PROFILE BEYONCÉ:IT WASN'T QUITE as important as Amelia Earhart's transatlantic flight in 1928, but for reporters and fans at Nice airport the arrival this week of Beyoncé Knowles was almost as exciting. The young woman who is probably the world's most popular female singer hasn't yet said or done anything of great note on this trip to Europe, but we know she "looked concerned" when a fan fell over in the rush to take her photograph.
Despite the rigours of her first-class flight from the US, Beyoncé was looking “fresh-faced and gorgeous” as she climbed into a waiting car, according to reports. Looking “as stunning as ever” she was wearing a patterned sundress, black heels, large gold earrings and Illesteva sunglasses. Further investigation revealed that the shoes were “sky-high Louboutin heels”.
Beyoncé is in Europe to get publicity for her album 4, which is being released next week. There will be no escaping her for the next few weeks. She is one of the headline acts at Glastonbury Festival, in England, next weekend, then does a turn at Oxegen, in Punchestown, next month. In between, there will be blanket radio, television and press coverage for Brand Beyoncé – apart from music, she has an acting career, a fashion line, a perfume line and too many lucrative endorsement deals to mention. Last week Forbesmagazine called the 29-year-old the top-earning young entertainment mogul, estimating that she made $87 million (€62 million) last year.
She is also partly responsible for a word being added to the Oxford English Dictionary. “Bootylicious”, meaning, “often with reference to the buttocks: sexually attractive, sexy; shapely”, became a far more common term after Destiny’s Child, her band at the time, had a hit with a song of the name, in 2001.
Beyoncé is a devout Christian who always thanks Jesus when accepting an award, so some are surprised by the raunch of her performances. She says God isn’t offended by her shaking her booty: “I honestly believe that He wants people to celebrate their bodies so long as you don’t compromise your Christianity in the process. It’s entertainment and I believe God is okay with that.”
Beyoncé learned to sing in the choir of St John’s United Methodist Church in her native Houston, Texas. When she was eight, her father, Mathew Knowles, became her manager and mentor, guiding her as she sang in a number of girl bands. By the time she was in her early teens, she had experienced all the harshness of the music industry, including broken promises and cancelled contracts. Mathew left his job to put Beyoncé and her young bandmates through “boot camp”, and for many years the Knowles family had no regular income as she was being groomed for stardom.
There was family drama three months ago when Beyoncé announced that she had split professionally from her father. Taking it on the chin, he responded, “Business is business and family is family. It should come as no surprise that at 29 years old, almost 30, she wants to have more control of her business.”
Behind the scenes, Tina Knowles filed for divorce in 2009 after allegations that Mathew had fathered a son with a mistress. (The action was dimissed when neither side attended the court hearing.) Last year TMZ, the gossip website that broke the news of Michael Jackson’s death, reported that a paternity test had proved the child was Mathew’s. The singer was said to be furious about her father’s infidelity.
BEYONCE'S VOICE ISexceptional. She is a mezzo with a vocal range that spans three and a half octaves. Entertainment Weekly once noted: "Her voice arrives in huge gusts of rhythm and emotion. You'd have to search far and wide – perhaps in the halls of the Metropolitan Opera – to find a vocalist who sings with more sheer force. Not one of her rival pop divas can match Beyoncé's genius for dragging her vocal lines against a hip-hop beat."
When she was nine years old she began to sing professionally with the group that became Destiny’s Child, who were marketed as a younger, more urban-sounding version of The Supremes. She was on the road with them from the age of 13. The band sold more than 60 million records, making them one of the most successful musical trios of all time, but it was always clear that Beyoncé was the Diana Ross of the group, the one who would go on to even greater success.
She has been a solo artist since she was 20, releasing her debut album in 2003. Still on her fourth album, she has become the third-most-honoured female act at the Grammys, with 16 nominations so far. She was also the most successful female artist of the Noughties.
Her appeal is predicated on the fact that she touches most popular musical bases: she’s as much RB as she is soul, pop and hip hop. She involves herself in the songwriting and production end of the business and choreographs most of her dance moves, as well as directing her videos.
There is an undertow of feminism-lite to her songs, but it's nothing too prescriptive. On Single Ladies(Put a Ring on It), she castigates men for running away from commitment, and in Me, Myself and I, she sings about the empowerment felt by women when they ditch a boyfriend who has been cheating on them.
The former song includes the lyrics: “I got gloss on my lips, a man on my hips, got me tighter in my Déreon jeans.” That is a neat bit of product placement: House of Déreon is the name of the line of ready-to-wear fashion designed by Beyoncé and her mother, Tina Knowles.
In her 15 or so years in music, Beyoncé has seen the industry decline dramatically, due in part to the availability of free music, often illegally. The singer has managed to boost her popularity and wealth by diversifying into other areas, as Forbesnoted approvingly. Last year she saw her perfume Heat top the US perfume sales charts within days of its release.
The clean-living singer is lauded as an outstanding role model for young women, despite misgivings about her raunchiness. This has helped her to win rewarding endorsement deals with such companies as Nintendo and L’Oréal. She is also one half of music’s richest power couple. Her 2008 marriage to the rapper Jay-Z, himself a big star, means they are the entertainment business’s richest couple, capable of generating $150 million a year.
Under the terms of her recording contract the 29-year-old is scheduled to make one more album, but it would be surprising to see her continue in the music industry as she reaches her mid-30s. Clint Eastwood will direct her in his upcoming remake of A Star Is Born;the Mad Menactor Jon Hamm is rumoured to be the male lead. After that she is planning a Broadway show.
Most females don’t fare well in the mainstream music industry once they pass 35, so Beyoncé can be expected to make a graceful, yet bootylicious, exit sometime soon. And it won’t have escaped her attention that America’s first lady of broadcasting, Oprah Winfrey, has just retired.
Curriculum vitae
NameBeyoncé Giselle Knowles. Her nickname is JuJu.
Least appealing characteristic She's overly fond of the melisma, a group of notes sung to one syllable of text. Lots of people regard it as oversinging – the worst offender is Mariah Carey – and, apart from being show-offy, it can be very irritating on the ear.
Backstage riderBeyoncé asks for "juicy baked chicken", seasoned with garlic, salt, black pepper and lots of Cayenne. She drinks "water, Snapple and Pepsi".
