Will.i.am
William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975 in Los Angeles , California ), better known by his stage name will.i.am , is an American rapper , singer , songwriter , record producer and occasional actor and voice actor . He became internationally known as a member of the hip-hop band The Black Eyed Peas . He produced songs for Michael Jackson and U2 . He has also been a jury member and coach on the UK singing talent show The Voice UK , which airs on BBC One , since its first season in 2012 .
Artistic career
Adams is a current member and co-founder of the Black Eyed Peas , which have been commercially successful since 2003. He also works as a producer for the band's albums.
Solo artist
His first studio album was released on October 2, 2001 on the Warner Music and Atlantic Records label . It's called Lost Change . There was no single release. In 2012 a new edition of the album was released. In addition to the first CD, it also contains a second CD that contains instrumental versions.
On September 23, 2003 his second studio album Must B 21 (Soundtrack to Get Things Started) was released. This appeared on the record label Interscope Records and Columbia Records . No song was extracted from this either. The album is a collection of material accumulated over the years in the Black Eyed Peas studio . Most of the songs contain vocals by other artists such as KRS-One , Phife Dawg or John Legend .
His third album was released on September 25, 2007. It is called Songs About Girls and was released through will.i.am Music Group and Interscope Records . It reached number 27 in the Swiss charts, 68 in the UK and 38th in the USA. The first single was I Got It from My Mama . It was published on June 21, 2007 and reached the upper half of the chart in Germany, Austria, Great Britain and the USA, among others. The subsequent singles Heartbreaker with Cheryl Cole and One More Chance were more or less successful.
In April 2009 a compilation album was released that will.i.am produced. It is entitled Change Is Now: Renewing America's Promise. In 2008 several singles from the album were released. Yes We Can was released on February 12, 2008. He recorded this with 34 other artists. The title is based on the world famous saying by Barack Obama . We Are the Ones on February 29, 2008 and It's A New Day on November 7, 2008.
On November 20, 2011, a new single was released by him, together with Jennifer Lopez and Mick Jagger . It was called THE (The Hardest Ever) and was very high in the charts in several countries. These included Austria, Switzerland, Great Britain and the USA.
Then, in April 2013, his fourth studio album #willpower was released . The first release from the album appeared on June 1, 2012. It was This Is Love , together with Eva Simons . It was able to reach number one in the UK and number 8 in Switzerland, among others. It also achieved double platinum status in Australia and gold in Switzerland and New Zealand. Then, as a second harbinger, the single Scream & Shout was released in November 2012 in collaboration with singer Britney Spears . It is his most successful single to date. It reached number 1 in over 23 countries. Will.i.am and Spears also received over 13 platinum records for the sound carrier. As the last pre-release single will.i.am released the title #thatPower together with Justin Bieber . However, the song did not have anywhere near the success of Scream & Shout . The song Fall Down was released as a promo single parallel to the album in April 2013 , together with Miley Cyrus .
The track Let's Go appeared on the album together with Chris Brown . However, it not only contains new, own elements, but turned out to be a cover of the song Rebound by Arty & Mat Zo, who did not give him the permission to cover the song. As a result, he received several allegations of copyright infringement , but these were dropped following a settlement with Arty's record label. It was similar with the song Bang Bang , in which he used the drop of the song Epic by Sandro Silva and Quinto without a license.
In 2014 a number of other tracks were released, including the commercially successful single It's My Birthday with singer Cody Wise and the songs It Should Be Easy with Britney Spears and Something Really Bad with Dizzee Rascal . Since 2009 he has also been active in the electro music genre under the pseudonym Zuper Blahq .
Production and songwriting
Will.i.am has also been a producer since 2004. He is often featured as a guest musician on the tracks he produces. In 2008 he worked with Michael Jackson to produce some songs and remixes for the thriller re-release , Thriller 25 .
In February 2011 he worked with the American pop singer Britney Spears on a song for her seventh album Femme Fatale . The song is called Big Fat Bass . will.i.am produced music for other artists and projects, for example for animated films (e.g. Madagascar 2 ), TV series (e.g. the theme song for Samurai Jack ) and computer games (e.g. NBA Live ). He also produced the album Sorry for Party Rocking by the American duo LMFAO .
As an actor
As a voice actor, will.i. made his debut in 2008 as the voice of Moto Moto in the animated film Madagascar 2 , for which he also worked on the soundtrack with Hans Zimmer .
