Will.i.am (11 page)

At this stage, Will could have lived by the motto of ‘the show must go on’. Instead, he brought the ‘show’ to a crashing conclusion. He cut dead the
music and announced over the microphone the news he had just had confirmed to him. The festive atmosphere disappeared in an instant, and tears were shed – some of them from Will’s
eyes.

Will had spoken to Jackson just four days before, he later revealed. ‘He called me to wish me happy Father’s Day even though I don’t have any children. He said, “I just
wanted to call and say have a good day anyway.” I told him, “OK, I will grab my crotch and wish myself happy Father’s Day for all my unborn children.” He laughed and said,
“You’re so funny.”’

In fact, Jackson’s gesture touched Will deeply. He realized that, for fatherless Will, Father’s Day could be an emotional challenge. The call was Jackson’s thoughtful way of
reaching out. Will had attempted to contact him around the same time, but found that Jackson was forever busy. His last contact, albeit indirectly, with Jackson had been just days before his death,
when, while Will was djing at a club in Wandsworth, south-west London, one of Jackson’s choreographers approached him. ‘He came over and told me Michael wanted to get the Peas to open
his gigs at the O2,’ said Will in
Billboard
magazine. ‘Man, that would have been so amazing. Imagine us together on stage. Awesome.’
Instead, fate
intervened. ‘It’s so sad,’ said Will, reflecting on Jackson’s death. ‘He was my friend and the biggest inspiration of my life. I’m going to miss him.’

Before long, he felt he had to go to war on behalf of his friend and inspiration. In 2010, a posthumous album of Jackson tracks was released. Will was utterly horrified. He first spoke out in
August, as publicity for the album,
Michael
, began. ‘How you gonna release Michael Jackson when Michael Jackson ain’t here to bless it?’ he asked, rhetorically, in the
NME
. After the album’s producer said that he was following Jackson’s ‘notes and plans’, the row rolled on.

Several parties made conflicting claims to understand and be serving Jackson’s wishes. The man himself was unable to clear matters up, so Will did his best to honour his friend’s
wishes. As part of this process, he related a conversation the two had about a leaked song. ‘A couple of months before Michael died he called me on the phone really upset,’ he said.
‘[Jackson said] “Hey, it’s Michael, somebody leaked one of these songs.” And I said, “What song, Mike?” And he said, “Some song called ‘Hold My
Hand’.” I swear to God, I had this conversation with him.’ Having been hit by leaked tracks himself, Will could empathize with Jackson’s feelings.

As for
Michael
, Will was forthright in his assessment of
its release. ‘Whoever put it out and is profiting off of it, I want to see how cold they are,’
he told the Sun. ‘To say that what [Jackson] contributed during his life wasn’t enough. He just wasn’t any ordinary artist. He was a hands-on person. To me it’s
disrespectful. Michael Jackson songs are finished when Michael says they’re finished.’ Akon, the artist who collaborated with Jackson on the song that became the posthumous single
‘Hold My Hand’, hit back, saying: ‘I think that’s probably Will’s opinion. Me personally, I think that’s keeping his legacy alive. I don’t see anything
disrespectful about it. He got his people taking care of it. We all did records that we actually worked on together on the album. These records would have come out whether he was alive or dead, so
I think this actually helps to keep his legacy alive. I honestly disagree with that.’

Will remained robust in his position, saying he would only change his mind about posthumous releases if Jackson’s mother were to contact him and say the plans had her blessing. Until such
a point, any releases of unfinished Jackson material would only be made, said Will, by ‘freaking parasites!’.

Putting the tragedy of Jackson’s death and the subsequent controversy to one side, it had been an immense experience for Will to work with him. Nothing could change that. So much more
could have come of their working relationship,
had Jackson not died. Will says he was on the brink of setting up a duet between Jackson and Cheryl Cole. ‘I told Michael
Cheryl was the hottest thing in the UK and he was keen to meet her,’ he told the
People
. ‘I was gonna write them a song.’

For Will, Jackson will never be bettered commercially. ‘He holds the highest amount of records that you could sell – no one’s ever going to sell that amount of records,’
he said. ‘Why? Because there are no more record stores. So you’re never going to beat his records. Never, ever, ever in the history of records in life.’ His deep respect for
Jackson partially explains why Will refused to accept any expenses from Jackson for the time he spent working with him in the studio. The remainder of the explanation is that Will had grown
appalled by the tales of ‘hangers-on’ taking advantage of Jackson and his wealth.

‘A week before the trip, he was like, “My manager is gonna call you to make sure all the travel stuff [is taken care of]”,’ Will told Starpulse. ‘[He asked me]
“Do you fly commercial or private?” I was like, “Don’t worry about my flights; I’ll pay for my flights ... So many people have taken advantage of you in the past ...
it will be my honour to take myself there and let’s just make music to make music. You don’t pay for my flight, I won’t charge you my fees and if we make good music then the song
will make [me] money.”
He’s had a history of people just taking advantage of his success and camping out in the studio and charging him outrageous rates.’

The exploitation continues to this day: in March 2012, Jackson’s entire back catalogue, including the tracks he collaborated on with Will, were stolen from Sony by online hackers. It was a
posthumous reminder of the sort of trends that Jackson had talked to Will about when, remembered Will, Jackson told him ‘how cruel people can be’. Will has also spoken of how cruel he
felt the media was to Jackson. While Will has never made a clear statement on his feelings over the sexual-abuse allegations that haunted Jackson, he has spoken of the unfair level of
‘scrutiny’ his friend and idol had to face during his life.

