Will.i.am
William James Adams Jr., known professionally as will.i.am, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, and futurist. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas — which he formed with fellow rappers apl.de.ap and Taboo in 1995. The group has released nine studio albums, and saw their highest success with the pop rap albums Elephunk, Monkey Business, The E.N.D., and The Beginning, during which he shared lead vocals with fellow singer Fergie.
As a solo artist, Adams signed with Atlantic Records to release his debut album Lost Change, and later Barely Breaking Even to release his second album Must B 21, both of which failed to chart. The latter contained the song "Go!", which served as theme music for NBA Live 2005 and Madden NFL 2005. After gaining success with the Black Eyed Peas, he signed with Interscope Records to release his third album, Songs About Girls, which moderately entered the US Billboard 200 — becoming his first solo project to do so — and spawned the US Billboard Hot 100-top 40 single "I Got It From My Mama". His fourth album, #willpower, peaked at number nine on the Billboard 200, and was supported by the Billboard Hot 100-top five hit, "Scream & Shout". In addition, he guest appeared on Fergie's 2006 single "Fergalicious" and Usher's 2010 single "OMG", which peaked at numbers two and one on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.
A prolific record producer and songwriter, Adams has amassed credits on releases for fellow music industry acts. These include Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, U2, Kesha, Lady Gaga, Psy, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Estelle, Kid Cudi, Nas, Robin Thicke, John Legend, Cheryl, and 2NE1, among others. From both his solo career and groupwork with the Black Eyed Peas, he has had 41 UK singles chart-top 40 entries since 1998, and has sold 9.4 million singles in the country. He founded a self-titled record label in 1998, which has signed artists including LMFAO, Kelis, and Macy Gray.
Outside of music, Adams founded the technology company i.am+ in 2013; he has also served as a panelist and mentor on the reality competition series The Voice UK, The Voice Australia, and The Voice Kids. He is the recipient of seven Grammy Awards, a Latin Grammy Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award.
Early life
William James Adams Jr. was born in Los Angeles, California, on March 15, 1975, the son of an African-American mother Debra and Jamaican father William James Adams Sr. He has never met his father; he was raised by his mother in the Estrada Courts housing projects in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, where they were among the few African-Americans living in a predominantly Hispanic community. He did not discover his full birth name until he was 25. His mother encouraged him to be unique and to avoid conforming to the tendencies of the other youths in the neighborhood. To guide his musical career, she sent him to public schools in the more affluent West Los Angeles area such as Paul Revere Charter Middle School, which was one hour-long bus journey away. During the regular school year, he attended Palisades Charter High School. During that time, he started going to raves with classmate Pasquale Rotella.Adams' maternal uncle is former National Football League player Lynn Cain, who inspired him during his early years. While studying at summer school at John Marshall High School, Adams became best friends with Allan Pineda, who would later become a member of the Black Eyed Peas. While still in high school, Adams and Pineda performed in East Los Angeles clubs and were soon joined by three others to form the socially conscious Atban Klann rap group. Atban Klann caught the attention of rapper Eazy-E and Mason Miller, signing to his record label Ruthless Records in 1992. Adams later said his history with rave culture is why he chose a more electro sound for the Black Eyed Peas' albums The E.N.D. and The Beginning. Despite the use of electro and house music elements, will.i.am prefers to separate the underground from pop. In an article with Los Angeles Times, he mentioned that the secrecy surrounding the whereabouts of raves is what made raving special and different from the mainstream.
