Black Eyed Peas Biography
Combine pop, rap and alternative hip hop and what have you got? Delicious Black Eyed Peas of course! The group’s history is colorful, but perhaps the most remarkable event was when they established the PeaPod Foundation to help the world’s suffering children. It produced a concert last year and distributed free tickets to children who could not afford to watch the band perform. The Black Eyed Peas members are will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and Fergie. Many critics believe that Fergie has been mainly responsible for the group’s success. They go back as early as 1989 when will.i.am (or William Adams) teamed up with Apl.de.ap (Allan Pineda) and began rapping and performing in the Los Angeles area. Ruthless Records signed them up and the group added Dante Santiago, a friend of theirs.
The name Black Eyed Peas was chosen because they are food for the soul, as explained by will.i.am. Their trademark is performing with a live band, and a singing style said to be radically different from the Gangsta Rap style. In 1998, Interscope Records scooped them up and it was this time that they released their debut album “Behind the Front” followed by their second album, “Bridging the Gap.” In 2003, “Elephunk” was released featuring the voice of Stacy Ferguson who replaced Kim Hill as the group’s regular background singer. “Where is the Love”, a song from the Elephunk album is an anti-Iraq war protest and it sold very well not only in the US but also in the UK, Australia and Germany.
One of the group’s songs, “Let’s Get Retarded” was changed to “Let’s Get It Started” and was used in the worldwide NBA commercials. The original lyrics were changed in order to reflect more basketball themes and it became one of the more frequently downloaded tunes on iTunes. “Money Business”, their next album, was released in 2005, and the lyrics were mostly done while the group was on the Black Eyed Peas/NERD Tour of 2004. One of the songs, “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” earned the group another Grammy award. The group released a playlist of iTunes original hits in September 2005 which included favorite numbers such as “Don’t Lie”, “Shut Up”, and a fresh rendition of “Where Is the Love?” In Canada, the group was asked to perform during the Canadian Football League’s 93rd Grey Cup held in British Columbia. Just recently this year, Fergie’s solo album “The Dutchess” came out where she worked with will.i.am on some of the songs.