Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( bee-YON-say; née Knowles; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, director, humanitarian, and record producer. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, Beyoncé performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of Destiny's Child, one of the best-selling girl groups of all time. Beyoncé is often cited as an influence by other artists.

During Destiny's Child's hiatus, Beyoncé made her theatrical film debut with a role in the U.S. box-office number-one Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002) and began her solo music career. She became the first music act to debut at number one with their first six solo studio albums on the Billboard 200. Her debut album Dangerously in L…Read more on Wikipedia