Solange Knowles


Solange Piaget Knowles, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, performance artist, and actress. Expressing an interest in music from an early age, Knowles had several temporary stints as a backup dancer for Destiny's Child, which featured her elder sister, Beyoncé Knowles, among its members, before signing with her father Mathew Knowles's Music World Entertainment label. At age 16, Knowles released her first studio album Solo Star. Between 2005 and 2007, Knowles had several minor acting roles, including the direct-to-video and continued writing music for Beyoncé and for former Destiny's Child group members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.
In 2007, Knowles began to record music again. Her second studio album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams deviated from the pop-oriented music of her debut to the Motown Sound of the 1960s and 1970s. It peaked at number nine on US Billboard 200 and received positive reviews from critics. She followed this up with the 1980s pop and R&B–inspired extended play True on Terrible Records and her imprint Saint Records. Her third studio album, A Seat at the Table was released to widespread critical acclaim and became her first number-one album in the United States. The album's lead single, "Cranes in the Sky" won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance. Her fourth studio album, When I Get Home, was released in March 2019.
Knowles was heavily influenced by Motown girl groups and says that her first passion is songwriting. She is frequently compared by the media to her sister, Beyoncé, but Solange insists they have different aspirations and are musically different. She has been ranked by Billboard as the 100th most successful dance artist of all-time, and in 2017 was honored with the "Impact Award" at Billboard Women in Music. Her other ventures include an endorsement deal with Rimmel London and a line of hip-hop-oriented merchandise for young children. Solange was married to director Alan Ferguson in 2014 till their split in 2019.

Early life

Solange Piaget Knowles was born in Houston, Texas, to Mathew Knowles and Tina Knowles. Solange's older sister is singer Beyoncé Knowles. Her father, originally from Alabama, is African American, and her mother, originally from Texas, is Creole. Her maternal grandparents are Lumis Beyincé and Agnéz Deréon,. She is also a descendant of Acadian leader Joseph Broussard. As a child, Knowles studied dance and theater. At the age of five, she made her singing debut at Six Flags AstroWorld, a theme park in Houston. She began writing songs at the age of nine. At 13, she decided to pursue recording, but her parents initially advised her to wait. At the age of 15 Knowles replaced a departed dancer and performed with her sister's group Destiny's Child on tour. During the group's opening stint for American pop singer Christina Aguilera's tour, Knowles temporarily replaced Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland after she broke her toes backstage during a costume change.

Career

2001–2003: Early career and ''Solo Star''

Managed by her father Mathew, Knowles first ventured into the music business in 2001 as the lead singer, backed by Destiny's Child, on the title theme song for the animated television series The Proud Family. She also was a featured performer on "Hey Goldmember" for the soundtrack to the 2002 film Austin Powers in Goldmember, as well as a backup singer on the track "Little Drummer Boy" on Destiny's Child's 2001 holiday album 8 Days of Christmas. In 2002, she was featured on Lil Romeo's second studio album Game Time, singing portions of Luther Vandross-penned "So Amazing" on the single "True Love", and on Kelly Rowland's debut solo album Simply Deep, for which she also wrote the title track, "Beyond Imagination" and "Obsession". In 2001 she appeared as Lil' Bow Wow's date in the music video for his single "Puppy Love". She also made an appearance on The Master of Disguise soundtrack and made cameos in Play's video for "M.A.S.T.E.R. " featuring Lil' Fizz.
In 2002, she lent her voice for the character Chanel, the cousin of the protagonist Penny Proud, in the episode "Behind Family Lines" to the animated television series The Proud Family.
In June 2003, Mathew Knowles excitedly announced that he was considering adding Solange to Destiny's Child when the group reunited in 2004, thus turning them into a quartet for the first time since short-lived member Farrah Franklin left in 2000. Mathew Knowles said he was testing the reactions, and, judging by what he had heard, "it seems like a good idea". Later in August, however, Beyoncé said it was only a rumor and Destiny's Child would remain a trio. Rowland added, "She's a solo star," name-dropping Knowles' debut album.
At the age of 14, Solange Knowles started working on her debut album Solo Star, which involved American producers such as Jermaine Dupri, The Neptunes, Linda Perry and Timbaland among others. She then recorded the album under her father's Music World Entertainment label with Columbia Records. The album is primarily uptempo R&B, although Knowles said there are pop, rock, reggae and hip hop influences. Knowles co-wrote and co-produced some of the 15 tracks in the album, including its lead single, "Feelin' You ". The song failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100, but reached number three on both the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales and Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart. Solo Star was released on January 21, 2003 in the United States, where it debuted at number 49 on the Billboard 200 and reached number 23 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Solo Star had a mixed critical reception: William Ruhlmann of AllMusic called it a "state-of-the-art contemporary R&B album", but deemed Knowles "lost somewhere in the mix". By mid-2008, the album had sold 112,000 copies domestically according to Nielsen SoundScan.