Music career
1988–2000: Formations and the Black Eyed Peas
In the summer of 1988, will.i.am began his music career as an eighth-grader when he met up with rapper Allan Pineda and fellow student Dante Santiago. They began performing together around Los Angeles and were soon discovered by Eazy-E, who signed them to his label Ruthless Records in 1992. At the time, Will was known as "Will 1X". Atban Klann's first song, "Merry Muthafuckin' Xmas", was included on Eazy-E's extended play 5150: Home 4 tha Sick. Afterward, the trio began recording an album, Grass Roots with the help of producers Mookie Mook and DJ Motiv8, but the album was never released due to Eazy-E's death in 1995. Subsequently, they changed their name to Black Eyed Pods, and Will replaced Dante with Jaime Gomez, better known under his stage name of Taboo. In 1997, they once again changed their name, this time to the Black Eyed Peas, and began recording their first album, Behind the Front, with the help of soul singer Kim Hill. They were soon signed to Interscope Records, and released their debut single, "Joints & Jam", in early 1998. The album was successful enough for the group's contract to be renewed, and in 2000, a second album, Bridging the Gap, was released.2000–2003: ''Lost Change'', ''Elephunk'' and ''Must B 21''
Following the release of Bridging the Gap, Will began recording his first solo release, Lost Change, which was the official soundtrack to the film of the same name. Featuring collaborations with Medusa, Planet Asia and Terry Dexter, the album was a critical success.In November 2001, work began on a third Black Eyed Peas album, Elephunk. Development of the album began on November 2, 2001, and was released just under two years later in 2003. At the time of development, only will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo were to feature on the album. During the production of "Shut Up", they realized that a female vocal would work well with the song. Originally, Nicole Scherzinger was approached to make a guest appearance on the record. She was forced to decline because she already was signed to a contract with Eden's Crush. Danté Santiago then introduced Fergie to will.i.am, whom she impressed with her vocal talents. She immediately bonded with the band and became a permanent member of the Peas, and her photo was printed onto the album cover. Lyricist Robbie Fisher, who has been working closely with the band since the beginning stages of the album, composed nine out of the fourteen tracks. In the United States, Elephunk reached number 14 on the Billboard 200 and became their first album to chart in the top 15. It gained even more commercial success internationally, particularly in the UK Album Charts where it reached number 3. It has sold over 1.6 million copies in the UK and 8.5 million copies worldwide. After the success of Elephunk, the group was approached by Electronic Arts to feature some of their music on the 2004 game The Urbz. They remixed some of the tracks on Elephunk and translated it into Simlish and created new tracks for the game. They also feature in the game as playable characters.
Elephunk contained their breakthrough commercial single, "Where Is the Love?", in November 2002. On the strength of that single and follow-up singles like "Shut Up", Elephunk went on to sell 8.5 million copies worldwide. During this time, Will recorded a second solo album, Must B 21 to similar reception as its predecessor. "Where Is the Love?" and "Shut Up" reached number 1 on the UK Singles chart. "Hey Mama" was used for several advertisements including for Apple and iTunes. "Let's Get It Started" also received universal acclaim in the media section where a cover version of the song appears in the film Hot Tub Time Machine. In 2002, Will recorded the song "Secrets" for the soundtrack to Dexter's Laboratory: The Hip-Hop Experiment, a musical accompaniment to the Cartoon Network original series. Prior to this, he had also composed the theme music for another Genndy Tartakovsky series, Samurai Jack.
2003–2006: ''Monkey Business''
In November 2003, work began on a fourth Black Eyed Peas album, entitled Monkey Business, the second album with new band member Fergie. Upon the success of Monkey Business, which was released in 2005, the album was certified three times Platinum by the RIAA in the U.S. and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide. The Canadian Recording Industry Association has certified Monkey Business 6× Platinum, with sales of over 600,000 copies. The Australian Recording Industry Association has also certified Monkey Business 6× Platinum, denoting sales of over 420,000 copies. The album's tracks earned the group four 2006 Grammy Award nominations and they also won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Don't Phunk with My Heart". According to IFPI, over 2 million copies have been sold in Europe. In the UK alone, it has sold over 1 million copies, although this is significantly lower than their sales of Elephunk, which stand at over 1.6 million copies and 10 million worldwide.The band announced they were going to take a break to focus on their own personal projects. Will went on to produce Fergie's first solo album, The Dutchess, which was released in 2006, before beginning work with Michael Jackson, who had requested Will's expertise for the recording and production of his new album. Work began on the Jackson album in 2006, and continued until the singer's death in 2009, at which point will.i.am revealed that none of the material recorded during the period would be released. However, remixes recorded for Jackson's Thriller 25 anniversary album were released in 2008.