Singer-songwriter Beyoncé Knowles was born on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas. She began attending dance school and singing in her church choir at around age seven. After graduating from high school in Houston, she formed a local quartet in 1990, which would later become Destiny's Child. Since their debut in 1997, the group has sold over 30 million albums. However, they faced numerous problems, including the departure of all members except Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland, and disbanded in 2005. Beyoncé made her solo debut in 2002 with the single "Work It Out." She also made her acting debut in the film "Austin Powers: Goldmember," for which the song served as the theme song. The following year, she released the album "Dangerously in Love," which won five Grammy Awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. She continued to release hits, and her 2006 single "Implaceable" set a record by staying at number one on the US charts for 10 consecutive weeks. She starred in the film "Dreamgirls," released in December of the same year, and was nominated for numerous awards, including a Golden Globe and an Academy Award, earning her critical acclaim as an actress.

At the 2010 Grammy Awards, she was nominated in 10 categories, the most of any artist this year, and won six. This broke her own record of winning five categories, the most by a female artist.

In her personal life, she married Jay-Z, whom she had been dating since around 2002, in March 2008. She gave birth to her first daughter in January 2012. She was named "The World's Most Beautiful Woman" by People magazine. In the summer of 2013, she was chosen as an advertising model for H&M.