Author Guide · Memoir and Business
Books Written by
At about five years old, Mathew Knowles hid beside a highway at night in Marion, Alabama, while a Ku Klux Klan rally went past. He was born in Gadsden in 1952, sold medical equipment for Xerox in Houston for ten years, and in 1992 left sales to found Music World Entertainment, the company that managed Destiny’s Child and the solo careers of his daughters Beyoncé and Solange. From 2015 he began to write: a book of business advice, a memoir of his Alabama childhood, a short history of music and slavery, a PR manual for his students, and his own account of how Destiny’s Child was built. This guide covers his 5 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 5 key books · 2015–2019 · Updated October 2026
ClickTap a spine to jump to that book below.
Quick answer
Mathew Knowles has published five books: The DNA of Achievers (2015), Racism from the Eyes of a Child (2017), The Emancipation of Slaves Through Music (2018), Public Relations and Media (2018) and Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story (2019). Start with Racism from the Eyes of a Child, his memoir of growing up in 1950s and 1960s Alabama, which is being developed as a film and a limited series.
Where to Start with Mathew Knowles
If you want his own story
→ Racism from the Eyes of a Child (2017) — his childhood in the segregated South.
If you want the Destiny’s Child story
→ Destiny’s Child (2019) — the group’s origins as Girls Tyme, told by its manager.
If you want business advice
→ The DNA of Achievers (2015) — ten traits he sees in successful professionals.
If you want to work in publicity
→ Public Relations and Media (2018) — a short manual written for his students.
5 Mathew Knowles Books, in Order
The DNA of Achievers
His first book sets out ten traits he says successful professionals share, drawing on his years in corporate sales and in the music business. It is business and motivational advice rather than memoir.
Racism from the Eyes of a Child
A memoir of growing up Black in Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s: hiding from a Klan rally as a small child, being one of six Black students at an all-white school, joining peaceful protests, being burned with a cattle prod and arrested four times in one day. It includes a chapter on what he calls “eroticized rage” and colorism in his own life. In December 2023 Say Unkel Entertainment announced a feature film and a limited series based on it.
The Emancipation of Slaves Through Music
A short history of the songs of enslaved Black Americans and the messages coded into them, and of music as a way to survive and resist. It grew out of his teaching on the music industry and was reviewed in South Africa’s Business Day in November 2018.
Public Relations and Media
A compact guide of about 120 pages, published by his own Music World Publishing in Houston, on publicity in the digital era: interviews, controlling the narrative and how to structure a message. Yvette Noel-Schure, long-time publicist for Destiny’s Child, endorsed it.
Destiny’s Child
The origins of Destiny’s Child, from the girl group Girls Tyme and its Star Search appearance to the record deal, told by Knowles and by producers, managers and executives who worked with the group. He said he wrote it “to correct all the misinformation” and that his breast cancer diagnosis pushed him to finish it. It came with an album of early Girls Tyme recordings, which he had bought in 2000.
In What Order to Read Mathew Knowles
The five books do not depend on each other, so read by subject. The memoir and the Destiny’s Child book are the two that tell his own story; the other three are closer to the lectures he gives as a teacher of the music business.
Read in publication order and you see him moving from general advice to his own life: Racism from the Eyes of a Child explains the childhood, Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story what he built with it.
A reading path
1. Racism from the Eyes of a Child (2017)
2. Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story (2019)
3. The DNA of Achievers (2015)
4. The Emancipation of Slaves Through Music (2018)
The years · 1952–2023
Quick facts about Mathew Knowles
- Known for
- Mathew Knowles is known as the manager who built Destiny’s Child and launched the careers of his daughters Beyoncé and Solange.
- 1952
- Born in Gadsden, Alabama
- 1992
- Founds Music World Entertainment
- 1997
- Destiny’s Child signs to Columbia
- 2023
- Film and series deal for his memoir
- Born
- 9 January 1952, Gadsden, Alabama
- Education
- Fisk University, Nashville: BA in Economics and BS in Business Administration
- Before music
- About ten years in medical systems sales for Xerox in Houston, from 1976
- Company
- Founded Music World Entertainment in 1992; sold it to APX Capital Group in 2022
- Teaching
- Visiting professor at Texas Southern University, which set up the Mathew Knowles Institute in 2018
- Children
- Four, including Beyoncé and Solange
The red mark is 2017: Racism from the Eyes of a Child, his memoir of an Alabama childhood.
