Rock in Rio: Beyoncé set to headline opening night of the festival
Singer is most voted by public in survey by Rock in Rio
Rio de Janeiro, February 04, 2013 – North American singer Beyoncé, considered the greatest pop attraction in the world, announced her participation in Rock in Rio on Monday, during her performance at Super Bowl 2013, the American Football league final. The artist’s announcement coincided with that of the festival organizers, which confirmed the statement on the official site (www.rockinrio.com.br). The most highly voted in a survey by Rock in Rio, Beyoncé will play on the World Stage on the first night of the event, September 13. Her last performance in Brazil was in 2010, when she played five shows as part of her world tour "I Am... Tour”, which passed through Florianópolis, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Salvador.
Beyoncé, who recently sang the American national anthem during President Barak Obama's swearing-in ceremony, is on the list of the 100 greatest artists of all time, ranked fourth in the best of the 2000s. At the 2010 Grammy Awards, Beyoncé became the most awarded female artist in a single edition, winning six of the ten categories she was running in. The singer has a total of 16 Grammys, 13 for her solo career and 3 as part of the R&B group Destiny's Child, one of the most awarded artists. She also holds records in terms of sales, with over 75 million albums sold worldwide, a number that rises to 100 million when considering album sales for the group that leveraged her career.
Beyoncé has been involved with performing arts from a young age. Raised in Texas by her father, a music manager and executive, and mother, a costume designer and hairstylist, she began singing while still a child. In 1997, aged 16, she initiated her career as a vocalist in the female R&B group Destiny’s Child, which sold over 50 million discs around the world, achieving global fame.
In parallel with Destiny’s Child, in 2003, she launched her solo career, with the album “Dangerously in Love”, reaching the top of the charts. The following year, she came away with five Grammy Awards. In 2005, the group split and Beyoncé focused on her solo career. The following albums "B-day" (2006) and "I Am... Sasha Fierce” (2008) attained enormous commercial success, with the last certified diamond. The most recent studio album was released last year. Titled 4, this was the first album without the guidance of her father and ex-manager Matthew Knowles.
In 2009, she was listed by Forbes magazine as the wealthiest artist under the age of 30 in the world. In 2011, the same magazine elected her the most powerful Afro- American women in the United States.
ABOUT ROCK IN RIO
Rock in Rio is the world’s largest music and entertainment event, with 12 editions held in Brazil (1985, 1991, 2001 and 2011), Portugal (2004, 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012) and Spain (2008, 2010 and 2012). The festival has brought together some 6,511,300 spectators, all cheering to the sound of the 968 artists that have taken part. It has totaled over 980 hours of music, broadcast to more than 1 billion viewers in 200 countries via TV and internet.
Rock in Rio also collects records on social networks, in the music festival category. In 2011, the event was part of Twitter’s Trending Topics in 13 countries.
Using music as a universal language and uniting people around the world, Rock in Rio is a communication channel of pure emotion and social and environmental causes. One of its pillars of communication is the social project Por Um Mundo Melhor (For a Better World). Created in 2001, in Rio de Janeiro, the project has already benefitted thousands of people over the 12 editions, in Brazil, Portugal, Spain and a range of other companies, thanks to the investments from ticket sales and the actions promoted by event partners, which total US$ 16.6 million. Initiatives included the planting of over 119,000 trees; a school built in Tanzania, and a health center established in Maranhão. Rock in Rio has already put 3,200 youths through primary
school, in Rio de Janeiro; installed 760 solar panels in public schools, in Portugal; and set up 14 sensorial rooms in NGOs to cater to children with mental and visual deficiencies, among a range of other initiatives. In 2011, actions part of the “For a Better World” project flew under the banner of music as the foundation in the formation of youths. By mobilizing the population and its partners, some 2,200 musical instruments were donated to more than 150 NGOs throughout Brazil that work with music as an educative tool; 10 music rooms were established in schools part of the Rio de Janeiro city education network with 30 teachers were trained using the “O Passo” methodology; and 40 youths were trained as Luthier assistants (professionals specialized in the manufacture and maintenance of musical instruments).
Furthermore, since 2006, Rock in Rio has been committed to compensating for 100% of the event’s CO2 emissions – audited by Delloite – and to implementing a major waste management plan, while also investing in an emission reduction plan that includes the preparation of a manual of good practices for sponsors and suppliers, which is being improved with each new edition and is employed in all the countries that stage the event.
The sale of tickets for Rock in Rio is scheduled for April 2013, with the date to be confirmed by organizers. During the sale of the Rock in Rio Card, in October 2012, tickets to the festival sold out in just 52 minutes – a new record.
The event, celebrating its 13th edition, begins on Friday September 13, 2013 and continues on the 14th, 15th, 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd of September, 2013, at the City of Rock, in Rio de Janeiro (Parque dos Atletas - Av. Salvador Allende, s/n), an area of 150,000 m2.
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