The world knows him by his stage name will.i.am (formerly Will 1X) is a Jamaican American who has won an Emmy Award and a Grammy Award. Will.I.Am is a hip hop musician, rapper, dancer, songwriter, animation voice and founding member and frontman of Black Eyed Peas. He also has his own label called will.i.am music group.
Will.i.am was born March 15, 1975 and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, California.
In September 2007, will.i.am's record label Universal Music Group decided on a pilot scheme to reward certain file sharing with cash incentives, including will.i.am tracks from his latest solo album Songs About Girls.[1] will.i.am is also featured in Flo Rida's debut album Mail on Sunday on the song In The Ayer, and in Usher's latest album Here I Stand, on track 6, titled What's Your Name.
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will.i.am has recently been cast as John Wraith
in the upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine,
a prequel to the X-Men film series. In 2008 will.i.am contributed the song "One People" to the Survival International charity album, Songs for Survival. Fashion Before joining the Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am attended the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles. In 2001, he began designing his own signature clothing line, i.am, which made its official debut in 2005 at the Magic apparel trade show in Las Vegas [2]. In 2007, Will.i.am teamed up with Blue Holdings to design a premium denim collection, i.am Antik, that was scheduled to debut in August 2007 at the Project Show in Las Vegas [3].
He has also designed clothing for the Black Eyed Peas. Political Advocacy will.i.am performing in a Black Eyed Peas
concert at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2004. In January 2008, will.i.am wrote a song, "Yes We Can", in support of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign of Barack Obama, which in turn became a music video directed by Jesse Dylan.
The lyrics of the song are composed almost entirely of excerpts from Obama's speech on January 8, 2008, following the New Hampshire presidential primary election. The video features a
ppearances from numerous celebrities like Scarlett Johansson, Tatyana Ali,John Legend,
Herbie Hancock,
Kate Walsh,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
Adam Rodríguez,
Kelly Hu,
Hill Harper,
Amber Valletta,
Eric Balfour,
Aisha Tyler,
Nicole Scherzinger,
Nick Cannon,
Bryan Greenberg,
Common
and first appeared on the website for Dipdive, and within a week of its appearance racked up three million views, and over four million views on YouTube. On June 13 2008 the "Yes We Can Song" won an award at the 35th Annual Creative Arts and Entertainment Daytime Emmy Awards
for "New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment". [4] On February 29, 2008, a second video, "We Are the Ones"
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was released on Dipdive and YouTube. Including cameo appearances from Jessica Alba,
Ryan Phillippe,
Kerry Washington,
pop punk band Yellowcard's
front man, Ryan Key,
John Leguizamo,
Regina King,
Tyrese Gibson,
Eric Mabius,
Tichina Arnold,
Adrianne Palicki,
comedian George Lopez,
and singers Macy Gray,
Zoe Kravitz
and Black Eyed Peas' Taboo,
the video features everyone chanting "O-BA-MA" as a portrayal as their hopes and wishes for Barack Obama
and his presidential campaign. On 4 November 2008 will.i.am spoke to CNN's Anderson Cooper about his support for Sen. Obama, using CNNs 'hologram' technology.[5] After the 2008 election, will.i.am released "It's a New Day."
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The video reflects on the historical events that led to the election of the first African-American President of the United States, and on people's reaction to his election. The video features celebrities such as Fergie,
Olivia Wilde,
Kanye West,
Harold Perrineau,
Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick.
The video first debuted on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
In honor of the inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States
, will.i.am collaborated with producer David Foster on the patriotic song "America's Song",
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with contributing vocals from Seal,
Bono,
Mary J. Blige,
and Faith Hill.
Motion Picture Music In 2008, will.i.am contributed a number of tracks to the Madagascar 2
Motion Picture Soundtrack, notably with industry heavyweight Hans Zimmer.
He also starred in the movie as the character Moto Moto. Awards and nominations Daytime Emmy Awards 2008, New Approaches in Daytime Entertainment: "Yes We Can Song"
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(Won)[6] Grammy Awards 2009, Best Urban/Alternative Performance: "Be OK" (Won)
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[7] more