Hot 21 Radio

Beyoncé

The daughter of an African-American father and a Creole mother, Beyoncé Giselle Knowles won her first talent show singing John Lennon's "Imagine" at the age of 7 and met LaTavia Roberson and Kelly Rowland at an audition the following year for a girl group that went on to become Girl's Tyme. Beyoncé's father, Matthew Knowles, took over the management and the group ultimately evolved into Destiny's Child in 1993. Four years later – with the addition of LeToya Lockett - the group was signed to Columbia and on their way to becoming the biggest-selling female group in the world, releasing six commercially acclaimed albums between 1998 and 2004. Beyoncé then launched her debut solo album Dangerously in Love in 2003, including the massive international hit "Crazy in Love," also featuring rapper – and future husband - Jay-Z. In 2002, she added acting to her list of talents when she starred in the film Austin Powers: Goldmember before going on to take roles in Dreamgirls (2006), The Pink Panther (2006), and Cadillac Records (2008). Albums B'Day (2006) and I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008) continued her reign of success, the latter of which won six Grammy awards. She returned with fourth studio album 4 in 2011, which went straight in at the peak of the Billboard 200. Surprise self-titled album Beyoncé arrived in 2013 with corresponding music videos and featured talents such as Jay-Z and Frank Ocean and even featured a guest appearance from Beyoncé and Jay-Z's daughter, Blue Ivy. The critically-acclaimed visual album Lemonade was released in 2016 and famously sparked rumors around the inner-workings of her marriage to Jay-Z when audiences began analyzing its scorned, emotive lyrical content. The album debuted at Number 1 on the Billboard 200 and being the sixth consecutive studio album to do so meant that it made Billboard history. The album featured the hit song “Formation” which she performed live during her slot at the highly-coveted NFL Super Bowl 50 halftime show. As part of a collaboration called The Carters, Beyoncé and Jay-Z released the album Everything Is Love (2018) following two world tours in which the duo performed together. It was released immediately after the premiere of the music video for the single “Apes**t” which was filmed at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France. After her headlining performance at the 2018 Coachella music festival, in 2019 a documentary titled Homecoming featured footage from the concert and the behind-the-scenes production process. It was accompanied by Homecoming: The Live Album which included a cover of Maze's “Before I Let Go,” which was released as a single. Knowles provided the voice for Nala in 2019’s remake of The Lion King. She provided the new song “Spirit” to the film and it’s soundtrack The Lion King – The Gift. In June 2020, in the wake of the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd, Knowles released the single “Black Parade.” Beyoncé would return in 2022 with her seventh studio effort Renaissance, a celebration of black queer club music that shot straight to the top of the Billboard 200.