Shortly thereafter, Destiny's Child, in the year of 1999 released its second album "
The Writing's on the Wall", featuring two number one hits in "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Say My Name" that won two awards at the 2001 Grammys for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal and Best R&B Song, the latter of which was awarded to the songwriters, including Beyonce herself. Following both albums success, Destiny's Child soon released its third album, "
Survivor", which became another smash, topped both the American Billboard 200 and R&B Albums charts, as well as reigning the Canadian album chart while became generally success around the world. What's more, two singles from the album, namely "Independent Women (Part 1)" and "Bootylicious", went to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. To add, "Independent Women (Part 1)" had also become the theme song for "Charlie's Angels" in late 2000, prior to the album's 2001 release. More on the set, its title track "Survivor" gloriously won the band their second Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, and its fourth and final single named "Emotions", has also ... become a cover for
Bee Gees hit of the same name, carried on the group's impressive string of top ten hits.
After the many success, Destiny's Child current members, Rowland, Michelle and Beyonce herself decided to temporarily pursue solo careers that they in 2001 took a break from the group activity. After their hiatus, in 2004 the three of them mentioned their plan to produce two new albums, the first album entitled "
Destiny Fulfilled" has been released along with its first single "Lose My Breath." Either the album or the single has been very success that both reached the top 10 Billboard album and singles charts respectively. Along with the group success, Beyonce's solo career also rose up. Appeared to be true that in 2002 she won the Songwriter of the Year award from the ASCAP Pop Music Awards, made her the first African American woman and the second woman of any race to win the honor. Gained fame and success in music production, Beyonce curious to expand her career to acting, which resulted in her starring in MTV's "Carmen" without any previous training.
Came after that was her summer 2002 co-starred in the film "Austin Powers in Goldmember" as ...
Foxxy Cleopatra opposite
Mike Myers. After that Beyonce recorded a song and produced a music video, called "Work It Out", used for the movie soundtrack that was a top 10 hit in the UK and a top 40 hit in Netherlands, Australia, and Ireland. Later, during the fall of 2002 Beyonce worked on the featured vocalist on
Jay-Z's smash single, "03
Bonnie And Clyde." Both fell in love, started going on a date before then got engaged.
In the spring of 2003 Beyonce remade a duet with
Luther Vandross, called "The Closer I Get To You", originally performed by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. The song was included both on her debut solo album and on Luther's "
Dance With My Father" set, for which the two singers shared the Grammy for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals. Still in 2003, Beyonce released her debut solo album "
Dangerously in Love", which first single named "Crazy In Love" featuring a guest rap from boyfriend Jay-Z, quickly became one of the biggest hits of that summer, staying at number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for ten weeks. Soon afterwards "Dangerously in Love" went to the top ... of the album charts in the UK and Canada, as well as on both the American pop Billboard 200 and R&B charts. As the single and album simultaneously topped the pop charts in both the US and UK, Beyonce then became the first actress to achieve this feat since "
Men At Work" in 1983, in the '60s and '70s, which was performed by
The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and
Rod Stewart.
To welcome the end of 2003 summer, the second single of the "Dangerously in Love" album, "Baby Boy" which featured reggae star
Sean Paul had soon climbed the charts, went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2003 and dominated radio airplay for the fall of 2003. During the same time Beyonce also starred in the movie "
The Fighting Temptations," for which she, together with rapper
Missy Elliott, Free, and MC Lyte, recorded a song for it called "Fighting Temptation" that unfortunately failed to be popular despite the moderate success of the movie itself. Completed the works, Beyonce then towards the end of 2003 released the set's third single, "Me, Myself And I" after which its fourth single "Naughty Girl" then came out in mid-2004. Just like ... their predecessors, both singles also made the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.
After sometimes off from the scene and following their solo career's success, the trio then in September 2005 decided to part ways, retiring as Destiny's Child and moving forward to pursue personal goals and individual careers in music, theater, television and film as well. Though so, prior to their split the three personnel released a special greatest hits package titled "
#1's". Hit the market October 25th the same year, it consists of not only some old tracks, like "Independent Women Part I," "Survivor," "Soldier," and "Jumpin', Jumpin'", but also three brand new tracks, namely "Stand Up For Love," "Feel the Same Way I Do," and that of "Check on It," which also is becoming the soundtrack for "
The Pink Panther" (2006) which Beyonce starred in alongside
Steve Martin,
Kevin Kline,
Jean Reno, and
Jason Statham among others. Subsequent to the album, Beyonce concentrated more on her solo career, even invading the world of fashion, launching her new fashion line, "House of Dereon", named after her grandmother, Agnes Dereon. "The whole theme is taking nothing and turning it into something because that's what my grandmother did with ... all kinds of fabrics. She just turned everything into masterpieces, and that's what my mother does," so she said on the line which features denim, handbags, casual sportswear, furs and footwear.
Time went on and on and back into the studio, Beyonce worked on her second solo album "
B'Day" while also was filming her another movie "
Dreamgirls", the Bill Condon-directed film adaptation of the Broadway show of the same name due to hit worldwide theaters December 22nd, 2006. Co-produced, wrote and arranged all the tracks on the set, Beyonce moreover also had boyfriend Jay-Z featured on the first single of the album, tentatively titled "Deja Vu", which was a top 5 hit in the U.S., a #1 hit on the U.S. R&B chart and peaked at #1 in the UK. Was released worldwide on September 4, and on September 5, 2006 in the U.S. to coincide with the celebration of Beyonce's twenty-fifth birthday, "B'Day" amazingly sold more than 540,000 copies in the U.S. in its first week in stores, coming in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, making it her highest selling first week as a solo artist.
She had a second 'birthday' after releasing "
B'Day [Deluxe Edition]" on ... April 3, 2007. The double CD took in materials both in English and Spanish that didn't make it to the first. This was the same record that sparked a feud between her and singer Des'ree. Included in the record was a track titled "Still in Love (Kissing You)" which was the remake of Des'ree's hit "I'm Kissing You". Beyonce was claimed trespassing the copyright law by not completing the terms and conditions that clearly stated that the song should not be re-titled or made a video. Des'ree as the co-writer of the song sought justice by filing a lawsuit and demanding a $150,000 compensation. While waiting for the court decision, the album was withdrawn from the market and shortly after re-released without the problematic track. In August 2007, Beyonce confirmed during an interview with USAToday.com that she will be back in the studio in December to work on the follow up of '
B'Day'. Among the confirmed collaborators is
Timbaland. In a statement released in November 2007, Beyonce said that she will make a dance record.
The girls went through various incarnations, singing a mix of gospel, rhythm and blues, and hip hop, before they officially became Destiny's Child in 1995. Knowles' father, Mathew, served as manager of the group.
After performing in the Houston area, the group appeared on Star Search, the popular television talent competition. Although they did not win the competition, a contract with Columbia Records soon followed.
Their first release, 'Destiny's Child' (1997), was a tremendous success in Europe. Upon the album's release, the group kicked off a tour of sold-out shows there. Their second effort, 'The Writing's on the Wall' (1999), brought them wider acclaim back home. The album generated three top-ten hits on the Billboard R&B singles chart.
In 2000, despite internal conflicts that resulted in the departure of Luckett and Roberson from the group, Destiny's Child continued to promote their sophomore effort, playing as a supporting act for Christina Aguilera's summer tour.
In 2001, still calling themselves Destiny's Child, the group released their third album, Survivor. In 2004, after launching a successful solo career with 'Dangerously in Love', Knowles won five Grammy Awards, tying a record for most wins by a female artist.
Her second solo effort, 'B'Day', was released in September 2006 to coincide with the singer's twenty-fifth birthday. In its first week, 'B'Day' sold more than 540,000 copies in the U.S.
In 2008, Beyonce launched her third solo album entitled 'I Am ... Sasha Fierce'. It proved to be yet another hit with the critics and earned her six Grammy Awards. This meant the 29-year-old had become a record breaker by winning the most Grammy Awards of any female artist in one night.
During an interview for Entertainment Tonight, Knowles confirmed that she is currently writing songs for, and producing her latest album, which she said is a mixture of all the genres she respects. She also said that the music was not R&B or pop.
Beyonce also made a start in acting, making her debut in MTV's 'Hip Hopera: Carmen' in 2001 and co-starring as Foxxy Cleopatra in Mike Myers' James Bond parody 'Goldmember' in 2002. Other films include 2004's 'The Fighting Temptations' and 2006's 'The Pink Panther'.
Her starring role as Deena Jones, a Diana Ross-like character in the big-screen adaptation of the 1981 Broadway hit musical 'Dreamgirls', earned a Golden Globe nomination in 2006. Beyoncé's song 'Listen' was nominated for an Academy Award.
Warner Bros has announced that Clint Eastwood will be directing Beyonce in her latest film project, 'A Star is Born'. The film tells the story of an alcoholic falling star, played by Kris Kristofferson in the 1976 version, and a young female artist who was played by Barbara Streisand in the Seventies remake of the 1930s original, however the filming was postponed in 2011 due to the singer's pregnancy.
Knowles' has been romantically linked to hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, since September 2002. They performed together in music videos for two of her hit singles, 'Crazy in Love' and 'Deja Vu'. The couple married in April 2008. Among the guests sighted at the wedding were Beyonce's mother Tina Knowles, her father and manager Matthew, her sister Solange, Destiny's Child members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, and friend Gwyneth Paltrow.
In a recent interview, Paltrow described her friend Beyonce as the "most talented human being on the planet". She admitted to respecting the singer's talent and said that the "mastery over what she does" goes beyond confidence, and she described it instead as "on a while other level" and "mind-blowing".
The group’s next album, Survivor, was another huge success for the girls and made number One on both the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, as well as the UK and Canadian Albums Charts. The tracks “Independent Woman Part I” and “Bootylicious” zoomed straight to the top of the Hot 100, while the title track, “Survivor”, reached number Two. By the time Destiny’s Child announced their intention to disband in 2005, they had established themselves as one of the most famous and top-selling female groups in recording history.
Beyonce’s individual career went from strength to strength, as she earned awards for her skills as a songwriter, as well as a singer. In 2001, she won the award for “Songwriter of The Year”, given to her by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Pop Music Awards, thus becoming the very first African-American woman to receive this award, and only the second woman ever to do so.
In addition to her singing and performing commitments with Destiny’s Child, Beyonce was also carving out time to work on solo recording projects. In July 2000, she released her debut solo single, “I Got That”, featuring the rapper Amil, but the single did not sell particularly well. Refusing to be discouraged, Beyonce persevered, and in late spring 2003, she released her debut solo album, called Dangerously in Love. This time, her solo work was a massive success, right from the word go. The album burst into the Billboard 200, going straight to Number One, and sold over 300,000 copies in its first week alone, and making platinum just three short weeks later, in June 2003. Phenomenally, the album went on to top the album charts all over the world.
In addition, the lead single on the album, which was a number called “Crazy in Love” soon became one of the biggest hits of that year. The song stayed at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks running, and topped the singles charts in the UK and Ireland, as well as the USA. But even greater successes were still to come! That year, Beyonce’s single and album topped both charts at the same time, making her the first artist to achieve this astonishing level of sales since the Beatles, Rod Stewart and Simon and Garfunkel in the Sixties and Seventies. To date, Beyonce is also not only the first, but also the only female recording artist ever to do this.
Beyonce was thus one of the biggest-selling artists of 2003, so it was hardly a surprise when she won no less than five Grammy Awards for her solo singing at the 2004 Grammy Awards ceremony: these awards included “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance” for Dangerously in Love”, “Best R&B Song” for “Crazy In Love”, and “Best Contemporary Album”.
