31 Facts About Beyoncé That Will Make You Love Her More

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter, one of the world’s best-selling music artists, has without doubt marked her footprints in the entire world, with a humongous fan base. With over 100 million records sold worldwide and numerous accolades including 24 Grammy wins to her name, she has more likely defined entertainment industry in the last decade. Here are some facts about the American singer, we bet you didn’t know before:

1. Beyoncé singing talent was first spotted by her dance teacher Miss Darlette Johnson, around the age of six. She later went on to win a school talent show competition, against older competitors by singing John Lennon’s ‘Imagine.’
2. Beyoncé attended St. Mary’s Montessori School in Houston, but shifted to Parker Elementary School, a music school to further her singing talent. Later she briefly attended Houston High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and the Alief Elsik High School, before being home tutored from ninth grade, as she was a working performer. She later earned an equivalent of high school diploma in 2000.
3. In the early 1990’s Beyoncé along with Kelly Rowland, LaTavia Roberson, Tamar Davis, and sisters Nikki and Nina Taylor, still in their preteens, formed a group named ‘Girl’s Time.’ The group managed by Beyoncé’s father Mathew, made their debut in one of the largest talent show ‘Star Search.’
4. Beyoncé and the girls enlisted in singing and dance lessons to harness their talent in combining R&B, Hip-Hop and pop music. The group days were spent jogging three miles each day followed by eight hours of practice, including aerobics and drills.
5. After years of limited success, Beyoncé and the group, reduced to quarter of Rowland, LaTavia Roberson, and LeToya Luckett, signed to Columbia Records as ‘Destiny’s Child,’ in late 1990s. They had earlier recorded several tracks including ‘Killing Time,’ which was included in the soundtrack to the 1997 film ‘Men in Black.’
6. On February 17, 1998, She and her group released their self-titled debut album ‘Destiny’s Child,’ and managed to sell over one million copies in the United States, earning a platinum. The single ‘No, No, No,’ was a major hit becoming the ninth best-selling single of the year, winning three Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards.
7. Following the success of their second Album ‘The Writing’s on the Wall,’ in 1999, the group split over alleged financial mismanagement by Mathew Knowles favoring Beyoncé and Rowland. Luckett and Roberson were replaced with Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin, however Farrah left after five months.
8. The lead single ‘Bills, Bills, Bills, and ‘Say My Name,’ from the second album, written by Beyoncé, provided the group with their first chart-topper on the US Billboard Hot 100. The single ‘Say My Name,’ won two Grammy Awards in 2001 and was nominated for Record of the Year.
9. Beyoncé suffered a bout of depression when her group, Destiney’s Child disbanded and she was blamed by media and critics. She occasionally kept to herself in her room for days and refused to eat anything. During that lonely period, her longstanding relation with her boyfriend ended.
10. She was born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas, United States, as the eldest of two children to Celestine ‘Tina’ Knowles, a hairdresser and Mathew Knowles, a Xerox sales manager. Her younger sister Solange is also a singer.
11. She made her television film debut with ‘Carmen: A Hip Hop era,’ an African-American adaptation of the 19th century opera in 2001, starring Mekhi Phifer. This was followed by her feature film debut in 2002 with spy comedy film ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember,’ and a year later in the music comedy ‘The Fighting Temptations.’
12. The girl empowerment anthem, ‘Independent Women, Part-I,’ as the theme song of ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ was another smash, hitting the top of the charts and staying there for eleven weeks. It was later included on the group’s third studio album, ‘Survivor,’ released in May 2001.
13. Beyoncé was emerging as Destiney’s Child’s unequivocal musical leader and public face. She was more involved than ever in songwriting and production, co-writing all but one song on the album ‘Survivor.’ The title song of the album, earned a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with vocal.
14. Following the release of holiday album ‘8 Days of Christams,’ in October 2001, the group decided to take a break to go solo. Beyoncé released her first solo ’03 Bonnie & Clyde,’ with her boyfriend, rapper Jay-Z, in October 2002.
