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Stacy Ann Ferguson (born March 27, 1975)
better known by her stage name Fergie, is an American pop/R&B
singer, songwriter, and actress. She is a former member of the kids'
television series Kids Incorporated, and the girl group Wild Orchid.
Stacy Ferguson was also a co-host of the
television show Great Pretenders. She is currently a vocalist for
the hip hop/pop group the Black Eyed Peas, of which she is the sole
female member, as well as a solo artist, releasing her debut album,
The Dutchess, in 2006. The album has so far spawned three U.S.
Billboard Hot 100 number one singles and five Top 5 hits, making The
Dutchess only the seventh album from a female artist to spawn five
Top 5 hits.
Early life
Stacy Ferguson was born in Hacienda
Heights, California to Terri Gore and Patrick Ferguson. She has one
sister, Dana, who is an actress. Her parents were Roman Catholics of
Irish, Scottish and Mexican descent and worked as schoolteachers.
Stacy Ferguson had a strict Roman Catholic
upbringing. During her youth, she was "involved" with members of the
Mexican gangs in Hacienda Heights, California. Stacy Ferguson attended Glen A. Wilson High
School. She was also a Girl Scout. She has also come out telling
about her drug addictions.
Music career
Stacy Ferguson was a member of the
female trio Wild Orchid, which she fronted with Stefanie Ridel and
fellow Kids Incorporated star Renee Sandstrom. Wild Orchid released
two albums, but after completing a third album, their record label
declined to release it, and she left the group shortly thereafter.
Her disappointment with Wild Orchid led to an addiction to crystal
methamphetamine. In September 2006, Stacy
Ferguson talked with Time about quitting her crystal meth
addiction. "It was the hardest boyfriend I ever had to break up
with," she says. "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."
In 2003, Stacy Ferguson took over the
lead female vocal duties for the Black Eyed Peas, replacing
background singer Kim Hill, who had left the group in 2000. Stacy Ferguson recorded five songs with the group
before she was invited to join them permanently. Stacy Ferguson's addition to the band, which had
enjoyed underground success until then, helped them quickly grow
into mainstream popularity.
In 2005, Stacy Ferguson inadvertently
urinated on stage during a performance at San Diego's Street Scene
festival. Stacy Ferguson later commented on
the incident: "I had a few drinks before the show, but I didn't
think to go to the bathroom before we went onstage. We were jumping
around...and my bladder just started."
In December 2007, Blender picked Stacy
Ferguson as their woman of the year.
Acting career
As a child actress, Stacy Ferguson
appeared on the television program Kids Incorporated for several
years with Renee Sandstrom, who became a fellow member of Wild
Orchid. Stacy Ferguson's well-scrubbed
image on that show presents quite a contrast with the "ghetto-funk"
image she has more recently begun to cultivate. Stacy Ferguson was the voice of Sally Brown in
two Charlie Brown specials: It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984),
and Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown (1985). She also voiced
Sally in the 1985 version of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show.
In July 2005, Stacy Ferguson had a guest
role on the Rocket Power special, Reggie's Big Beach Break, on
Nickelodeon; she voiced a fictitious pop music star named Shaffika.
Stacy Ferguson returned to acting in 2006,
appearing in a minor role in the film Poseidon. She later appeared
in 2007's Grindhouse.
Personal life Stacy
Ferguson is engaged to actor Josh Duhamel, who stars in the
television show Las Vegas. They met, and began dating, in September
2004 when she and her band appeared on Duhamel's show (in an episode
titled "Montecito Lancers", which aired on November 1, 2004). Stacy Ferguson and Duhamel have recently
purchased a house together.
In April 2007, she gave an interview in which she admitted that
she went on a sex and drugs spree when she turned 18, saying: "I
have had lesbian experiences in the past. I won't say how many men
I've had sex with but I am a very sexual person." In December 2007
when asked "Bisexuality and homosexuality are often either frowned
or mocked upon in certain circles. Does that bother you", she
replied "No, it doesn't bother me. I'm just me".
Stacy Ferguson was featured on Maxim's
Hot 100 Women of 2006, and voted in at position #36. In 2007, she
was voted in at
#10. |