Beyonce sent shoppers in New York into a spin on Thursday after surprising fans in-store as they danced to her brand new album 4.
The If I Were A Boy superstar’s choreographer was teaching shoppers at a packed Target store in Harlem the moves to some of Beyonce’s latest tracks, when the curtains on-stage dropped to reveal the hitmaker herself.
The crowd went wild as Beyonce hugged and greeted the young dancers up on the stage, before she handed out copies of her new record.
The ‘Inception’ star is currently working with Clint Eastwood on the biopic ‘J. Edgar’ but the Oscar winning director is hoping to persuade Leonardo to appear opposite Beyonce in the movie about an aspiring singer who falls for an older rock star.
Will Smith, Robert Downey Jr. and ‘Mad Men’s Jon Hamm have all previously been linked with the role.
While Leonardo is not known for his singing abilities, Beyonce has previously starred in movie musical ‘Dreamgirls’ based on a trio of black female soul singers in 2006 and portrayed legendary singer Etta James in the 2008 film ‘Cadillac Records’.
Will Fetters wrote the script for the new Warner Brothers version of ‘A Star Is Born’ while Bill Gerber, Jon Peters and Basil Iwanyk are set to produce with Clint’s producing partner Rob Lorenzo sharing the directing duties.
This will be the fourth remake of the movie, with Barbara Streisand and Kris Kristofferson starring in the most recent version in 1976, Judy Garland and James Mason played the lovers in 1954 while the original featured Janet Gaynor and Frederic March.
While the “Bills, Bills, Bills” singer was preparing for the Glastonbury fest, her assistant placed orders for designer heels at Saks and Bergdorf on Thursday, and they were delivered to her delighted sister the next day.
Beyoncé is known for generous gifting; she bought her husband, Jay-Z, a $2 million Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport car for his 41st birthday in December.
Columbia Records executives fear Beyoncé’s new album, “4,” could be a dud after she refused to return to the studio to re-record new tracks, sources say.
“They’re very nervous about Beyoncé’s new record,” an industry insider said. “It doesn’t have the hit songs that her fans are used to. They asked her to make changes, but she said no.”
Bracing for the worst, Columbia suits are strategizing in case of slower sales and have had “quiet discussions” about the reunion of Destiny’s Child.
“Beyoncé’s career has stalled a bit,” a source said. “Columbia seems to think they can get some mileage out of a comeback record with all of the girls.” Another source tells us Destiny’s Child could start recording together as early as October, with a suggested album title “Family Reunion.”
But Kelly Rowland might not be eager to join forces again. Our source said, “She has her own solo career now, why would she want to be singing back up for Beyoncé?”
A Columbia rep said, “All I know is that the record came in . . . Nothing was ever discussed to change it.” Beyoncé’s rep said, “All of this is completely untrue. All of it.” Rowland’s rep didn’t respond to the media.
Meanwhile, Columbia’s parent company Sony Music, under new leadership of ex-Universal honcho Doug Morris, will be consolidating. Insiders say Sony honchos are in discussions to dump Jive Records, the label that signed Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. One of the most successful music labels, Jive was purchased for close to $3 billion in 2002.
Now, Peter Edge is poised to take over Sony’s RCA label that will absorb many of Jive’s artists — but staff layoffs are still expected in July. “X-Factor” judge L.A. Reid jumped from Island Def Jam last week to revitalize Sony’s Epic Records as chairman.
Sources say Sony plans to transfer Jive’s Tom Carrabba to Epic to work under Reid and control his legendary spending. A Sony rep declined to comment.
An onset source for Beyoncé’s “Best Thing I Never Had” video, which was shot in Westchester County on Wednesday and in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, on Thursday, tells us although the bootylicious Beyoncé was sweet as sugar on set, it was her mother, Tina Knowles, who demonstrated some serious divalicious ‘tude.
According to the insider, the four assistants (count ‘em!) the elder Knowles had following her around were calling her “Miss Tina” — “which sounded like a joke.” But it wasn’t: “The crew was told to call her ‘Miss Tina’ if they were to talk to her at all,” our source reveals.
Her real inner prima donna was displayed on Thursday, while the “prom scene” shoot was filmed at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple near the Pratt Institute. Tina, who heads the House of Deréon fashion label with her eldest daughter, “flipped out on the camera guys for making Beyoncé stand near the [video] extras for too long” because there was too much conversation going on between takes. Apparently, Mama T was “worried” the lowly extras would talk to her darling daughter.