2003–2008: Films and ''Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams''

In 2004, she guest starred in the episode "The Catch" of the sitcom One on One.
Knowles appeared as a teenager in the 2004 comedy film Johnson Family Vacation, starring alongside American actors Cedric the Entertainer, Vanessa Williams and Bow Wow. She provided a song for its soundtrack—"Freedom", a collaboration with the Houston-based funk-jazz band Drop Trio. Although the reviews were generally negative, Knowles earned praise from Variety magazine: "Solange Knowles is nearly as dazzling as big sister Beyoncé and does little more than smile winningly in her first bigscreen outing."
In 2006, she starred as a cheerleading captain in the film , the third installment of the Bring It On series, alongside American actress and singer Hayden Panettiere. What little critical reaction the low-budget, direct-to-DVD movie got was negative, and Knowles was described as an "affordable young starlet". Knowles uses her full name for her acting, rather than just the first name she uses when singing; for Bring It On: All or Nothing, she was billed as Solange Knowles-Smith, reflecting her married state at the time.
After the release of her debut album, Knowles started acting in films followed by a career break. While she was married, her family moved to Idaho, and, while staying there, resumed writing songs including the singles "Get Me Bodied" and "Upgrade U" from her sister's second solo album, B'Day. Knowles earned the R&B and Hip-Hop Song accolade for "Get Me Bodied" at the 2008 ASCAP Awards. She had also written songs for Destiny's Child, and members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. In 2004, while pregnant with her son Daniel, she made a cameo appearance in Destiny's Child's music video for "Soldier".
After the divorce, Knowles returned to Houston to begin working on her second album. Knowles renewed her management, signing a record deal with Geffen and a publishing deal with EMI. Knowles finished working on her second studio album in 2008 and titled the project Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. It includes production by CeeLo Green, Soulshock & Karlin and Mark Ronson as well as an appearance by Bilal. A collection of 1960s and 1970s influenced songs, it is seen as a departure from her pop-oriented debut, with what Billboard magazine called "more of a modern twist on hip-hop and R&B flecked with tinges of blues and jazz". The album was released on August 26, 2008 in the United States. By December 2008, the album had sold over 114,000 copies according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album was positively received by critics, some of whom considered it far better than her debut. The album's lead single, "I Decided", was released in April 2008, and reached the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart; Rolling Stone magazine labelled it her breakthrough single. In support of the album, Knowles began the Solange Presents Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams Tour in Britain in November 2008. Knowles also co-wrote "Scared of Lonely" and
"Why Don't You Love Me" for her sister's third studio album I Am... Sasha Fierce.
Knowles announced, via her blog HadleyStreetJournal.com, that she would be releasing a series of mixtapes to coincide with the album. The first mixtape, I Can't Get Clearance..., includes the leaked track "Fuck the Industry ". On this record, Knowles expressed her views on the current state of the music industry. The lyrics to the song name check some major artists such as Mary J. Blige, Ashanti, Keyshia Cole, and Beyoncé, although she made a point of stating that it does not have "a negative light to any of ". The mixtape was never released, but Solange released "Fuck the Industry " as a single in 2010.

