Houston-born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was an early starter, singing in church choirs before joining an R&B band called Girl’s Tyme aged nine, alongside Kelly Rowland among others. They were also-rans until her teens, when Beyoncé’s father Mathew quit his salesman job to become their full-time manager, putting them through rigorous rehearsals and setting up “boot camps” during school holidays. After numerous line-up and name changes (Somethin’ Fresh, Cliché, the Dolls), the band settled on Destiny’s Child and got signed by Columbia Records. They were on their way Photograph: PR
Destiny’s Child began clocking up R&B hits in the late 90s but went “next level” in 2000 when female empowerment paean Independent Women Part 1, theme tune to the Charlie’s Angels film, spent 11 weeks at the top of the US charts. With Beyoncé assuming more control of co-writing and co-production, mega-selling album Survivor not only included Independent Women and the anthemic title track but also the Stevie Nicks-sampling Bootylicious – a term that became synonymous with the curvy, rump-shaking Beyoncé. It even made it into the Oxford English Dictionary. Photograph: James Arnold/PA
Destiny’s Child took a break to pursue solo projects. Beyoncé had started secretly dating rapper Jay-Z and duetted on his 2002 hit ’03 Bonnie & Clyde, lending street cred to the clean-cut diva. This paved the way for her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love, which sold 11m copies worldwide and included horn-laden hip-grinding masterpiece Crazy in Love. It saw Jay-Z, now officially her boyfriend, return the guest-vocal favour and is still Bey’s signature tune, cementing her status as a genuine solo megastar. Destiny’s Child reconvened for a fourth and final album, Destiny Fulfilled, but split in 2005 Photograph: PR
Beyoncé’s career has always been a family affair. Her mum Tina, who ran a beauty salon, has been her stylist-cum-costume designer since the Girl’s Tyme era. In 2004, mother and daughter founded their own fashion label, House of Deréon – named after Beyoncé’s maternal grandmother Agnèz Deréon, herself a seamstress. They launched the line internationally before a starry front row at London fashion week. Beyoncé and little sister Solange collaborated on a casual junior line, simply called Deréon, with the slogan, “Where sidewalk and catwalk meet”. Photograph: PR
Beyoncé’s early movie roles were comedies, playing Foxxy Cleopatra in Austin Powers in Goldmember and starring opposite Steve Martin in The Pink Panther. She played it straight, though, in 2006’s Dreamgirls, adapted from the Broadway musical about a Motown-style girl group and the most expensive film ever with an all-black star cast. Beyoncé starred as Deena Jones, based on her idol Diana Ross and a role she lobbied hard for. She held her own alongside Hollywood heavyweights Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy, and got nominated for two Golden Globes. Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar
Having secretly married Jay-Z in 2008, Beyoncé released her third solo album: ambitious double-disc I Am… Sasha Fierce, named after her on-stage alter ego of, an aggressively sensual diva. It spawned hit singles Halo, If I Were a Boy and Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It) – an instant disco classic which playfully explored men’s fear of commitment. The black-and-white video saw Beyoncé “J-setting” while wearing an asymmetric leotard and titanium robo-glove. It triggered a dance craze but lost out to Taylor Swift for best female video at the MTV awards, prompting Kanye West to leap up and make his infamously awful “Imma let you finish” speech Photograph: PR
In 2011, Beyoncé became the first solo female to headline the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury in over two decades – since Sinéad O’Connor in 1990, fact fans. Beyoncé’s 90-minute set closed the festival on Sunday night and began with her rising out of the stage on a hydraulic platform, while belting out Crazy in Love. There followed fireworks, slick choreography and all her hits, providing a spectacular finale to a soggy weekend. “You’re witnessing a dream,” she told the mud-spattered crowd. “I always wanted to be a rock star.” Broadcast on the BBC, it broke records for the most-viewed festival performance Photograph: Rune Hellestad/Corbis
Two months post-Glasto, Beyoncé announced on the MTV awards red carpet that she was expecting her first child. At the end of her performance later that night, she patted her pregnant stomach. The news went viral on Twitter and became the most searched term on Google. In January 2012, Beyoncé gave birth to Blue Ivy Carter. Two days later, soppy dad Jay-Z released Glory online – a song dedicated to their daughter and referencing a previous miscarriage. The closing notes featured the baby’s cries, credited to “B.I.C”, making her the youngest ever person on a Billboard chart entry Photograph: HBO
After a year’s maternity leave, Beyoncé’s comeback began with her flawlessly crooning the American national anthem at Barack Obama’s second presidential inauguration. After much speculation, it emerged that her warbly, rousing rendition had been lip-synched to a pre-recording. She admitted to a gathering of reporters that she was a “perfectionist” and, due to lack of rehearsal time with the orchestra, “did not feel comfortable taking a risk”. However, at the same press conference, she asking reporters to stand before performing a flawless – and totally live - version of The Star-Spangled Banner, then asking with a chuckle: “Any questions?” Photograph: Erik S. Lesser/EPA
A fortnight after the inauguration, Beyoncé played an even bigger US gig: the Super Bowl half-time show, watched by 110m. Clad in black leather and backed by her all-female tour band Suga Mama, she rocked New Orleans Superdome with a medley of hits set to fierce choreography, before her old Destiny’s Child muckers joined her for a spine-tingling reunion. The Washington Post described the 14-minute set as “the sexiest Super Bowl since 2004” (the year of Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction). Some blamed it for blowing the stadium floodlights. After “mimegate”, the LA Times said the show “succeeded in shutting everybody up”. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
