Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter (
// bee-YON-say;
[4] born September 4, 1981)
[5][6] is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Born and raised in
Houston,
Texas, she performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child, and rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of
R&B girl-group
Destiny's Child. Managed by her father
Mathew Knowles, the group became one of the world's
best-selling girl groups of all time. Their hiatus saw the release of Beyoncé's debut album,
Dangerously in Love (2003), which established her as a solo artist worldwide; it sold 11 million copies, earned five
Grammy Awards and featured the
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "
Crazy in Love" and "
Baby Boy".
Following the disbandment of Destiny's Child in June 2005, she released her second solo album,
B'Day (2006), which contained hits "
Déjà Vu", "
Irreplaceable", and "
Beautiful Liar". Beyoncé also ventured into acting, with a
Golden Globe-nominated performance in
Dreamgirls (2006), and starring roles in
The Pink Panther (2006) and
Obsessed (2009). Her marriage to rapper
Jay Z and portrayal of
Etta James in
Cadillac Records (2008) influenced her third album,
I Am... Sasha Fierce (2008), which saw the birth of her alter-ego Sasha Fierce and earned a record-setting
six Grammy Awards in 2010, including
Song of the Year for "
Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)". Beyoncé took a hiatus from music in 2010 and took over management of her career; her fourth album
4 (2011) was subsequently mellower in tone, exploring 1970s
funk, 1980s
pop, and 1990s
soul.
[7] Her critically acclaimed fifth studio album,
Beyoncé (2013), was distinguished from previous releases by its experimental production and exploration of darker themes.
