| will.i.am |
Will.i.am, February 2007
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
William James Adams, Jr. |
| Born |
March 15, 1975 (1975-03-15) (age 34)
Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genre(s) |
Hip hop, pop rap, R&B, electrohop |
| Occupation(s) |
Singer, actor, rapper, lyricist, producer |
| Instrument(s) |
Vocals, keyboards, bass, clavinet, drums, piano |
| Years active |
1992 – present |
| Label(s) |
Ruthless Records
BBE Records
A&M Records
Interscope Records
will.i.am music group |
| Associated acts |
The Black Eyed Peas,
Cheryl Cole, Common, Estelle, Fergie, Esthero, John Legend, The Game, Eazy-E, Justin Timberlake, Macy Gray, Nas, Flo Rida, Pussycat Dolls, Nicole Scherzinger, Michael Jackson |
| Website |
www.will-i-am.com |
William James Adams, Jr. (born March 15, 1975), better known by his stage name will.i.am (pronounced [wɪlaɪˈam], will-eye-AM), is an American rapper, songwriter, singer, actor, and producer. Will.i.am rose to fame as frontman and founder of the hit hip hop and pop soul group The Black Eyed Peas, with pop singer Fergie, and rappers Taboo and apl.de.ap.
Biography
Early life
Will.i.am was born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California.
Music
Will.i.am started in rap in late 1991 under the name "Will-1X" after being discovered by Compton rapper and former N.W.A. leader Eazy-E and signed a deal to Eazy's Ruthless Records. Will.i.am's first rap song was "Merry Muthafuckin' Xmas" from Eazy-E's 1992 EP 5150: Home 4 Tha Sick. Shortly after Eazy-E's death in 1995, Will left Ruthless to start a group that would later be called The Black Eyed Peas.
Will.i.am was also featured in 2004 singing Secrets(Dexters Hip-Hop experience) for The Dexter's Labratory Series on Cartoon Network
Will.i.am is featured in Flo Rida's debut album, Mail on Sunday, on the song "In The Ayer," and on Usher's latest album, Here I Stand, on the song, "What's Your Name."
In September 2007, will.i.am's record label Universal Music Group decided on a pilot scheme to reward file sharing with cash incentives, which included tracks from his latest solo album, Songs About Girls.[1]
In 2008, will.i.am was hired by Michael Jackson to produce and remix some songs for the Thriller re-release, Thriller 25.
In 2008, will.i.am contributed the song, "One People," to the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival. In 2009, will.i.am worked with rappers Flo Rida and Akon on Flo Rida's new album, R.O.O.T.S..
He co-created a girl group in 2007 called the Paradiso Girls, who are signed to Geffen/Interscope Records. They will debut in 2009.
Acting career
He first started acting alongside the rest of the members of the Black Eyed Peas in the commercial series "Instant Def" to advertise Snickers.[2]
He starred in Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa as 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.
Fashion
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.[3] 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.[4] He has also designed clothing for the Black Eyed Peas.
Political advocacy
In January 2008, will.i.am wrote a song, "Yes We Can", in support of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign of Barack Obama, which in turn became 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 like 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, the "Yes We Can Song" won an award at the 35th Annual Creative Arts and Entertainment Daytime Emmy Awards for "New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment."[5]
On February 29, 2008, a second video, "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 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.[6]
After the 2008 election, will.i.am released "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. The track also appears on the 2009 compilation album, Change is Now: Renewing America's Promise.
In honor of the inauguration of Barack Obama as president, will.i.am collaborated with producer David Foster on the patriotic song "America's Song", with contributing vocals from Seal, Bono, Mary J. Blige, and Faith Hill.
Controversies
After-party incident in Toronto
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.[7] From his account, Hilton was rude to Fergie and will.i.am confronted the blogger. Will.i.am gave his account on his vlog:[8]
| “ |
I didn't hit you. I told you that I didn't like the fact the 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 Twitted 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 Twitting 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. |
” |
According to news reports, AP article via MSNBC,[9] 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[10] and by a recently released video, documenting the encounter. Gossip website TMZ released the video,[11] describing the footage as showing "... the middle of verbal altercation outside an after-party for a music award show in Toronto" going on to say "moments after Hilton claims Will went after him like a "heat-seeking missile" and unleashed a verbal tirade at him."
Liborio Molina, a 36-year-old California resident, has been charged with one count of assault.[12][13]
Since the incident, Will.I.Am has received support from a variety of other celebrities including Josh Duhamel, John Mayer, Kelly Clarkson, Zac Efron, Tila Tequila, Breckin Mayer and Jimmy Kimmel.[14][15][16][17][18]
Awards and nominations
Discography
Studio albums
References
External links
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will.i.am |
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| Studio albums |
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| Singles |
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| Featured singles |
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| Related articles |
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