Beyoncé

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter (born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and businesswoman known for her vocal ability, artistic reinventions and live performances. Born in Houston, Texas, she rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups in history.

Her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love (2003), became one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century. After Destiny's Child disbanded in 2005, she released B'Day (2006) and starred in the film Dreamgirls; her marriage to rapper Jay-Z and her portrayal of Etta James in the biopic Cadillac Records shaped the 2008 double album I Am... Sasha Fierce. During the 2000s she topped the Billboard Hot 100 with "Crazy in Love", "Baby Boy", "Check on It", "Irreplaceable" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)".

After founding the management company Parkwood Entertainment, she turned to traditional R&B and soul on 4 (2011). Beyoncé (2013) popularized surprise releases and visual albums, and Lemonade (2016) sparked social and political debate and was the best-selling album of its year. Her trilogy project has since produced the dance album Renaissance (2022) and the country album Cowboy Carter (2024); the latter won her the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, and its accompanying tour became the highest-grossing country tour of all time.

With estimated sales of more than 200 million records, she is the most-certified female artist by the Recording Industry Association of America and the only woman whose first eight studio albums all debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. She holds a record 35 Grammy Awards and has also won 30 MTV Video Music Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Peabody Award, and she was the first woman to headline an all-stadium tour.