Beyonce: The Billboard Cover Story
Published On: Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 with 1 Comment

View Beyonce’s Question and Answer here.
Fans are still getting to know Sasha Fierce, BeyoncĂ©’s musical alter ego, formally introduced on the singer’s 2008 album, “I Am…Sasha Fierce.”

Most probably don’t know, however, that the singer/songwriter has been friends with Fierce since elementary school.

Manager and father Mathew Knowles will never forget the moment he first met Fierce. A 7-year-old BeyoncĂ© was entered in a talent search open to Houston elementary and middle school students. The song she sang? John Lennon’s “Imagine.” “BeyoncĂ© was the youngest,” Knowles says. “She got up onstage and when she was finished, she received a standing ovation. Her mother [Tina Knowles] and I looked at each other and said, ‘That can’t be our BeyoncĂ©. She’s shy and quiet.’ ”

Twenty-two years later, that simmering brew of shy, quiet talent peppered with fierce determination and ambition is at a boiling point. The former frontwoman of Destiny’s Child has come into her own, enjoying one of the best years of a still-evolving solo career.

On Oct. 2, BeyoncĂ© will add one more honor to her array of accolades when she accepts Billboard’s Woman of the Year Award. The presentation will be made at Billboard’s Women in Music brunch in New York, recognizing the year’s top 30 women in the music business.

“BeyoncĂ© is a multiplatinum artist and a multitalented woman who clearly embodies the qualities of excellence and achievement that the Billboard Woman of the Year Award was created to honor,” Billboard editorial director Bill Werde says. “She has not only influenced pop culture with her hit songs and her signature dance moves, but has inspired women everywhere with her unique style, business savvy and dedication to charitable causes.”

In the past 12 months alone, BeyoncĂ© has accomplished several career milestones. She not only sang “American the Beautiful” during the opening ceremony of the 2009 presidential inauguration, she also sang the Etta James hit “At Last” as President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama danced their first dance at the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.

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Published Under: Magazines, Photos

Upscale Magazine Scans
Published On: Sunday, June 28th, 2009 with 1 Comment

Scans from the May 2009 issue of Upscale Magazine have been added to BeyoncéGallery. Thanks a lot to Amy for donating them! Click on the thumbnails below to view the high qualities.

Published Under: Magazines, Photos

Beyoncé Covers Forbes Magazine June 2009!
Published On: Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 with 0 Comments

Inside Beyonce’s Entertainment Empire
Beyonce Knowles is a perfectionist. That’s how she rakes in $87 million a year.
n a crisp Thursday evening in late April a Cadillac Escalade barrels down a cross street in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, coming to a halt before the School of Visual Arts. Four-and-a-half-inch heels emerge, then the rest of BeyoncĂ© Knowles, wearing a crowd-delighting, hip-hugging, black-sequined Balmain dress. Flashbulbs and shrieks explode from a gathering in the hundreds. The 27-year-old singer is there to promote Obsessed, a movie thriller she’s been plugging relentlessly since the beginning of the week. BeyoncĂ© works the crowd for 45 minutes before heading into the theater. With two bodyguards, a publicist and a stylist alongside, she takes questions from the press. Yes, she did get bruised while filming the fight scene. That hoax, where Howard Stern played a distorted version of “If I Were a Boy,” making her sound grotesquely off-key–oh, that was silly.

After the premiere Beyoncé headed to a party at the Bowery Hotel. It had been quite a day. Call time at the Today show was 6 a.m. to rehearse and get made up for a live interview and performance. After that she appears on The View (11 a.m.) before heading over to tape Larry King [not quite] Live, followed by 106 & Park at BET. She has a few hours to herself at a downtown apartment.

In Pictures: How Beyonce Makes Her Millions

That’s the way much of her life has played out for the past 20 years–one reason she has sold upward of 118 million records, won ten Grammys, starred in seven films and headlined three solo tours. This year she will bring in an estimated $87 million from publishing and music sales, touring and other performances, film work, her fashion collection and endorsement deals. That diversified portfolio helps her land at number 4 on the FORBES Celebrity 100 list, a ranking based on income and visibility. BeyoncĂ© constantly works and reworks her act, watching every two-hour performance on tour–even after her hundredth appearance–taking notes on how to improve. “I’m never satisfied,” she says, adding with a nervous laugh, “I’m sure sometimes it’s not easy working for me.” Then, seriously: “I’ve never met anyone that works harder than me in my industry.”

