Beyonce's Hot Decade

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards promises to be a big night of music this Sunday, and CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller recently sat down with this year's top nominee, Beyonce Knowles.

Miller said Beyonce just may have had the hottest year in music. The singer nabbed 10 nominations and capped a decade of accomplishment with a solo career that just keeps soaring.

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She's got more Grammy nods than any performer this year, and now Beyonce is Billboard magazine's Female Artist of the Decade.

Miller told Knowles, "We're talking 23 songs on Billboard's Hot 100 -- five of them went to No. 1. You're now named Billboard's Female Artist of the Decade -- not the year -- the decade."

Knowles responded, "Wow. It's -- it's really -- you know, I don't even know how to respond to that."

According to Billboard magazine, her most recent album, "I Am...Sasha Fierce" sold six million copies, grossed nearly $60 million from concerts, and helped take Beyonce to No. 4 on Forbes' list of entertainers with earnings of $87 million last year.

"I didn't wake up and become famous," she said. "I started out without a tour bus, having the seat in the back of the awards show, at the Grammys. And every year, gradually we had to work and we became stronger and more people acknowledged us. But it was a lot of tears, a lot of sacrifice, a lot of hard work that went into my career."

Knowles' time with Destiny's Child led to success as a solo artist, actress and face of fashion.

So what does the star consider her biggest achievement? Singing "At Last" at President Obama's inauguration last January.

"That was probably my proudest moment and my most emotional," she said. "It was everything mixed into one."

Miller asked, "Do you want to go back and perhaps do something special for the White House?"

Knowles replied, "Oh please. Of course. Did you ask that? Of course."

"Or been there, done that?" Miller said.

"Oh, yeah right," she said, "Of course I'd love to, but unfortunately, I've been on tour for a year."

But Knowles said she's back now -- "hint hint."

Whether performing for the president or for a recent benefit for Haiti, Knowles, at just 28 years old, has maintained an appeal that has endured for more than a decade.

How does she stay so focused?

Knowles said, "I have a lot of honesty around me, which I think everyone can if that's what they choose to have."

Among those closest to the star is Tina Knowles, Beyonce's mother and business partner at their fashion label, "House of Dereon."

"It's great, because I get to spend time with her," she said. "I mean, we're mother and daughter, so we disagree sometimes, she gets on my nerves, I get on her nerves. But I love her so much and I have so much respect for her."

Aside from creating couture, the two have collaborated on the wardrobe Beyonce wears on-stage and in her videos.

For instance, in her video "All the Single Ladies," she wears one of her mother's costumes.

"The night before the shoot, I said, 'Mom, I want you to make a bodysuit -- three black bodysuits.' We stayed up all night making them."

Now, the music superstar is using her fashion sense to step up her game and reach a whole new generation of fans through video games. Her first is called "Style Savvy," for the Nintendo DSI. Players aim to give their game character high style.

However, it's the music that's made Beyonce a brand, and remains her favorite thing to do.

She said, "I don't know how not to do what I love, which is music. I love it so much that it's not -- it's not like my job, it's just what I was born to do."

You can catch the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards on CBS this Sunday night at 8 p.m. Eastern / 7 p.m. Central. In addition to a Beyonce performance, Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli will perform together live in a special fundraising segment for Haiti relief.