1995– 
MUSICIANS UNITED STATES AND PHILIPPINES
If you go on to the Super Bowl stage—or any stage of that magnitude—to win over fans, then you’re performing for the wrong reason. You need to be performing to make everybody feel good, that’s the only reason. It’s entertainment, not business.
—WILL.I.AM
William watched his best friend and bandmate, Allan, break it down on the dance floor. Allan had real talent, not just as a break-dancer, but as an emcee and drummer too. Ever since they’d met in their freshman year of high school, William knew the two of them were going to do something big together.
After William caught the eye of the famous Compton rapper, Eazy-E—who had his own label, Ruthless Records—he and Allan had gone on to form a band: Atban Klann. Atban stood for A Tribe Beyond A Nation, and for the last few years, they’d been rocking house parties like this and other events all over Southern California. They had the beats, the lyrics, the moves—and now, finally, a debut album, Grass Roots, coming out on Eazy-E’s label.
Even as Allan went through the moves, though, he seemed focused somewhere far off, preoccupied. William knew why: not long ago, Eazy-E had died, and now it was becoming clear that their big debut album was never going to be released.
But as William picked up the microphone that night and flowed through the lyrics of the song they’d rehearsed so many times, he knew he was good. He knew Allan was good too. Deep down, he still believed they had what it took. Maybe they should change the name of the band, start fresh. There was that kid Jaime—maybe he should be in the band. And Dante said he knew an amazing female vocalist.
Rapper, musician, and producer will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas also works as an electronic music DJ under his other stage-name, Zuper Blahq. While Zuper Blahq specializes in the electronic music genre known as electro, will.i.am admits that he and apl.de.ap were also big fans of house music in their youth. He told the LOS ANGELES TIMES, “Black Eyed Peas, before we were Black Eyed Peas, we were what you called ‘house dancers.’ We used to dance house.”
Everyone at the party was moving, heads nodding to the beat. What would it be like to have people all over the world tuned in to their music? William decided, then and there, he was going to talk to Allan about forming a new band. They couldn’t let this setback get them down. He and Allan, they had big things to do.
After Eazy-E died in 1995, Atban Klann reformed and changed their name—first to the Black Eyed Pods, and then the Black Eyed Peas. The group originally consisted of rapper, multi-instrumentalist and producer will.i.am (William James Adams Jr.) and rappers apl.de.ap (Allan Pineda Lindo Jr.) and Dante Santiago. Before long, Dante was replaced with Taboo (Jaime Luis Gómez), and the band added vocalist Kim Hill, producing two albums, Behind the Front and Bridging the Gap.
William James Adams Jr.—a.k.a., will.i.am—was born in 1975 in Inglewood, California. He was raised in the projects of East Los Angeles with his siblings—two biological, and four adopted. His mom encouraged him to be different from other kids in his neighborhood, sending him to Palisades Charter High School in a wealthy area to challenge him. Here, he met future Black Eyed Peas bandmate Allan Pineda Lindo Jr., who became his best friend.
At sixteen, William was discovered by Compton rapper Eazy-E and came out with a song on a compilation from Ruthless Records under the name Will 1X. He and Allan then went on to form the Black Eyed Peas, which catapulted them into superstardom.
As a producer and an artist, will.i.am went on to work with a virtual Who’s Who of pop, including Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, U2, Rihanna, Usher, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Cheryl Cole, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Carlos Santana.
will.i.am has also acted or voice acted in a number of films, including X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a prequel to the X-Men series. If all that weren’t enough, he also has his own line of clothing and currently serves as a creative director for software giant Intel, where he contributes music and helps to develop devices like laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
Allan Pineda Lindo Jr.—a.k.a., apl.de.ap—was born in 1974 in Angeles City, in the Philippines. His Filipino mom had a tough time raising him and his six younger siblings alone, but she got some assistance from Pearl S. Buck International, a foundation that arranged sponsorship for Allan through its dollar-a-day program.
When Allan was eleven, his American sponsor, Joe Hudgens, helped him come to the United States to treat an eye problem known as nystagmus (to this day, Allan is legally blind in both eyes). Allan told Joe he wanted to come to live in the United States, and three years later, in 1998, Joe officially adopted him.
Allan became friends with will.i.am in high school, and the two of them formed a band and break-dancing crew called Tribal Nation that performed regularly at Southern California parties and events. Later, they went on to form the Black Eyed Peas.
Allan’s Filipino roots show through in a number of the band’s songs, including “The Apl Song” on Elephunk, which contains lyrics in the Tagalog language. As a successful performer with global reach, Allan also started the Apl Foundation, which gives back to communities and children within the Philippines and throughout Asia.
Jaime Luis Gómez—a.k.a., Taboo—was born in 1975 in Los Angeles. He joined the Black Eyed Peas in 1995 and is known for his martial-arts-inspired dance moves. (He is a practitioner of the style known as Jeet Kune Do, founded by Bruce Lee.) In addition to his role as a rapper and keyboardist with the band, he has also acted in a number of films, including Dirty with Wyclef Jean, and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, where he got to show off his martial arts skills.
Jaime has collaborated musically with numerous Latin American performing artists, including George Pajon Jr. and Andy Vargas. He also performed in the Obama song “Yes We Can” (Si Se Puede), and coauthored a book with Steve Dennis, Fallin’ Up: My Story, which was released in 2011.
Then, in 2002, former member Dante introduced the band to Fergie (Stacy Ferguson). The Black Eyed Peas went on to make Elephunk with her in 2003, working with former ’N Sync member Justin Timberlake on their breakout hit, “Where Is the Love?,” which became the biggest selling single of the year in the United Kingdom. And the rest, as they say, is history.
By 2011, the band had sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide.
The Black Eyed Peas’ next album—Monkey Business, in 2005—opened at number two on the US Billboard 200 albums chart, selling over 295,000 copies in its first week. It was later certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The E.N.D., in 2009, opened at number one on the Billboard 200, and though The Beginning was not their biggest album, it still debuted at number six on the Billboard charts.
The Black Eyed Peas were ranked twelfth on Billboard’s Artists of the Decade and seventh in the Hot 100 Artists of the Decade. They have won a total of three Grammy Awards and performed at the half-time show of SuperBowl XLV in 2011.