Will.i.am Confirms Fergie Has Left The Black Eyed Peas
By Hayden Wright
(RADIO.COM) – Through the Black Eyed Peas' latest hiatus, Fergie's status as a current member of the band has raised questions. From 2015 onward, the Peas released "Awesome" and "Yesterday" without her, while Fergie appeared on last year's "Where Is the Love?" remix featuring a galaxy of other artists.
will.i.am confirmed that Fergie is no longer part of the group and will not participate in their forthcoming projects—including live dates and an album, reports Ahlan.
Will actually seemed to downplay Fergie's involvement in the band—which ran for 15 years and included all the Peas' breakthrough hits from 2002 onward.
"Since the beginning of Black Eyed Peas, we've always had amazing vocalists that appeared on the mic with us. People like Macy Gray, Esthero, Debi Nova, Fergie. On Elephunk, there were several females that appeared on that album," he said. "Obviously Fergie was the featured female, but on songs like 'Lets Get It Started', it's Noelle (Scaggs), and then Fergie, songs like 'Latin Girls', it's Debi Nova, and 'Request Line', it's Macy Gray. We'll always work with good females."
Nevertheless, Will says replacing Fergie isn't on the agenda.
"As for replacing, what people know The Black Eyed Peas to be, nobody is replacing Fergie," he said. "She's working on her solo project at the moment, we're on this brand new experience, celebrating 20 years of Black Eyed Peas putting out music. We worked on a bunch of songs on her solo record, we're proud that she has her label, but Black Eyed Peas are pushing it forward in terms of content, technology and experiences on our new project, Masters of the Sun."
Fergie's sophomore album Double Dutchess still has no release date, even though its lead single "MILF Money" dropped almost one year ago. The Peas will appear in this weekend's Manchester benefit concert alongside Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry.
©2017 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All rights reserved.
