Happy 12th Birthday to Blue Ivy Carter! Today, we celebrate not just the daughter of music royalty Beyoncé and JAY-Z, but a young star who has already left an indelible mark on the world. Here are 12 fun facts about the talented and accomplished young star:
Birth of a Star: Blue Ivy Carter was born on January 7, 2012 at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. Two days later, TIME magazine dubbed her “the most famous baby in the world.”
Name Origin: Jay-Z revealed in a recent interview that Blue Ivy’s name was originally intended to be Brooklyn.
He said, “Her name was meant to be Brooklyn. That was the name we had in theory, but when we got the sonogram, it was super small and we was calling her blueberry. Like, ‘Look at the little blueberry!’ It was a nickname. For nine months, we were like, ‘Look at the little blueberry,’ so it was natural. We just took the ‘berry’ off and called her Blue.”
Musical Debut at 2 Days Old: JAY-Z recorded Blue Ivy’s cries just two days after her birth and incorporated them into his song “Glory,” making her the youngest person to have a song on a Billboard chart.
Guinness World Records: “Glory” earned Blue Ivy a Guinness World Records as the youngest person on a Billboard chart.She also secured another record as the youngest individually credited winner at the Grammys.
Grammy Winner: In 2021, Blue, who contributed to Beyoncé’s track “Brown Skin Girl,” clinched the best music video award as a featured artist at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards.
Other Awards: Blue won the outstanding duo/group prize for her contributions to “Brown Skin Girl” at the 2020 NAACP Image Awards, making her the youngest artist to win a major award. That same year, she achieved another milestone as the youngest winner at the BET Awards. Continuing her streak of success, in 2021, Queen Blue secured a MTV Video Music Award for her role in “Brown Skin Girl.”
Versatile Talent: According to her grandmother, Tina Knowles, Blue excels in singing, dancing, basketball, volleyball, painting, drawing, sculpting, sewing, poetry, songwriting, acting, and piano playing.
“You can sing dance, play basketball, play volleyball, paint, draw, sculpt, sew, write poetry, write songs, create, act, play the piano! I could go on and on,” she wrote on Instagram on Blue’s 11th birthday. “Because there’s really nothing that you can’t do.”
Voiceover Talent: Blue Ivy expanded her résumé by narrating the audiobook for Matthew Cherry’s “Hair Love,” a children’s book celebrating Black hair. In 2021, she even won the Best Voiceover award in the infant-to-12 category at the 2021 Voice Arts Awards.
Makeup Artist in the Making: At 9, Blue displayed her early talent in makeup artistry by giving her grandmother Tina Knowles a makeover. “My talented granddaughter Blue made up my face today. She is only 9 years old can you imagine her at 15 doing my makeup? She Beat My Face. Gonna save me a lot of money on make up artist fees, ” Tina captioned the post.
Renaissance World Tour: Blue joined her mother, Beyoncé, on stage during the Renaissance World Tour in May 2023, showcasing her dance skills during performances of “My Power” and “My Parade”.
Big Sister: When Blue Ivy was 5 years old she became a big sister to twins, Sir and Rumi. She was very excited when they were born and has an especially close bond with little sister Rumi.
Philanthropic Spirit: At the age of 10, Blue Ivy confidently bid over $80,000 on her mom’s donated Lorraine Schwartz diamond earrings during the Los Angeles Wearable Art Gala in 2022, displaying her philanthropic spirit.