Bio
Origins and early albums
The Black Eyed Peas dates back to 1989 when will.i.am (Born: William Adams) and Apl.de.ap (Born: Allan Pineda) met and began rapping and performing together around Los Angeles. The pair signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E) after catching the attention of the nephew of Jerry Heller (Eazy-E’s manager). Along with another friend of theirs, Dante Santiago, they called their trio Atban Klann. Their debut album, Grass Roots, was never released because Ruthless did not consider the social themes reflected in the group’s music to be marketable to their audience.
After Eazy-E died of an AIDS related illness in 1995, Atban Klann reformed the group as Black Eyed Peas. Then, they became the Black Eyed Peas, named so because - as will.i.am explained on the front cover of the Monkey Business album - ‘Black Eyed Peas are food for the soul’ (he has cited Red Hot Chili Peppers as an influence and said he named his band after a food, like them). They replaced their original third member with Taboo (Born: Jaime Gomez). In 1996, they produced (and appeared on) a song entitled “That’s Right” for Brian Austin Green’s Hip-Hop album One Stop Carnival. Later, they began having Kim Hill as a steady background singer. Unlike many hip-hop acts, they chose to perform with a live band and adopted a musical and clothing style that differed wildly from the “gangsta rap” sounds of other Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time. Through the mid-’90s, they performed in the local club circuit alongside fellow acts such as Ozomatli and Jurassic 5.
The group were signed to Interscope Records and released their debut, Behind the Front (see 1998 in music) in 1998. Following which, the group (and their accompanying live band) earned critical acclaim. The single from the album was “Joints and Jam”, and was featured on the Bulworth soundtrack. Their second album was 2000’s Bridging the Gap (see 2000 in music), which featured the single “Request + Line” featuring Macy Gray.
Elephunk
Their breakout album, Elephunk, was released in 2003. It was the group’s first album to feature the vocals of Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson, previously a cast member of Kids Incorporated and a member of teen pop band Wild Orchid. She is the replacement of background singer Kim Hill, who departed the band during 2000. Though Hill was a backup vocalist, Fergie is recognized as a member of the group and is widely believed to be responsible for the Black Eyed Peas’ commercial success.
From Elephunk came the anti-war anthem “Where is the Love?” (possible protest against the Iraq war which began the same year the song was released), featuring an uncredited Justin Timberlake, which became their first major hit, peaking at #8 on the US Hot 100, but topping the charts practically everywhere else, including six weeks at #1 in the UK where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. The single also had similar results in Australia, staying at #1 for 6 weeks also. The album subsequently spawned “Shut Up”, which peaked at #2 in the UK (despite being referred to by one reviewer as “the single most vacuous, pointless, vile and generally loathsome song in a generation[citation needed]“) and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany, as well as Australia, holding on to the #1 spot for 3 weeks there. Elephunk won worldwide success and went gold and platinum in the US, UK, Germany and other European markets. The third single from the album, although significantly r
estyled from the original Elephunk version, “Hey Mama” hit the Top 10 in the Australia, UK, Germany and other European countries and reached #23 in the US. The song received even more exposure in 2003 when it was featured in the first iPod silhouette TV commercials.
During Black Eyed Peas’ concert tour in Asia in 2004, Apl.de.ap’s life story was featured in a weekly Filipino TV drama special called Maalaala Mo Kaya (Will You Remember), which explained his childhood with his poor family in Pampanga, Philippines, back then when he was teased as “baluga” (a derogatory word for Negro), before parting with them to live a better life in the US at the age of 14. “The Apl Song”, with the chorus written in Tagalog, a language of the Philippines, from their album Elephunk, tells the story of Apl.de.ap. The Tagalog lyrics and backing melody were based on the song “Balita”, an original composition of the 1970s Phlipino folk rock group Asin. The group produced an exclusive video of the song whose distribution coincided with their tour of the Philippines as part of their album promotion.
