Solange Knowles Biography

Solange Knowles is an American R&B singer-songwriter and the younger sister of Beyonce Knowles. She was born on June 24, 1986, in Houston, Texas to mom Tina and dad Matthew Knowles. She started out as a backup dancer for her sister's band Destiny's Child on their tour. She first sang professionally on their holiday album, "8 Days of Christmas".

It didn't take long for Solange to come out from her sister's shadow to make a name for herself in both music and fashion industries. When Solange was 16, her father who was also her manager signed her to his record company Music World Entertainment. In 2002, she appeared on two major musical projects, Lil' Romeo's album "Game Time" and former Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland's "Simply Deep", for which Solange wrote the title track.

Solange's debut album, "Solo Star", was released in 2003. Soon after, the budding star was writing songs for sister Beyonce, Rowland and third Destiny's Child member Michelle Williams (II)".

On February 27, 2004, a 17-year-old Solange married Daniel Smith Jr., who later became a football coach. The couple soon moved to Idaho so that Smith could attend school there. Later in 2004, Solange gave birth to their first child together, son Daniel Julez Smith Jr. The couple divorced in 2007.

Solange signed a record deal with Geffen Records in 2007. Her second album, "Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams", featured such artists as Mark Ronson, The Neptunes and Cee-Lo Green. But like her first album, "Sol-Angel" failed to garner commercial success. She later signed on with Roc Nation, a label run by her brother-in-law Jay-Z. Solange tried to crack the charts again in 2012 with the seven-track EP "True", which garnered positive response from fans and critics.

In May 2013, Solange announced that she had launched her own record label named Saint Records and that she would release her third full-length album through the label. Later that year, the label released its first compilation album, "Saint Heron".

In July 2015, Solange announced that her third studio album was nearly complete. A year later in June 2016, she announced her next album that's called "A Seat at the Table". The project was released on September 30, 2016 to widespread critical acclaim. It went on to become her first No. 1 album on Billboard Hot 100 chart. This made her and Beyonce the first sisters to have both had No. 1 albums on the list.