2009 will.i.am starred as John Wraith in the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine .
On June 29, 2016 it was announced that will.i.am was invited as one of 683 personalities from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a new member.
Political activities
During the primaries for the presidential election in the United States in 2008 , he decided to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with the song Yes We Can to support and turned this with director Jesse Dylan , son of Bob Dylan , a four and a half minute music video in the style of virals , in which many stars appear and which consists of selected passages from an original 13-minute campaign speech, which were processed into a collage and which he published on the Internet on YouTube on February 2, 2008 .
On February 29th, he released a second music video in which he again supported Obama. It is called We Are the Ones , in German “We are those”. This video also features a large number of celebrities who articulate their wishes, hopes and dreams for the future, while the name Obama is chanted in the background. Like the previous video Yes We Can , this video is also in black and white and appeared on YouTube; its length is just over three minutes.
After Obama's election victory on November 5, 2008, he published the song It's a New Day on YouTube.
Others
- will.i.am's greatest role model and youth idol is Michael Jackson .
- will.i.am sells clothing under its own clothing brand i.am clothing .
- In January and February 2007, will.i.am appeared as a musical guest at several Prince concerts , for example on February 17, 2007 at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
- In February 2010 he took part in the We Are the World 25 for Haiti project , the proceeds of which were donated to the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake .
- In 2011 will.i.am founded its own car brand called IAMAUTO . Most of the parts are from Chrysler . Only the chassis and the interior are from his company. The music system should be completely designed by Beats by Dr. Dre come. The reason he started his company was because he wanted to fight unemployment in Los Angeles. That is why his company has its headquarters near the ghetto in which will.i.am grew up.
- In 2014 it was announced that will.i.am would become Chief Creative Officer (CCO) of the 3D printing company 3D Systems .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 2001 | Lost Change | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: October 2, 2001
|
| 2003 | Must Be 21 | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: September 23, 2003
|
| 2007 | Songs About Girls | - | - |
CH27 (4 weeks) CH |
UK68 (6 weeks) UK |
US38 (4 weeks) US |
First published: September 25, 2007
|
| 2013 | #willpower |
DE11 (7 weeks) DE |
AT15th  (6 weeks)AT |
CH10 (13 weeks) CH |
UK3 (19 weeks)UK |
US9 (7 weeks) US |
First published: April 19, 2013
|
Filmography (selection)
actor
- 2005: The Heavenly Joan (Joan of Arcadia , TV series, an episode)
- 2009: X-Men Origins: Wolverine
- 2010: Date Night - Gangster for one night (Date Night)
Dubbing voice
- 2008: Madagascar 2 (Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa , voice of Moto Moto )
- 2009: Arthur and the Minimoys 2 - The Return of Evil M (Arthur et la Vengeance de Maltazard , voice of Snow )
- 2011: Rio (voice of Pedro )
- 2011–2012: The Cleveland Show (TV series, 5 episodes, voice of Bernard )
- 2014: Rio 2 - Jungle Fever ( Rio 2 , voice of Pedro )
swell
- ↑ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/musik-will-i-am-dpa.urn-newsml-dpa-com-20090101-131129-99-07330
- ↑ Biography of will.i.am ( memento from March 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), on urbannoize.com
- ↑ [ Songs About Girls on album check ]
- ↑ Dip Dive reports on will.i.am and Yeas We Can ( Memento of the original from November 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Will.I.Am feat. Jennifer Lopez & Mick Jagger - THE (The Hardest Ever) ( Memento from March 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Do Androids Dance reports on the unauthorized cover Let's Go
- ↑ Emma Thrower: Tom Hiddleston, Emma Watson, Idris Elba, John Boyega and more join the Academy In: empireonline.com, June 30, 2016.
- ↑ YouTube: Yes We Can
- ↑ YouTube: We Are The Ones
- ↑ YouTube: It's a new day
- ↑ Article ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 24, 2011.
- ↑ will.i.am unveils iamauto car , on rap-up.com, accessed January 7, 2012.
- ↑ will.i.am is now Chief Creative Officer at 3D Systems , at 3druck.com, accessed on January 9, 2014.
- ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
Web links
- Official website of will.i.am (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | will.i.am |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Adams Jr., William James (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American rapper and hip hop producer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 15, 1975 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Los Angeles , California, USA |