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The Golden Grrrl in Goldmember by David Kent Beyonce Knowles has already caused a stir with the pop trio she fronts, Destiny's Child. Now she's out to seduce moviegoers by playing Mike Myers's sidekick in Austin Powers in Goldmember. But your typical hot-headed megacelebrity hyphenate she is not. Most people expect Beyonce Knowles to be a diva. She is the lead singer of the chart-topping, finger-wagging, hip-shaking, Grammy-winning Destiny's Child, which became big when their song "No, No, No" went to number one in 1997, then exploded in 2000 when they contributed "Independent Women Part 1" to the Charlie's Angels soundtrack and released the top-selling album Survivor. But Knowles is not a diva. The Houston, Texas, native does attack those take-charge, take-no-guff anthems to do right by women with a smokin' self-assuredness that belie her age--20. But past those sinewy curves, whiplash body moves and teasing delivery, there is an endearing, almost innocent character inside that sets her apart from today's horde of narcissistic, nasal, midriff-baring divas. I meet Beyonce Knowles at a swanky Beverly Hills restaurant during the off-hours so as to avoid autograph hounds. She arrives early and alone. She's dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt and with little makeup on. She comes off as unaffected and unguarded. Now and then she breaks into a fit of giggles. Her wide-set eyes seem to drink everything in. She catches the interest of nearly every waiter, most of whom seem nervous in her presence. One poor soul even accidentally calls her Bernice before retreating to the kitchen where he, one suspects, will slap himself silly. |
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Knowles laughs it off. "My name is pronounced like fiancee," she says. "Growing up, I got called Be-yo-NEE-chee. Bee-YO-nee. For years I hated my name and thought it was made up, which most people think it probably is. But it's really my mother's family name." Beyonce has been telling people how to pronounce her name since age seven, when she made her auspicious singing debut at a talent show. She was a shy girl, but once onstage, her ruminative nature vanished and she became a blazing, full-on showboat. The transformation so shocked her parents, Mathew and Tina, that they half-jokingly wondered, "Who is that child?" Mathew, a successful salesman, had the good idea to form a group with his daughter and five other girls. They rented old Supremes and Jackson 5 videos to study the singers' moves. Beyonce's mother, Tina, designed costumes for the girls, styled their hair and did their makeup. Mathew got them bookings at local civic events, malls and grocery stores. By the time Beyonce was a teenager she was a full-fledged performer. But according to her, it was not an especially daunting time. "Sure, I watched 'Punky Brewster,'" says Knowles, "but when other kids were out playing, I wanted to be inside writing songs and practicing dance routines. It got so people didn't want to come to the house anymore because we'd make them buy two-dollar tickets and then do shows for them." |
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In the mid-'90s, the group, which was now a foursome comprised of Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson, was signed to Elektra Records, then dropped. Next Columbia Records signed them, and the band took off. Their single "No, No, No" shot to number one and the song "Killing Time," featured on the Men in Black soundtrack, became a hit. In 1999 their album The Writing's on the Wall propelled them into the stratospheres. That year, no gym or nightclub could afford not to heavily rotate at least a couple of the diabolically catchy singles from the album. Trouble in paradise brewed, though, when group members Roberson and Luckett reportedly asked Mathew Knowles for a bigger slice of the pie. Knowles replaced them with Farrah Franklin and Michelle Williams. Just months later, Franklin also left, spurring speculation that nepotism ran rampant in the band. Whatever the truth is, the press got wind of the bad blood and some of the members ended up in court. This year, just after Destiny's Child won a Grammy for the title song from their multiplatinum third album, Survivor, Roberson and Luckett filed a federal lawsuit claiming that song lyrics referred to them. Sample lyric? "You thought I wouldn't sell without you/[But I] sold nine million." For the entire interview with Beyonce Knowles pick up the July issue of Movieline. |