As the lone female member of The Black Eyed Peas, Stacy “Fergie” Ferguson transformed a niche hip-hop band into a global superpower. Armed with an irresistible solo act, the sexy siren is ready to pop the haters….
Fergie is tired. Frankly, she’s exhausted. For three years straight, her group, The Black Eyed Peas, has been touring the world, performing nearly every night and recording albums during the day – often following grueling, 10-hour transcontinental flights.
“My world is all mixed up,” she says. “My body doesn’t know what’s going on. The Peas just keep going, going, going, like a machine.”
The group recently returned from a concert tour of Moscow, Thailand, Korea, Japan and India, and now, finally back in the States, Fergie’s body is paying the price. Today is her first day off in what seems like forever, and she’s spending it in bed under the covers, naked, cozy and fiending for some greasy food. Her boyfriend of two years, actor Josh Duhamel, from NBC’s Las Vegas, has come over to take care of his lady, and she’s not complaining. “I can’t say no to all these opportunities right now,” she says. “I know they could go away in a second.”
Fergie’s inability to turn down life’s cances has served her well in a career that began as the voice of Sally for Charlie Brown TV specials and as a child star in the musical Kids Incorporated. But ever since the 31-year-old parted ways with one-hit-wonder trip Wild Orchid in 2002, she’s had plans to record a soo album. Desperate to expand her musical talents beyond the confines of the stale pop material Wild Orchid performed, Fergie tried focusing on creating her own record. But things kept blowing her off track. One of those interruptions was a stint singing backup for an LA-based, multicultural hip-hop outfit called The Black Eyed Peas, a gig that quickly evolved into a permanent spot as the band’s lone female member on 2003′s Elephunk. Propelled by singles “Where Is the Love” and “Let’s Get it Started,” the album was a massive commercial success, selling more than eight and a half million records worldwide. Needless to say, Fergie’s solo project, which began in 2002, was put on indefinite hold. Four years later, after a second monster BEP album (Monkey Business, 2005), Fergie is finally achieving her dream.
