20 YEARS OF THE BLACK EYED PEAS PLEASE CREDIT: 20 YEARS OF THE BLACK EYED PEAS', SATURDAY 22ND DECEMBER, 10.05PM ON ITV One of the best-selling groups of all time, with a phenomenal 76 million record sales, The Black Eyed Peas have won the love of the UK and the world. This year will.i.am, apl.de.ap and Taboo celebrate 20 years at the top, and viewers are being invited along to chart their incredible journey. Joanna Lumley presents this very special one-hour spectacular to feature exclusive performances of some of the global super group s greatest hits with Nicole Scherzinger, Danny O Donoghue and Sir Tom Jones all joining them on stage A whole host of international celebrities and faces from the music industry, as well as the friends and family that have shaped their lives, will share their insights into the group and what makes them such a unique and special act. Away from the bright lights on stage, the show will take a look back at how The Black Eyed Peas came to be. Starting with going right back to their childhoods, friends and family share their memories of those early beginnings and how they watched the group grow. The story will pick up from how and when they met, right through to their breakout album Elephunk and the ongoing international success they enjoy today, including their latest album release and their European Masters of The Sun Tour. Returning to Los Angeles, the trio will all be going back to their childhood neighbourhoods. They ll be taking a trip back to the club where they were discovered - Whisky A Go Go on the Sunset Strip - and first got signed to a record deal. And they ll also be revisiting the studio where they recorded many of their big hits and reminiscing about that time. INTERVIEW WITH THE BLACK EYED PEAS How does it feel to be celebrating 20 years together? Will: When you say 20 years it makes it seem like a long time! In my mind s eye it s not 20 years. Apl: Looking at the show and the videos compiled together you realise oh wait, wait.. we did that?! We ve done a lot of cool stuff. Taboo: I have to say it s amazing that our friendship has evolved. From teenagers to adults, to be able to say that we ve remained friends through thick and thin, through heartache and pain. It s an amazing feat because a lot of people who start out as friends can disconnect and we ve managed to be a group but also best friends. Black Eyed Peas is a brotherhood, we re more than a band or a group or a crew. We re best friends. It s incredible retaining that closeness after all these years and it really comes across in the show. Has this felt like a landmark year, extra special?
Will: This TV special feels extra special. To have a night on an awesome network like ITV that s dedicated to our ups and downs, our origins and successes and just digging and doing research to tell Apl s story, Taboo s story it s special, it s really special. And the album that we put out, Masters of The Sun is special also. The tour that we did yeah, it s been great. Taboo: To restart the engines this year, it s been good because we want to continue releasing content albums, videos, tours. And, you know, we took an eight year hiatus which, as you ll see in the show, life happened.but we feel like now that the machine is active again and we re going to be working more, it s great. Apl: Also, the year s not over yet and we have more videos coming out because we did a video for every song on the album so we re going to be releasing those weekly until the year finishes. Sounds like you re already looking towards the next 20 years together Will: In twenty years we ll be 60. Yeah, so Taboo s son, Josh, would be 40 [laughter] Apl: To see Tom Jones tonight that gives us a little bit of a clue on how things could be if we can have a career as long as his Will: In another 20 years we ll still be younger than Tom! Taboo: When we got signed by Interscope, Jimmy Iovine was our age and I look at us know and see the evolution and hard work and perseverance and other avenues we ve pursued and pursue. There s so much space to grow, not just in music but also philanthropy, content creators, producers it s a blessing because we keep learning each year, ways to progress and continue the legacy we started as teenagers. Is that the secret to your success continuing to learn? Will: I think the secret to our success is that we re honest with each other. Like very honest. And we know how to take it. If I write something and Apl s like err I dunno.this is whack or says something a certain way Taboo: or it s just a look. For example, he [Will] put on this beanie today and with just a look it was like naaah Apl: And as well, personally too, if someone s going overboard it s like check em, y know? And it s alright to listen and to have brothers to watch out for you. There was a lot of emotion when you were chatting to Joanna [Lumley], did you expect this to be such an emotional show?
