim from critics and grossed $154 million internationally.

Beyoncé assumed she would automatically get the title role of Princess Tiana - Disney's first black princess - in the 2009 film The Princess and the Frog, so she refused to audition. The role went to Anika Noni Rose, who had co-starred with Beyoncé in Dreamgirls. 

Beyoncé possesses a three-octave mezzo-soprano vocal range. 

Beyoncé can run a mile while singing, which helps her to perform on stage without becoming exhausted.

In 2010, Beyoncé won six Grammys including Song of the Year for "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" - giving her the most wins in one night of any female artist.

She is the first solo artist to have their first seven studio albums debut at #1 on the Billboard 200.

When "Texas Hold 'Em" debuted atop the US country chart in February 2024, Beyoncé became the first female artist to achieve #1 songs on seven of Billboard's songs charts: the Hot 100, Country, Dance/Electronic, Gospel, Latin , R&B and R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. 

PERSONAL LIFE

Beyoncé married rapper and music mogul Jay-Z without publicity on April 4, 2008 in New York City. The only guests were her parents her sister, manager, her Destiny’s Child colleagues and one friend.

They have three children, a daughter named Blue Ivy born in 2012, followed by a pair of twins named Rumi and Sir who arrived in June 2017.

In 2017, Beyoncé and Jay-Z were named by Forbes as the world’s first $1billion show business couple.

Below is Beyoncé performing on the I Am... World Tour with Jay-Z, 

By idrewuk - originally posted to Flickr as Hello hubbie!,

Beyoncé's February 1, 2017 photo revealing that she is pregnant with twins broke Instagram records to become the ‘most-liked’ post of all time. The artistic image of the pregnant singer holding her stomach had the caption: “We would like to share our love and happiness. We have been blessed two times over. “We are incredibly grateful that our family will be growing by two, and we thank you for your well wishes. – The Carters.” The post surpassed the record previously held by Selena Gomez of a photo in 2016 taken from a Coca-Cola commercial in less than eight hours, Queen Bey’s Instagram post racked up 6,335,571 likes as of 9:00 PM EST February 1.

Jay Z tries to take Beyoncé on a pizza date every Sunday in Brooklyn.

Beyoncé has released her own fragrance products including scents like Heat, Heat Rush, and Pulse. However, she is allergic to perfumes and wears special ordered scents which are chemically altered to protect her from allergy and bad reactions.

In Australia, Bryan Lesser, a famous research scientist, discovered a new horse fly in 2011. He named it Scaptia Beyoncé, in honor of the superstar after noting the golden hairs on the fly’s abdomen.

She and Jay-Z are longtime vegan. Beyoncé launched a vegan home delivery service called 22 Days Nutrition in February 2015 with her personal trainer Marco Borges. 

Beyoncé's favorite game is Connect 4. She plays it as a way to zone out after shows — and is a pro at this game. The rapper Kanye West lost to her nine times in a row before beating her.

Beyoncé considers 4 as a lucky number because she was born on September 4th, her mother was born on January 4th, Jay-Z was born on December 4th, and they married on April 4. Beyoncé and Jay-Z have, matching tattoos of Roman numeral four on their ring fingers. She also named her daughter Blue Ivy as its a play on Roman numeral 4.

Sources Ventsmagazine, Artistfacts