Fergie

Fergie is happily married to actor Josh Duhamel since January 2009 and they have a son, Axl Jack Duhamel, born in August 2013.

In May 2009, she confirmed in her interviews in ‘The Sun’ and ‘The Advocate’ of her bisexual status.

Fergie was born Stacy Ann Ferguson on 27th March 1975 in Hacienda Heights, California, USA, to Theresa “Terri” Ann Gore and John Patric Ferguson. Both her parents were school teachers and devoted Roman Catholics. Her parents suffered from cancer but after treatment they survived. Fergie’s parents divorced when she was of 13 years of age.

Fergie is of German, Irish, Northern Irish (Scots- Irish), Luxembourgian, English, Scottish and Swedish ethnicity. She has also stated innumerable times that one of her father’s grandmothers was born in Guanajuato, Mexico. Her uncle’s name is Tim Ferguson and he is the editor of Forbes Asia.

Her stage name Fergie is actually a family nickname that both her father and grandfather carry as well. Fergie as a child was very hyperactive and doctors wanted to put her on Ritalin but her mother vetoed the idea.

Ferguson went to Mesa Robles Middle School and Glen A. Wilson High School and also attended John F. Kennedy High School with Renee Sands and Stefanie Riddle. The trio later formed the Wild Orchid band. She was very smart, intelligent and active in school and was a cheerleader. Fergie was a Girl Scout and also a spelling bee champion in her school.

Fergie has an elder sister named Dana Marie Ferguson (an actress) and has a nephew, Jagger James Sampson (born on 23rd January, 2014).

Fergie formed the pop-band Wild Orchids (previously ‘New Rhythm Generation’) in 1990 with her friends, Renee Sandstorm, and Stefanie Ridel. They recorded the theme song for NBC sitcom Hope & Gloria in 1995. The band released their self -titled debut album in 1996 with hit songs like ‘Talk to Me’, ‘At Night I Pray’ and ‘Supernatural’. Their first album sold more than 10 thousand copies in the US. The band released three more albums Oxygen (1996), Fire (2001) and Hypnotic (2003) which were moderately successful.

Ferguson left the group in September 2001 and in an interview in 2006 stated that being frustrated with the band’s public image and her drug related problems, she took such a decision.

Ferguson got over her crystal meth addiction and tried to get her career back on track. Thereafter, she joined ‘the Black Eyed Peas’ group, a popular band. Fergie’s first release with the band was ‘Elephunk’ in 2003 which included chart topping songs like ‘Where is the Love’, ‘Shut Up’ and ‘Hey Mamma’. This album was a massive hit and the group won a Grammy Award for best rap performance by a group or duo category for its song ‘Let’s Get It Started’ in 2004.

Fergie became the core performer of the band whose next album ‘Monkey Business’ released in 2005 and received triple platinum certification from RIAA, ranked 2nd position on US Billboard 200. It was commercially very successful. The album’s songs ‘Don’t Funk With My Heart’ won Grammy Awards as best rap group and ‘My Humps’ received a Grammy for best pop performance. The songs of this album ‘Don’t Lie’ and ‘Pump It’ topped Billboard charts in USA, UK and Australia.

Ferguson with the band received three more Grammy awards for Best Pop Vocal Album for the E.N.D album, Best Pop Vocal Performance by a group for the song ‘I Gotta Feeling’ and Best Short Form Video for ‘Boom Boom Pow’. The decision of the Peas to include Fergie as the female voice heightened their popularity.

Fergie fulfilled her dream of releasing her debut solo album titled ‘The Dutchess’ in 2006 which was commercially successful. The album included global chart topping songs like ‘London Bridge’ featuring will.i.am and ‘Glamorous’ featuring Ludacris. The ballad ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’ became the most successful song in Europe. The album’s singles were massive hits in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US. She next released a single ‘L.A. Love (La La)’ in 2014 which was loved by her fans.

She started to work on her second solo album ‘Double Dutchess’ to be released in 2017. However, the single of this album ‘M.I.L.F.$’ released on 1st July, 2016 and the video was conceptualized by Fergie and included other famous mothers like Kim Kardashian West, Ciara, Gemma Ward. Fergie stated that she drew inspiration for this song after the birth of her son.

The second single of the album ‘Life Goes On’ proves her dexterity of handling soulful ballads, hip- hop and reggae genres of music.