Will: No. I didn t. I ve never seen Taboo get emotional. Not even seeing him when he was fighting cancer and sitting in bed, his spirits were up and he was smiling. Even then I didn t see him teary eyed. If I had been in Taboo s place and they came to see me I m crying right when they walk in the door. I see Taboo tonight and I m like woah you re cryin? what ya doing, man?! [laughter] Taboo: It s awesome seeing those clips in the show, seeing how we started and then seeing the journey and how far we ve come. And it s reliving those moments, those triumphs, those funny moments where you re like - oh that fashion! It s like a rollercoaster of emotions. And then there s reliving the experience of my cancer. And it s therapeutic because I talk about it so that others can be inspired and be like yo he can be vulnerable enough to share his story, maybe I can talk about what I m going through. How did you find the process of making all those films where you revisited places where you grew up, recorded albums, performed all those places that were so formative for you? Will: It was really awesome. I really loved it. Will viewers learn things that are surprising you think? Will: There s a lot of things we ve touched on that I don t think they ll know. And I m really pleased that people in the UK will get to learn Tab and Apl s story and know who my best friends are. Because they know me here but they don t know Ap and Taboo as deep as I d like them to know so this show is a great way for the UK to fall in love with my best friends the way I have. Taboo: It s cool because you get to hear everybody s story but you also get to see the personalities and the friendships, the laughter, the humour and that s something people don t really experience. They usually see the music group on television but now it s like vulnerability, humour, kind of like letting your inhibitions go and people know you as a person which is awesome. With so many songs to choose from, how did you choose which to perform in the special? Will: That was hard. We wanted to do things from our first album, second album but then there s only so much time so we picked the vibes we liked. It s great that we got to perform Wings on the show and premiere that. We re really excited. And to introduce Jessy too, your latest member who, Apl, you discovered when you were a coach on The Voice in the Philippines Apl: Yeah! J Rey. There was a great reception for her. It s a growth you know, from the Philippines to now with us in the UK. There s so much room for growth and improvement in music and a great future for her. Taboo: And we re so grateful that Sir Tom Jones, Danny [O Donoghue] and Nicole [Scherzinger] took time out of their schedules to join us too. It means a lot.
What s next for you guys? Will: We re working on a new album. Masters of The Sun is out now but we re working on a new record for the beginning of the year. Wow that s quick Taboo: Yeah! The machine is going! Will: And we ll be South and Central America and the rest of the world in 2019. We each have solo records next year as well. So, we ll be working a lot. We re starting the next chapter, the next 20 years. AN INTERVIEW WITH JOANNA LUMLEY What was your impression of will.i.am when you first met him? I loved him. Mind you, I d done some research because I was doing a documentary on him. I didn t just come across him in the street or something. I knew about him and I was impressed by him anyway. I found him sweet, charming. A delightful, humorous, sweet man. Was he how you d imagined or was there anything that surprised you? Not really although we are all performers so one must never run away with the fact that a person is the character they re performing. They are performers when they re performing. He was like many performers I d met quiet, soft spoken, extremely clever, easy to get on with. Have you kept in touch since? No of course not! People like me don t stay in touch with Will. Hi Will, I m your grandmother s age. But he is wonderful and it s been lovely to see him for this programme. What do you think is so special about The Black Eyed Peas? I think they were so new, they were so bold and they were so utterly different. They are collectively and individually extremely impressive. What s been the most surprising thing you ve learnt about the Black Eyed Peas during the process of making this show? I think their determination and sort of continuous reinvention is remarkable. They always seem to be new, they always seem to be ahead of stuff. They always seem to me to be brand new. They re never pedalling old stuff.
Do you have a favourite Black Eyed Peas song? I m pretty impressed by Where Is The Love? but the more recent Big Love is extraordinary. It s a dark piece but it s a really important piece of music. What can you tell us about your Christmas plans? Like every household in the world thinking have I wrapped everything up? Will so and so like this if I cook that or not. And I love it and I love decorating trees and I love sending Christmas cards. Time gets less and less and less and so all the things that I would love to do I find it s Christmas Eve and I haven t done them but I do a lot of charity carol concerts and things. Do you have any New Year s Resolutions? I ve never made one, therefore I ve never broken one. Resolutions should be made every day and if they re New Year s Resolutions you won t stick to them so I don t know why we always do it. What are you looking forward to most about the special? I long to hear the music and spend time with the boys on the sofa. Nicole is going to be there, Tom is going to be there who I know and it ll be lovely with the crowd in there. It will be a fantastic show. It s so impressive because it s a sort of history of them, it s not just a concert. I think it will be a really great programme. Do you think viewers will learn a lot more about them? I m sure they will. AN INTERVIEW WITH NICOLE SCHERZINGER Your friendship with the group goes a long way back, how long have you been friends with the guys? I mean I don t wanna reveal too much about our age but it s been a couple of decades almost. Yeah, since we were like two! So, you ve been there for the whole 20 years they re celebrating, this must have been an amazing journey to witness. You must be really proud Yeah, I was a huge fan of theirs when I was in my first group, Eden s Crush. We actually had a radio show together and I was like moonwalking past their room singing one of their songs. I was singing Weekends trying to get their attention. So, I ve known them for quite a long time and I m just really, really proud of the boys. How far they ve come, what they ve