The Black Eyed Peas’ song “Let’s Get Retarded” was restyled as “Let’s Get It Started” for an NBA Finals worldwide commercial. The song was quite successful on the charts worldwide, peaking at #21 on the US Hot 100, #11 in the UK, and at #2 in Australia. New, less offensive lyrics gave the tune a basketball theme in place of the original’s theme dealing with getting heavily intoxicated and partying. This spot featured Carlos Santana. The revised song had great success as a single, particularly on the iTunes music download service. The song earned the group a 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. The Black Eyed Peas were then featured in The Urbz: Sims in the City videogame as characters. They re-recorded “Let’s Get it Started” and “Shut Up” as well as other songs in “Simlish”, the dialect language used by ‘The Sims’ characters, for the game also.
Monkey Business
Their next album, Monkey Business, was released on June 7, 2005. Much of the pre-production writing was performed on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus while on the Black Eyed Peas/N.E.R.D. tour of 2004. The album’s first single, “Don’t Phunk with My Heart”, was a hit in the U.S., reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100. The song reached the highest peak yet of their career and earned them another Grammy for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group. The song also reached three in the UK, and five in Canada, and stayed at number one for three weeks in Australia. (Some radio stations, skittish about complaints of obscenity, play an alternative version, “Don’t Mess with My Heart”.) “Don’t Lie”, the second single from the album, saw success on the US Hot 100, reaching #14, although becoming somewhat more successful in the UK and Australia, reaching a peak of #6 in both countries. “My Humps”, another song from the album, immediately achieved commercial success in the U.S. and fairly substantial radio play d
espite the sexually suggestive lyrics; also reaching number three on the Billboard Hot 100. However, many mocked the song for its poor lyrical content; for example, John Bush, writing for All Music Guide, described it as “one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium”.[1] Despite this, the album Monkey Business itself debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week and was later certified triple platinum by the RIAA. Their next and last single from the album was “Pump It”, which featured a fast beat. It received continous radio play for a few weeks, but soon died off. The song is based around an extensive sample of Dick Dale’s early 60’s surf guitar classic “Misirlou” (originally a Greek folk song), which is also popularly known as one of the songs featured during the opening credits of the film Pulp Fiction. As well as being a hip-hop album, Monkey Business also features some acoustic guitar playing from Jack Johnson in the single, “Gone Going”.
In September 2005, The Black Eyed Peas released an iTunes Originals playlist of their greatest hits, as well as some that were re-recorded especially for purchase through iTunes. The playlist includes popular songs such as “Don’t Lie”, “Shut Up”, and a new version of “Where Is the Love?”. It also has small stories containing info and commentary about the songs and how the group first met.
On November 27, 2005, The Black Eyed Peas performed at the half-time show at the Canadian Football League’s 93rd Grey Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia.
On December 10, 2005, a Peas cover of the John Lennon classic “Power to the People”, which was mostly recorded on the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, was released by Amnesty International as part of the Make Some Noise campaign to celebrate human rights. The same day, The Black Eyes Peas performed their version live on the UK television program The Record of the Year together with John Legend and Mary J. Blige.
Black Eyed Peas established the Pea Pod Foundation to help suffering children around the world. The foundation is administered through the Entertainment Industry Foundation. On February 6, 2006, at a concert in Hollywood, California to benefit the foundation, the band was joined by Sergio Mendes, Justin Timberlake, Erykah Badu, John Legend, and other stars.
On March 21, 2006, The Black Eyed Peas released a remix album, entitled “Renegotiations: The Remixes” to iTunes. It features remixed versions of Ba Bump, My Style, Feel It, Disco Club, They Don’t Want Music, Audio Delite at Low Fidelity, and the standard version and video of Like That. The following week it was released on CD without the music video. Participants on the EP included DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Large Professor.
Already having produced the bulk of the Peas’ albums, will.i.am has begun his solo career in earnest by producing and collaborating with a variety of musicians, among them Sergio Mendes, Carlos Santana, Too Short, John Legend, Nelly Furtado and Nas.
Fergie’s Solo Album
On September 19, 2006, Fergie released her debut solo album, The Dutchess, on which she collaborated with will.i.am on selected tracks like “Fergalicious” and the whole group on the album-closer “Put Your Hands Up”. She is still planning on recording and touring with the band.
