Beyonce Knowles Website, Solo Career

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Solo Career

		Life Story
		Solo Career
		Music Career
		Awards & Nominations

Acting: In 2001, Knowles, without any previous experience, turned to acting, starring alongside actor Mekhi Phifer in the MTV made for television movie Carmen: A Hip Hopera.

In the summer of 2002, Knowles co-starred in the film Austin Powers in Goldmember, playing Foxxy Cleopatra opposite Mike Myers as Austin Powers. The film is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Highest-Grossing Box Office Film Comedy.

Knowles also recorded a song called "Work It Out" for the film's soundtrack. "Work It Out" was a top-ten hit in the UK and a top-forty hit in the Netherlands, Australia, and Ireland, despite being Knowles's biggest commercial disappointment to date in the U.S.A., where radio stations barely played the song and the video received very minor exposure, playing only on digital video channels, MTV Jams and VH1 Soul.

In 2003, Knowles starred opposite Cuba Gooding Jr. in the film The Fighting Temptations, and recorded a song for it called "Fighting Temptation", with rappers Missy Elliott, Free, and MC Lyte. Unlike Knowles's own singles, the song did not become popular, although the film was a moderate success at the box office.

Knowles co-starred in the film The Pink Panther, playing the role of "Xania", an international pop singer, opposite Steve Martin, who plays Inspector Clouseau. The film was released on February 10, 2006 and was #1 at the box office on opening weekend.

Knowles is currently filming the movie Dreamgirls, about a 1960s singing group loosley based on The Supremes, as the Diana Ross-based character "Deena Jones". The film is scheduled for release on December 22, 2006.

Music: During the autumn of 2002, Knowles was the featured vocalist on singer Jay-Z's smash single, "'03 Bonnie & Clyde". In the spring of 2003, Knowles remade a duet with the late Luther Vandross, "The Closer I Get to You", originally made famous by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway. In this version, the vocal parts are switched, with Vandross taking Flack's part and Knowles taking Hathaway's.

The song was included on both her solo debut album and on Vandross's Dance With My Father album, and the two shared the Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.

In 2003, Knowles released her debut solo album, Dangerously in Love. Its first single, "Crazy in Love", featured a propulsive riff and a guest rap from Jay-Z, rapidly becoming one of the biggest hits of that summer, staying at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for eight weeks. Dangerously In Love went to the top of the album charts in the UK and Canada, and peaked on both the American pop (Billboard 200) and R&B charts. The album has sold over four million copies in U.S. and more than seven million copies worldwide.

When her single and album simultaneously topped the pop charts in both the U.S. and the UK, she became the first act to achieve this feat since Men at Work in 1983 and The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Rod Stewart in the 1960s and 1970s. Knowles was consequently one of the biggest selling R&B artists of 2003, and "Dangerously in Love" was the 6th biggest selling album in the United States.

On the televised celebration of July 4 in 2003, Knowles provoked controversy with the Grant Memorial Association for her performance of Crazy In Love, in which she danced in a "patently inappropriate" way on the steps of the tomb of President Ulysses S. Grant. Grant's great-grandsons Ulysses Grant Dietz and Chapman Foster Grant spoke up on Knowles' behalf. "The way the world is now, who cares?" said Chapman Grant, "who knows? If the old guy were alive, he might have enjoyed it".

Towards the end of the summer, Baby Boy, Dangerously In Love's second single, which featured dancehall star Sean Paul, began to climb the charts. It went on to become one of the biggest hits of 2003, dominating radio airplay in the autumn of 2003, and spending nine weeks at number one — one week longer than "Crazy in Love".

Fresh from the success of Baby Boy, Knowles released her third solo single, Me, Myself And I towards the end of 2003; Dangerously In Love's fourth single, Naughty Girl, came out in mid-2004. Both songs peaked at number three, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100.

At the 2004 Grammy awards ceremony, Knowles won a record-tying five Grammy awards for her solo effort. These awards included Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for Dangerously In Love 2, and Best Contemporary R&B album. The other female artists who hold this record are Lauryn Hill, Alicia Keys and Norah Jones. She also won a Brit Award in 2004 for Best International Female Solo Artist in United Kingdom which made her the first female solo artist to have won prominent awards both domestically and internationally in the same year.

In December 2005, Knowles released a new song, Check on It, featuring Slim Thug. The song is from the Destiny's Child album, #1's and the Pink Panther soundtrack and is Knowles's sixth top five hit and third number one. Knowles announced that she will start writing songs for her new album, which she will begin to record sometime in mid-2006, after she has completed filming her new movie, Dreamgirls. Until then, Knowles has said that she will concentrate mainly on the film.

At the 2006 Grammy awards, Knowles won a Grammy in the category of Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with vocals for the song "So Amazing", a duet with Stevie Wonder.

Charity work: Knowles, music producer David Foster, and his daughter, Amy Foster Gillies, wrote Destiny's Child's single "Stand Up for Love" for World Children's Day, an event which takes place annually around the world on November 20 to raise awareness and funds for children's causes worldwide. Destiny's Child lent their voices and support as global ambassadors for the 2005 World Children's Day program.

Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland, along with Matthew Knowles, Tina Knowles, and sister Solange Knowles recently announced the formation of the Survivor Foundation, a charitable entity set up for the purpose of providing transitional housing for Hurricane Katrina victims and storm evacuees in the Houston, Texas area. The Survivor Foundation extends the philanthropic mission of the "Knowles-Rowland Center For Youth", a multi-purpose community outreach facility in downtown Houston.

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