A
normal childhood was not in the books for Beyonce. At 8 years
old, she met LaTavia Robertson while auditioning for a girls
musical group and Matthew Knowles, Beyonce's manager and father,
later paired the two with LeToya Luckett. In 1992, cousin Kelly
Rowland joined the group, and they performed together on Star
Search.
Small
gigs and much label-shopping later, the four beauties cemented
their relationship by calling themselves Destiny's Child. In
1997, "No, No, No" became their first official single,
and they got off to a big start as the track went multi-platinum.
The girls were instantly popular in the media and impressed
all with their self-titled debut.
If critics were impressed with this new R&B group's success,
they were absolutely floored when The Writing's on the Wall
hit stores in 1999. DC, led by the incomparable Beyonce, had
three top ten hits within the year: "Jumpin, Jumpin,"
"Say My Name" and "Bills, Bills, Bills."
They became one of the best-selling female groups of recent
memory after this second album sold more than 9 million units
worldwide. At the same time, it was announced that their single
"Independent Women Part 1," off the Charlie's Angels
soundtrack, had reached the largest audience ever in the recorded
radio airplay -- 140.4 million pairs of ears.
Shortly
after the announcement of five Grammy nominations at the 2001
awards show and the excitement of the unbelievable record sales,
LeToya and LaTavia left the group amid management struggles.
Legal problems ensued, but Destiny's Child became whole again
with the arrival of Michelle Williams, and, for a short stint
only, backup singer Farrah Franklin. At the Grammys, DC took
home two awards, Best R&B Song and Best R&B Performance
by a Duo or Group, both for "Say My Name."
Now
a trio, Destiny's Child's third album, Survivor, which debuted
in the spring of '01, garnered a whole new set of hits, like
"Bootylicious" and the title track. The success of
Survivor resulted in another Grammy for the group in February
2002. In fact, the American Music, MTV, Soul Train and Image
Awards all showered the group with more hardware and praise.
After
all this success, the group's three talented sistas decided
to try their hands at solo careers before investing their time
in another Destiny's Child album. To no one's surprise, Beyonce
has captured the bulk of the spotlight with her sex appeal and
strong vocals. Even before her first album was organized, she
had a hit with Jay-Z called "Bonnie and Clyde '03"
and was cracking up audiences with her big-screen debut alongside
Mike Myers in Austin Powers in Goldmember. This simply prepared
fans for what was to come with Dangerously In Love, released
in June 2003.
Beyonce
displayed a versatile style with this solo effort, creating
the club hit "Baby Boy," the pop success "Crazy
In Love" and the soulful "The Closer I Get To You"
with Luther Vandross. Like her work in Destiny's Child, Beyonce
wrote or co-wrote many of the tracks and performed her heart
out on award shows to get the word out to a huge audience. She
has emerged as a diva, making the best videos, catchiest songs
and creating the most headlines. At 2004's Grammy ceremony,
Beyonce took away five awards and was the biggest winner of
the night (a feat Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones each
accomplished in previous years). Rumors have swirled that she
is involved with rapper Jay-Z, and talk of another Destiny's
Child album has surfaced.
Her
work outside the recording studio does not go ignored either.
As she prepares for a solo tour, Beyonce can be seen in ads
for L'Oreal and Pepsi, and in the musical/comedy The Fighting
Temptations. A star of her caliber comes along very rarely,
so we expect even bigger things from our favorite R&B star
in the near future: more music, movies and sexy outfits, please. |
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