Becoming Beyoncé

Becoming-Beyonce-Untold-Story-Taraborrelli

Publisher

Grand Central Publishing

Page Count

512

Published

Becoming Beyoncé

The Untold Story

What does it take for someone from humble beginnings to become one of the most powerful artists in the world?

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles knew who, and what, she wanted to be since the age of 8. Even then, she had extraordinary talent, drive, and ambition. But it takes more than just that to become a star. This is the story of the long road traveled by a talent show prodigy, and the parents who sacrificed everything for her, as she evolved from a pageant show winner and girl group singer into the vocalist, actress, pop icon, wife and mother she is today. It is also the story of a darker side that is, unfortunately, the price of success: in the remaking of an everyday girl into a global superstar, something, or someone, can get lost. The path to becoming “Beyoncé” would ultimately be defined by a choice: to let go of the past and embrace her own future — not the one she thought she was destined to have, but the one she would now create for herself.

Beyoncé has sold more than 250 million records, both as a member of Destiny’s Child and as a solo artist, and has become one of the most powerful and popular musical acts in history. Yet despite years of high visibility, the woman behind the carefully tailored brand has remained a mystery to the media and her fans—until now.

As the first comprehensive biography of Beyoncé Knowles, BECOMING BEYONCÉ not only includes countless revelations about her guarded, personal life with Jay Z, it documents all of her many record-breaking career milestones, including behind-the-scenes stories of her hit recordings as told to J. Randy Taraborrelli by writers and producers never before interviewed. Indeed, in crafting this portrait, acclaimed celebrity biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli conducted exhaustive research and interviewed scores of Beyoncé’s intimates.

BECOMING BEYONCÉ is a backstage pass to the glamorous and cutthroat world of the music business, and an absorbing insider account of the birth of a pop culture legend.

From Gawker: This week saw the release of the first major, large-scale biography on one of pop music’s biggest and most guarded stars: Beyoncé. The product of hundreds of hours of interviews from dozens of sources, J. Randy Taraborrelli’s Becoming Beyoncé aims to be the definitive chronicle on the creation of an icon. It also suggests that …

GAWKER Interviews J. Randy Taraborrelli

Beyoncé split with Jay Z for a “lonely year” in 2005 after hearing rumors that he was cheating on her with Rihanna. That’s one of the spicy revelations in celebrity scourge J. Randy Taraborrelli’s new tell-all “Becoming Beyoncé: The Untold Story.” Read More Here

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS: “EXPLOSIVE NEW BIOGRAPHY…”

From The Houston Chronicle: What makes “Becoming Beyoncé” a sometimes fascinating read, then, is the painstakingly detail. Taraborrelli shows us the complex, contentious framework that was put into place to transform Beyoncé into a superstar. He delves deep into her history and paints a picture of a family held together, and ultimately changed, by secrets, …

Houston Chronicle: Taraborrelli’s “painstaking detail”

From Cosmo: Becoming Beyoncé — famed celebrity biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli’s take on the life of Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter — has finally arrived. When news of the book first broke almost a year ago, fans and entertainment-industry voyeurs collectively salivated over what might be revealed, especially because the now-infamous elevator incident was barely six months old. …

COSMO: The 15 Wildest Things from J. Randy’s Beyonce bio

From Time Magazine: Like many of her contemporaries in the entertainment industry, Beyoncé is a brand. And this brand has many facets: singer, dancer, entertainer, designer, philanthropist, wife, and mother. Of course, Beyoncé is a person first, a brand second. But the force behind that brand — the carefully crafted public relations operation that helps …

Time Magazine: The Unauthorized Beyoncé Biography Will Be Better Than Any Authorized Biography Ever Could Be

From USA Today: We read the headlines, pore through her vacation photos, and will soon wear her clothing, but there’s still so much we don’t know about the omnipotent Mrs. Carter. That may very well change next year with the arrival of a new in-depth bio of the flawless diva. Author J. Randy Taraborrelli will …

USA Today: Queen B is getting her very own Bey-ography