On this day in 1986, Solange Piaget Knowles was born in Houston, beginning a career that would move across music, film, performance art, fashion and cultural preservation.
Knowles’ parents, Tina and Mathew Knowles, helped shape the careers of both Solange and her older sister, Beyoncé. As a child, Solange studied dance and theater, made her singing debut at Six Flags AstroWorld at age five and began writing songs at age nine.
At an early age, Solange began performing as a backup dancer for Destiny’s Child and, at the tender age of 16, released her debut album, “Solo Star.” She also acted in “Johnson Family Vacation” and “Bring It On: All or Nothing.” Her second album, “Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams,” drew from Motown, soul and R&B traditions while establishing her as an artist interested in sound. Her 2012 EP, “True,” pushed further into 1980s pop and R&B, with “Losing You” becoming one of her most recognizable songs.
In 2013, Knowles launched Saint Records and later expanded Saint Heron, a platform created to amplify Black artists and preserve Black cultural work. Three years later, her 2016 album, “A Seat at the Table,” was released to critical acclaim, becoming her first No. 1 album in the United States with her single, “Cranes in the Sky” going on to the Grammy Award for best R&B performance.
Knowles continued that exploration with “When I Get Home” in 2019. She has staged work at major institutions, including the Guggenheim Museum, the Venice Art Biennale and the Getty Museum.
In 2022, Knowles became the third woman and first Black woman to compose a score for the New York City Ballet.
