Fergie

Stacy Ann "Fergie" Ferguson ( FUR-ghee; born March 27, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. After earning recognition as a child actress in the 1980s, Fergie achieved international fame as a member of the Black Eyed Peas from 2002 to 2018. During her tenure with the group, she also achieved success with her solo career, film and television appearances, and business ventures.

As a child, Fergie starred on the children's television series Kids Incorporated from 1984 to 1989, and voiced Sally Brown in two Peanuts television specials and in The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show (1984–1986). She later co-founded the girl group Wild Orchid, performing on two of the group's albums. Fergie then joined the Black Eyed Peas in 2002, from which she achieved her commercial breakthrough and with whom she recorded four albums. Her debut solo album, The Dutchess (2006), peaked at number two on the US Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Glamorous" and "London Bridge", as well as the top-five singles "Clumsy" and "Fergalicious". Her second solo album, Double Dutchess (2017)—accompanied by a namesake film subtitled Seeing Double—peaked at number 19 on the Billboard 200 and spawned the top 40 singles "L.A. Love (La La)" and "M.I.L.F. $".

Fergie continued acting into the 2000s, appearing in the disaster film Poseidon (2006), the double feature Grindhouse (2007), the musical drama Nine (2009), and the comedy film Marmaduke (2010). She also pursued other ventures, releasing the fragrance Outspoken with Avon Products in 2010, and launching four other fragrances and two footwear lines. She began hosting the reality series The Four: Battle for Stardom in 2018.

Fergie has sold over 30 million records within the United States alone, and her accolades include eight Grammy Awards and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. Billboard named her Woman of the Year in 2010, and ranked her among the top female artists of the 2000s decade and the 21st century.

Stacy Ann Ferguson was born on March 27, 1975, in Hacienda Heights, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. Her parents are Terri (née Gore) and Jon Patrick Ferguson. She has a younger sister named Dana Ferguson; their ancestry includes English, Irish, Mexican, and Scottish. Ferguson was raised Catholic.

She attended Mesa Robles Middle School and Glen A. Wilson High School. She was a cheerleader, straight-A student, spelling bee champion, and Girl Scout.

Fergie studied dance and began providing voiceovers. She was the voice for Charlie Brown's sister Sally in two made-for-television Peanuts cartoons, It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984) and Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown (1985), as well as on four episodes of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show.

From 1984 to 1989, Fergie starred on the TV show Kids Incorporated and was the longest running cast member. She starred in the first six of the show's nine seasons.

Additionally, she was a member of the female trio Wild Orchid, which she fronted with Stefanie Ridel and fellow Kids Incorporated star Renee Sandstrom. By 1992, the girls began meeting with record labels, but they could not get a recording contract. They eventually signed a music publishing deal with Sony Publishing before signing a record contract with RCA Records in 1994.

Wild Orchid released their self-titled debut album in March 1997, which charted at No. 153 on the Billboard 200. In September 1998, they released their second album, Oxygen, which was a commercial failure, only selling 200,000 copies worldwide. From June 16 to August 28, 1999, they opened for Cher's Do You Believe? tour alongside Cyndi Lauper, which took them to 52 cities across the US and Canada. They completed a third album, which their record label declined to release, and Fergie left the group in September 2001. In 2006, Fergie told Entertainment Weekly that both frustrations with the band's image and personal drug problems led her to leave Wild Orchid.

The Black Eyed Peas were recording their third album, Elephunk (2003), when A&R Music Coordinator Dante Santiago asked will.i.am to invite Fergie to try out for the song "Shut Up". She secured the gig and instantly bonded with the trio, going on to record five additional songs on the album. The following spring, shortly before Elephunk came out, Interscope Records chairman Jimmy Iovine offered Fergie a permanent spot to take over vocal duties and fill the void left by background singer Kim Hill's departure in 2000. In a positive review of the Black Eyed Peas' newfound style, Rolling Stone noted that since 2002, when the group "hired a blond bombshell named Stacy 'Fergie' Ferguson and gave up their pursuit of backpack-rapper cred, they have made a kind of spiritual practice of recording futuristic songs — a total aesthetic commitment that extends from their garish wardrobes to their United Colors of Benetton worldview." From Elephunk came "Where Is the Love?", which became the Black Eyed Peas' first major hit: it peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in several other countries. The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which topped the charts in many markets. The third single from the album, "Hey Mama", reached the top 10 in several European countries and later peaked at number twenty-three in the United States in 2004.

In 2007, Fergie launched two handbag collections for Kipling. In 2008, she signed a deal with Brown Shoe to create a licensed footwear brand. In 2010, Fergie launched her first fragrance, Outspoken by Fergie, under direct selling beauty and cosmetics company, Avon and release more fragrances in her Outspoken line, including Outspoken Intense in 2011, Viva by Fergie in 2012, Outspoken Fresh in 2013 and Outspoken Party! in 2015. Her tagline to her fragrance line is "Say What You Mean It".

