What's Beyoncé's connection to Rhode Island? We found out.

Rhode Island is a great place to be from.

The scenery and the history, the food and the culture, the manageable size and the people — we could go on.

But not everyone is lucky enough to be from here. Even so, the Ocean State has had an out-sized impact on popular culture and world events, knitting a web of influence around the world.

To celebrate this great locale, The Providence Journal has a new series, "Three Degrees of Rhode Island," to challenge ourselves to connect famous personalities to Rhode Island in three steps or less.

Following her announcement of a tour date at nearby Gillette Stadium (like previous Three Degrees subject Stevie Nicks) we thought it might be fun to investigate Beyoncé's ties to the Ocean State.

More Three Degrees:What's Stevie Nicks' connection to RI? We found out

Connection through Gillette Stadium concert date

Born Beyoncé Giselle Knowles in Houston on Sept. 4, 1981, the superstar singer first rose to prominence as a founding member of Destiny's Child before turning her career up a notch as a solo performer.

Her name is the result of a typo on the birth certificate of her mother, Celestine Beyoncé Knowles-Lawson, a businesswoman known as Tina Knowles. Tina was born to Lumis Albert and Agnéz (Deréon) Beyincé. Because a clerical error traded the "I" for and "O," Tina and her uber-famous daughter spell their names differently than other members of the extended Beyincé family, a blend of African-American and Louisiana Creole heritage.

On Aug. 1, Beyoncé is scheduled to perform a concert at Gillette Stadium, where she also performed five years ago in 2018 for the On the Run II Tour with her husband Jay-Z.

This summer's concert, less than half an hour from Providence, raises the possibility that she may stay in a Providence hotel, as do other celebrities when they have Gillette dates.

And that means there might be Beyoncé sightings in the capital city, sightings much more real than those from the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Downtown restaurant Ten Prime Steak and Sushi resorted to cardboard cutouts of celebrities, including Queen Bey and Jay-Z, to help fill seats forced to be vacant by COVID restrictions.

It's also worth noting: Actual Rhode Island homeowner Taylor Swift will also be playing at Gillette Stadium this year from May 19 to 21, the ticket sales of which infamously crashed the Ticketmaster website.

Three degrees of separation

Beyoncé likely has several connections to Rhode Island, but rather than provide an exhaustive list, we've opted for one of the most interesting.

1. Beyoncé voiced Nala in the 2019 update of Disney's "The Lion King"

Besides voicing the adult Nala in the CGI update of Disney's 1994 blockbuster animated feature film, Beyoncé also performs two songs: “Spirit” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”

2. The original "Lion King" was written by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton

Mecchi began work in the summer of 1992 and was soon joined by Roberts, and the pair are credited with adding emotional depth and humor to the movie.

3. Roberts went to Brown University

Born in Boston, Roberts studied English at the Providence Ivy League school before pursuing a graduate degree at Harvard University. Roberts is also known for writing 1996's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and 1996's "James and the Giant Peach."

Have a famous person you'd like to see us connect to Rhode Island?

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Beyoncé's connections to Rhode Island: Lion King and Brown University