In 2005, Beyonce released a song called “Check On It”, which was featured in the Destiny’s Child greatest hits compilation, and which subsequently became the soundtrack to the movie The Pink Panther, which came out in 2006. This track became another huge hit for Beyonce. Also in 2006, she released her second studio album, called B’Day, which was launched on 4 September, to coincide with her 25th birthday. It sold even better than its predecessors; in the first week alone, sales reached 541,000 copies in the US, giving Beyonce her highest first-week sales ever. The album’s lead single, “Deja Vu”, also became a number One hit on the US R&B charts.
It’s hard to believe it, but alongside her amazingly busy recording career as both a solo and group artist, Beyonce also found time to launch yet another career - this time as a movie actress. In 2001, she co-starred with actor Mekhi Phifer in the MTV Tv movie, “Carmen: A Hip Hopera”. In summer 2002, she appeared in the highly successful movie, Austin Powers in Goldmember, where she played the part of Foxxy Cleopatra, alongside Michael Caine and Mike Myers. In 2003, she appeared with
Cuba Gooding Jr. in the movie The Fighting Temptations, and recorded a track of the same name with female rappers Missy Elliott, MC Lyte and Free.
Most recently, Beyonce appeared in a movie called Dreamgirls, which is a movie adaptation of the 1980s hit Broadway musical based on the lives of the Tamla Motown female group, The Supremes. In this film, Beyonce played the part of Diana Ross, who also went on to pursue a phenomenally successful solo singing career. The movie Dreamgirls was a massive success, and Beyonce has gone on record as saying that this is her “first real acting film”. The film was released in December 2006, and opened at number three in the movie charts with an $8 million dollar opening weekend. So far, Dreamgirls has grossed over $100 million and was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Song, for “Listen” - for which it won two awards.
In addition to her outstandingly successful singing and acting career, Beyonce has also devoted a considerable amount of time and money to various charitable concerns. As part of Destiny’s Child, who recorded a song called “Stand Up For Love”, Beyonce lent her support as a world ambassador for the 2005 World Children’s Day programme of events. In conjunction with Kelly Rowland, her parents Matthew and Tina Knowles, as well as her sister Solange Knowles, Beyonce helped establish the Survivor Foundation, to help give aid to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the storm evacuees in the Houston area. On a visit to Ethiopia, where she performed and met the President Girma Wolde-Giorgis, Beyonce also expressed her interest in becoming involved in humanitarian concerns in Ethiopia.
In 2010, Knowles teamed up with Lady Gaga for the hit song 'Telephone', which reached number one in the US charts and received a Grammy nomination that year for best pop collaboration with vocals.
The singer was later that year named by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful women in the world. She was also featured in the publication's list of high earners.
In 2011, it was announced that the singer would no longer be managed by her father. Knowles' publicist said in a statement that the pair have gone their separate ways "on a business level".
In June 2011, Beyonce made history when she became the first female in 20 years to headline at Glastonbury Festival. Her energetic performance was widely praised and Knowles described the gig as a "dream" come true. "I felt like a rock star, and the crowd, they looked like rock stars, and I'm just so honoured, really. This is... the highlight of my career."
Her fourth studio album as a solo artist was released on 24 June 2011. '4' debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 310,000 copies in the first week alone, making her the second female and third overall musician to have their first four albums go straight to number one.
The lead single 'Run the World (girls)' debuted at number 29 on the charts, the singer's lowest debut during her solo career. This was followed by the release 'Best Thing I Never Had' on 1 June 2011.
As well as performing at Glastonbury in 2011, Beyonce sang at T in the Park in Scotland and at the Oxegen Festival in Ireland.
On 5 August 2011, Beyonce revealed she was pregnant with her first child with husband Jay-Z at the MTV European Music Video Awards.
She showed off her small baby bump in an orange Lanvin gown on the red carpet and later performed her single 'Love on Top'. Her announcement broke records on Twitter in terms of most tweets per second, reaching 8,836 posts.
Since then, the singer has revealed that she is expecting her baby in February and will be designing a maternity wear clothing line.
Meanwhile, Beyonce has been showing off her fashion credentials by wearing unusual maternity clothes, including leather hotpants and short dresses.
In September 2011, Beyonce launched her third fragrance, called Pulse, in New York wearing a sparkling blue mini-dress.
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