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will.i.am

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Will.i.am

William Adams (born March 15, 1975), better known by his stage name will.i.am, is an American Grammy and Emmy award-winning rapper and songwriter. will.i.am rose to fame as frontman and founder of the hit rap group The Black Eyed Peas, with pop singer Fergie, and rappers Taboo and apl.de.ap.

Biography

Professional life

In September 2007, will.i.am's record label Universal Music Group decided on a pilot scheme to reward certain file sharing with cash incentives, including will.i.am tracks from his latest solo album Songs About Girls.[1]

will.i.am is also featured in Flo Rida's debut album Mail on Sunday on the song In The Ayer, and in Usher's latest album Here I Stand, on track 6, titled What's Your Name.

will.i.am has recently been cast as Kestrel in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel to the X-Men film series, this will be his debut in a major film.

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.

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 [2]. 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 [3]. He has also designed clothing for the Black Eyed Peas.

Political Advocacy

will.i.am performing in a Black Eyed Peas concert at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2004.

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, Common and first appeared on the website for Dipdive, and within a week of its appearance racked up three million views, and over four million views 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". [4]

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 4 November 2008 will.i.am spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper about his support for Sen. Obama, using CNNs 'hologram' technology.[5]

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 of the United States, and on people'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 of the United States, 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.

Motion Picture Music

In 2008, will.i.am contributed a number of tracks to the Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa Motion Picture Soundtrack, notably with industry heavyweight Hans Zimmer. He also starred in the movie as the character Moto Moto.

Awards and nominations

  • Grammy Awards
    • 2009, Best Urban/Alternative Performance: "Be OK" (Won) [7]
    • 2009, Best Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical: "American Boy" (Nominated)

Discography

Main article: will.i.am discography
See also: will.i.am production discography

Studio Albums

References

  1. ^ Pay-per-listen innovation from Black Eyed Peas man (thelondonpaper)
  2. ^ Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.Am Launches Clothing Line
  3. ^ http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070515/20070515005780.html?.v=1
  4. ^ http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS145884+16-Jun-2008+MW20080616
  5. ^ http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2008/11/04/will.i.am.hologram.cnn
  6. ^ http://www.emmyonline.org/mediacenter/daytime_35th_creative_winners_auxillary_data.html
  7. ^ http://www.grammy.com/GRAMMY_Awards/51st_show/list.aspx
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