Don’t phunk with our hearts, will.i.am! The Black Eyed Peas frontman, 42, appeared to confirm in a new interview that Fergie is no longer part of the hip-hop group.
“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,” will.i.am told UAE entertainment news magazine Ahlan! on Thursday, June 1, explaining Fergie’s departure.
“Obviously Fergie was the featured female, but on songs like ‘Let’s 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,” he added. “We’ll always work with good females.”
Still, the rapper told the publication that Fergie, 42, is irreplaceable. “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.”
The “Fergalicious” singer joined will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo in 2001, two years before they dropped their 2003 LP, Elephunk. The Black Eyed Peas released their last album, The Beginning, as a quartet in 2010.
For her part, Fergie — who was last photographed with will.i.am at London Fashion Week in September 2016 — has maintained a successful solo career. She released her chart-topping debut album, The Dutchess, in 2006, and is preparing to release her sophomore LP, Double Dutchess, later this year. Despite her apparent split from the group, the pop diva has said she will always hold a special place in her heart for the men of BEP.
“It is a group, and I love that magic of the group,” she told Radio.com in December 2016. “It’s an amazing thing, and we have experienced some of the most unexplainable moments with each other that you can’t even really get unless you were there, us four. And so they’re just family to me.”
