by Dave Griffiths

Created on: January 10, 2013   Last Updated: February 04, 2013

Finding success with Destiny’s Child and then launching a successful solo career has seen R&B artist Beyonce Knowles become one of the most recognized celebrity faces as well as a style icon for women around the world.

Beyonce Giselle Knowles-Carter was born on Sept. 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas. Her father, Mathew Knowles, is a record manager and her mother, Tina Knowles, is a costume designer and hair stylist.

While attending St. Mary’s Elementary School, Knowles showed a real flair for dancing. Soon she was studying both ballet and jazz dance. However it was her interest in singing that seemed to dominate her dreams. When she performed the John Lennon classic track ‘Imagine’ at a talent quest and won, her singing career was well and truly on its way.

In 1990, Knowles relocated to Parker Elementary School (a school that is well-known for its music program) and soon she was performing with two choirs, one at the school and one at the St. John’s United Methodist Church.

Already friends with Kelly Rowland, Knowles met LaTavia Roberson when she was just nine years old and soon they became an all-girl group known as Girl's Tyme that performed rap and danced. The girls juggled the group while attending high school (Knowles went to Alief Elsik High School and Houston’s High School for the Performing & Visual Arts) and soon R&B producer Arne Frager decided to fly to Houston to see the group perform.

Frager felt Girl’s Tyme was good enough to be signed with a major record company, and decided the best way to achieve that goal was to have them appear on the television show ‘Star Search.’ They lost the competition, but Knowles refused to see it as a career setback once she realized that both Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears also lost on the show.

It was at this time that Knowles’ father Mathew decided to quit his job and manage the group. The group became a girl’s group of four (with the inclusion of LeToya Luckett) and soon they went from performing in backyards to becoming the opening act for a number of musical acts. They were briefly signed to Elektra Records, but the deal fell through.

The group decided to rename themselves Destiny’s Child and soon found themselves signed to Columbia Records. Their big break came when their song ‘Killing Time’ was used on the soundtrack of popular sci-fi comedy ‘Men In Black.’

Knowles recorded four albums with Destiny’s Child between 1998 and 2004, but during the group’s short hiatus in 2003 she decided to work on her solo career. She soon released ‘Dangerously In Love’, the first of her four solo albums – ‘B’Day’ (2006), ‘I Am... Sasha Fierce’ (2008) and ‘4’ (2011).

With her award-winning solo singing career doing well, Knowles turned her attention to something new: acting. She began with a role in the television movie ‘Carmen: A Hip Hopera,’ followed by a comedy performance in ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember’. However it was her performances in ‘Dreamgirls’ and ‘Cadillac Records’ that really gained critics' attention. Her role of Deena Jones in ‘Dreamgirls’ even earned her a Golden Globe nomination.

Knowles has never been involved in any kind of dating scandal. Instead she married producer/rapper Jay-Z in 2008. The pair are still married and have one child, a daughter named Blue Ivy Carter, who was born in January 2012.

With Knowles taking a short hiatus while she settles into motherhood, her fans are eagerly waiting to see what the talented singer/actress will do next.

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