The father of global superstar Beyonce has said ahead of her first world tour in seven years that the singer’s body is always “drained” during her live performances as she gives her “energy” to her fans to “take home”.
The popstar, 41, who has had five UK number ones including If I Were A Boy and Crazy In Love, announced this week she would be visiting the UK for a series of live performances as part of her Renaissance world tour.
Her father, Mathew Knowles – a talent manager and inspirational speaker, was in London to talk to the next generation of performers about what he learned from managing the R&B group Destiny’s Child, which made Beyonce famous.
While at the event, he told ITV News: “I’m so proud (of Beyonce) because…I know all the work she puts into it and I know all the creativity that she puts into it.
“She gives back to her audience and (both the) audience and her walk away drained, because she’s given them so much energy to take back with them.
“She’s one of the best entertainers in our time today. She cares about her fans, she works hard to connect with them and practice and practice and practice and dare to be different, dare to think outside of the box and not be a box in thinker as an artist.”
His other daughter, Solange Knowles, was a back-up dancer in Destiny’s Child and is also a successful musician in her own right and won a Grammy in 2017 for best R&B performance for the single Cranes In The Sky.
Knowles also said: “One thing that I love about my kids is that they are good people, they would say hello to the janitor, the same way they would say hello to the president.”
Named after Beyonce’s recent album of the same name, the Renaissance world tour kicks off on May 10 in Stockholm before visiting stadiums in Europe and the UK over spring and summer.
In the UK, she performs first at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium on May 17, before moving to Edinburgh’s Murrayfield on May 20 and Sunderland’s Stadium of Light on May 23.
She will then play two nights at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on May 29-30.
Students will be supported through scholarship funds that will be given to colleges and universities in 10 cities along the tour.
Named after her hit song Formation, an R&B track with trap and bounce influences that celebrates her success and culture, Beyonce’s last world tour in 2016 was announced following her guest appearance at the Super Bowl 50 halftime show.
Her seventh studio Renaissance, released last year, saw her go in another musical direction by incorporating house music and dancefloor-focused Afrobeats.
Beyonce proved herself a commercial and critical success by topping the charts in both the UK and US and being nominated for a string of awards.
She will go head to head with Adele at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, after they were both nominated in the album of the year category for Renaissance and 30 respectively.
They last competed for the prize in 2017 when it went to Adele.
Both Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z are tied — with nine Grammy nods — as the most nominated music act in the history of the awards show.
She is also nominated for a Brit in the international artist of the year category, along with Taylor Swift and Lizzo.