BEYONCE'S WORLD

Beyonce//I Was Here

*Beyoncé.

Her first name alone evokes an image. A rhythm. A movement.

For some, it also evokes a painstakingly crafted veneer that has rarely been peeled away. Until recently, fans have had to rely on tabloid tales if they wanted a peak behind the diva's carefully crafted, controlled curtain.

New York Times bestselling author J. Randy Taraborrelli's new "Becoming Beyoncé: The Untold Story" furiously rips the curtain off of the rod and flings it to the floor. It's a comprehensive account of just how a little girl from Texas became BEYONCÉ - and the cast of strong, powerful women who helped her along the way (and whose stories had never been told).

With Taraborrelli's past subjects, like Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, he had lots of prior source material from which he could begin his work. (Who hasn't read some version of Diana Ross' "rags to riches" story, for example?). But when Taraborrelli turned his attention to Queen Bey, he told me he had to start from scratch.

"I remember sitting at my computer when I started writing this book," Taraborrelli reminisced, "and pulling my hair out because there are no other books about Beyoncé that I could go to as reference, that I could use as a framework."

"She's so high profile on social media," he continued. "She's always in the headlines. She's a major star that appears to be constantly in our faces. But if you unpack what we knew about her before this book, it was practically nothing. How rare is that these days, that a celebrity can maintain that level of privacy and keep herself in the public eye at the same time? It's my job, as a biographer, to invade that privacy."

In Becoming Beyoncé, Taraborrelli deftly dissects the life of Beyoncé Giselle Knowles Carter and reassembles it bit by sequined bit. As he does so, he creates a platform for exploring the lives of the large cast of characters who have in one way or another helped to create the legend who's sold over 160 million records.

Many of the book's characters are strong-minded, powerful women and one of them, Andretta Tillman, was Beyoncé's first manager. Tillman's story, until now, has been largely brushed aside.

"Andretta's story is the heart and soul of so much of this book," Taraborrelli said. "This woman believed so much, not just in Beyoncé but in all of the girls that she mentored. She was a person who had faced such tragedy in her life but would not be beaten down by it."

"You see the power, focus and discipline that it took for Andretta to get through the day on Beyoncé's work ethic today," Taraborrelli continued. "It's a story that people need to know, that it took that woman and her effort, love, affection and attention to turn this woman into 'Beyoncé'."

As a major female influence in Beyoncé's life, Tillman rivals Beyoncé's mom Tina, whose story is also included in Becoming Beyoncé. Taraborelli shares more than a few surprising twists and turns regarding her marriage to the diva's father, Mathew Knowles.

Prepare to learn about other people you've never heard of, like Debra Laday and Denise Seals, who devoted years of time, talent, and treasure to nurture and groom a pre-adolescent Beyoncé. Also, you'll learn about all of the young girls who sang with Beyoncé years before she exploded onto the world stage with Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams as members of Destiny's Child.

While Becoming Beyoncé does a superb job of profiling the ladies behind the legend, Taraborrelli by no means gives the men behind her short shrift. For example, I walked away with a whole new level of respect for Mathew Knowles.

"I've written about a lot of great men over the years," Taraborrelli opined, "Berry Gordy, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra...and one thing I've learned is that great men have great flaws, but that doesn't make them any less great. When you're as engaging as Mathew is and your heart is in the right place, even when you do the wrong things, people are still in your corner."