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UPTOWN Magazine celebrates the luxury lifestyle of professional and influential urban consumers across the country with city-specific editions in New York, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Our editorial content, promotion, and brand extensions communicate the appeal of a luxury lifestyle with an authoritative voice and sophisticated design.

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Songs in the Keys of Life
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Beyonce Opens Up About Life In the Spotlight
Sure, Beyoncé is hopelessly beautiful, married to the 300 million dollar man, and has seriously deep pockets of her own. But can she cook? That’s what I most want to know as I sit across from the fresh-faced, doe-eyed songstress inside the penthouse suite of the luxurious Soho Grand hotel.

“Well, I don’t have a lot of time to cook,” reveals Beyoncé, who’s clad in a black ruffled blouse, low-hanging diamond pendant, leather pants, and spiked boots. She pauses to consider her culinary répertoire, and then adds, “I actually made oxtails with peas and rice not too long ago. It came out pretty good,” she beams.

Rats. Yet one more thing this 27-year-old, chart-topping tour de force can add to her overflowing list of achievements. Honestly, it’s enough to make this average chick want to jump off a bridge.

Since the Houston-bred singer-turned-actress and entrepreneur burst onto the scene more than 10 years ago as lead vocalist of Destiny’s Child, it was clear that nothing about Beyoncé Knowles was average. Grammys? Got 10 of ’em. Movies? Her last film, Dreamgirls, won two Oscars. Even her clothing line seems recession-proof: House of Deréon continues to expand—adding shoes, handbags, and eyewear—under the watchful eye of B’s mom and business partner, Tina Knowles.

And lately things have only gotten better for the bodacious newlywed, who tied the knot with Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter during a hush-hush, star-studded Manhattan ceremony this past April. “Etta James was sitting there like, ‘All right, who is this girl about to come up here and sing my song?’”

For starters, she came in second on Forbes magazine’s list of the world’s highest paid music stars this year, beating out Madonna, Celine Dion, and Justin Timberlake. At this point Beyoncé’s entertainment empire—a clothing line, tour sales, platinum-selling records, and endorsement deals with L’Oréal and American Express, among others—rivals that of her man’s. “Jay and I keep our businesses separate,” she confides. “I had mine before we met, and he had his.”

She’s also back in the spotlight with two rousing new singles off her November release, I Am: “If I Were a Boy,” a folksy pop song written for wronged women worldwide, and the rollicking party-in-a-bottle “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).” (Guys, if you haven’t seen this sexy video it’s practically a throwback to Beyoncé’s booty-shaking “Crazy in Love” days—those wild hip thrusts are enough to put the viewers’ eyes in traction). Pulling 17 songs from the 70 she recorded during her “downtime,” Beyoncé says her fans will be pleased to note the range in her material this time around. “I felt like it was time for me to take more risks with my sound,” she says of her third solo studio album. “So I really experimented this time around.”

Mrs. Carter has also been acting up a storm. Not only will she star opposite Ali Larter and The Wire’s Idris Elba in the upcoming Fatal Attraction-themed flick Obsessed, out in February, the two-time Golden Globe nominee has also signed on to play not one, but two legendary singers: notorious Hollywood vixen Eartha Kitt and troubled blues great Etta James.

“[Playing Etta James] was so challenging and scary but also the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done,” Beyoncé says of her transformation to become the singer, who famously battled a drug habit, in this month’s Cadillac Records, a biopic chronicling the rise and fall of the 1950s label that launched the careers of Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley. Beyoncé reportedly spent time in a Brooklyn rehab facility visiting drug addicts to prepare for the role. “Etta is so bold and so unapologetic,” she says with admiration. “It doesn’t matter who she is around. Learning about how strong she is taught me how to take more risks.”

One of those risks involved tackling James’ signature song, the wedding staple “At Last,” which Beyoncé says made her even more nervous than the acting. “I was terrified because I’d never met Etta James and I heard she was in the audience [the night of the screening],” she recalls. “I was scared to look at her! When I first walked out onstage she was sitting there like, ‘All right, who is this girl about to come up here and sing my song?’ Fortunately, I could see her kinda transform by the end,” Beyoncé says smiling. “Then she was like, ‘Bad, girl! You bad!’ And I was like, now that is a compliment.”

Beyoncé’s sister and fellow R&B singer Solange also observed how challenging playing James was for B. “I’ve seen how much she prepared for this movie,” says Solange. “She really poured herself into this role—it’s amazing how much she sacrificed Beyoncé for Etta James. I think this is the role that can completely show people how much of an actress she really is.”

Acting has become so much of a priority, reveals the self-described perfectionist and control freak, that she finds herself critiquing other actors’ performances. “I’m the worst person to go see a movie with,” says Beyoncé, who admits she works with an acting coach, “because I’ll talk through it! I’ll be like, ‘Oh, she killed that!’ Or, ‘You see how he put his hands in his pocket?’ I’m the worst!”

Given her jam-packed schedule, you might think that Beyoncé and Jay don’t see kids in their future. You’d be wrong. They absolutely do, she says—just not right now. “I do eventually want to have children,” she explains. “I’m just not in a rush. I just kept my nephew [Julez] for the weekend,” she says, referring to Solanges’s four-year old son. “He’s a beautiful little boy but he’s way too smart! And I’m telling [Solange and my family], you all are making it real hard for me! I am not ready! I just can’t! So, we’ll see. Maybe in a couple more years, but right now I’m not ready. And I’m sure once I have children, everything, my priorities are going to be different. But right now, I’m working on my acting, and eventually one day I want to do Broadway and win a Tony and an Oscar and just continue growing as an icon.

