Beyonce's younger sister Solange Knowles had to fight to get her songs heard by top music producers - because no one wanted to be known for helping out the sibling of a superstar.

Solange, 22, recently released her second album Sol-Angel and the Hadley St Dreams, but she admits having such a famous star in the family was more of a hindrance than a help as she struggled to win over big names like Q-Tip and Pharrell Williams with her own talents.

She tells Britain's Hello magazine, "I can see how people would think that I'm here because of Beyonce.

"But with this record, that really wasn't in my head. I started this record completely independently - I had no record label, I had no main producer, and everyone turned me down.

"Probably because of that, like, 'We're not going to reward her because she's Beyonce's sister', and I understood that."