been able to accomplish, their message and the love they ve been able to share through their music. There s no other group like them, no one comes close. They re legends. What do you think is the secret to their longevity? They re a brotherhood and they also happen to be geniuses. It s great that the boys have been together from the beginning. They have a great chemistry. They really are like brothers, a family. They love each other, they look after each other, they lift each other up. I see that behind the scenes and also Will is such a mastermind with music and production. I mean, Will is just he s a genius. They know music so well, music loves them and for them to be able to change consistently with the times incredible. What is your greatest Black Eyed Peas memory? I have a lot of amazing memories with the Peas. I think it was just a year ago that I got to perform with them and that was really special for me but I would have to say one of my greatest memories is from the early days. And I would be on tour with them when I was in Eden s Crush and I would watch them from the wings and I saw the electricity that came off of them when they performed. They were just larger than life. I d never seen any performers take the stage like that and I saw the impact that they had on the audience. It was like they controlled the audience with their energy. That would really play a part for me as a performer later on in my career. Do you have a favourite Black Eyed Peas song? I mean. I love all their songs. Where Is The Love? the message is beautiful but I love all the Peas songs. I love their latest one Big Love but probably Weekends. That was the song I was singing back in the day, dancing past their dressing room. Tell me about your performance in the show I m excited. We re debuting Wings which is a song that we did together and is featured on their new album. This is the first time and we get to do it on the special. It s fun, it s vibey and I think it s taking us back to Black Eyed Peas roots where they started and I have a lot of fun with it vocally and really get into character. People are so used to seeing me on TV judging and stuff but my first love and real passion and gift is actually being a musician and artist so it s just great to get back to the stage and being creative with the boys. And at the end of the special I m really looking forward to joining with all the guests to perform Where Is The Love? And this is going to go out at Christmas, have you got any plans for the holidays? To work on my family s recipes! I need a lot of work on them. I think I will probably be in LA this Christmas and I m really excited because I plan to cook a lot. Usually my family do all the cooking but this time I m going to try to do that. Already at the house I have the Christmas playlist on repeat and Christmas movies on repeat. I already have my Christmas tree up and everything. It s my most favourite time of the year.
Any New Year s Resolutions? Not to waste time. There was a thing that I watched the other day about the 5 second rule which says imagine a rocket taking off and the countdown, 5-4-3-2-1. If you re hesitating about doing something going for a work out, writing a song, whatever it may be count down 5 seconds and then make it happen. AN INTERVIEW WITH SIR TOM JONES I imagine Will and The Black Eyed Peas first came into your life when you met on The Voice, right? Well I knew of them of course before that. We d crossed paths on a couple of TV appearances over the years and loved their music but we got to know each other properly on The Voice. Do you remember the first Black Eyed Peas song you heard? It would have been when Fergie was with them although they were going before that of course. I loved Let s Get It Started. That s a great song. What did you make of Will when you first met him? I liked him because I d seen him with the Black Eyed Peas and I thought he was unique. He s great. What do you think is so special about the Black Eyed Peas? Well it s their music. It s the kind of music that they do and it goes back quite a way now with them being together 20 years. It s very vibrant and the rapping they ve got a hold of that but it s melodic too. I mean, Where Is The Love? when you listen to all the words, that is a tremendous thing. It s really really clever. The thing I like about them is they rap but you always get the chorus. They combine both things. If anybody knows about the secrets to a long and successful career it would be yourself, what advice would you give to the Black Eyed Peas for their career to continue on for another twenty years? First of all, thank God my voice is still intact. You never know if it will start to go but thank God mine is going strong. And I love to sing. You ve got to love it. True entertainers love to entertain and it s a thing that you don t really want to go away. I don t anyway. Some people retire but I m never going to retire because I love doing it so much. You ve got to keep an open mind and open ears so you listen to what s going on. You ve got to listen and don t stay in the past. I love listening to new stuff. I like listening to singers. That s why I m on The Voice. I love listening to new singers and seeing what s fresh coming along nowadays.
