andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

If I could party with any celebrity, it would be The Black Eyed Peas. And I think that’s exactly what they are going for. After all, they have managed to make a living off it.

Their latest album, The E.N.D. is a self-proclaimed party soundtrack and has skyrocketed them to the top of the Billboard charts in a record-breaking leap. Between singles “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling”, BEP clocked in 20 weeks up there, beating legends like Elvis Presley and The Beatles.

The record isn’t a new theme for the group who have made a name for themselves with songs like “Let’s Get Retarded” and “Pump It”. Not much has changed in the four years since their last release. Except the resurfacing of mainstream electro-house music, which the peas were exposed to on various world tours and quickly adapted to fit their hip-pop repertoire thanks to guest DJs like Mstrkrft and Crookers.

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B.E.P members Fergie, apl.de.ap, Taboo and will.i.am have announced the release date for their anticipated studio album, scheduled to hit stores on June 9.

This will mark the group’s first studio recording since 2005’s “Monkey Business” which earned them four Grammy awards.

B.E.P is also expected to go on tour for their upcoming album titled The E.N.D. The acronym stands for The Energy Never Dies. Dates and cities for the tour have yet to be confirmed.

“When [the album] comes out, there’ll be 12 songs on it, but the next day there could be 100 songs, 50 sketches, 1,000 blogs all around The E.N.D., so the energy really, truly never dies.,” will.i.am said to Billboard last year.

Will.i.am told Billboard to expect “a lot of dance stuff, real melodic, electronic, soulful. We call it, like, electric static funk, something like that”.

Black Eyed Peas songstress Fergie will play a prostitute in her latest film.

According to CTV.ca, Fergie will play Saraghina in the film “Nine”, directed by “Chicago” director, Rob Marshall.

Fergie, whose real name is Stacy Ann Ferguson, will be among box office giants like Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Judi Dench and Kate Hudson who have also signed on to the film.

The film was adapted from the Tony Award winning musical.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press Fergie said, “I’m singing, but I’m not singing as myself. I’m going to be singing as a character, and that’s what’s really exciting to me.”

Fergie has also appeared in the 2006 film “Poseidon” as well as 07’s “Grindhouse”.

“Nine” is set to begin filming in October.

Singer Fergie has signed a deal with Brown Shoe to create a new line of footwear.

The Black Eyed Peas singer is collaborating with the footwear company in order to capture her fashionable and glam style.

Although the collection is scheduled to debut for spring 2009, retailers will have an opportunity to look at her designs this June 2008 Fashion Footwear Association of New York (FFANY) shoe show.

“I have always loved fashion because it’s a great way to express your mood. And I’m definitely a shoe lover. The right pair of shoes can change the feel of an outfit, and even change how a woman feels about herself,” says Fergie.

Other plans regarding Fergie’s footwear collection include launching a website and personal appearances.

Fergie is engaged to actor Josh Duhamel, TMZ.com has reported.

Duhamel’s rep confirmed the news, saying that Duhamel popped the question recently, but it was not on Christmas. The couple have been dating since 2004.

In a interview with Playboy earlier this year, Fergie admitted that Duhamel keeps things hot in the bedroom by dancing seductively for her, “in some very interesting outfits… He wants to. He likes dancing.”

Fergie had better wear some tall high-heeled shoes on the big day, or she’ll have to have her first dance on her hubby’s feet. She is 5′4″ while Duhamel is 6′3″.

The hard-shelled Fergalicious Fergie Ferg, solo artist and front-man of the chart topping hit makers The Black Eyed Peas has always seemed like a tough cookie.

However, in a recent interview with Blender magazine, where she was named the mag’s woman of the year, the singer reportedly got pretty emotional when the subject of her long-term boyfriend, Josh Duhamel, came up. As she was being commended for all of her achievements in the music industry thus far, the humble Fergie insisted that behind every great woman is a very great man.

“He understands how to treat a woman and give me respect. And I’m gonna miss him on tour,” the bombshell gushed.

“I’m madly in love with him.”

Fergie is set to hit the road to tour her tunes around the country, including her latest smash hit “Clumsy”, and “Big Girls Don’t Cry” which earned her a Grammy. Although touring should be exciting, the singer is in fact a little down about the whole thing. Why? Because the aforementioned love of her life, Duhamel, will not be joining her.

Through tears, the singer expressed just how much she’ll miss her boyfriend, to whom she is “practically married”, and also how thrilled she was to be named Blender’s woman of the year.

I can’t believe you made me cry. I’m so embarrassed. And I’m f—ing up my eyeliner.”

I guess Big Girls do cry, after all.

A Black Eyed Peas’ show was cut short, as police forced the hitmakers to throw in the towel due to complaints that the sound was too loud.

Performing an outdoor concert at an event marking the opening of the Hard Rock Hotel San Diego police officers arrived to shut the show down, E! News reported.

Being the lady that she is, Fergie very calmly informed the fans that the show would need to be cut short, but not before playing their smash hit “Where is the Love” which they reportedly, perhaps a little facetiously, dedicated to the police who waited near by.

According to a Hard Rock representative, the show was only 90 minutes into it’s scheduled rump-shaking agenda when the police requested that they pack it in. Apparently, locals were complain about the loud music, some from as far as two miles away.

In addition to the concert, the Peas designed a suite for the hotel. All of the profits gained from the use of the pea-themed room are to be generously donated to the Peapod Foundation, the band’s personal charity.

NELLY FURTADO has further fuelled a war of words between her and FERGIE after hitting back at comments The Black Eyed Peas star made about her on radio last week.

Fergie told Los Angeles DJ Ryan Seacrest that she and Furtado had fallen out over a lyrics mix up when she appeared on his morning show last week.

Furtado appeared on the same show days later and admitted she was puzzled about why her pop rival was still talking about the spat.

She told the host, “We spoke about it face to face… We kinda cleared it up about a month ago… I thought it was water under the bridge.

“I threw the first punch, technically, thinking she had thrown the first punch. She told me she did not and then I said, ‘You know what, I’m sorry…’ I’m sure we’ll be friends again in the future.

“I’m not a bully, I’m just an artist and when you’re an artist you have a certain artistic license and when you feel things intuitively and you feel like you’ve been insulted or hurt you just react.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

THE BLACK EYED PEAS frontwoman FERGIE has sent ALANIS MORISSETTE a derriere-shaped cake after being impressed by the rocker’s version of My Humps.

After the video for Morissette’s version of the band’s hit song My Humps became a worldwide sensation on video website YouTube, the star sent the Canadian singer a congratulatory cake with a note attached reading “Alanis, you’re a genius. Love, Fergie.”

In Morissette’s video for the song, she sings a down-tempo version of the hit track while surrounded by men wearing sunglasses and fedora.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

Former British royal SARAH FERGUSON is desperate for a man in her life but fears they are “terrified” of her.

The DUCHESS OF YORK hasn’t dated for five years and admits she is “very lonely”, but believes her fame and brutal honesty puts prospective partners off.

She says, “I’d like to date but I don’t meet men. Besides, they’re terrified of me.

“Not only do I come with the world’s press but I’m 47 and I say what I feel. I’m not going to play games.”

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.