A singer and actress, Beyoncé Gisele Knowles (1981–), a Houston native, is popularly known simply as Beyoncé. She began her singing career in 1990 with a group called Girls’ Tyme. The group added Kelly Rowland as a member in 1992, and LeToya Luckett in 1993. After several name changes the group chose Destiny’s Child as their name. Although the group signed with Elektra Records in 1995, it dropped that company and signed with Columbia Records the next year. Their debut album Destiny’s Child (1998), which went platinum, was followed by The Writing’s on the Wall (1999), which earned them two Grammys. The group made changes in the members but continued to release records well into 2004, with phenomenal success.

Beyoncé released her first solo album, Dangerously in Love, in 2003. The album was so successful that it went multiplatinum, and it was selected by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the two hundred definitive albums in music history. Beyoncé’s musical talents have also earned her four MTV awards, seventeen Grammy awards, and nine Billboard Music awards. She is the first African-American woman to win the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Songwriter of the Year Award (2001), and she is only the second woman to receive the award. The iconic singer and actress has performed with numerous artists and contributed to film soundtracks, such as Men in Black (1997) and Dream-girls (2006). In January 2013 she sang at Barack Obama’s second-term inauguration as President of the United States, and at half-time during Super Bowl XLVII held in New Orleans. She continues to explore different entertainment opportunities and interests, including collaborating with her mother on a clothing line, while also being actively involved in philanthropic endeavors.