Back in the late 1980s, with their friend Alan Pineda (or Apl.de.ap), they started rapping and performing in and around Los Angeles. Later, William and Alan were joined by their friend Dante Santiago and, calling themselves Atban Klann, the guys signed their first contract with Eazy-E's Ruthless Records. In 95, after the death of Eazy-E, the trio changed their name. Will.i.am recalls that the "vegetable" name The Black Eyed Peas was inspired by the name of another super popular band at the time, the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Will.i.em's credit for the massive success of The Black Eyed Peas is colossal: he not only wrote most of the lyrics for the band, but also produced most of the albums.
In addition to the insane popularity Will.i.am achieved with the Black Eyed Peas, he has always strived to fulfill his personal musical ambitions. He has several successful solo albums: Lost Change (2001), Must B 21 (2003), Songs About Girls (2007), #willpower (2013). He is the author of the main theme song for the American animated series Samurai Jack. Among his other solo projects is the song Secret: Dexter's Lab for Dexter's Laboratory. In 2004, Will.i.em wrote the song Go for the video game NBA Live 2005. And in 2005, together with guitarist Carlos Santana, the musician recorded I Am Somebody for his album All That I Am.
Throughout 2006 Will.i.am took part in the recording of albums by Sergio Mendes (Sergio Mendes, album “Timeless”), Busta Rhymes (album “The Big Bang”), Diddy (album “Press Play”) , Fergie (Fergie, album “The Dutchess”), The Pussycat Dolls (album “PCD”), Justin Timberlake (album “FutureSex / LoveSounds”), Ciara (Ciara, album “The Evolution”) and many others.
Over the years, Will.i.am has founded his own record label Will.i.am Music Group, which records such stars as Sergio Mendes, Macy Gray and his Black Eyed Peas co-star Fergie. Then Will worked with Michel Jackson himself on the return album of the legendary musician. In addition to collaborating with Rihanna, Hilary Duff, Ludacris, Fabolous, Pussycat Dolls and Nicole Scherzinger, who Will.I. helped in the recording of the first solo album, Her Name is Nicole.
In 2012, the song Reach for the Stars, written by Will.i.em, was transmitted to Earth from Mars using the Curiosity rover.
Some of Will.i.em's talents are known only to the most dedicated fans. For example, among the musical instruments that he owns are keyboards, basses, clarinet and drums. Also, few people know that even before the Black Eyed Peas, Will graduated from the Los Angeles Institute of Design and Merchandising (Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising) and then himself came up with costumes for the band members. In 2001, he started developing his own clothing line under the i.am clothing brand. The official debut of the collection took place in 2005 at the show in Las Vegas (Las Vegas). Since 2007, having teamed up with the Blue Holdings brand, Will.i.am began working on the i.am Antik denim collection.
An avid environmentalist, Will.i.am has invested in Tesla Motors' unique Tesla Roadster sports car. The machine runs on electric batteries within a 400 km (250 mi) radius.
Will.I.Am has acted in films several times - in the role of fictional characters and cameos, and also was engaged in the voice acting of cartoons. So, among the projects with the participation of the artist - "New Jeanne D'Arc" (2005), "Plantation" (2007), "Madagascar - 2" (2008), "X-Men: The Beginning. Wolverine "(2009)," Arthur and Urdalak's Revenge "(2009)," The Cleveland Show "(2011-2013)," Rio "(2011)," Rio - 2 "(2014) and others.
It is known that (as of 2020) Will.I.Am lives in Los Angeles with her mother Debra, grandmother Sera, brother Carl and sister Celeste.
As for the artist's girls, he always preferred a serious relationship, but he was not interested in one night's affairs. In the media, you can find information that William had a girlfriend in 2005 and 2010, but there is no more detailed information.
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