Black Eyed Peas Biography

The Black Eyed Peas are an American alternative hip hop group from Los Angeles. As Atban Klann, they signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E), but their album was never released because the positive and peaceful lyrics were too unusual for Ruthless.

After Eazy-E died of AIDS in 1995 (see 1995 in music), Atban Klann reformed as the Black Eyed Peas and released a debut, Behind the Front (1998, 1998 in music) that earned the group (and their accompanying live band) critical acclaim. Their other album is 2000's Bridging the Gaps (2000 in music). Also they released a new album Elephunk in 2003, which features a new female vocalist, called Fergie, born as Stacy Ferguson who used to be in a teen pop band named Wild Orchid. She is the replacement of background singer Kim Hill who departed the band during 2000.

From Elephunk came the anti-war anthem "Where Is The Love?", which became their first major hit, peaking at #8 on the US 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 album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which peaked at UK #2 (despite being referred to by one reviewer as "the single most vacuous, pointless, vile and generally loathsome song in a generation") and topped the charts in many other European countries including France and Germany. Indeed the band have enjoyed greater mainstream success in Europe than in the US with Elephunk going Top 10, gold and (sometimes multi-)platinum in the UK, Germany and many other European markets, yet ultimately failing to break the US Top 10, although it did go platinum there. The third single from the album, "Hey Mama" hit the Top 10 in the UK, Germany and several other European countries, and reached the Top 30 of the US Hot 100. However, there was substantial edits to parts of "Hey Mama" for the radio, single and video versions, including the line "we drop bombs like we in the Middle East".

The Black Eyed Peas publicly backed John Kerry's presidential campaign in 2004, and performed (along with James Taylor, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow and others) at Kerry's election night rally in Boston.

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 (Will You Remember), which explained his childhood with his poor family in Pampanga, Philippines, before sadly parting with them to live a better life in the US at the age of 14. "The Apl Song", with the chorus written in Tagalog, from their album Elephunk, tells the story of Apl.de.ap. The Tagalog lyrics and backing melody were based on the song "Balita", an original composition of the 1970s Filipino folk rock group Asin. The group eventually produced an exclusive video of the song in the Philippines while touring the country as part of their album promotion.

The BEP's song "Let's Get Retarded" was restyled as "Let's Get it Started" for an NBA finals worldwide commercial. New lyrics gave the tune a basketball theme, as opposed to the original's theme dealing with getting heavily intoxicated and partying and the spot featured Carlos Santana. The revised song had great success as a single, especially popular on the iTunes music download service.

The Black Eyed Peas' next album, Monkey Business, was released on June 7, 2005. The album's first single, "Don't Phunk With My Heart", was a major hit in the US peaking at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. This is the highest peak yet of BEP's career. The song is also at #3 in the UK, and #5 in Canada, and #1 in Australia.

"Monkey Business," Black Eyed Peas' 4th album debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 Albums Chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week.

Some commentators have noted the consistent theme of black men and blond women in Black Eyed Peas videos, raising the question of racial fetishes or jungle fever.

Discography

Albums
Behind the Front (1998) #129 US (WW: 350,000)
Bridging the Gap (2000) #67 US (WW: 450,000)
Elephunk (2003) #14 US (2x Platinum), #3 UK. #1 AU (4x Platinum) (WW: 7,000,000),
Monkey Business (2005) #2 (Platinum) US, #4 UK, #1 AU (Platinum), #1 CAN (WW: 1,050,000)
US Sales: 3.5 million WW Sales: 8.9 million

Singles

From Behind the Front:

1998: "Joints and Jam"
1998: "Fallin' Up"
1998: "Que Dices"

From Bridging the Gap:

2000: "BEP Empire"
2000: "Weekends" (feat. Esthero)
2000: "Get Original"
2001: "Request + Line" (feat. Macy Gray) - #63 US, #31 UK, #21 AU

From Elephunk:

2003: "Where is the Love" (feat. Justin Timberlake) - #8 US (Gold), #1 CAN (4 weeks), #1 UK (6 weeks), #1 AU (6 weeks)
2003: "Shut Up"- #2 UK, #1 AU (3 weeks)
2004: "Hey Mama" - #23 US (Gold), #2 CAN, #6 UK, #4 AU
2004: "Let's Get It Started" (edited/radio version of "Let's Get Retarded") - #21 US (Gold), #1 CAN (1 week), #11 UK, #2 AU

From Monkey Business:

2005: "Don't Phunk With My Heart" (a.k.a. "Don't Mess With My Heart") - #3 US (Gold), #1 CAN (3 weeks), #3 UK, #1 AU (3 weeks)
2005: "Pump It" - #82 US
2005: "Don't Lie" - #81 US, #26 CAN
2005: "Like That" - rumored next single

From Monkey Business: