The real name of the musician is William James Adams Jr. The alias Will.i.am is the surname William with punctuation marks. Thanks to The Black Eyed Peas, William gained real fame.
Will.i.am's early years
The future celebrity was born on March 15, 1975 in Los Angeles. William James never knew his father. The single mother raised William and three other children on her own.
From childhood, the boy was creative and was interested in breakdancing. For some time, Adams sang in the church choir. When Will was in 8th grade, he met Allen Pineda.
Young people quickly found common interests and decided to leave school together in order to devote themselves entirely to dancing and music.
The guys founded their own dance group, which lasted for several years. Over time, William and Allen decided to focus on music and take up songwriting.
Around the same time, William found his first job. When the guy was 18 years old, he got a job at the community center where his mother Debra worked.
The center helped teenagers not to get into a gang. Perhaps this was what helped Will himself not become a bandit, since the area in which the guy lived was poor and teeming with criminals.
The first band and Will I.M.'s attempts to become famous
After Pineda and Adams chose the latter between dance and music, they went through a lot.
The musicians worked hard on the material and were able to achieve certain results. Young people called their new team Atban Klann.
The group was able to sign a record label deal and release a single. After the release of the track, the band prepared for the release of their debut album for two years, which was supposed to be released in the fall of 1994.
However, in 1995, the owner of the label died of AIDS, after which the Atban Klann group was disbanded.
The Black Eyed Peas and world fame
After being fired from the label, William and Allen did not leave music. The musicians met Jaime Gomez, better known as MC Taboo, and accepted him into the band. Over time, singer Kim Hill joined the group, who was later replaced by Sierra Swan.
Despite the fact that the singer had material from the first album, they did not immediately use it in The Black Eyed Peas. William became not only the producer of the new group, but also the lead singer, drummer and bassist.
The band's first album was well received by critics, but did not make the musicians instantly famous. Real popularity came to the group in 2003. Then Sierra had already left the group, and was replaced by Stacy Ferguson, known as Fergie.
The final line-up of the group included: Will, Allen, Jaime and Stacey. In this composition, with the participation of Justin Timberlake, the band released the track Where Is The Love?. The song instantly "took off" in the American charts and the group gained fame.
Having received huge popularity, the group released four more albums and went on a world tour more than once. In 2016, Fergie left the band and was replaced by another vocalist.
The life of William James Adams off the stage
Will.i.am not only writes and performs songs himself, but also acts as a producer for other musicians. The musician took part in the American project "Voice" as a mentor.
In addition, in 2005, William released his own clothing collection. Many stars (Kelly Osbourne, Ashlee Simpson) appreciated the quality of the musician's clothes and wear them.
Also, William several times starred in films and voiced cartoon characters.
In 2011, William Adams became the creative director of Intel.
Will.i.am keeps his personal life private. Despite the fact that the musician has repeatedly admitted in interviews that he is a supporter of a serious relationship and rarely starts one-day intrigues, Adams is still not married. The rapper has no children.
Interesting facts about a celebrity
A musician cannot remain silent for long. This is not an oddity or whim of a star. William has an ear problem that manifests as ringing in his ears. The only thing that helps William cope with this is loud music.
In 2012, William wrote a song that was broadcast by the rover to Earth. The single went down in history as the first track that was sent to Earth from another planet.
In 2018, Adams decided to go vegan. According to the star, because of the food that some food companies produce, he felt disgusting. In order not to earn diabetes in the future, the musician wanted to join the ranks of vegans.
At the end of 2019, Will.i.am was involved in a racist scandal. When the musician was on board the plane, he was wearing headphones and did not hear the flight attendant's call.
After William removed the headphones, the woman did not calm down and called the police. The musician on his social networks said that the stewardess behaved this way because he is black.
The musician loves unusual headwear and almost never appears in public with his head uncovered. When Adams starred in the Wolverine films, he did not change his style, so the rapper's character also wears a signature headdress.
Despite the popularity of The Black Eyed Peas, Will.i.am is pursuing a solo career and has already released four albums.
