| will.i.am | |
|---|---|
will.i.am in January 2010 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | William James Adams, Jr. |
| Also known as | Zuper Blahq, Will 1X, Voodoo Thursday |
| Born | March 15, 1975 Inglewood, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Hip hop, R&B, electro hop |
| Occupations | Rapper, actor, singer, songwriter, producer, dancer, creative director[1] |
| Instruments | Vocals, keyboards, bass, clavinet, Fender Rhodes, drums, piano, moog bass |
| Years active | 1993–present |
| Labels | Ruthless, Warner Sunset, Atlantic, Geffen, A&M, Interscope, Columbia, will.i.am music group |
| Associated acts | The Black Eyed Peas, 2NE1, Britney Spears, Far East Movement, Sergio Mendes, Justin Timberlake, David Guetta, Macy Gray, Planet Asia, Kim Hill, Cheryl Cole, Usher, Wolfgang Gartner Nicki Minaj, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Lopez, Mick Jagger, Fergie, Taboo, Apl.de.ap |
| Website | will-i-am.com |
William James Adams, Jr. (born March 15, 1975), better known by his stage name will.i.am ("will I am") and occasionally by his other stage name Zuper Blahq, is an American rapper, musician, songwriter, singer, actor and producer. will.i.am came to prominence in the late 1990s as a member of the hip hop group The Black Eyed Peas along with rappers apl.de.ap and Taboo and, later, singer Fergie. As a music producer, he has produced with other artists including Michael Jackson, Eazy-E, Britney Spears, U2, Rihanna, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Earth, Wind & Fire, Nicki Minaj, Cheryl Cole, 2NE1, Daddy Yankee, and Juanes. It was confirmed that he would be a coach on the UK Version of The Voice, alongside, Jessie J, Danny O'Donoghue and Tom Jones.[2]
Will.i.am was born and raised in the Estrada Courts housing projects of Boyle Heights, East Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.[3] He never met his father,[4] William Adams, Sr., and grew up with his mother, Debra,[5][6] who encouraged him to be unique and to avoid conforming to the tendencies of the other youth in his Boyle Heights neighborhood on the eastside of Los Angeles. She encouraged him to begin working on his musical career by sending him to school in Pacific Palisades.[4] While attending Palisades Charter High School, will.i.am became best friends with Allan Lindo (stage name apl.de.ap), who was also a future member of The Black Eyed Peas. While still in high school, will.i.am and apl.de.ap performed in East L.A. clubs and were soon joined by three other entertainers to form the socially conscious rap group, Atban Klann. Atban Klann caught the eye of Compton rapper Eazy-E and was signed to his label, Ruthless Records, in 1991.
will.i.am used to attend raves while in high school, and claims that 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 order to maintain the theory that rave music is for esoterics of rave culture (such persons are otherwise known as 'ravers'). In an article with Los Angeles Times, he mentions that secrecy over the whereabouts of raves is what made raving special, and different from the mainstream.[7]
will.i.am's music career began in the summer of 1988, when as an eighth-grader, he met up with fellow rapper Allan Pineda (apl.de.ap) and fellow student Dante Santiago. They began performing together around Los Angeles and were soon discovered by rapper/entrepreneur Eazy-E, who signed them to his label Ruthless Records in 1992. At the time, Will was known as "Will 1X". The Atban Klann's first ever official track, "Merry Muthafuckin' Xmas", was included on Eazy-E's EP 5150: Home 4 tha Sick. After this, the trio began recording an album, "Grass Roots", with the help of producers Mookie Mook and DJ Motiv8, however, the album was never released, due to Eazy-E's death in 1995. After Eazy's tragic death, Atban Klann changed their name to the 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.
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,reviews wherever it was covered. In November 2001, work began on a third Black Eyed Peas album, Elephunk. By this time, Kim Hill had left the group, and was subsequently replaced by Stacy Ferguson, known better by her stage name Fergie. The group released their breakthrough single, "Where Is The Love", in November 2002 (featuring Justin Timberlake, although he did not appear in the video). 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.
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 band announced they were going to take a break to focus on their own personal projects. Will went on to produce Ferguson's first solo album, The Duchess, 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 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.
