From child celebrity to sexy singer, Stacy Ferguson had the pipes to carry her to the top of the pop music elite. Although she started out as a child actor on “Kids Incorporated,” she grew into a sexy, auburn-tressed performer who successfully segued into the music business – coping with a series of personal struggles along the way – before reconnecting with her talents. As a result, the aptly nicknamed “Fergie” finally found the right career moves with the innovative hip-hop duo, the Black Eyed Peas and in her reign as “The Dutchess” – enough so, that she could take time off from music to reconnect with her acting roots, starring in Quentin Tarantino’s big screen gorefest, “Grindhouse” (2007).
Stacy Ann Ferguson was born on March 27, 1975 in the Los Angeles suburb of Whittier, CA. She and her younger sister, Dana, were then raised locally in Hacienda Heights by their mother and father, both public school teachers. As a kid, Ferguson’s parents introduced her to the arts, taking their daughter to see various musicals and classic Motown and R&B artists in concert. Ferguson’s show business career began early, when, at age eight, she landed a commercial agent and began appearing in various television spots, including doing voiceover work for animated specials, like providing the voice of Sally Brown on “It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown” (CBS, 1984).
1984 marked the start of Ferguson’s first major gig – a stint on Nickelodeon’s original Saturday morning series, “Kids Incorporated” (1984-1993) – a show about the lives of teenage kids, many of whom would perform musical numbers. The series launched several celebrity careers, including those of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mario Lopez, and pop singer Martika. Ferguson continued to hop onto other projects while contracted to the series, returning to the VO world of the Peanuts gang for “Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown” (1985), as well as a 1986 guest appearance on the sitcom, “Mr. Belvedere” (ABC, 1985-1990).
Ferguson left “Kids Incorporated” in 1989 and looked for her next creative opportunity. By 1990, she had decided to pursue her musical side in an act that would include her former “Kids” castmates, Renee Sandstrom and Stephanie Ridel. The three singers were teamed up by a mutual manager to form Wild Orchid, a pop and R&B-tinged group which was eventually signed to the RCA Records roster in the mid 1990s. As Wild Orchid was coming together, Ferguson would continue to make the occasional guest spot on TV series such as the long-running comedy, “Married with Children” (Fox, 1987-1997).
At the end of October 1996, Wild Orchid’s first self-titled record was released. The album failed to chart high, however, peaking at #153 on its Top 200, but its three singles “At Night I Pray,” “Supernatural” and “Talk to Me” still led to a platinum album. Almost two years and a tour with N’Sync and 98 Degrees later, a second album, Oxygen fared less successfully, leading the intended third album, Fire, to be scrapped. Unhappy with the musical direction and the pressure from the label, Ferguson left the group and found solace in the underground scene of her native Los Angeles, where she began the inevitable dabbling in drugs. A run-in with ecstasy and crystal methamphetamine soon ballooned into a full-fledged addiction, with Ferguson also spiraling into major credit debt. Down to a dangerous weight of 90 pounds at one point, she had shielded her drug problems under admissions of bulimia, finally deciding to seek help after a religious epiphany led her to reassess the value of her singing abilities.
After temporarily moving in with her mother, Ferguson looked to land on her feet again. She utilized amassed frequent flier miles to meet up with various music producers and began laying down new demos. Shortly after, Ferguson received a fateful phone call. Midway through recording of its third album, Elephunk, L.A. hip-hop artists the Black Eyed Peas asked her to add vocals to the cut “Shut Up.” A big fan of the Peas, Ferguson had made it a point to bump into the group backstage at her final Wild Orchid performance, telling frontman Will.I.Am about her interest in working together in some capacity. As the Peas’ back-up singer Kim Hill had left in 2000, Will.I.Am called Ferguson. Things went so well that the group had her sing on other tracks as well, until at the suggestion of Interscope Records chief Jimmy Iovine, she was asked to join full time. At first, the group was wary of shaking things up, but went with it. The two year recording process for the album was finally completed in May 2003 and the album was released on new label A&M a month later.
The transition to mainstream act was somewhat bumpy at first. Though the addition of the now-dubbed Fergie brought a more commercial look and sound; hence a wider audience, hardcore devotees of the Peas’ previous two albums were not pleased with the new lineup. Elephunk became a huge hit, regardless, selling eight million copies globally. “Shut Up” was released as a single, as was the wildly successful “Where is the Love?” The latter featured additional vocals from former N’Syncer, Justin Timberlake, who at 17, had been Ferguson’s boyfriend. One of the album’s tracks, “Let’s Get Retarded” was changed for radio to the more palatable “Let’s Get it Started” – and the song single-handedly put the band on the mainstream map. Also a plus: Fergie’s eclectic combination of sex appeal and retro, hip-hop fashion made her a media sensation, proving to be a good match for the Peas. Everything was so in alignment, that by early 2004, the group members filmed cameos as themselves in the cinematic adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s “Be Cool” (2005), starring John Travolta and Uma Thurman.
Aside from her newfound musical success, Fergie’s personal life also hit a new high when she met actor Josh Duhamel of “Las Vegas” fame (NBC, 2003- ) in September of 2004 and the two coupled up. Having reconnected with her childhood career, Fergie’s onscreen prospects continued into 2005, as she was slated to star in the Revolution Studios remake of the horror classic “The Fog (2005). She later dropped out of the film, but that year finally saw the fruits of the Peas’ hard work, when the group was Grammy nominated for Record of the Year and won for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Not letting up for a minute, June 2005 saw the release of The Black Eyed Peas’ second album, the multi-platinum Monkey Business, which would yield six singles, including “Don’t Phunk with My Heart” and “My Humps.” Also that year, Fergie filmed a small role in the big-budget remake “Poseidon” (2006) – as the ship’s pre-tidal wave musical entertainment – before rejoining her bandmates for more touring.
The Peas meanwhile nabbed four 2006 Grammy nominations, winning in the same Best Rap Performance category as the year before for the song, “My Humps.” While still promoting the album, Fergie signed a deal with the Peas’ label A&M and began working on material for a solo album with executive producers Will.I.Am and Polow Da Don. The album, The Dutchess, a continuation of the Peas’ trademark hip hop, pop and R&B stylings, was released in September to mixed reviews. But Fergie’s popularity with the masses was undeniable, and the album – which spawned three hit singles, including “Fergielicious,” “Glamorous” and “London Bridge” – shot up to the number three slot on the Billboard charts.
2007 was a good year for Fergie. As if a successful solo career and Grammy Award with her beloved band was not good enough, Fergie, i.e. Sarah Ferguson, took a dip in the acting pool again after being tapped by writer-director Robert Rodriguez to play the role of Tammy Visan in his zombiefied half of “Grindhouse” (2007) – a double bill b-movie send-up co-directed with Quentin Tarantino. In Rodriguez’s film – “Planet Terror” – viewers cheered as the scantily clad and buffed up Ferguson was torn apart by zombies to graphic effect. Although the film did not do well upon its April release – many felt, because it was a double bill – it developed an instant fanboy following and an essence of cool washed over anyone connected with the project.