Previously the focal point of one of the biggest girl groups of all time, Beyoncé Knowles incredibly went onto achieve even more success as a solo artist, cementing her status as the leading lady of modern R&B. Born in Houston, Texas in 1981, Beyoncé began performing at the age of eight alongside her cousin Kelly Rowland in Girl’s Tyme, who appeared on Star Search before father Matthew took over as manager, changing both their line-up and name to Destiny’s Child in the process. After achieving minor success with 1998’s self-titled debut, the group went onto rival TLC as America’s premier all-girl R&B outfit, eventually shifting 15 million copies of both 1999 follow-up, The Writing’s On The Wall and 2001’s Survivor. Beyoncé then began to branch out on her own, appearing in Carmen: A Hip Hopera, The Fighting Temptations and Austin Powers in Goldmember, whilst also releasing her first solo single, “Work It Out,” for the latter’s soundtrack. But after hooking up with then-boyfriend Jay-Z on “’03 Bonnie & Clyde” and US number one, “Crazy In Love,” in 2003, she truly became a superstar in her own right when solo debut, Dangerously In Love, sailed to the top of the charts and picked up five Grammy Awards. Beyoncé tickets then went on sale for several European dates and a joint Verizon Ladies First tour alongside Alicia Keys and Missy Elliot before she reunited with Destiny’s Child for 2004 swansong, Destiny Fulfilled. In 2006, she teamed up with Jay-Z again for “Déjà Vu,” the lead single to No.1 sophomore, B’Day, and following two Golden Globe nominations for her role in Dreamgirls, embarked on her first major world tour, The Beyoncé Experience. After marrying Jay-Z in 2008, she continued her run of Billboard chart-toppers with third album, I Am…Sasha Fierce, released the now iconic video to “Single Ladies” and earned critical acclaim for her performance as Etta James in Cadillac Records before sales of Beyoncé tickets for the I Am… World Tour grossed nearly $120m. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, she set the record for the most wins by a female artist, collecting six gongs including Song of the Year and Best Contemporary R&B Album, just weeks after scoring a sixth US Hot 100 No.1 with Lady Gaga collaboration, “Telephone.” A year later, she became only the third artist to debut at the top spot with their first four albums with 4 and headlined Glastonbury before taking a break to give birth to Blue Ivy Carter in 2012. In 2013, she performed the National Anthem at President Barack Obama’s inauguration ceremony, won rave reviews for her Super Bowl half-time show and released Beyoncé tickets for The Mrs Carter Show World Tour.