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Beyonce is one of the biggest selling female recording artists of the decade. Born Beyonce Gisele Knowles in Houston Texas in 1981, she took dance and singing classes to overcome shyness, but it soon become obvious to everyone that she could belt out a tune. By the age of seven she was winning talent competitions and at fifteen formed Destiny's Child with best friend Kelly Rowland. Knowles' father had so much faith in his daughters talent that he left his job in sales to manage the group full time and he was soon rewarded when Columbia signed Destiny's Child to a recording contract. After some line-up changes in the year 2000, the group was finally settled as a trio featuring Knowles, Rowland and Michelle Williams. The groups third album was the first to feature Williams. Titled Survivor it spawned the hits Independent Woman, Bootylicious and Survivor. It earned them their third Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group. After a slew of awards, the trio took some time out to pursue solo efforts. Three years later, they reformed to produce their final album - Destiny Fulfilled - on which they all had writing and producing credits. The album went on to make them the biggest selling girl group of all time. In June 2005 though, the girls called it quits, deciding to end their fourteen years together on a high note so they could go on to pursue individual goals. This Beyonce in particular has done with irrepressible style, dipping her toes into cinema with Dream Girls and Austin Powers: Goldmember; as well as producing the follow up to her debut solo album Dangerously in Love, B-Day. B-Day included the hit "Irreplaceable", collaboration with boyfriend Jay-Z which stayed on top of the Billboard charts for ten straight weeks, giving Beyonce the most successful single of her career.
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