In 2007, Will announced that he had co-created an all-female soul band entitled the Paradiso Girls, who he intended to work with on an upcoming solo project. The album, "Songs About Girls", was released in 2007. The album spawned three singles, "I Got It From My Mama", "One More Chance" and "Heartbreaker", and fared slightly better than his previous solo efforts, however, failed to shift more than 75,000 copies. In January 2008, Will announced plans that he was masterminding a political album, Change is Now: Renewing America's Promise, in support of Barack Obama's presidential campaign. The first single, "Yes We Can", featured a music video directed by Jesse Dylan. The lyrics of the song are composed almost entirely of excerpts from Obama's speech on January 8, 2008, following the New Hampshire presidential primary election. The video features appearances from numerous celebrities including Scarlett Johansson, Tatyana Ali, John Legend, Herbie Hancock, Kate Walsh, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Adam Rodríguez, Kelly Hu, Hill Harper, Amber Valletta, Eric Balfour, Aisha Tyler, Nicole Scherzinger, Nick Cannon, Bryan Greenberg, and Common and first appeared on the website for Dipdive. The video racked up three million views within a week and over four million subsequently on YouTube. On June 13, 2008, "Yes We Can" won an award at the 35th Annual Creative Arts and Entertainment Daytime Emmy Awards for "New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment".[8] On February 29, 2008, the album's second single, "We Are the Ones", was released on Dipdive and YouTube. Including cameo appearances from Jessica Alba, Ryan Phillippe, Kerry Washington, pop punk band Yellowcard's front man, Ryan Key, John Leguizamo, Regina King, Tyrese Gibson, Eric Mabius, Tichina Arnold, Adrianne Palicki, comedian George Lopez, and singers Macy Gray, Zoe Kravitz and The Black Eyed Peas' Taboo, the video features everyone chanting "O-BA-MA" as a portrayal as their hopes and wishes for Barack Obama and his presidential campaign. On November 4, 2008, will.i.am spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper about his support for then-Senator Obama using CNN's 'hologram' technology.[9] Following the 2008 election, and Obama's victory, Will released the album's third single, "It's a New Day". The video reflects on the historical events that led to the election of the first African-American president and the public's reaction to his election. The video features celebrities such as Fergie, Olivia Wilde, Kanye West, Harold Perrineau, Kevin Bacon, and his wife Kyra Sedgwick. The video first debuted on The Oprah Winfrey Show. In honor of the inauguration of Barack Obama as president, will.i.am collaborated with producer David Foster on the album's fourth single, "America's Song", with contributing vocals from Seal, Bono, Mary J. Blige, and Faith Hill. In response to Barack Obama's reaction following Kanye West's interruption of Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, will.i.am penned the album's fifth and final single, "The Jackass Song". It features a sample of Kanye West's "Heartless".[10] Will wrote a blog post which featured the song on Dipdive, and released in February 2009.[11] will.i.am attended and spoke at the FIRST Robotics Competition Kickoff on January 8, 2011, declaring, "I am a FIRST fan."[12] He has also named FIRST Founder Dean Kamen "one of [his] heroes" on his verified Twitter account.[13]
In March 2009, Will announced plans for the Black Eyed Peas to return, and within months, their comeback single "Boom Boom Pow" had reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart. They went on to have three #1 singles before releasing their comeback album, The E.N.D. The album's success warranted a second comeback album, The Beginning, released in November 2010. The album spawned another three hit singles, but the band soon announced plans they were to break again, following the conclusion of their world tour.
During the recording of The Black Eyed Peas' sixth studio album, The Beginning, band colleague Fergie announced in an interview that Will was in the process of recording a new solo album, tentaively entitled "Black Einstein". [14] Will formally announced that he was in the process of recording a fourth solo album, with some material being recorded under the pseudonym Zuper Blahq.[15] In January 2010, a cut from the album, "I'm In the House", a collaboration with Steve Aoki, was released as a single, charting at #29 on the UK Singles Chart due to strong downloads. In October 2010, a second cut from the album, "Check It Out", a collaboration with American rapper Nicki Minaj, peaked at #4 on the UK Singles Chart. In February 2011, a third cut from the album, "Dance", a collaboration with Natalia Kills, peaked at #62 on the UK Singles Chart. The music video was directed by James Sutton, and features a cameo by Natalia. In April 2011, Will recorded four songs for the soundtrack of the animated film Rio, in which he voiced a character. "Hot Wings (I Wanna Party)", "Drop It Low", "Real In Rio" and "Advice For The Young At Heart", featuring an array of artists including Jamie Foxx, Anne Hathaway and Tears for Fears. None of the songs managed to chart, however, Will announced that he was going to remix the tracks for inclusion on Black Einstein. In September 2011, a fourth cut from the album, "Forever", a collaboration with Wolfgang Gartner, was released as a single. It was around this time that Will announced that he changed the title of the album from Black Einstein to #willpower.[16] The video premiered on August 26, 2011. In November 2011, Will premiered what is intended to be the album's official lead single, "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)", a collaboration with Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger. Will announced via his twitter that the video for "T.H.E. (The Hardest Ever)" was filmed in LA, and that before he returned home, he stopped off in Brazil to film the video for the album's second official single, "Great Times". In December 2011, a fifth cut from the album, "Party Like An Animal", a collaboration with Dutch singer Eva Simons & LMFAO's Redfoo, premiered at the HTC Beats Launch party. #willpower is due for release on February 14, 2012.[17]
In 2002, Will recorded the song "Secrets" for the soundtrack to Dexter's Laboratory: The Hip-Hop Experiment, a film accompaniment to the Cartoon Network series. In 2008, Will contributed the song "One People" to the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival.[18][19] Also in 2008, Will featured on rapper Flo Rida's debut album, Mail on Sunday, where he produced and featured on the song "In The Ayer", and featured on Usher's sixth album, Here I Stand. In 2009, Will worked with rappers Flo Rida and Akon for Flo's second studio album, R.O.O.T.S., and recorded four tracks with Girls Aloud member Cheryl Cole for her debut solo album 3 Words. He also worked with Rihanna on her fourth studio album, Rated R, for a track called "Photographs". In February 2010, he featured and produced the single "OMG" by Usher, which appeared on Usher's seventh studio album, Raymond vs. Raymond. In a YouTube video posted by YGLifeOfficial on March 15, 2010, Will expressed his desire to work with Korean K-pop girl group 2NE1, and help them achieve international success.[20] Will has recorded a collaboration with Britney Spears, "Big Fat Bass", which features on her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale.[21]
will.i.am first started acting alongside the rest of the members of The Black Eyed Peas in the commercial series "Instant Def" to advertise Snickers.[22] He starred in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa as the voice of the character Moto Moto. He contributed a number of tracks to the movie's motion picture soundtrack in collaboration with industry heavyweight Hans Zimmer. will.i.am played John Wraith in his major film debut, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel to the X-Men film series. He also guest starred on the CBS drama Joan of Arcadia as God, one of several actors who played this role during the series. He also starred in the 2011, animated film Rio, as a rapping red-crested Cardinal named Pedro, and like Madagascar: Escape to Africa, he contributed his singing voice to the film's soundtrack, along with his fellow co-stars. will.i.am played a fathering role in The Urbz: Sims In The City, which uses The Black Eyed Peas' songs as its soundtrack. He briefly played himself in the Tina Fey and Steve Carell Comedy Date Night.
