A STAR IS BORN
"We are happy to announce the arrival of our beautiful daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, born Saturday, January 7, 2012. We are in heaven. She was delivered naturally at a healthy 7 lbs and it was the best experience of our lives…We are thankful to everyone for your prayers, well wishes, love and support.” – Beyoncé & Jay-Z.
Her daddy is rich and her mommy is good looking. Blue Ivy Carter’s arrival was the most anticipated celebrity birth of the new decade. Jay-Z and Beyoncé called their daughter’s birth "the best experience of both of our lives." The proud parents are Beyoncé Giselle Knowles often known simply as Beyoncé and Shawn Corey Carter better known by his stage name Jay-Z.
The superstars caused a different sort of “birthing pain” at New York City’s Lenox Hill Hospital during Blue Ivy’s arrival. Reports are that the couple paid $1.3 million to rent and redecorate a wing of the Manhattan hospital into a space which could easily be mistaken for the penthouse in a five-star hotel. The power couple had workers tear 6 to 8 rooms down and build a private labor and delivery suite that had bulletproof, tinted glass and burly bodyguards to welcome the diva daughter.
The birthing event was a lavish affair. And, forward “Baby Blue” will have every opportunity the world has to offer. As of 2010, Blue’s 30-year-old mommy was worth more than $400 million. But, because she was busy having Blue, Beyoncé’s 2011 earnings were $35 million, down from $87 million in 2010.
Baby Daddy, Shawn Corey Carter’s net-worth exceeds half a billion dollars. Rapper, record producer and entrepreneur, the 42-year-old Jay-Z is one of the nation’s most financially successful hip hop artists. He has sold 50 million albums worldwide and received 13 Grammy Awards for his musical work. Actually, Jay-Z is consistently ranked as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Two of his albums, Reasonable Doubt (1996) and The Blueprint (2001) are considered landmarks in the genre with both of them being ranked in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
A role model if there ever was one. Originally from Marcy Houses, a housing project in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, Jay-Z now owns, or co-owns, the New York City 40/40 Club, just west of Broadway; one in Atlantic City; and a third in The Palazzo in Las Vegas. Jay-Z is part-owner of the NBA’s New Jersey Nets and is also the creator of the Rocawear design line. He is the former CEO of Def Jam Recordings, one of the three founders of Roc-A-Fella Records, and the founder of Roc Nation. Roc-A-Fella also distributes Armadale, Scottish vodka. As an artist, he holds the record for most number one albums by a solo artist on the Billboard 200 with 12. Jay-Z also has had four number one records on the Billboard Hot 100, one as lead artist. "Glory," the track Jay-Z released two days after Blue Ivy’s birth has debuted at number 74 on Billboard’s chart of the top 100 R&B/Hip-Hop songs in the country.
As of April 2008, Jay-Z’s wife is Beyoncé, an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she began performing at age seven, winning upwards of 30 local competitions for her dancing and vocal abilities. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as the lead singer of the R&B girl group Destiny’s Child, one of the world’s best-selling girl groups of all time.
Mommy represents a good work ethic for Blue too. According to Forbes, in 2010 Beyoncé earned $87 million, as follows: Touring and Merchandise: $14 million; Films: $5 million; Fashion: $15 million; Music publishing: $8 million; Endorsements: $20 million; and Tour Sponsors: $4 million. In addition to her singing career, Beyoncé has income in fashion and film. One of the hardest working women in show business, Beyoncé continued to perform live as her pregnancy progressed and gave concerts through November 2011.
(William Reed is publisher of Who’s Who in Black Corporate America and available for speaking/seminar projects via BaileyGroup.org)
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