While her latest album, Renaissance, is already a success, the super star is also a great model, as we’ve seen at her concerts. This is our chance to explore some of the lesser-known details of the Texas diva’s life and career. Here are five things you probably didn’t know about Queen B.
Beyoncé’s first name is her mother’s maiden name
Where does Beyoncé’s first name come from? It’s a question that’s often asked. Quite simply, it comes from her mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson, née Célestine Beyoncé, who wanted her maiden name to live on after her marriage to Mathew Knowles. It should also be noted that most of Tina’s siblings – she has six – bear the surname “Beyincé” due to an error on their birth certificate.
The superstar’s mother spoke about the mistake in more detail in a podcast: “It’s representative of an era. When I asked my mother why she hadn’t had the spelling of our name corrected, she said she’d tried, but had been told to consider herself lucky to have had certificates. Because back then, a lot of black people didn’t have them. As if they didn’t really exist, that they weren’t important.”
Beyoncé’s singing talent spotted by her dance teacher
We can say thank you to Darlette Johnson, Beyoncé’s former dance teacher. “I started humming a song and she finished it, and it took my breath away,” the teacher told CNN in 2013. After that, I asked her to sing again and she refused, because she was very shy. I promised her a dollar and she sang again.” When her parents, Tina and Mathew, came to pick her up from her dance class that evening, the teacher told them, “She can sing! She can really sing!”
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Beyoncé won her first talent contest at the age of 7
In 2004, Beyoncé told Rolling Stone that the same dance teacher had encouraged her to take part in a school talent show when she was 7. I was terrified and didn’t want to do it,” she recalls. I was scared, but when the music started, I don’t know what happened. I just… changed.” The young woman received a thunderous round of applause before winning the competition. “That’s when I knew I wanted to be a singer. I think I’d known it before, but I’d never been up on a stage before.” Young Beyoncé went on to win 35 competitions in a row.
The number 4 has an important meaning in Beyoncé’s life
Most people think the number 7 brings good luck, but not Beyoncé. Her number is 4. The singer was born on September 4, her husband Jay-Z on December 4, and her mother Tina on January 4. Similarly, her wedding anniversary falls on April 4, which is also the fourth month of the year. Devoted fans already know that both Beyoncé and Jay-Z have the Roman numeral IV tattooed on their left ring finger, and that their daughter Blue Ivy‘s middle name also refers to it.
Beyoncé came close to playing the lead in A Star Is Born
We’ve all listened to the film’s soundtrack a million times since it hit the big screen in 2018, and indeed, it’s hard to imagine anyone other than Lady Gaga as Ally Maine. But it was Beyoncé who was initially approached to play the lead role in A Star Is Born. In 2012, before Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper arrived on the project, the script was in the hands of director Clint Eastwood. “For months, we tried to coordinate our schedules to bring the project to life, but it was just impossible,” Beyoncé confirmed to E! News in 2012.