Before joining The Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am attended the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. In 2001, he began designing his own signature clothing line, i.am, which made its official debut in 2005 at the Magic Apparel Trade Show in Las Vegas.[23] In 2007, will.i.am teamed up with Blue Holdings to design a premium denim collection, i.am Antik, that was scheduled to debut in August 2007 at the Project Show in Las Vegas.[24] will.i.am instead has new partners and is launching i.am
will.i.am appeared at the kickoff event for the 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition, Logo Motion held at Southern New Hampshire University.[25] He stated that he is "a big fan", and that the newly unveiled game was "dope". During his interview, he said that "his mama will work with yo mama". He also performed a concert for FIRST at the 2011 FIRST World Championship at the Edward Jones Dome. will.i.am appeared in concert with the Black Eyed Peas as a part of a special concert for 2011 FIRST Robotics Championships. It was recorded for a special aired by ABC on August 14, 2011 at 7 pm. The world's largest chipmaker, Intel Corp., said will.i.am will become a creative director, contributing music and helping in the development of devices such as smartphones, laptops and tablets.[26] As a “director of creative innovation”, will.i.am is responsible to improve the sales in the company. The collaboration and co-development with will.i.am and Intel on these products will provide new modern music that will create trends in the technological world. will.i.am states that there will be “new ways to communicate, create, inform and entertain..." According to Intel, this relationship will bring the technology and entertainment industry together. It is very important to attract the youth culture.[27]
According to an interview with the British tabloid The Sun, will.i.am says he suffers from tinnitus, a disorder which is common among musicians who have been exposed to loud music for prolonged periods of time.[28]
On June 22, 2009, blogger Perez Hilton accused will.i.am and his entourage of assaulting him in Toronto after the MuchMusic Video Awards, a charge will.i.am denied in a video posted on his blog.[29] From his account, Hilton was rude to Fergie and will.i.am confronted the blogger. will.i.am gave his account on his blog:
I didn't hit you. I told you that I didn't like the fact that you disrespected us. It’s cool to have your opinion, but dude, apparently you were bleeding outside the club, I was like next to you by a tree, waiting for my car and instead of calling the police you Twittered that I assaulted you. Sounds like somebody wants mad attention and is not really concerned about his health. I didn’t hit you, and this is very wrong that you are Tweeting that I did that, once again disrespecting me and everything I stand for. And they’re lies and that’s wrong. Shame on you, shame on your behavior. And that’s just messed up.[30]
According to news reports, AP article via MSNBC,[31] Hilton called will.i.am a "faggot" in the club, but Polo Molina (Black Eyed Peas's tour manager) was responsible for punching Hilton from behind. The incident was caught on photo by a nearby photographer[32] and by a video which documents the encounter. Gossip website TMZ released a video showing the encounter.[33] Liborio Molina, a 36-year-old California resident, has been charged with one count of assault.[34][35] Since the incident, will.i.am has received support from other celebrities including Josh Duhamel, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, LMFAO, Zac Efron, Breckin Meyer and Jimmy Kimmel.[36][37][38][39][40]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa | Moto Moto | Voice |
| 2009 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | John Wraith | |
| 2009 | Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard | Snow | Voice |
| 2010 | Date Night | Himself | Cameo |
| 2010 | Bouncing Cats | Himself | |
| 2011 | Rio | Pedro | Voice |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Joan of Arcadia | Three Card Monte Guy God | Episode: "Independence Day" |
| 2007 | Cane | Himself | Episode: "A New Legacy" |
| 2011 | The Cleveland Show | Bernard | Voice |
| 2012 | The Voice UK | Himself | Coach and mentor |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | X-Men Origins: Wolverine | John Wraith | Voice |
will.i.am has won 7 Grammy Awards:
2011- Favorite Band.
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