Will.i.am

will.i.am
will.i.am at the World Economic Forum in 2023
Born	William James Adams Jr. (1975-03-15) March 15, 1975 (age 50) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Other names	Will 1X illwilly Willonex Zuper Blahq
Alma mater	Harvard Business School
Occupations	Rapper singer songwriter record producer entrepreneur actor
Years active	1988–present
Organization	i.am+
Works	Discography filmography production
Relatives	Lynn Cain (maternal uncle)
Awards	Full list
Musical career
Genres	Hip-hop pop rap dance-pop[1] electropop[2] pop[3] R&B[4]
Instruments	Vocals keyboards bass drums
Labels	Epic E1 Interscope Beat Generation will.i.am Barely Breaking Even Atlantic Ruthless
Member of	Black Eyed Peas
Website	will.i.am
Musical artist

William James Adams Jr. (born March 15, 1975), known professionally as will.i.am (pronounced "will I am"), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the frontman of the musical group Black Eyed Peas, which he formed with fellow rappers apl.de.ap and Taboo in 1995. The group has released nine studio albums, and saw their highest success with the pop rap albums Elephunk (2003), Monkey Business (2005), The E.N.D. (2009), and The Beginning (2010). He served as lead vocalist since its formation, although for the albums, he did so alongside singer-songwriter Fergie — who joined the group in 2002 and departed after the latter.

As a solo artist, Adams released his first two albums, Lost Change (2001) and Must B 21 (2003) to lukewarm commercial response. The former was released by Atlantic Records, while the latter contained the song "Go!", which served as theme music for NBA Live 2005 and Madden NFL 2005. His third album, Songs About Girls (2007), spawned the Billboard Hot 100-top 40 single "I Got It From My Mama", and moderately entered the Billboard 200 – his first solo project to do so. His fourth album, #willpower (2013), peaked at number nine on the latter chart, and was supported by the former chart's top five hit, "Scream & Shout" (with Britney Spears). In addition, his guest appearances on Fergie's 2006 single "Fergalicious" and Usher's 2010 single "OMG" peaked at numbers two and one on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.

A prolific record producer and songwriter, Adams has amassed credits on releases for music industry artists, including Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Jennifer Hudson, U2, Kesha, Lady Gaga, Psy, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, Estelle, Kid Cudi, Nas, Robin Thicke, John Legend, Cheryl, and 2NE1, among others. From both his solo career and groupwork with the Black Eyed Peas, he has had 41 UK singles chart-top 40 entries since 1998, and has sold 9.4 million singles in the country.^[5] He founded a self-titled record label in 1998, which has signed artists including LMFAO, Kelis, and Macy Gray.

Outside of music, Adams founded the technology company i.am+ in 2013, and has served as a panelist and mentor on the reality competition series The Voice UK (2012–present), The Voice Australia (2014), and The Voice Kids (2017–2023). He is the recipient of seven Grammy Awards, a Latin Grammy Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award.