In 2012, Fergie released a 24-piece nail polish collection with the Wet 'n' Wild. She debuted her cosmetics line for Wet 'n' Wild in 2013, consisting of numerous make-up products such as lip gloss, primer, lipstick, eyeliner and mascara. In 2019, Fergie visited Toronto, Ontario, Canada to promote her two footwear lines, Fergalicious by Fergie and Fergie Footwear, which became available at Canadian luxury goods department store Hudson's Bay in 2015. Fergie Footwear is an upscale line, sold at luxury department such as Nordstrom, while Fergalicious by Fergie is sold at lower prices at outlets such as Famous Footwear stores.

In 2020, Fergie and her father Pat Ferguson's winery Ferguson Crest, which was founded in 2006, released three new wines called 2012 Syrah, 2012 Fergalicious and 2013 Viognier. The wines were named after song lyrics by Fergie and the Black Eyed Peas. In 2023, Architectural Digest reported that she sold the vineyard property in Solvang, California for $3.7 million.

Fergie has been featured on the cover of numerous lifestyle and fashion magazines such as Marie Claire, Paper, Harper's Bazaar, Cosmopolitan, Lucky, Cleo, Elle, Glamour, Allure, Shape and Seventeen. She has appeared in ad campaigns for Voli, MAC Cosmetics' Viva Glam, C&A Mexico, Candie's and Philipp Plein. She has appeared in commercials for Case-Mate, Motorola Rokr U9, Pepsi, Hewlett-Packard, Dr Pepper and Doritos.

Fergie was signed to Wilhelmina Models from 2007 to 2011. Through Wilhelmina Models, she worked with brands such as Dsquared, Calvin Klein and Marchesa. In 2010, she became a spokesperson for Avon's haircare line Advanced Techniques, appearing in advertisements and commercials for the brand. In 2012, Fergie became a global beauty ambassador for Wet 'n' Wild.

Fergie does not consider herself a rapper. In a 2006 interview with Rolling Stone, Fergie said of her vocal style: "I love imitating instruments, sometimes you can't understand what I'm saying because I'm going for an instrumental sound. It would ruin the sound if I pronunciated [sic] correctly." She cites Selena as her first influence. Roxanne Shante, Monie Love, Salt-N-Pepa, and J. J. Fad are artists she looks up to, and The Dutchess pays homage to them. In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, she said Beyoncé was a major influence for her album Double Dutchess. Other influences for her sophomore record are Amy Winehouse, Jhené Aiko, Ed Sheeran, Robert Plant, and Guns N' Roses.

Fergie has received attention for her work with the Black Eyed Peas and for her solo music. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said that, with The Dutchess, "she's earned her Black Eyed independence – and perhaps even her new royal title." Retrospectively, Jason Lipshutz of Billboard called Fergie "a fearlessly individual female artist that had been hiding in plain sight. [...] Fergie deserves retroactive praise for an uncompromising first look". With the release of Double Dutchess, Allan Raible of ABC News wrote: "On her own, Fergie remains a versatile, exciting performer, further establishing her growing clout as an entertainer." Tara Joshi of The Guardian agreed, deeming Fergie "pop royalty".

In a retrospective Paper article analyzing her image, Katherine Gillespie called her an "imperfect popstar" who "managed to rise above these manufactured circumstances and establish a unique onstage persona that relied on fashion just as much as music to get its point across. [...] She featured in Worst Dressed columns, but also inspired millions of 14-year-olds to spend their allowances on cargo pants. That's real influence."

Artists who have been influenced by Fergie include Ariana Grande, Jack Harlow, Alessia Cara and Ava Max. Harlow's Billboard Hot 100 number one song "First Class", released in April 2022, samples Fergie's song "Glamorous".

As a solo artist, Fergie has sold over 7.2 million albums and 29 million singles worldwide. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she has sold 27.5 million albums and singles in the United States. With her debut album The Dutchess, she became the first singer to have five singles from a debut album peak within the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 since Milli Vanilli's Girl You Know It's True (1989). With those singles selling over two million digital downloads individually in the United States, she set a record in the digital era for the most multi-platinum singles from one album, which she held until 2012. She is the second female to achieve three Billboard Hot 100 topping singles from one album in the 21st century, the first being Christina Aguilera. In 2006, her single "London Bridge" had the second fastest ascent in Hot 100 history at the time; it peaked at the top in three weeks.

Fergie has been nominated for five Brit Awards with the Black Eyed Peas. She has been nominated for twenty Grammy Awards, of which she has won eight: Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 2005 and 2006; Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 2007; Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Music Video in 2010; and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration and Best Rap Song in 2012. Blender named Fergie their woman of the year in 2007. Billboard named Fergie Woman of the Year in 2010; the same publication ranked her 16th on the 2000s Top Female Artists of the Decade list, and 28th on their Top Women Artists of the 21st Century list.

Fergie is bisexual. She said "I've been in show business since I was a little girl, so [homosexuality] was always very normal to me. My mom taught me that every human is God's child. You have to live your own life and not judge other people. Love is a great thing."

While performing with Wild Orchid, Fergie developed an addiction to crystal methamphetamine, which continued after her departure from the group in 2001. In September 2006, she called crystal "the hardest boyfriend I ever had to break up with". Fergie also stated "It's the drug that's addicting. But it's why you start doing it in the first place that's interesting. A lot of it was being a child actor; I learned to suppress feelings." She has stated in several interviews that she is an avid user of hypnotherapy, which she used to overcome her crystal meth addiction and to relax.