Beyonce: Never-before-seen footage of singer performing aged 10 hits £3m at auction

Beyoncé will go down as one of the biggest stars of her generation and newly surfaced footage proves that the singer was always destined for the bright lights. Two-and- half hour's worth of video of the Grammy award-winning songstress performing at the age of 10 are expected to sell for close to £2.9m ($3.8m) when they go under the hammer later this month .

The visuals, which provide a rare glimpse into Queen Bey's time in six-piece group Girls Tyme – before she was part of Destiny's Child – is being sold by London-based auction house, Ted Owen and Co. "This is a unique opportunity to acquire rare and original archival footage and witness the beginning of what we know to be Beyonce's incredible journey to superstardom," a spokesperson said in a statement.

Although no details of how the professionally produced video tapes were obtained are provided, talk-show host Wendy Williams said she suspected that it was an 'insider job', rather than the rumour which claims it was "stolen by a housekeeper".

Discussing the memorabilia during the Hot Topics segment of her show she said: "I don't know where this footage came from; everyone in my hot topics meeting was cynical except for me.

She continued: "Mathew Knowles got a basement full of. I think not necessarily is it her father Mathew but if it is so what. If it weren't for Mathew, Beyoncé wouldn't be Beyoncé . I'm not talking about 'he's her dad' – the sperm and the egg, I'm talking about this is a man who gave up his executive job at Xerox to make sure his daughter knew how to run in heels at 10. Something is so wrong about that, unless your daughter actually turns out to be like Beyoncé.

The outspoken TV personality also stated that Beyoncé could well be behind the sale, suggesting she stubbed across the vintage footage during a clear out. "How much crap do you need around you house about yourself? Especially if you have one of those tape burners in you basement. You burn a tape and you keep a copy. You make a few dollars and send it someplace else."

The auction, which started on 29th November, ends on 10 January 2017.