15. Beyoncé earned numerous accolades including record-tying five Grammy Awards, on February 8, 2004, with release of her first solo album ‘Dangerously in Love,’ on June 20, 2003. The album’s lead single, ‘Crazy in Love,’ became her first number one single as a solo artist in the United States.
16. She became the first-female artist to reach number one position on both, singles and albums chart simultaneously in the United States and United Kingdom, in 2003.
17. Beyoncé performed for the last time as member of ‘Destiney’s Child,’ group with the release of ‘Destiny Fulfilled,’ followed by ‘Number 1’s,’ featuring group’s greatest hits album, before the formal disbandment in late 2005. With a sale of over 60 million records worldwide, the group was honored with a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in March 2006, as the 2,035th recipient.
18. On September 4, 2006, she released her second solo album ‘B’Day,’ coinciding with her twenty -fifth birthday, atop the Billboard 200 chart, for her second consecutive number one in United States. The album was re-released with five additional songs including her duet with Shakira ‘Beautiful Liar.’
19. She continued to feature in the movie with release of ‘The Pink Panther,’ co-starring Steve Martin and in film version of 1981 Broadway musical ‘Dreamgirls,’ co-starring Jennifer Hudson, Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy, in 2006.
20. To keep her stage personality, separate from her true self, Beyoncé created the alter ego ‘Sasha Fierce,’ as she was branded as sexy, seductive and provocative on stage. She introduced her with her third studio album ‘I Am…. Sasha Fierce,’ on October 22, 2008, which won six Grammy Awards to set a record.
21. Beyoncé married Jay-Z, on April 4, 2008, in a private function and have become one of the top performing couple with over combined record sale of 300 million. They are blessed with a daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, on January 7, 2012 and twins, Rumi and Sir Carter, on June 13, 2017.
22. Her presence at the ‘2011 MTV Video Music Award,’ where she performed ‘Love on Top,’ helped set a MTV record for most watched event with a 12.5 million viewership. Also her pregnancy announcement during the show, set Guinness World Record, for most tweets per second for a single event on Twitter.
23. She has pioneered phrases like ‘put a ring on it,’ a euphemism for marriage proposal, ‘I woke up like this,’ which set a trend posting morning selfies. Her ‘boy, bye,’ was used as part of the Democratic National Committee’s campaign and set the trend with ‘visual album,’ which featured a video for every song apart from popularizing surprise album release.
24. In 2010, she founded her own entertainment company ‘Parkwood Entertainment,’ to promote music, movie, and television specials. The company has won a Peabody Award in Entertainment and has been listed twice by Fast Company, as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Company in Music.
25. The ‘Center for Science in the Public Interest,’ wrote an open letter to Beyoncé, showing concern in her endorsement of Pepsi, for its unhealthiness. However, NetBase, study found 70 percent positive audience to her commercials.
26. In 2005, the ‘House of Dereon,’ a ready-to-wear fashion line was introduced by Beyoncé and her mother, in keeping with her grandmother Agnez Dereon’s legacy. In May 2008, the fashion line ran into controversy for its over-sexualizing young girls in their advertisement.
27. As the Most Charitable Celebrity of the year 2016, she has provided relief to Hurricane Katrina victims through her ‘Survivor Foundation,’ in 2005, and joined hand with then US First Lady, Michelle Obama, in campaign against child obesity, among other philanthropy activities. She worked for gun control, female empowerment, Goodwill Charity and took part in ‘Miss a Meal,’ a food donation campaign.
28. Beyoncé was named the Most Powerful Women in Music through the program on BBC Radio 4 Women’s Hour 2020. She was listed as one of the seven women, judged to have had the biggest impact on women’s lives over the past 70 years.
29. She has won 24 Grammy Awards, apart from 24 MTV Video Music Awards, making her the second most honored female artist by the Grammys behind Alison Krauss. She is also the most nominated women in Grammy Award history with a total of 70 nominations.
30. In 2001, she became the first African-American women to ever win the ‘ASCAP pop Songwriter of the Year.’ Though the People magazine named her ‘World’s Most Beautiful Women,’ while the Complex called her the ‘Hottest Female Singer of All Time,’ she considers herself to be ‘a modern-day feminist.’
31. Beyoncé Net Worth: $400 Million