Fergie (real name Stacey Ferguson), was a child star: she was on the show Kids Incorporated, where she did a lot of singing and dancing. She says they used to sit around between takes and listen to Chaka Khan and Prince, which were a big influence on her. She also listened to a lot of gangsta rap in the early '90s.
Fergie's solo debut,
The Dutchess, released in 2006, became the first debut album by a female artist since 1990 to generate five Top 5 singles on the US Hot 100, including three #1's: "
London Bridge," "
Glamorous" and "
Big Girls Don't Cry." The deliberately misspelled title of her album refers to sharing a name with the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson.
She gained 17 pounds for the role of the prostitute Saraghina in the 2009 musical film Nine, where she starred along with Marion Cottilard, Penelope Cruz, Kate Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Sophia Loren and Judi Dench.
She met her husband, Josh Duhamel, when The Black Eyed Peas guest-starred on his show Las Vegas in 2004. He first caught her attention after sharing with a magazine that he had had a naughty dream about her. She called him on this when they met, and they hit it off after he revealed that the dream was, in fact, good.
Fergie and Josh Duhamel announced their separation in September 2017 after eight years of marriage. The couple have one child, a son named Axl.
Fergie was a fan of The Black Eyed Peas before joining the group in 2002. At the time, BEP were an old-school rap trio; adding Fergie launched them into the pop stratosphere. She started working with them when they needed a singer for their song "Shut Up!" but ended up contributing to the entire 2003 Elephunk album and becoming a permanent member.
Fergie welcomed baby Axl, her first child with husband Josh Duhamel, into the world in August 2013. Speaking to Ellen DeGeneres, she recalled how she came up with her son's name. "I had this dream and I was in the audience at this festival. It was outdoors and it was all grimy and nobody knew who I was. I was just one of the fans. It was like the old days. It was so cool. And on stage singing was Jim Morrison and then came Bob Marley and then Axl Rose," she said. "I mean, I was in heaven in this dream and I'm dancing and just getting into the music and then all of a sudden, boom, boom. And I wake up and it was the first time my son kicked me in the stomach and it was like he was feeling the music with me."
"It was amazing. I'm gonna start to cry. It was really beautiful and I woke [Josh] up and I said, 'Honey, honey, honey, he kicked me. He finally kicked me,'' Fergie continued. "And I told him my dream and he was like, 'Wow.' We had already picked the middle name because my uncle, who is a very special guy, he passed away last year, Jack. I told the story and he was like, 'Morrison, Marley, no, Axl Jack.' That's it. And it just had this ring to it."
Fergie was the voice of Charlie Brown's sister Sally on four episodes of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show in 1985.
Fergie battled an addiction to crystal meth while she was in the girl band Wild Orchid, before she found fame with Black Eyed Peas. She called the drug the "hardest boyfriend she's ever had to break up with."
