Stacy Ferguson "Fergie" Biography:

From young teen superstar to sexy singer and writer, Stacy Ferguson had the voice to take her to the top of the pop music fortunate. while Ferguson started out as a child actor on “Kids Incorporated,” she grew into a sexy, dark haired singer who successfully transitioned into the music business, fraught with a number of personal problems along the way. 

As a result, the suitably nicknamed “Fergie” eventually found the right career moves with the revolutionary hip-hop group, the "Black Eyed Peas" and in her reign as “The Dutchess” she was able to take time off from music to enjoy her acting background, starring in Quentin Tarantino’s big screen blood and gore film, “Grindhouse” (2007) working with Michael Biehn, Bruce Willis, and Nicolas Cage. The film is a flashback to the B-movie thrillers that combines two full length sequences into one double-bill created to reproduce the grind house theatergoing experience of the 70s and 80s 

Stacy Ann Ferguson was born on March 27, 1975 in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier, CA. Ferguson and her younger sister, Dana, were raised locally in Hacienda Heights by their mother and father, both public school teachers. As a young teen, Ferguson’s parents introduced her to the arts, taking Fergie to see numerous musicals and classic Motown and R&B artists in concert. 

Ferguson’s show business career started early, when, at age nine, she hired a talent agent and began appearing in numerous television commercials, including voice over work for animated specials like the voice of Sally Brown on “It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown” (1984).

1984 marked the start of Ferguson’s first major job - a role on Nickelodeon’s original Saturday morning television series, “Kids Incorporated” (1984-1993) - a show about the lives of young teenage kids, many who performed, sang and danced. The television series jump-started several celebrity careers, including those of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mario Lopez, and pop singer sensation Martika. Ferguson continued to work on other projects while contracted to the television series, returning to the voice over world of the Peanuts gang for “Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown” (1985), as well as a 1986 guest appearance on the situation comedy, “Mr. Belvedere” (1985-1990).

Ferguson left “Kids Incorporated” in 1989 and searched for her next role. By 1990, she decided to chase her musical talent in an act that would include her former “Kids” cast mates, Renee Sandstrom and Stephanie Ridel. The three singers were combined by a talent manager to form "Wild Orchid", a pop and R&B group that was eventually signed to the RCA Records list in the mid 1990's. As "Wild Orchid" was falling into place, Ferguson continued to make the sporadic guest appearance on television series such as the long running comedy, “Married with Children” that launched the super star career of Christina Applegate (1987-1997).

By the end of October 1996, Wild Orchid’s first record was released. The album failed to hit the charts, peaking at 152 on Billboards Top 200, but its three songs “At Night I Pray,” “Supernatural” and “Talk to Me” still yielded a platinum album. Almost two years and a tour with N’Sync and 98 Degrees later, a second album, "Oxygen" was less successful, leading to the planned third album, "Fire", to be cancelled. Not happy with the musical direction and the demands from the record label, Ferguson left the band and found comfort in the underground scene of Los Angeles, where she started the inescapable dabbling in drugs, sex and alcohol. 

A problem with the drug ecstasy and crystal meth soon grew into a full blown drug addiction, with Ferguson also spiraling into major credit and financial debt. Dropping to a dangerous weight of only 90 pounds at one point, she had shielded her drug problems under admissions of anorexia and bulimia, finally choosing to seek assistance after a religious experience led her to re-think the value of her singing talents.

After temporarily living with her parents, Ferguson looked to improve her situation. She used cumulative frequent flier miles to meet with numerous music producers and started recording new demo songs. Not long after, Ferguson got a crucial phone call. Halfway through recording of its third album, "Elephunk", L.A. hip-hop artists the "Black Eyed Peas" asked Stacy to add vocals to the track “Shut Up.” A huge fan of the Peas, Ferguson made it a point to run into the group backstage at her final "Wild Orchid" performance. Since the Black Eyed Peas back-up singer Kim Hill had left in 2000, they called Ferguson. 

The project went so well that the group had her sing on other songs as well, until at the suggestion of Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine, she was asked to join full time. Initially, the band was guarded about shaking things up, but did it anyway. The two year recording process for the album was completed in May 2003 and the album was released on new label A&M a month later.

The changeover to mainstream act was rough at first. Though the addition of the now-named Fergie brought a more commercial look and sound; yielding a larger audience, hardcore fans of the Peas’ earlier two albums were not happy with the new lineup. Elephunk became a colossal hit, regardless, selling eight million copies worldwide. “Shut Up” was released as a single, as was the wildly successful “Where is the Love?” The latter featured additional vocals from former N’Sync artist, Justin Timberlake, who at 17, had been Ferguson’s boyfriend. 

One of the album’s songs, “Let’s Get Retarded” was altered for radio to the more palatable “Let’s Get it Started” - and the song put the band on the mainstream map. Also a benefit: Fergie’s diverse mixture of sex appeal and retro, hip-hop fashion made her a media spectacle, proving to be a good match for the Black Eyed Peas. Everything was so perfect, that by early 2004, the group filmed cameos as themselves in the movie variation of Elmore Leonard’s “Be Cool” (2005). This star-studded movie about a man disenchanted with the movie industry, he decides to try the music industry, meeting and romancing a widow of a music executive on the way. The super star cast included the likes of John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Vince Vaughn and Anna Nicole Smith.

Besides her new musical success, Fergie’s personal life also hit a high note when she met actor Josh Duhamel of “Las Vegas” fame (2003- ) in September of 2004 and the two became romantically involved. Fergie’s big screen work continued into 2005, as she was cast to star in the Revolution Studios remake of the horror classic “The Fog (2005). Fergie later dropped out of the film, but finally saw the results of the Peas’ hard work, when the group was Grammy nominated for Record of the Year and won for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.  June 2005 saw the release of The Black Eyed Peas’ second album, the multi-platinum "Monkey Business", which would yield six singles, including “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” and “My Humps.” Also that year, Fergie was cast in a small role in the film  “Poseidon” (2006) - as the ship’s musical entertainment.

The Black Eyed Peas grabbed four 2006 Grammy nominations, winning in the same Best Rap Performance category as the year before for the song, “My Humps.” While still promoting the album, Fergie signed a deal with the Black Eyed Peas’ label A&M and started working on material for a solo album with executive producers Will.I.Am and Polow Da Don. The album, "The Dutchess", a continuation of the Peas’ trademark hip hop, pop and R&B style, was released in September to great reviews. 

But Fergie’s popularity with the world was indisputable, and the CD - which had three hit singles, including “Fergielicious,” “Glamorous” and “London Bridge” - raced to the number three slot on the Billboard charts.

2007 was a good year for Fergie. Sarah Ferguson, returned to acting again after being tapped by writer-director Robert Rodriguez to play the role of Tammy Visan in his zombie movie “Grindhouse” (2007) - a double bill b-movie send-up co-directed with Quentin Tarantino. In Rodriguez’s film “Planet Terror” with Bruce Willis and Michael Biehn, viewers cheered as the meagerly dressed Ferguson was ripped apart by zombies to graphic effect. Although the film did not do well at the box office - many believed, because it was a double bill - it developed an immediate fan following. 

Also in 2007, Fergie lent her voice to the green-ogre animated flick "Shrek The Third" working with an all-star cast including Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas and Justin Timberlake. She then appeared in Judd Apatow's comedy-romance "Knocked Up" with Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl.