Beyoncé (Singer/Actor)

Born Sept. 4, 1981in Houston, Texas, Beyoncé first rose to fame as the lead singer of Destiny’s Child, an R&B group that included Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson originally. Luckett and Roberson left and were replaced by Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin, who left six months after joining.

Her parents Tina and Mathew Knowles divorced in 2011, and she has a younger sister Solange, who also made a name for herself in music. Beyoncé formed the singing-rapping girl group Destiny’s Child in 1990 (originally called Girl’s Tyme), and their 1992 loss of the Star Search television talent show and drop from a recording contract three years later provided some roadbumps before they released their eponymous first album through a Columbia recording contract. This album contained hit single “No, No, No Part 2.” Their follow-up album The Writing’s on the Wall (1999), earned them two Grammy Awards and sold more than eight million copies. The group’s third album Survivor(2001) reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart.

 Beyoncé took her songwriting talents to her first solo album Dangerously in Love (2003), which featured “Crazy in Love” on which Jay-Z raps and won her five Grammys. Destiny’s Child reunited in 2004 to release Destiny Fulfilled, and they went on tour in 2005 when they announced their official splitting up. 2006 brought Beyoncé’s second solo album B-Day and with it, the catchy pop ballad “Irreplaceable”. She married Jay-Z, who is the father of their daughter Blue Ivy Carter and twin sons Rumi and Sir. Beyoncé announced both pregnancies in joyful ways. Later in 2008, she released double album I Am…Sasha Fierce with the first half being introspective and the second having more dance floor energy. “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” was on that album, and Beyoncé dominated the 2010 Grammy Awards, where she won six, amounting to the most trophies won in a single night at the ceremony, later matched by Adele in 2012.

She released the album 4 (2011) with songs like “I Was Here” and others. She reunited with Destiy’s Child in 2013 at the Super Bowl, where they released new song “Nuclear” at the halftime performance.  Her song “Love on Top” won her another Grammy. Visual album Beyoncé was initially put out exclusively on iTunes, and it contained “Drunk in Love” which also featured Jay-Z. Lemonade (2016 was next, and it debuted as an HBO television special. Beyoncé won two Grammys for Lemonade, which includee “Formation.” She and husband Jay-Z released The Carters in 2018, which won them the best urban contemporary album. She also became the first Black woman to headline Coachella that year, and she releasedHomecoming, a Netflix documentary  that captured her performance featuring marching bands from historically Black colleges at the Indio-based music festival in California.

In 2022, act I: RENAISSANCE arrived, receiving four Grammys and bringing Beyoncé’s total to set the record with 32 trophies. This album took her on a stadium tour very similar to that of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. She released the documentary film in theaters in December 2023. Cowboy Carter is the star’s latest album, which sits firmly in the country genre but branches to others as well with certain songs, as evidenced by its 11 Grammy nominations ahead of the 2025 ceremony. The singer and songwriter also appeared in Dream Girls (2006) with Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, Danny Glover, Anika Noni Rose and more. She also voiced Nala in Barry Jenkins' 2019 live-action The Lion King (2019).