Fergie, The Duchtess of Hip Hop strikes back!

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Stacy Ann Ferguson began her career in 1983 as the voice of Sally Brown in the children’s cartoon series Charlie Brown. Shortly afterwards, at the age of eight, she made her first appearance on the variety television program Kids Incorporated. During the following five years, Ferguson appeared on over 100 episodes of Kids Incorporated, some of which alongside Renee Sands, with whom she would later reunite in the band Wild Orchid. In 1984, following a commercial for Rice Krispies, she appeared in the pilot for the long-running musical television show, Kids Incorporated. The show, which also starred Jennifer Love Hewitt and the girl who would become gothic pop princess Martika, was a hit with Saturday morning audiences and she sang backup on it until 1989.

In 1986, she appeared in the horror comedy movie Monster in the Closet as well as two TV specials: Kids Incorporated: Chartbusters and Kids Incorporated: Rock In the New Year. She left the spotlight in 1989 and settled down to live a normal teenager’s life.

But music was always her first passion and she teamed up with Stefanie Ridel and fellow Kids Incorporated member Renee Sandstrom to form the band Wild Orchid. In 1999, they even had their own Saturday morning show on the FOX Family Channel. They released their first album, Wild Orchid, in 1997 on RCA and it was followed the next year with Oxygen. They scored a minor hit when the song "Declaration" was featured in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.

 
In 1993, Ferguson graduated from Glen A. Wilson High School in Hacienda Heights, California. In 1990 Ferguson became a member of the all-female band Wild Orchid. The group released two albums, but after completing their third album the record label declined to release it. During Wild Orchid, she was a Bongo and Guess model and had her own show called "The Great Pretenders", on Fox Family Channel. She left the group shortly thereafter and, according to interviews, sought therapy. She told a Glasgow newspaper: "I started doing Ecstasy. Then I got addicted to crystal methamphetamine. My weight dropped to 90 lb (41 kg). I lied to my friends and said I was bulimic. Finally I started going crazy. In that moment I talked to God and He said: ‘I’ve given you all these gifts, so what are you doing?’ I decided to get clean. I told everybody what was wrong"

Ferguson was a dance floor regular and backup singer at various Los Angeles venues. She met Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas at one of those venues. Ferguson and Will.i.am had a number of meetings after shows and before long she was invited to join the band in the recording studio. Ferguson replaced background singer Kim Hill, who left the group in 2000. Ferguson recorded five songs with the group before she was invited to join them permanently. She took the stage name "Fergie" and is featured prominently in the group’s songs "Shut Up" and "My Humps". Fergie’s soulful feminine vocals have helped revive the Black Eyed Peas. In fact, you could say that she personifies their lyrics about women. She admits to having had trouble adjusting to their shrewdly impudent rhymes and special brand of funky hip-hop at first, but her passion and energy have made the band what it is today. "Fergies band-mates Taboo, APL and Will.i.am see me as a sister. They say that they always try to save me from the bad things and I appreciate it, as Will.i.am was the one who persuaded me to give up drugs", Fergie comments.


On August 30th, 2006 at the MTV VMA’s Fergie performed "London Bridge" which will be on her solo CD. The bridge featured on the cover of the single "London Bridge" is not in fact London Bridge but Tower Bridge. This is presumably because the actual current London Bridge is of no particular architectural significance, and consequently most Americans identify Tower Bridge as London Bridge. This mistake is also made in the ending of the video for the song. Fergie’s first solo single "London Bridge" reached Number 1 in the US music chart released July 13th, 2006.

"I can crowd surf if I want and I’m not going to get in trouble with anybody!"


Ferguson is embarking on a solo career, but she has said she considers it only a side project and will still continue to record and tour with the band. On September 19th, 2006 Ferguson’s solo CD called The Dutchess, a take on Sarah Ferguson’s, The Duchess of York, royal title, and the common ‘Ferguson’ surname, will hit stores.
 
"I have not separated from Black Eyed Peas; they all knew one day I’ll make a solo album and it was the time"
 
"I used to do my hair and clothes in exactly the same way. It really brings me back. People have never seen me in the Black Eyed Peas videos going to clubs and hanging out with my girls, and that’s a big part of me. I love to go to clubs, hang out; get buck wild, get into fashion. I probably need more girl energy in my life, because I’m around boys all the time", Fergie comments in an Interview. "And I’m so happy with the way it’s turning out, but we just felt after Elephunk that we needed to make another Black Eyed Peas record. I’m very lucky. You know, I started in show business at about seven years old. That’s why I feel so appreciative of everything now because I’ve been working hard for this all my life. To me, when people don’t expect much of you talent-wise, and then they come to one of our shows, it probably makes the show better for the person because they got something they didn’t expect."
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