Beyoncé and Solange's images crafted in Houston

Photo of Joey Guerra

The hotel surveillance video of Solange Knowles attacking her sister Beyoncé's husband, music mogul Jay Z, is frustratingly silent. But the grainy, black-and-white clip filmed in an elevator after the Met Gala in New York has generated enough noise to fill a football stadium.

After gossip website TMZ posted the video Monday, social media lit up with endless speculation and jokes.

Like the video itself, the sisters from Houston have remained silent. Their only reaction played out on Instagram. Celebrity gossip sites reported that a single photo of Beyoncé remained on Solange's feed.

The day after the May 5 gala, Beyoncé posted a prayer asking God to help her choose healthy relationships. The Knowles family and their friends were not talking about the rift, but on Thursday, Beyonce, Jay Z and Solange said they are moving beyond the incident.


Since the video was leaked on Monday, Beyoncé also has posted photos of Solange on Instagram.

Beyoncé has always maintained a distance from the media; she tries to keep a tight grip on her image. Most famously, she no longer allows press photographers at concerts after a series of unflattering photos from her Super Bowl XLVII halftime show surfaced last year.

The strategy has served her well. Until now. The video casts a harsh light on what was a private family drama. And though Beyoncé appeared uninvolved in the fight, it revealed an ugly human side to her seemingly perfect celebrity life.

It's unlikely any of this will have a long-lasting negative impact on Beyoncé's career. She's one of the biggest superstars in the world, and Time magazine featured her on the cover of its 100 most influential people issue.

Growing up here

She's come a long way since she started her career at age 8 in the Houston kiddie group Girls Tyme. Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett, Támar Davis and Beyoncé eventually became known as Destiny's Child, one of the most successful girl groups of all time.

They sold more than 50 million records worldwide and scored several No. 1 singles. While the other members, which changed during the years, have had varying success, Beyoncé, 32, has become a single-name pop force, like Cher and Madonna.

"Solange was creative as a little girl," Davis said. "She made melodies and dance steps as fast she could think. At such a young age, she was very confident in herself. Nothing fazed her.

"I remember Solange always trying to be around us, and she loved learning our dance steps and songs. Beyoncé was very nurturing to her and allowed Solange to hang with us. They were sisters, and they always had each other's backs."

Solange, five years Beyoncé's junior, launched her career when she replaced a Destiny's Child dancer on tour. She was 15. She released her first album the next year. Then, at 17, she married football player Daniel Smith and gave birth to son Daniel Julez Smith. (They divorced less than three years later.)

Both sisters keep close ties to Houston, even though they have moved far beyond the MacGregor area in the Third Ward where they grew up and attended St. Johns United Methodist Church.

When they're in town, Beyoncé and Jay Z often are spotted at local restaurants. Beyoncé attended a 2011 University of Houston event honoring her mother, Tina Knowles, a Galveston native. The event featured a video tribute to her life but showed several images of Beyoncé. "I have two daughters," Knowles said at the time.

Beyoncé called herself Miss 3rd Ward in her "Pretty Hurts" video, which she filmed last year for her self-titled album. We see her winning an award as a young girl between clips, during which she says, "I love you, Houston."

Two other videos for the album were shot in Houston. "Blow," filmed at the Funplex entertainment complex on Beechnut, features Solange. "No Angel," shot in the Third and Fourth Wards, includes cameos by local rappers.

'I'm no sister'

Solange has always gone her own way. Her 2008 album "Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams," references the Music World Entertainment complex in Midtown at 1505 Hadley, the recording studios owned by Mathew Knowles, their father.

She sold out a show last year at the Heights venue Fitzgerald's and opened for Gladys Knight during RodeoHouston in 2009.

Solange recently performed at Coachella, where Beyoncé made a surprise appearance onstage.

She has become a fashion icon with an eclectic, colorful style. She's regularly highlighted in fashion blogs and magazines. She recently was named an art director for Puma; her shoe collection immediately sold out earlier this year.

Solange and her son live in New Orleans, a far cry from the paparazzi-filled streets of New York, where Beyoncé and Jay Z live with their daughter, Blue Ivy.

Because both sisters are singers, comparisons are inevitable. But Solange says she has never been interested in being a superstar.

"It's not my job to make you like me," Solange told the Chronicle in 2008. "It's not my job to prove to you that I'm anything other than what you think I am. It's my job to make art. That's what I signed up for.

"I don't care if you don't like me. I just hope you like the music."

Solange addressed the comparisons and the complexities of her relationship with her big sister, known as Bey or B, in song: "I'm not B-coming expectations/I'm not her and never will be," she sings on "God Given Name." "Two girls gone in different directions/Striving towards the same galaxy/Let my star light shine on its own/I'm no sister."

Joy Sewing contributed to this report.