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Published Under: Magazines, Photos

Gilles Bensimon for Marie Claire
Published On: Monday, June 1st, 2009 with 3 Comments

BeyoncĂ© Knowles posed for Gilles Bensimon in her I Am… Tour costumes for the cover/spread of May 2009’s issue of Marie ClaireBeyonceDaily.Org’s newest exclusive, here are 7 High Quality photos taken for the magazine! This is an amazing photoshoot and is one of my favorites of this year. Enjoy the photos! P.S. The last one is with legendary designer Thierry Mugler.

Published Under: Exclusive, Magazines, Photos

Beyoncé Runs Toward Oscar
Published On: Monday, May 25th, 2009 with 1 Comment

Beyonce Knowles keeps motivated during strenuous work-outs by staring at a painting of an Academy Award and dreaming of the day she takes home the statuette.

The singer-turned-actress’ home gym features a picture of an iconic gold Oscar, so she can keep her eyes on the goal she is working toward.

She told Self magazine: “I look at it, and I’m like, OK, I have to stay in shape.”

And the 27-year-old also goes shopping to give herself incentives to tone up: “I buy something too small and then say, ‘I have a reason (to exercise) – I need to wear these jeans or this hot dress.’”

But the bootylicious beauty doesn’t want to lose all her curves – because she wasn’t happy about the 15 pounds she shed for her role in 2006’s ‘Dreamgirls’.

She says about her thinner frame: “I felt very chic, like a model. But it didn’t look natural for me. I didn’t feel very sexy or feminine, and I didn’t have much confidence because I didn’t feel like myself.”

Published Under: Magazines, News Articles

Beyoncé Covers Self Magazine!
Published On: Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 with 0 Comments

BeyoncĂ© Knowles is nothing short of a glam goddess: on stage, in print, on screen and–as SELF found out when we shot her for our June cover –in person. She’s also totally approachable, and all too human. That “Single Ladies” body? It doesn’t come easy! The singer told us how she got in the best shape of her life for her current world tour.

She puts in the work. To get a tour-worthy body–one that can handle singing and dancing at the same time–the star works out five days a week with her trainer. Those workouts include 100 squats, step-ups and walking lunges (each!).

She makes it fun. An upper body workout can get boring with all those repetitions, so Knowles added her own twist. “I’ll put on a song that I really like and do [biceps curls with] 5-pound weights the whole song,” she told us. Or, using 3-pound weights, she’ll box for the length of one track.

She knows how to motivate herself. What’s the point of running, if you’re not running towards something? Knowles keeps a painting of an Oscar at the gym, so she’s literally running towards her next goal. “I look at it, and I’m like OK, I have to stay in shape,” she admits.

She’s consistent. From the beginning of rehearsals on January 19 to the start of her tour on March 26, Knowles practiced her choreography for nine hours a day, seven days a week–while wearing 5-inch stilettos. Think it’s tough to make it through the workday? That’s 603 hours in heels! The star admits, “When I come home and take them off, I’m like, “Oh, my God! I wish I could just chop my feet off!”

She understands the importance of confidence. Transforming into Sasha Fierce is more than putting on a teeny-tiny costume and sky-high heels. To become her alter ego, Knowles rehearses her sexy walk. “It’s about self-esteem,” she instructs. “It’s in the hips. Lean back, stretch your neck, keep your shoulders low, point your toes and cross one foot in front of the other.” Anyone can do it!

Learn more of BeyoncĂ©’s secrets in SELF’s June issue, on newsstands May 26.

Published Under: Magazines, Photos

Behind the Scenes of Marie Claire
Published On: Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 with 0 Comments

Marie Claire took some behind the scenes photos of BeyoncĂ©’s cover shoot! Even some of the tour’s wardrobe! Click the thumbnails below to view them.

Published Under: Magazines, Photos