Beautiful Beyonce

Most probably don’t know, however, that the singer/songwriter has been friends with Fierce since elementary school.

Manager and father Mathew Knowles will never forget the moment he first met Fierce. A seven-year-old Beyonc? was entered in a talent search open to Houston elementary and middle school students. The song she sang? John Lennon’s “Imagine.” “Beyonc? was the youngest,” Knowles says. “She got up onstage and when she was finished, she received a standing ovation. Her mother (Tina Knowles) and I looked at each other and said, ‘That can’t be our Beyonc?. She’s shy and quiet.’”

Twenty-two years later, that simmering brew of shy, quiet talent peppered with fierce determination and ambition is at a boiling point. The former frontwoman of Destiny’s Child has come into her own, enjoying one of the best years of a still-evolving solo career.

“Beyonc? is a multiplatinum artiste and a multitalented woman who clearly embodies the qualities of excellence and achievement that the Billboard Woman of the Year Award was created to honour,” Billboard editorial director Bill Werde says. “She has not only influenced pop culture with her hit songs and her signature dance moves, but has inspired women everywhere with her unique style, business savvy and dedication to charitable causes.”

In the past several months alone, Beyonc? has accomplished several career milestones. She not only sang “American the Beautiful” during the opening ceremony of the 2009 presidential inauguration, she also sang the Etta James hit “At Last” as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama danced their first dance at the Neighbourhood Inaugural Ball.

In March Beyonc? launched her worldwide I Am...tour, which ended in Trinidad.

I Am...Sasha Fierce debuted at No 1 on the Billboard 200 when it was released by Columbia Records in November. The album, the singer’s third solo set, has spun off a string of Billboard Hot 100 hits: “If I Were a Boy,” “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” “Halo,” “Ego” and “Sweet Dreams.”

“She’s incredibly creative,” says Rob Stringer, chairman of Sony Music Label Group. “She also works phenomenally hard to create the opportunities she has. People tend to think there’s always an image-maker behind female pop stars. That’s not the case with Beyonc?. There’s no element of diva or difficulty about her; she takes control of the process and makes it happen. She’s grown beautifully in that role.”

Beyonc?’s creative skills and hard work date back to that pivotal talent show. Born September 4, 1981, in Houston, the young artiste-in-training grew up listening to a variety of musical influences, including Tina Turner, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Luther Vandross and Rachelle Ferrell. She and friend LaTavia Roberson were only nine years old when the group that led to Destiny’s Child was initially established in 1990 with Mathew Knowles as manager. The duo expanded into a trio after Kelendria “Kelly” Rowland joined in 1992. A year after that, the group became a quartet with the addition of LeToya Luckett.

Throughout the course of several name changes — Girls Time, the Dolls and Clich? — the group rehearsed and played everything from luncheons and fashion shows to church gigs and Tina Knowles’ hair salon. Those experiences not only honed Beyonc?’s talent and work ethic, they also planted the seeds for the singer’s future business acumen.

“I think we certainly played a part,” Mathew Knowles says. “Tina had her own salon and there were many nights when she came home Tuesday through Saturday at 7 or 8. And I was working hard at Xerox. I think all of the girls saw that drive. They saw our successes and also our failures.”

The fledgling Destiny’s Child experienced its share of disappointments before grabbing the gold ring. The act competed on Star Search and lost. However, the exposure led to a record/production deal through Elektra Records.

The relationship with Elektra ended after two years, without a record. But things began clicking after Knowles approached an earlier suitor, Columbia Records. Destiny’s Child signed with the label in 1997.

Destiny’s Child scored its first No 1 when “No, No, No” — the first single from the act’s 1998 self-titled debut album — reached the pinnacle of Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Two follow-up singles didn’t fare as well. But the stage was set for a platinum-certified future when Destiny’s Child teamed with producer Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs. The result was the group’s first top five pop hit and second R&B chart-topper in 1999: “Bills, Bills, Bills.”

The act’s second album, The Writing’s on the Wall, yielded two more hits (“Say My Name” and “Jumpin’, Jumpin’”), opening the door to a storied career.

“There are moments that just stick out from working with the group in the beginning,” says Lisa Ellis, former president of Sony Urban Music. “Beyonc? was always so brave and prepared to be the star she is today, even at 16 and 18 years old. She’s always pushing the envelope and very competitive but with humility and kindness; the epitome of a professional and human being.”

The year after Wall brought a lineup change as well as a turning point in Beyonc?’s career. Destiny’s Child now was a trio, with the departure of original members Roberson and Luckett and the addition of Michelle Williams. And the group exploded in popularity thanks to the 2000 release of its next single, “Independent Women Part I.” The song, used as the theme in the film Charlie’s Angels, spent 11 weeks at No 1 on the Hot 100 and also marked Beyonc?’s emergence as a songwriter. She added production credits to her growing r?sum? with the group’s third album, Survivor, released in 2001.

In 2004, the act released Destiny Fulfilled and, a year later, the trio disbanded, closing a significant chapter in girl-group history. To date, Destiny’s Child has sold 16.9 million albums in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (Worldwide, according to Sony, Destiny’s Child and Beyonc? cumulatively have sold 100 million units, including albums, physical and digital singles, and music DVDs).

She made her acting debut in the 2001 made-for-TV production Carmen: A Hip Hopera for MTV. That was followed in 2002 by her first feature film, co-starring as Foxxy Cleopatra opposite Mike Myers in Austin Powers in Goldmember. Since then she’s appeared in five more feature films: The Fighting Temptations in 2003; The Pink Panther in 2006, with Steve Martin; the hit musical Dreamgirls in 2006, with Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy; Cadillac Records in 2008, in the role of Etta James; and her most recent, Obsessed, released in 2009.

Billboard