2008–2014: ''True'' EP and Saint Records

In an interview with MTV in 2009, Knowles revealed that she was determining the type of sound for the follow-up to Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. Knowles also parted ways with the Interscope-Geffen-A&M record label group. She would now release her third studio album independently. Early in 2010, Knowles traveled to Australia to work with Australian rock band, Midnight Juggernauts on her third studio album. Knowles had planned to release the album in summer as revealed on her official Twitter account in 2009. She also revealed on her Twitter account that she rented a house in Santa Barbara, California to get into a certain state of mind while writing and making music. On May 7, 2010, Knowles made a guest appearance on the popular children show, Yo Gabba Gabba! for a "Mothers Day Special" where she performed an original song called "Momma Loves Baby".
In an interview with Vibe on July 7, 2010, Knowles said she suffered "a little bit of a breakdown" while recording her new album: "I literally gave up my sanity for a while to do this record. We literally were waking up in the morning and just making music all day and all night. It just started to wear on me in so many different ways. I started having these crazy panic attacks." Knowles explained how she made sacrifices "mentally, emotionally and financially", and continued, "It's more than an album to me. It's a transitional time in my life." Regarding the musical direction of the album, she said the inspiration came from new wave and stated, "This is a dance record, but the lyrics can get pretty dark at times."
The singer has also worked on songs with Chromeo and long-time collaborator Pharrell Williams.
In September 2012, Solange released a teaser video for "Losing You", which was announced as the lead single from her third studio album. This release marked Solange's first release as a signee of the independent label Terrible Records. The video was shot in Cape Town, South Africa in early September 2012. Knowles revealed in an interview that her mother Tina Knowles had paid for Solange and her friends to fly out and record the video as her birthday gift. On October 24, 2012, Knowles held a listening party in New York City for her EP True, released for digital download on iTunes November 27, 2012. The CD and vinyl was made available January 8, 2013. Following the EP's release, Solange appeared on the cover of The Fader magazine's 84th issue.
On May 14, 2013, Knowles moved to Louisiana and announced that she had launched her own record label named Saint Records, which she will be using to release her third full-length album and future music projects distributed through Sony. Saint Records was established to focus on not-yet mainstream hip-hop and R&B artists. Solange also collaborated with The Lonely Island on the song "Semicolon" which was featured as part of YouTube's Comedy Week and is featured on The Lonely Island's album, The Wack Album. On November 11, 2013, Knowles' record label released its first compilation album, Saint Heron.

2014–present: ''A Seat at the Table,'' ''When I Get Home,'' and performance art.

On May 15, 2015, Knowles performed "Rise" for the first time at an HBO-sponsored event, which was inspired by police killings in Ferguson and Baltimore and the subsequent protests. In July 2015, Knowles announced that her third studio album was nearly complete. On her thirtieth birthday, June 24, 2016, she stated that she had completed A Seat at the Table three days before her birthday, on June 21. The album was released on September 30, 2016, to widespread critical acclaim. It became her first number-one album in the United States. This made her and Beyoncé the first sisters to have both had US number-one albums in a calendar year. On October 3, 2016, Knowles released two music videos from A Seat at the Table: "Don't Touch my Hair" and "Cranes in the Sky", both co-directed by herself and husband, Alan Ferguson.
During the 2017 Roots Picnic Festival in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Knowles performed a rendition of the sing-along from The Proud Family, the television series whose theme song she was featured on in 2001, and she participated at the 2017 Glastonbury Festival. In December 2017, Solange directed the video of The Weekend by SZA.
On October 15, 2018, it was announced by Knowles that she would be releasing her fourth studio album in the Fall during an interview with New York Times Style Magazine. However, this did not come to fruition.
On January 3, 2019, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival announced that Solange would co-headline the stage with Tame Impala. The Coachella performance was later canceled due to “major production delays”. On January 8, 2019, it was announced Solange would be performing at the Bonnaroo Music Festival. She was also confirmed to perform at the UK's Parklife festival and Lovebox Festival.
On March 1, 2019, she released her fourth studio album, When I Get Home, on all streaming platforms. She previously teased the album by posting two video snippets on her Instagram and Twitter, and a personal web page on the African-American social networking site, BlackPlanet.
Outside her work of being a singer-songwriter, Solange has also ventured into performance art. In an interview with Surface magazine, she said "I'm not at all interested in entertainment. I’m really interested in energy exchange between the viewer and the performer. One way to do that is to make an inclusive experience through style, through energy, through space.” She has put on subsequent performance art pieces throughout the world, including Witness! at the Elbphilharmonie, and Bridge-s at the Getty Museum.

