Now: Black Eyed Peas

The Black Eyed Peas (BEP) is an American hip-hop group based in Los Angeles. The group is composed of will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo and Fergie. Since their breakout album "Elephunk" in 2003, the group's hip-hop/dance-oriented style has sold an estimated 18 million albums worldwide and 9 million singles. Their latest studio album, "The E.N.D.," was released in June 2009. The group is one of only eleven artists to have ever held the number 1 and 2 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time.

"Elephunk" was released in 2003, was the group's first album to feature the vocals of Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson and she became the replacement for background singer Kim Hill, who left the band in 2000. Originally, Nicole Scherzinger (lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls) was approached to join the Peas. She was forced to decline because she was a member of Eden's Crush and was under contract. She later introduced Fergie to Will.I.Am.

From "Elephunk" came "Where is the Love?," a single featuring Justin Timberlake which became Black Eyed Peas' first major hit, peaking at #8 on the U.S. 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 had similar results in Australia, staying at #1 for 6 weeks as well. The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up," which peaked at #2 in the UK 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 re-styled from the original "Elephunk" version, "Hey Mama" hit the top 5 in Australia and the top 10 in the UK, Germany and other European countries and reached #23 in the U.S. The song received even more exposure in 2003 when it was featured in the second of iPod's silhouette TV commercials. It had much appeal to many adolescents of the U.S and also much appeal to those of other countries as well.

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" ("Would You Remember"), which explained his childhood with his poor family in Pampanga, Philippines. ("The Apl Song," with the chorus written in Tagalog, a language of the Philippines, from their album "Elephunk", tells his story.) It was at this time that apl.de.ap formed the Filipino Songwriters and Artist Group (FSAG) with Leli, a songwriter from Pampanga, Philippines, who had developed her writing craft in Compton in the early eighties.

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 U.S. Hot 100, #11 in the UK, and at #2 in Australia. This spot featured Carlos Santana. On the CD, it is listed as a bonus track, and is before the other bonus track "Third Eye." The unrevised song had great success as a single, particularly on the iTunes music download service and was featured on the soundtrack to the stoner road trip comedy "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle." The song earned the group a 2005 Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Black Eyed Peas were then featured in the video game "The Urbz: Sims in the City" 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. This revised version was used in the ads for the iMac G5, with will.i.am and Fergie singing about the computer.

In 2004, The Black Eyed Peas embarked on the "Elephunk" Tour, hitting many countries, including some in Africa and Europe.

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 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 U.S. Hot 100. The spot the song reached was the highest peak yet of their career in the U.S. (this was later broken when "Boom Boom Pow" peaked at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100) and earned them another Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The song 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, played an alternative version, "Don't Mess with My Heart." "Don't Lie," the second single from the album, saw success on the U.S. 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 despite the sexually suggestive lyrics, reaching number three on the U.S. Hot 100 and number one in Australia, making it their fourth Australian number one single.

However, many mocked the song for its poor lyrical content; John Bush, writing for Allmusic, described it as "one of the most embarrassing rap performances of the new millennium." Despite this, "Monkey Business" debuted at number two on the U.S. 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 commercially-released single from the album was "Pump It," which borrows much of its sound from "Misirlou," specifically Dick Dale's version, it peaked at No. 8 in Australia.

As well as being a hip-hop album, "Monkey Business" features some acoustic guitar playing from Jack Johnson in the single "Gone Going."

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, most notably Michael Jackson and also including Sergio Mendes, Carlos Santana, Too Short, Kelis, Cheryl Cole, John Legend, RBD, Nelly Furtado, Justin Timberlake, Nas and Bone Thugs and Harmony.

In March 2006, Black Eyed Peas hit the road again as the featured headliner for the 6th Annual Honda Civic Tour with supporting bands Flipsyde and The Pussycat Dolls. They again brought the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus on the tour with them to craft new songs for Fergie's solo debut album.

In 2007, Black Eyed Peas embarked on the Black Blue & You World Tour, visiting over 20 countries, including Macau, Sweden, Poland, Romania, Hungary, South Africa, South Korea, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Singapore, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Australia, Nigeria, Mexico, Thailand, Venezuela, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Argentina, Philippines, El Salvador and Brazil.

The group's fifth studio album, "The E.N.D.," was released on June 9, 2009. "Boom Boom Pow" was released on February 22 online and March 30 on iTunes. It has become the group's first song to reach #1, where it has remained for 12 weeks, on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #1 in Australia, in Canada, and in the UK.

Group front man will.i.am told Billboard that "The E.N.D." stands for "The Energy Never Dies," which describes his model for a project that will be living and frequently updated throughout its designated cycle. "It's a diary of music that at any given time, depending on the inspiration, you can add to it," the artist/producer/songwriter explains. "I'm trying to break away from the concept of an album. What is an album when you put 12 songs on iTunes and people can pick at it like scabs? That's not an album. There is no album anymore." He describes the music as "a lot of dance stuff, real melodic, electronic, soulful. We call it, like, electric static funk, something like that.

They are scheduled as the opening act for U2 on the final dates of their 2009 American tour, with dates at Norman, Oklahoma; Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Los Angeles, California; and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.