But it was the other way around. Beyoncé “was fine with [talking to anyone]. She was making everyone laugh.”
Clad in a purple dress, the 29-year-old singer was talking to the cast and crew about how not being prom queen in the video reminded her of how she never wore the coveted tiara at her own high school dance.
But not everything in this video mirrored reality: Our onset source tells us Beyoncé said it was “weird” not to have her real father, Matthew Knowles, walk her down the aisle in the wedding scene, which took place in a Sleepy Hollow country club on Wednesday. (Beyoncé was escorted down the aisle by her father when she wed Jay-Z in April 2008 in the rapper’s Tribeca apartment.)
As we reported late last week, Beyoncé flew in from Nice, France, where she was rehearsing a show to film the Diane Martel-directed video. It’s no surprise then that rumors flew among cast and crew that Beyoncé’s hubby was in his wife’s trailer last Thursday in Brooklyn, but sources didn’t actually spy the mogul on the set.
Beyonce will no longer be managed by her father, Mathew Knowles.
Beyonce’s publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure, told The Associated Press in a statement Monday that the Grammy-winning singer and her father have parted ways “on a business level.”
Knowles has managed his daughter since she debuted as a teen in the multiplatinum-selling group Destiny’s Child in the late 1990s and throughout her superstar career as a solo artist.
Beyonce says in the statement that she is grateful for the role her father has had in her career.
She adds that “he is my father for life and I love my dad dearly.”
Warner Bros. confirms that the two are in negotiations to remake the 1937 classic.
Eastwood is in talks to direct, while Beyonce, who has been attached to the project for some time, would star.
Set to produce are Billy Gerber, Basil Iwanyk and Jon Peters, who made the 1976 version of the film with Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson.
Corporate spokeswoman Jessica Zacholl notes that the deals have not been finalized and negotiations are ongoing.
After revealing in a touching clip from her new documentary recently that she feels very lonely when on tour, Beyonce Knowles sure looks happy to be back in the company of her rapper beau, Jay Z.
The 29-year-old Halo singer and her music mogul husband were all smiles as they enjoyed a romantic beachside seafood lunch at the exclusive Marina Mirage complex in Main Beach, Queensland Australia Wednesday.
The happy couple were both dressed for the warm weather with Beyonce in a feminine yellow two piece and Jay opting for camouflage shorts and a T-shirt.
Beyonce had paired her outfit with some pretty expensive accessories also – some towering YSL pumps and a black spiked Hermes Birkin bag, worth an estimated $30,000!
But that’s nothing for the the pair who were said to be the highest paid couple in show-business last year earning a combined $68 million.
Just yesterday it was reported that Beyonce had shed some serious cash for a birthday gift for her husband of two years.
Jay, who turned 41 on December 4, was given a $1.3 Million Bugatti Veyron car from his extravagant and generous wife.
According to the Sun, the songstress actually ordered the car over a year ago.
The Australian trip was also part of the birthday celebrations but it seemed Beyonce was the one receiving all the attention.
As the couple left the restaurant, escorted by heavy security, Jay placed a protective arm around his wife as she attempted to navigate the boardwalk in her huge heels.
The private couple married in a secret ceremony in April 2008 after six years of dating.
The ‘Halo’ hitmaker was reported to be expecting her first child with her hip-hop superstar husband Jay-Z, but her mother Tina Knowles has rubbished the rumours and joked she is having a baby at the age of 56.
Tina said: “The truth is that’s it’s not Beyonce that’s pregnant. It’s me.
“I’m kidding y’all. I’m 56. No, no the reports are not true. Not right now . With all the rumors, by now I should have five or six grandchildren.”
However, Tina’s claims do not appear to have reached friends of the couple – who married in 2008 – and they have been rushing to express their delight saying they will make wonderful parents.
Record executive Kevin Liles – a close friend of Jay-Z – said: “Jay has been all about family since I met him, and he’s always going to be. I wish them the best.”
Beyonce’s sister Solange added: “She’s got the most beautiful heart. She’ll be a great mom.”
Earlier this year, Beyonce, 29, insisted she would start a family when she is ready.
She said: “My ambition is to continue to learn about the world and to eventually have a family. There are no dates, no times – it will happen when I am ready.”