Artistry

Music and influences

On her debut album, Knowles had no control over which kinds of music to produce, because "when you're 14, everyone else is older and more seasoned and you trust their decisions". Knowles was more concerned with pleasing her record label by submitting to their desires.
Her musical influences were better expressed on Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, when she considered herself mature and was able to write and produce songs as she wished, without worrying about the expectations of others. Knowles' lyrics tackle relationships, world issues, and deceased friends, with her second album focusing on events in her life, such as marriage, divorce, and parenthood. The album touched upon a variety of genres including pop-soul, psychedelic soul, electronica, and R&B.
Knowles' debut extended play True is a new wave album with Knowles stating, "This is a dance record, but the lyrics can get pretty dark at times." Knowles described the EP as "eclectic with 1980s references and African percussion influences." Sonically the extended play is influenced by the keyboard sounds and beats of early 1980s pop and R&B music. The EP was recorded in five cities including Santa Barbara, Los Angeles, Houston, New York, and on the German autobahn.
Aside from recording, Knowles occasionally paints as her hobby: "I think that painting, for me, is such an affirmative expression in that sometimes you don't know what the outcome is gonna be and each stroke and each brush for me is an emotion and, in the end, it comes out as a piece which is the most amazing thing. ... It definitely provides a different outlet."

Public image

Knowles has always been compared by the media to her sister, Beyoncé, whom she considers one of her role models. She has expressed her opinion of the comparison in the lyrics to "God Given Name": "I'm not her and never will be" – which was purposely set as the opening track of Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams to show their differences. In his review for the album, Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone magazine referred to the lyrics as a declaration of independence. Beyoncé was unwilling to bring her sister into the recording industry, reasoning that it "involves a lot of pressure". Knowles countered by saying, "It's good to have her advice, but we really have different goals". In her sister's self-titled album, Beyoncé credits Knowles with the lyric "my sister taught me I should speak my mind", as she acknowledges the impact her family has made on her life.
In recent years, Knowles has also garnered considerable attention as a fashion icon. Her knack for bold colors, mixed prints and retro styles, as well as her knack for glamorous, fashion-forward looks in her music videography and public appearances, has become integral to her current image. She has been photographed wearing Alexander Wang, Alexander McQueen and Chanel. The music video for her 2012 single "Losing You" featured a heavy demonstration of the contemporary sartorial movement throughout Africa, La Sape.
Similarly, her decision to grow her natural hair initially generated strong reactions from the public. In a cover interview with Toyin Ojih Odutola for Cultured Magazine, Knowles addressed her shift to minimalist fashion and the response she received from the public, “This idea that black women could not be minimalist, we could not be subtle— we have to be big, we have to be loud, we have to be an explosive presence."
At the 2017 Glamour Women of the Year awards, Knowles wore a yellow Jean-Paul Gaultier couture gown and was named a Woman of the Year.
Knowles is an activist for the Black Lives Matter movement and has openly made many statements in opposition to police brutality against African Americans. On the day of the mass shooting at the Emanuel AME church in Charleston, South Carolina, Solange released a statement posing the following questions: "Where can we be safe? Where can we be free? Where can we be black?" Knowles has stated on several occasions that as a black woman, she is "not really allowed to be mad" without enforcing racial stereotypes, however, she has "a lot to be mad about".
In July 2016, she took to Twitter to critique police who were present at a peaceful protest in Baton Rouge, saying "Protesters/marchers have been nothing but peaceful today in Baton Rouge. Police are here pulling out tear gas while children are around" and "Most of the march/protest speakers in Baton Rouge were all under 17 years old... We all left feeling uplifted...Yet as I walked back to my car I personally saw @BRPD pulling huge assault rifles out on peaceful protesters...."
Her 2016 album, A Seat at The Table, acknowledges the inequalities that black women face in America. With songs like "Mad", "Don't Touch My Hair", and "F.U.B.U", Knowles addresses stereotypes of young, black Americans, such as criminality or the fixation people have on black women's natural hair, saying she's "got the right to be mad".

