Stacy Ann Ferguson (born March 27, 1975), better known by her stage name Fergie, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, fashion designer and actress. She was a member of the children’s television series Kids Incorporated, and the girl group Wild Orchid. Ferguson was also a co-host of the television show Great Pretenders. She is the female vocalist for the hip hop/pop group the Black Eyed Peas, as well as a solo artist, having released her debut album, The Dutchess, in September 2006. The album spawned five Billboard Hot 100 Top 5 singles (three of which went to number one) making The Dutchess the seventh album from a female artist to spawn five Top 5 hits.
Early life
Ferguson was born in Hacienda Heights, California, the daughter of Terri Jackson (née Gore) and Patrick Ferguson. Her parents are of Mexican, Irish, Scottish and Native American descent. The daughter of devout Roman Catholic school teachers, she was raised in that faith and attended Mesa Robles Middle School and Glen A. Wilson High School. She studied dance and began to do voice-over work, providing the voice for Sally in two made-for-television Peanuts cartoons, (It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown, 1984, and Snoopy’s Getting Married,Charlie Brown, 1985) as well as on four episodes of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. From 1984 to 1989, she starred on the TV show Kids Incorporated. All that time, she was a cheerleader, straight-A studentand a spelling bee champion, as well as a Girl Scout.
Music career
(1991–2001) Wild Orchid
Ferguson was a member of the female trio Wild Orchid, which she fronted with Stefanie Ridel and fellow Kids Incorporated star Renee Sandstrom. Wild Orchid released two albums, but after completing a third album, their record label declined to release it, and she left the group shortly thereafter.
While performing for Wild Orchid, Fergie developed an addiction to crystal methamphetamine which followed her after she left the group in 2001. In September 2006, Ferguson talked with Time magazine about quitting her crystal meth addiction. “It was the hardest boyfriend I ever had to break up with,” she says. “It’s the drug that’s addicting. But it’s why you start doing it in the first place that’s interesting. A lot of it was being a child actor; I learned to suppress feelings.”
(2003–present) The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas were recording their third album, 2003’s Elephunk, when William Adams (will.i.am) invited Ferguson to try out for a song called “Shut Up”. She got the gig and instantly bonded with the trio, going on to record five additional songs on the album.
The following spring, shortly before Elephunk came out, Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine offered Ferguson a permanent spot to take over vocal duties and fill the void left by background singer Kim Hill’s departure in 2000.
After releasing her debut solo album, she and the Black Eyed Peas in late March 2009 released their song “Boom Boom Pow” from the album The E.N.D., which went to number-one in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts, the group’s first chart topper. They subsequently released a second single from the album, “I Gotta Feeling”, which proved an even greater success than the first, moving from number 2 behind Boom Boom Pow to the top spot on July 11, and staying 14 straight weeks at number-one on the Billboard Hot 100, the longest stay at the top of 2009. The two hit singles back to back kept the Black Eyed Peas on the top for 26 consecutive weeks, from April 18 through October 16.
When Adams was asked to sum up his bandmates, he called Ferguson the “body” of the group.
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