How Mathew Knowles Writes: The Manager at the Lectern
Knowles writes the way he teaches. He has taught music-business courses at Texas Southern University, the University of Houston and Prairie View A&M, and his books are built like lectures: a list of traits in The DNA of Achievers, practical rules for interviews and messaging in Public Relations and Media, which came out through his own Music World Publishing.
His two personal books start from specific memories and documents. Racism from the Eyes of a Child is anchored in scenes such as the Klan rally in Marion, and he is blunt about how racism shaped his own choices, including a chapter on colorism in his love life. Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story sets out to correct other people’s versions of the group’s history and brings in the producers and executives who were there, with the early recordings released alongside it as evidence.
What he does not do is write a tell-all: on Beyoncé’s private life and on his divorce he says little. For other books by the people around great performers, see Authors like Mathew Knowles.
Watch
Mathew Knowles on Destiny's Child: The Untold Story
Mathew Knowles talks with Steve Adubato on One-on-One, recorded in January 2020, about managing Beyoncé, Solange and Destiny’s Child, colourism in the entertainment industry and his breast cancer diagnosis. From the official Steve Adubato channel.
Frequently asked questions about Mathew Knowles’s books
How many books has Mathew Knowles written?
Five, published between 2015 and 2019: a business book, a memoir, a short music history, a PR manual and his account of Destiny’s Child.
What are Mathew Knowles’s books in order?
The DNA of Achievers (2015), Racism from the Eyes of a Child (2017), The Emancipation of Slaves Through Music (2018), Public Relations and Media: PR Strategies for the Digital Age (2018) and Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story (2019).
Where should I start with Mathew Knowles?
With Racism from the Eyes of a Child, his memoir of growing up in Alabama. If you came for the music, go straight to Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story.
What is Mathew Knowles’s most famous book?
Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story (2019) drew the most attention, because it covers the early years of Beyoncé’s group. Racism from the Eyes of a Child (2017) is the one being adapted for the screen.
What is Mathew Knowles’s memoir called?
Racism from the Eyes of a Child, published in 2017. It covers his childhood in Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s: hiding from a Klan rally, being one of six Black students at an all-white school, and being arrested four times in one day during protests.
Has any of Mathew Knowles’s books been adapted for film?
Not yet released. In December 2023 Say Unkel Entertainment announced plans to adapt Racism from the Eyes of a Child as a feature film, covering the first half of the book, and as a limited series, with the Star Wars producer Howard Kazanjian as development partner.
What is Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story about?
The origins of Destiny’s Child, from the girl group Girls Tyme to their record deal, told by Knowles as their manager and by people who worked with the group. It was released with an album of early Girls Tyme recordings featuring Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland.
What did Mathew Knowles say about colorism?
In a February 2018 Ebony interview about his memoir, he said the music industry favours lighter-skinned Black women, naming his own daughters among others, and that colorism had once made him want to date only lighter-skinned or white women. Some fans criticised the remarks as diminishing Beyoncé’s achievements.
Did Mathew Knowles have breast cancer?
Yes. He was diagnosed with male breast cancer in 2019 and treated successfully. He has said the diagnosis pushed him to finish Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story.
Is Mathew Knowles Beyoncé’s father?
Yes. He is the father of Beyoncé and Solange from his marriage to Tina Knowles, which ended in 2011, and managed both their careers. He has four children in total.
Footnotes
- Mathew Knowles — Wikipedia
- Mathew Knowles memoir film and TV adaptation — Variety, 2023
- Beyoncé’s father recalls hiding from a Ku Klux Klan rally — Cornell Daily Sun, 2018
- Mathew Knowles wrote Destiny’s Child: The Untold Story to correct the misinformation — HollywoodLife, 2020
- Beyoncé’s father suggests her light skin helped her success — PAPER, 2018
- Public Relations and Media — Taylor’s University library catalogue
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“The most successful people are the nicest, most humble people.”
— Mathew Knowles, lecture at Cornell University (2018)
If this shelf interested you, the full bookshelf has more: reading lists by theme, author guides, and notes on what is actually worth your time.
Browse the full bookshelf Get book recommendations