The Black Eyed Peas are a hip hop group that formed in Los Angeles, California in 1995. The group is composed of vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Will.i.am and vocalists apl.de.ap, Taboo, and Fergie. Since their album Elephunk in 2003, the group's hip hop/dance-oriented style has sold an estimated 28 million albums worldwide and 31 million singles. They scored their first worldwide hit with "Where Is the Love?" in 2003, which topped over ten charts worldwide. Another single was the European hit "Shut Up". Their next album Monkey Business was another worldwide hit, certified 3x Platinum in the U.S., spawning two hit singles "My Humps"and "Don't Phunk With My Heart". In 2009, the group is one of only eleven artists to have ever held the number 1 and 2 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 at the same time with their singles "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling", from the album The E.N.D., and the singles also topped the chart for an unprecedented 26 consecutive weeks in 2009. The album also includes singles such as "Meet Me Halfway", "Imma Be", and "Rock That Body". Before Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am and apl.de.ap were in a group called The Atban Klann signed to Eazy E's Ruthless Records. The Black Eyed Peas was ranked 12th at the Billboard's Decade-End Chart Artist of the Decade. They were ranked 7th in Hot 100 Artists of the Decade. The group was signed to Interscope Records and released their debut Behind the Front in 1998. The album won the Peas (and their accompanying live band, the Bucky Jonson) critical acclaim. It featured the single "Joints & Jams", which was included on the soundtrack of the Academy Award-nominated film Bulworth. Behind the Front featured guest appearances from Jurassic 5's Chali 2na, De La Soul, and Macy Gray. Their second album, Bridging the Gap, was released in 2000; it featured the single "Request Line" featuring Macy Gray. [edit] 2003–04: Elephunk The Black Eyed Peas signing autographs before a concert at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. Their album, Elephunk, began development on November 2, 2001 but was released in 2003. It was the group's first album to feature the vocals of Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson and she became the replacement for background singer Kim Hill, who left the band in 2000. Originally, Nicole Scherzinger (lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls) was approached to join the Peas. She was forced to decline because she was a member of Eden's Crush and was under contract. Dante Santiago then introduced Will to Fergie, who joined the band in 2003. In a positive review of the Black Eyed Peas' style, Rolling Stone noted that since 2003, when the group "hired a blond bombshell named Stacy 'Fergie' Ferguson and gave up their pursuit of backpack-rapper cred, they have made a kind of spiritual practice of recording dumb songs — a total aesthetic commitment that extends from their garish wardrobes to their United Colors of Benetton worldview." From Elephunk came "Where is the Love?", a single featuring Justin Timberlake which became Black Eyed Peas' first major hit, peaking at #8 on the U.S. Hot 100, but topping the charts in several other countries, including six weeks at #1 in the UK, where it became the biggest-selling single of 2003. The single had similar results in Australia, staying at #1 for six weeks also. In an interview with TalkofFame.com, Taboo shared that Justin Timberlake’s split with Britney Spears impacted the recording of "Where Is The Love?". The album subsequently spawned "Shut Up", which peaked at #2 in the UK and topped the charts in many success and went Gold and Platinum in the U.S., UK, Germany, and other European markets. The third single from the album, although significantly restyled from the original Elephunk version, "Hey Mama" hit the top 5 in Australia and the top 10 in the UK, Germany and other European countries and reached #23 in the U.S. The song received even more exposure in 2003 when it was featured in the first "silhouette" television commercial for the iPod. On March 21, 2006, Black Eyed Peas released a remix album, entitled Renegotiations: The Remixes to iTunes. It features remixed versions of "Ba Bump", "My Style", "Feel It", "Disco Club", "They Don't Want Music", "Audio Delite at Low Fidelity", and the standard version and video of "Like That". The following week, it was released on CD without the music video. Participants on the EP included DJ Premier, Pete Rock, Erick Sermon, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and Large Professor.