And have you learnt anything from Will after all these years on The Voice? Well he s a producer so he s very much in tune. If somebody s flat or sharp, if they re above the note or below the note, he ll pck up on it right away. Which I do as well but he, as a producer, knows that all the more because he s listening for that. What can you tell me about what part you re playing in the 20 Years of The Black Eyed Peas celebration? I ll be singing Where Is The Love? with the guys. Do you think you d want to collaborate on a record with the Black Eyed Peas in the future? I mean Will often says to me I d love to record you and I say okay, as long as we can get the material. It s the material, you see? If somebody comes up with the right song and Will thinks it s a good thing to do then we ll do it! And when I ve sung with Jennifer on the show [The Voice] that s sparked his interest. Will says wow I d love to record the two of you. So you never know. It could be exciting. What can you tell us about your plans for Christmas? I ll be with my family son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. A quiet Christmas in England. And any New Year s Resolutions? Try my best to steer one of my acts on The Voice to victory again! I try to help singers. I have to try and get the right songs for them as far as I m concerned and get them as far as I possibly can. So to have a successful and diverse team, with no two singers alike, that s my goal. I look forward to that. And then after The Voice I ll be doing some shows in America which will be great so I m looking forward to 2019. AN INTERVIEW WITH DANNY O DONOGHUE Was meeting on The Voice the first time you met Will? No, I met Will backstage at a festival in, I think, it was Germany. We actually sat side by side painting a picture. We were both painting pictures that would be auctioned off for charity so the first opportunity I got I was like dude, I love your music. And I never ever imagined that we could end up having a friendship. It s been nearly 8 years now and we ve done a lot of stuff together. Obviously, The Voice, and hanging out together in LA doing the video for Hall of Fame which has had millions of views to writing a song together for Britney Spears. Who knew the relationship we d have - the Irish and the Peas, Potatoes and Peas!
Have you met Apl and Taboo quite a few times before? Similar scenarios, we ve met at things backstage. Obviously the success of Hall of Fame was with myself and Will but Apl had performed the song on The Voice in the Philippines. It was pretty fun to see him performing our song. That song went crazy Kylie Minogue has sang it, Tom Jones has sang it, Jessie J has sang it. The Voice s success around the world is like a big family and we all support each other. Do you have a favourite Black Eyed Peas song? Back in the day, pre Elephunk days, they had a song called Request Line. It s not unlike a Script song the guitar line in it. And Macy Gray sang it. Are there any of their songs that you think oh I wish I d written that? Where is The Love? is obviously the biggest one because that culminated in Justin Timberlake coming of age as well. And although a lot of people thought Fergie was singing the song, it s Justin s backgrounds on it as well with her melody on top. When I perform it now the backgrounds that I m singing along to are Justin Timberlake. It s really strange because at the time I was a broke musician living in LA and I heard that song and now I m performing it on stage with them at their 20th anniversary celebration. Will is such a good friend, when he asked me to perform at this special I was like of course yes! What do you think it is that makes the Black Eyed Peas so special? They re always on the forefront of new sounds. Most of my conversations with him are like what do you think of the new beat?, what do you think of the Cuban? What do you think of the Afro Cuban? You think that s gonna come in? How long do you think that s gonna be around for? In the way fashionistas would discuss clothing trends, we re literally talking about fashion too but with kicks and snares and sounds. Even yesterday when I saw him and I had seen him in a while and we just got on the mic, no rehearsal, just tried some stuff out and it sounded really good. We were like we ve got to get in the studio. So, let s see. Maybe there ll be a new collaboration. Watch this space. Tell me about your performance on the show. I m performing a song called Big Love. I remember him telling me about the song a while ago and it s one of my favourite songs on the new record. He s asked me sing it on the show and play the guitar which is a bit of a treat for me. And then I ll be taking part in the big finale where I also reunite with Tom Jones and all the guests to sing Where Is The Love? We actually sang it on the first season of The Voice so it s a reunion performance for three of us too. Any exciting plans for Christmas?
Yeah, I m actually going to Temple Street Children s Hospital [Dublin] on Christmas morning. I ve been doing it for ten years. I showed up 9 years ago and I didn t have a clue what I was doing but I just said I wanted to come and say hello and they took me on their rounds. And then the next year we had 2 more people and the year after 5 people and then 10 and now we have two groups of thirty visiting each Christmas and Father Christmas comes too. We do the rounds and we visit everywhere from the ER to the terminal wards. We do it from 8am until 2pm. We just want to try and make a difficult day a little bit better. Since my father passed away Christmas has changed for me so I just wanted to change the energy and do something good for someone else. And do you have any New Year Resolutions? Yes, we re going to make The Script bigger and better. We want to play the Emirates. We normally do a few o2 nights but we d like to repeat what we did in Ireland with a crowd of 80,000 so that s the goal for next year. We ve got record six to come next year as well. Yeah, 2019 is going to be a big one.