No, they are not porn stars even though they are three guys and one girl that make a lot of money and perform together all the time. The Black Eyed Peas had a very good night at Super Bowl 45 and sang “Tonight’s Gonna Be A Good Night.” and are having the time of their life, also the name of another hit song. Their music is part hip-hop- part pop. They measure success by the impact they have on their audience.

The album “The End” sold more than a million copies world wide. The single “Boom.Boom, Pow “ was the most downloaded song on I-Tunes. And with their other hit, “I Got A Feeling”, “The Black Eyed Peas,” reached number one on the Billboard Charts for 26 weeks. Nobody’s ever done that. Not Elvis. Not Michael Jackson. Not the Beatles.

They followed “The End” with a new CD, “The Beginning”. Leader Will I Am says, “We can’t categorize our music. We do a little rap, rock, pop, jazz all types of music in our songs.” Rappers Apple and Taboo are the other two guys in the group and have been together since 1995. Fergie, The Chick Pea, joined in 2003. Many people told them they were an unlikely foursome. She says, They are loveable misfits.”

Will I Am grew up poor in East Los Angeles raised by a single Mom. He met Apple at age 14 when a sponsor brought him to the U.S. from the Philippines. Apple spoke no English but the boys found a common bond in music and dance. They are still best friends. Jimmy Louis Gomez who goes by the name Taboo, began performing with them at night while keeping his day job at Disney Land. His job was picking up horse manure.

Their other albums include “Behind The Front” and “Bridging The Gap” that brought the three some success. Then they met the child actress Stacy Ferguson who stared in the child TV show “Kids Incorporated”. She then sang with the girl group “Wild Orchard.” She fell on tough times and then tried singing on her own. She says, “I got into drugs, crystal meth, came back, cleaned up my act, and moved back home to my Mom and started over.” Fergie began singing backup for the group and recorded their third album, Elephunk. Before it was completed, she was a member of the group.

With songs like, “Where Is The Love”, the group connected with a larger audience. You got a Black, Philippino, Latino and a White girl. Everyone came to see and hear how smooth they sounded together. That song seemed to unite audiences. The Peas have won 6 Grammies but the critics have not always liked what they heard. Fergie has achieved super-stardom on her own. Her solo album, The Duchess, that Will produced, went triple platinum.

She co-stared in the film Nine, and her personal life is always a feature story in the tabloids. Will found his audience with his video, Yes We Can, that was viewed 40 million times on the internet inspired by the Yes We Can speech given by then, candidate President Obama. The Peas have been everywhere from The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show to Oprah joined by a synchronized flash mob of dancers and went viral with it around the world.

This group grew up together and has gone through harsh journeys. They don’t expect to ever breakup. They are so happy where they are now, there is no turning back. They are an inspiration to shared musical styles, and shared ethnic backgrounds that gel together like no other group has ever achieved so far. Their love for each other allows them to also work individually.