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Advantage Serena
Whether on the subject of fly nails, bad calls, her man, or what she does with her money, Serena Williams is gonna let you know.

Tennis season might be in full swing, but Serena Williams is determined to ace her latest side hustle—becoming a certified nail technician. When she struts into the penthouse suite of Miami’s Mondrian Hotel, the first thing one notices are her fingers, which are adorned with inch-long tips covered in orange stripes and gold studs. They are the only thing “done” about her on this balmy April day. Her bobbed tresses are barely visible beneath a colorful silk scarf. Her makeup-free face is partly hidden behind Marc Jacobs shades, and she’s sporting silver gladiator sandals, a black tank top, and a rainbow-colored ultrashort miniskirt that comes within centimeters of exposing her famous backside. “I’ve always loved doing nails,” admits the Compton-raised girlie girl. She’s toting a pink Hello Kitty pet carrier that contains the two loves of her life—a mischievous Jack Russell terrier named Jackie and a fluffy white Maltese she calls Lauralei. They scamper out the moment her assistant unzips the door of their portable home. “Even when I was younger, I used to do nails all the time.”

Her interest became a passion back in January when her leopard-print acrylics generated major off-court attention at the Australian Open. Williams decided to stick with the style but was told she would need to obtain a professional manicurist’s license before she could order the necessary supplies to maintain them herself. So the 28-year-old enrolled in classes at the Palm Beach Nail School.“I kept thinking back to Florence Griffith-Joyner and how she always kept her nails fly,” says Williams, in between cooing at Lauralei and sharing her lunch—a plate of BBQ chicken wings and veggies—with an all-too-eager Jackie. “I get my nails and toes done every week. It just made sense to become a nail technician.”

Chatting about mani/pedis, one could forget that Williams is the number one–ranked female tennis player in the world, who has won more prize money than any other female athlete in history—upward of $30 million. She has won both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open three times and the Australian Open five times, and earned two Olympic gold medals. Since turning pro at 14, she has spent half her life in the public eye, but lately she’s turned her spotlight inward.

Williams was forced to take a long, hard look at herself after she lost her temper over a questionable call and released a curse-laden tirade at a lineswoman during the 2009 U.S. Open. She was slapped with a record $82,500 fine and placed on probation for two years. Though she later apologized, Williams maintains that she was wronged by tennis authorities. A devout Jehovah’s Witness, she says she doesn’t want such behavior to reflect poorly on her religious upbringing. “I only felt bad because that’s not who I am,” she clarifies. “I have a temper, but it’s all about staying in control.”

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Lenny Kravitz: Simply the Best in Saint Laurent
Ageless guitar hero Lenny Kravitz —coolly arresting in black leather skinny pants, a pec-hugging red-and-black plaid button-down and a black-and white cashmere scarf, all from French design house Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane—flops into an ivory armchair inside the sun-flooded penthouse of Robert De Niro’s lavish Greenwich Hotel in downtown Manhattan.

After a month of rehearsing with his band in a rented Miami mansion, the prodigal son has returned to his hometown to shoot the video for “New York City,” the funky, bass-driven second single off his recently released 10th album Strut.

He may be 50 years old, but up close his taut, sculpted body and lineless face contradict this fact. “Only organic,” the rugged sex symbol notes from behind his trademark shades as he gulps down a late lunch of grilled chicken, yams and mushrooms prepared by his chef. Rigorous exercise and diet aside (“mostly vegetables, grilled fish, chicken, whole grains and juicing”) the actor, interior designer and fashion icon credits maintaining a spirit of gratitude for his life and more than quarter-century-long success.

“I thank God every day for my health,” says Kravitz, whose mother, The Jeffersons star Roxie Roker, died of breast cancer, and father, Sy Kravitz, died of leukemia. “[Health], for me, is where it begins and the rest is gravy. Also [I’m thankful] for being disciplined,” he adds. “As they say in the Bahamas, there are a lot of talented people living under the bridge. A lot of folks driving cabs, fishing and working in the streets can act and sing better than people getting Oscars and Grammys.”

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T.J. Party
Loutelious “T.J.” Holmes and his wife, Marilee, move decisively through a maze of Asian inspired small plates as the sun begins to dip over New York City’s Central Park. It’s just after 5 on a humid September evening, dinnertime at the Holmes’ home-away-from-home: the luxurious Jumeirah Essex House just off Fifth Avenue, where the couple lives during the week. (Rare BlackBerry-free weekends are spent golfing near the couple’s cavernous home inside Atlanta’s city limits.)

Holmes—finally breathing easily inside the stately South Gate restaurant following a sardine-can-packed day of meetings and conference calls—pushes away his yellow fin tuna tacos, smiling knowingly at his partner of two years before excusing himself from the table.

They’re accustomed to family dinners being interrupted, though not always for something as glamorous as an interview.

The former Marilee Fiebig, who goes by “MrsTJHolmes” on Twitter—is a business immigration attorney who pulls long hours at a top law firm in Atlanta. And her semi-famous husband— who, until last December, was one of the most recognizable black faces on CNN—is working round the clock to help lock in guests, finalize show rundowns, and secure as much press as possible for his new late-night TV show on BET before its October debut.

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Weddings we Love
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M. Kasim Reed ATL's FInest