Who Is Beyoncé?More than one hundred thousand people crowd around a stage in the middle of a California desert on April 14, 2018. They have been waiting almost a year for this moment.
A woman dressed in a honey--colored marching band uniform starts the show by playing a single drum. The crowd roars. “Beychella”—part of the Coachella music festival—is finally beginning.
As the drumming continues, men holding black banners step aside, one by one. Behind them, there are several majorettes—dancers who accompany a marching band. Finally, they present Beyoncé. She’s dressed in a drum major costume. Her black, gold, and silver bodysuit glimmers. It’s draped by a black cape with a gold-and-silver lining that glitters. An image of an ancient Egyptian queen is on the back of her cape. Beyoncé is wearing a towering crown of her own.
She struts down a runway. Her dancers follow behind her. Once they get to the main stage, the majorettes continue dancing. Their captain, Beyoncé, has disappeared, and they must keep the attention of the thousands of fans.
Behind the dancers are rows and rows of mostly Black musicians. Beyoncé has brought hundreds onto this historic stage with her: a marching band, violin players, baton twirlers, and more.
The beloved musician returns to the stage in a new costume and sings her heart out. She’s waited a year for this moment after having to postpone her performance while she was pregnant. Now, she is back and filled with joy. The stage is her second home. This is her homecoming.
Chapter 1Growing Up CountryBeyoncé Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas. Her mother, Tina, was a hairdresser. Her father, Mathew, worked in sales at a big company called Xerox. When Beyoncé was almost five years old, her sister, Solange, was born.
Beyoncé grew up listening to all kinds of music. Motown and R&B played in the Knowles home. Being a girl from Texas, Beyoncé also loved country songs. Every year, her family would go to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. They would dress in their finest cowboy outfits and watch the cowboys and cowgirls do tricks on their horses. But her southern roots didn’t stop there. Beyoncé was raised with influences from her parents’ southern upbringings. Her mother is from Louisiana and her father is from Alabama. Every summer, Beyoncé and her sister would visit her grandparents in Alabama, where her grandfather would sing them to sleep with country music.
When Beyoncé was a little girl, she was very shy. She kept to herself and didn’t have many friends. This worried her parents, so they decided to enroll Beyoncé in dance lessons. They hoped she would make friends.
It was through the teachings of the dance studio owner, Ms. Johnson, that Beyoncé discovered her gift of dance. When the class learned a routine, Beyoncé perfected every move. And she wouldn’t hold anything back!
“Beyoncé would dance so hard that she would lose her costume pieces. Sometimes her hat would come off because she was fierce,” Ms. Johnson once said.
Dance wasn’t the only gift discovered during dance class. One day, Ms. Johnson was teaching her class and started to sing the dance’s song. Suddenly, she heard someone else singing beautifully. It was Beyoncé!
Once Beyoncé’s talents were discovered, her parents encouraged her. Once they took her to see a Michael Jackson concert. After the impressive show, Beyoncé knew she wanted to perform, too. When she was seven, she entered her first talent show. She sang “Imagine” by John Lennon. Once Beyoncé got onstage, it was like she was at Ms. Johnson’s studio again. She was confident and joyful.
As Beyoncé got older, her love for performing increased. In 1990, she joined a group called Girl’s Tyme. The group had three singers and three dancers. Beyoncé was one of the singers. The group performed all over Houston and became popular. They even performed on Star Search, the most popular talent show on TV at the time! The girls practiced hard. Their excellent routine included singing, dancing, and rapping. They lost, but a manager from the show saw their talent. He told Mathew that Girl’s Tyme was great, but they needed more practice. So, that’s what they did—practice, practice, practice.
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