Other ventures

In 2001, Knowles collaborated with Destiny's Child to sing the theme song for the Disney Channel show The Proud Family.
In 2007, Knowles began promoting Baby Jamz, a hip hop-styled toy line for pre-schoolers. It was inspired by her son, Julez, who is fond of hip hop music. She is the executive producer of the CD, composed of updated hip hop inspired nursery rhymes, which is featured in all of the toys.
In 2008, Knowles was named as ambassador for Giorgio Armani's younger diffusion line, Armani Jeans. Armani said Knowles epitomizes the style, which is a "vision of a young, independent, casual lifestyle with a strong and cool, fashion sensibility".
Knowles has worked on the award-winning children's television series Yo Gabba Gabba!. She performed "Momma Loves Baby" during the live performance when it toured the Dallas–Fort Worth area. She also performed "Momma Loves Baby" during a 2010 episode called "Baby".
In 2011, Knowles, along with Alejandra Ramos Munoz and Zooey Deschanel, were announced as the new faces of Rimmel London.
In February 2012, Knowles became Vogue.com's "Today I'm Wearing" guest blogger, sharing a photograph of her outfits daily for a month.
In 2016 Knowles became Michael Kors' new face for his fashion works.
In 2017, Knowles became the face of a new Calvin Klein campaign.
In 2018, Knowles received the artist of the year award from the Harvard Foundation.
She became the face of Mercedes-Benz's new campaign #WEWONDER and Helmut Lang fashion campaign.
She has started a collaboration for interior design with IKEA.

House of Deréon

Knowles and sister Beyoncé modeled for their family's clothing line, House of Deréon, named after their grandmother, Agnéz Deréon. She also helped launch Deréon, a junior apparel collection and a sister line to House of Deréon. Both sisters modeled for Deréon, and were featured in most of Deréon's marketing campaigns. Together they were featured in a "Got Milk?" campaign ad, wearing House of Deréon.

Personal life

Knowles married Daniel Smith on February 27, 2004 when she was 17 and he was 19. On October 18, 2004, Knowles gave birth to their son, Daniel Julez J. Smith Jr. Knowles calls her son the greatest unplanned blessing, but has partly expressed regret that she bore a child at an early age. A song she wrote for her baby, "6 O'Clock Blues", was included on Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams. After Julez's birth, the family moved to Moscow, Idaho, where Knowles' husband continued studying in college. In October 2007, Knowles confirmed that she and Smith had divorced in an interview with Essence magazine. After the divorce, Knowles and her son moved to Los Angeles. In August 2013, Knowles announced that she and her son were moving to New Orleans, Louisiana.
On May 12, 2014, TMZ released security video footage of Knowles physically assaulting brother-in-law, Jay-Z and being restrained by a security guard in an elevator at The Standard, High Line, in Manhattan, following the 2014 Met Gala. Jay-Z remained passive and did not retaliate while her sister Beyoncé, who was also present, did not react to either party throughout the altercation. The footage and story went viral, but the reason for the altercation remains unknown.
Matthew Knowles, however, has hinted that the incident may have been faked for attention, saying: "So you sometimes have to ignite that tour. It's called a Jedi mind trick. The Jedi mind trick fools you a lot...all I know is the Jedi mind trick. Everyone's talking about it. Ticket sales went up. Solange's album sales went up 200%!" The cause is rumored to be Jay-Z's infidelity, which the couple would address on their respective albums Lemonade, , and their joint album Everything Is Love.
On November 16, 2014, Knowles married music video director Alan Ferguson at the Marigny Opera House in New Orleans, Louisiana. On November 1, 2019, Knowles revealed on her Instagram account that she and Ferguson had separated earlier that year.

Discography

Headlining
Supporting

Film

Television

Honors and awards

At the 59th Annual Grammy Awards, Knowles won her first Grammy Award, for Best R&B Performance for her song "Cranes in the Sky", the lead and only single from her third album, A Seat at the Table, which was Knowles' first Grammy Award nomination. Knowles has also won a BET Award, a Soul Train Music Award, a Webby Award, and more. In 2017, she also won Glamour Award for Woman of the Year, and became the first winner of Billboard Women in Music Impact Award.