Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (born September 4, 1981) is a Grammy Award-winning American R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, Golden Globe Award-nominated actress, dancer, and fashion designer and model for House of Deréon. Beyoncé rose to fame as the creative force and lead singer of R&B girl group Destiny's Child, the best-selling female group of all time, with over fifty million records sold. After a series of commercially successful releases with the group, Beyoncé released her debut solo album Dangerously in Love in 2003. The album became one of the biggest commercial successes of the year, topping the album charts in the U.S. and the UK. It also spawned the number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy" and earned Beyoncé a record-tying five Grammy Awards in a single night in 2004. Beyoncé's sophomore album, B’Day, which was released worldwide on September 4, 2006 (her twenty-fifth birthday) continued her success. The album spawned the UK number-one single "Deja Vu", "Ring the Alarm", and the worldwide number-one hit "Irreplaceable". The album is nominated for five 2007 Grammy Awards.
Beyoncé has been dating rapper Jay-Z since 2002. The couple has never publicly discussed their relationship, but has reportedly been together for over four years. Beyoncé has stated that she believes that not publicly discussing their relationship has helped them. Jay-Z has said in a People magazine article that "we don't play with our relationship". There were various rumors that the couple were to wed in late November/early December 2006 in the Caribbean. The rumors proved to be false.
In 2001, Beyoncé turned to acting, starring alongside actor Mekhi Phifer in the MTV made-for-television film Carmen: A Hip Hopera. In the summer of 2002, Beyoncé co-starred in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember, playing Foxxy Cleopatra opposite Mike Myers and Michael Caine. Beyoncé also recorded the song "Work It Out" for the film's soundtrack. In 2003, Beyoncé starred opposite Cuba Gooding, Jr. in the film The Fighting Temptations, and recorded a song for it called "Fighting Temptation", alongside female rappers Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free. Unlike Knowles' own singles, the song did not become a hit, although the film was a moderate success at the box office. Beyoncé co-starred in the film The Pink Panther, playing the role of Xania, an international pop singer, opposite Steve Martin, who plays Inspector Clouseau. Beyoncé's latest film work is Dreamgirls, the film adaptation of the hit 1981 Broadway musical about a 1960s singing group loosely based on Motown all-female group The Supremes, as the Diana Ross-based character Deena Jones. On December 14, 2006, Beyoncé was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for the film Dreamgirls – "Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy" and "Best Original Song" for "Listen". Beyoncé was quoted to say this was her first real acting film.
Beyoncé won her seventh MTV Video Music Award – "Best R&B Video" for "Check on It" – at the 2006 ceremony in August 31. She also performed her hit single "Ring the Alarm" at the awards ceremony. In September 2006, Beyoncé won three awards at the UK's MOBO Awards ceremony. In November 2006, she took home an award for "World's Best-Selling R&B Artist" at the 2006 World Music Awards. On December 6, the nominations for the 2007 Grammy Awards were announced, and Beyoncé received five: "Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" for "Ring the Alarm", "Best R&B Song" for "Deja Vu", "Best Contemporary R&B Album" for B’Day, "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" for "Deja Vu", and "Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical" for "Deja Vu" (Freemasons Club Mix - No Rap) (remixed by Russell Small and James Wiltshire). Beyoncé has also confirmed rumors to Univision that she and Latin superstar Shakira will be releasing a Spanglish Latin pop song entitled "Beautiful Liar". It will be featured on the re-issue of B’Day, which will also include Spanish-language versions of "Deja Vu", "Irreplaceable", and "Ring the Alarm" and the T.I.-featured version of "Upgrade U". Beyoncé also has been hailed by Entertainment Weekly as the 7th Most Entertaining Person of the Year of 2006 and she was ranked the highest musician on the list. Beyoncé will release her third studio album in mid-2007 ...
