Isdahl Nansubuga - Beyoncé (The First Names Series)

First Names: Beyonc is not an official biography, but it has been carefully checked and the facts are accurate to the best of our knowledge. However, if you spot something you think may be incorrect, please let us know. Some of the passages in this book are actual quotes from Beyonc and other people. Youll be able to tell which ones they are by the style of type: I was served lemons, but I made lemonade.

Library of Congress Control Number for the hardcover edition: 2020947153

ISBN 978-1-4197-5371-8

eISBN 978-1-64700-049-3

Text copyright 2021 Nansubuga Nagadya Isdahl

Illustrations copyright 2021 Tammy Taylor

Book design by Charice Silverman

2020 as UK edition. First published in 2020

by David Fickling Books Limited

Published under license from David Fickling Books Limited.

Published in 2021 by Abrams Books for Young Readers, an imprint of

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THE PLACE: St. Marys Talent Show, Houston, Texas

THE TIME: 1988

The school auditorium was so hot Beyonc felt she could have burst into flames. Poking her head through the curtains, she saw a sea of people waving their programs around like fans. There was nothing that seven-year-old Beyonc could think of that would help her cool down, though.

With her heart pounding as loud as a drum, her nerves were almost getting the better of her. She wished she could disappear. But it was too late now. It was her turn to sing!

Take a deep breath, her teacher, Miss Darlette, told her as she gave her hand a squeeze. Then she pushed Beyonc forward.

The microphone was only a few feet away from her, but it might as well have been on the moon. Beyoncs feet felt like they were dragging through sludge, but finally, she made it. Now all she had to do was summon up the courage to sing.

Beyonc was used to family sing-alongs at home with her mom, dad, and sister. Those were always a blast. But this was her very first talent show her very first time onstage in front of a large audience. It was newscaryterritory.

As Beyonc stood frozen in front of the wilting audience, the music started. And then a miracle happened. Poof, like magic, her pesky nerves were gone and something else, something much bigger, replaced them. Little Beyonc dug deep inside herself and, spreading her arms wide, she found the courage to sing. Her incredible voice carried John Lennons Imagine around the hall, and the audience were suddenly wide awake, sitting bolt upright in their seats. Beyoncs nerves were completely forgotten.

As the song drew to a close, the audience erupted. Everyone was on their feet! Disaster averted, and Beyonc was in seventh heaven. Shed gotten a standing ovation and totally stolen the show.

Her parents, meanwhile, were in total shock. They hadnt even seen their little girl rehearse!

But it was. Beyonc had just found her voice.

She won the talent show, of course. Then she went on to win another, and another, and another. In fact, by the time Beyonc was thirty-five years old, shed won about a gazillion awards (OK, more like three hundred) shed had several record-breaking world tours a leading role in an Academy Awardwinning movie and she owned her own entertainment company! The list of achievements goes on, and today it seems like Beyonc has it all: money, fame, success

And now you perform in front of hundreds of thousands of people. How on earth did you get over your stage fright?

Thats true, and youre certainly well-known for working harder than anyone else in your industry.

Beyonc Knowles made her grand entrance into the world on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas. According to her mom, giving birth was the easy partnaming her baby turned out to be more complicated. Quite a few family eyebrows were raised when her mom announced

Beyoncs mom, Celestine Beyinc Knowles (better known as Tina), wanting to keep her roots alive, had made an adjustment to her own familys name for her firstborn child. The rest of the family had their doubts, and once she was old enough to have an opinion, Beyonc herself wasnt exactly thrilled.

Whatever name she preferred, Bey or Beyonc basked in the love of her doting parents. It was nearly five years before the family expanded, giving Beyonc a baby sister, Solange. Beyonc was a dutiful and protective big sister, helping with the baby right from the start. The two girls always stuck together.

The Knowles family was pretty well off. Their dad, Mathew, earned a good living as a sales executive for the Xerox Corporation (inventors of the first photocopier) while their mom, Tina, owned a happening hair salon called Headliners. A few years after she was born, Beyoncs parents moved into a roomy six-bedroom house in Houstons well-to-do Third Ward neighborhood. They drove nice cars, the girls went to private schools, and the family even had a housekeeper!

But Beyoncs parents hadnt always lived so comfortably. Tina and Mathew came from poor families in the South, which had a terrible history of racist laws. They were born at a time when racial prejudice and discrimination were a part of everyday life, when African Americans were still fighting for their civil rights. So they both understood how important it was to work hard and