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About Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are
a hip hop group formed
in 1995 in Los Angeles.
The original line up
comprised of Will.I.Am,
Apl.de.Ap, Taboo and
vocalist Kim Hill, later
to be replaced by Stacey
‘Fergie’ Ferguson in
2003.
The group’s first album,
Behind the Front, was
released in 1998 and
featured the single
Joints & Jams, which was
featured on the
soundtrack of the
Academy Awarded film
Bulworth. The second
album, Bridging the Gap,
featured the single
Request Line, a
collaboration with Macy
Gray.
The group’s first taste
of major commercial
success came with the
breakthrough album
Elephunk in 2003.
Released soon after
Fergie joined the group,
the album featured the
UK #1 single Where is
the Love. This worldwide
hit featured the vocal
talents of Justin
Timberlake and spent a
total of six weeks on
the top spot in the UK,
where it became the
biggest selling single
of that year. Where is
the Love’s success was
continued by the follow
up single Shut Up,
another worldwide smash,
reaching #2 in the UK
and #1 in many countries
including Australia,
Germany and France. The
third single released
from Elephunk, a remixed
version of Hey Mama, was
another worldwide hit
and was featured in iPod
TV commercials.
Elephunk went on to
become a worldwide
smash, securing both
Gold and Platinum status
for sales in many
countries, including the
major markets of the UK,
USA and Germany. The
group embarked on the
subsequent tour of the
same name in 2004, along
with releasing a
restyled version of the
song Let’s Get Retarded,
to become the more
acceptably titled Let’s
Get it Started. Another
worldwide hit, the
single’s success could
only be helped by its
popularity as an iTunes
download song and went
on to win the group a
Grammy for Best Rap
Performance by a Group
in 2004.
The group’s eagerly
anticipated next album,
Monkey Business, was
released in 2005. The
first single release
from the album, Don’t
Phunk With My Heart,
gave the group their
highest single placing
so far in the USA
charts, reaching #3
there and in the UK.
This was followed by
another worldwide top
ten single Don’t Lie.
The third single release
from the album was the
controversial My Humps.
Despite the single’s
sexually suggestive
lyrics the song received
substantial radio play
and became another big
hit, especially in the
USA where it reached #3.
The fourth single
release, Pump It, was
less successful, though
still a top ten hit in
Australia.
The group embarked on
their next worldwide
tour towards the end of
2005, with Gwen Stefani
as the supporting act.
Their last concert of
the tour was to a crowd
of 1 million in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, their
biggest ever. The group
subsequently toured
again in 2006 with the
Pussycat Dolls.
The groups fifth album
The E.N.D. (Energy Never
Dies) was released in
June 2009. The album was
an immediate success,
reaching #1 in many
countries including the
UK and the USA. The
first single Boom Boom
Pow mirrored the album’s
success, becoming the
group’s first #1 in the
USA as well as a major
worldwide hit. The
second single I Gotta
Feeling, produced by
David Guetta has proved
to be equally
successful, recently
reaching #1 in the UK .
The single also provided
the group with a record
breaking 17 weeks
consecutively at the top
of the US charts, when
it replaced Boom Boom
Pow at #1.
The group will embark on
the E.N.D. World Tour in
the autumn of 2009,
which will run well into
2010.
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