One is left with a sense of lost opportunity. Jackson came across as an increasingly spent force in the latter years of his life. Both creatively and personally he seemed to be in the depths of
the doldrums. Yet there was no doubting his talent and potential. A key element he lacked in his life was the presence of a sincere, gifted and enthusiastic backer. He did get one, in the form of
Will, but sadly it was too late. One can only speculate as to what the two men could have created together had there been more time.

‘Something needs to put a jolt back in the music industry,’ said Will, interviewed in
Access Hollywood
alongside
Jackson in 2006. ‘The only person
that can put that jolt back in it, that monstrosity of entertainment and music is the one that created it.’ By that, he meant Jackson. During the same interview, Jackson was asked whether he
wanted his comeback to be a gradual, tentative affair, or something bigger than that. The King of Pop seemed uncertain how to answer, his lack of confidence clearly on show. ‘I can answer
that as a fan,’ said Will, intervening. ‘Big’. In retrospective it’s a chilling moment, underlining what Will could have offered the wayward superstar.

How to sum up what an icon Jackson had been to Will? In an emotional video blog in 2012, he put into context what Jackson had meant to him, as he grew up. ‘When you’re in the ghetto
surrounded by crime and violence,’ said Will his eyes welling up as he searched for the right words. ‘You gave me escape. I escaped from all the drama around me, listening to your
music. Thank you, Michael Jackson. Thank you for your dedication, thank you for your music, thank you for the dreams. I used to wanna dance like you. I used to draw pictures of you.’
Describing Jackson as ‘the king of the industry’, he declared that ‘there will never be another artist who will impact the industry the way you have’.

Will has, though, worked with other musical icons, including pop princess Britney Spears, on her seventh album,
Femme Fatale
. ‘I just came from the studio right
now,’ he told Associated Press, following one of their sessions. ‘It’s a monster. It’s mean, pretty, edgy, next level. But the beat just ... It’s that
beat. She’s singing fresh over it. It’s something that today needs.’

In a separate interview, with
Extra
, he elaborated. ‘It’s mean, but a nice mean. It’s hard, but melodic. It’s aggressive, but smooth. It’s the next level,
but today. She’s a sweetheart. We made music and that’s what I like. When you’re doing things because you just love it, without the, ya know, “we need a single”
pressure, when you’re just in there having fun, that’s what I love.’

His boyish enthusiasm shines through afresh in his words. One senses that, to a large extent, it is when producing for other artists that Will is at his happiest. The innocence he feels in such
scenarios is robbed from him when working with his own band, with all the added pressure that entails.

He has also entered that bubble of innocence with Irish rock icons U2. He felt too nervous and in awe of them to suggest one of his songs for them to record. Instead, he said, he stuck to
production duties. ‘I recorded for a month with U2. Even though I worked with Michael Jackson, their U2-ness intimidated me,’ he told
NME
magazine. Indeed, Will has been
accused of borrowing the melody for ‘I Gotta Feeling’ from the U2 track ‘I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight’.

Jimmy Iovine has pointed out that there is a connection between the tracks, but only in the sense of inspiration. ‘I sent will.i.am over to the studio to do some
remixes on “I’ll Go Crazy”,’ he told the
Sun
. ‘He works on them for two weeks, comes back and writes “I Gotta Feeling”.’ Iovine added:
‘The chords are U2 chords, 100 per cent. Will even told them.’

Will’s excitement at working with rock gods U2 might surprise some. However, his musical tastes are far broader than casual perusal might suggest. Furthermore, Will was inspired by the
band’s longevity as much as anything. Formed in 1976, the Irish band has dominated the music scene since they first enjoyed chart success in the mid-1980s. ‘I look at U2 and think,
“Wow, I hope our group can stay together that long and still make brilliant music”,’ Will told the
Sun
. ‘And just being around Bono and the guys is inspiring.
It’s like how a government should be. Bono for president of the world, I say.’

When The Black Eyed Peas had toured with U2, they had been impressed by how down to earth the Irish front man was. In sharp contrast with their experience with the Rolling Stones a few years
earlier, the two bands had mingled happily backstage. In his autobiography, Taboo writes that the most contact they had was a brief ‘Hi, guys’, from the Stones, before going their
separate ways. There
were no hard feelings from Will and his band over this – Will would later work with Mick Jagger – but the open and friendly Bono certainly made
a refreshing change.

It is little wonder that Will so admires the energetic Bono: the tireless way in which Will himself approaches life is remarkable. Observed from afar it would be hard to believe that here was a
man already a multimillionaire. Although the royalties from his Black Eyed Peas material were rolling in, he continued to work with the ferocity and energy of a man struggling to keep his financial
head above water. No amount of money, it seemed, could satisfy his hunger, not least because Will has never been motivated by purely financial dreams. Rather, it is the satisfaction of creativity
and positivity that so drive him.

His fortune was about to be added to dramatically, though, as the band released a song that would dwarf even the iconic ‘Where is the Love?’.

D
uring the summer of 2009, The Black Eyed Peas made chart history when they had singles simultaneously at number one and number two in the US
Billboard
chart. How they got to such a position itself tells the story of their fifth album:
The E.N.D
.

For Will, that story began down under in Sydney, Australia. He was there to film his part in a new movie,
X-Men Origins
:
Wolverine
. Having made his cinematic debut voicing the
part of a hippo named Moto Moto in the 2008 animated film
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa
, he took a step up with the
X-Men
franchise. He explained his role, and its filming, in an
interview with MTV. ‘I’m a teleporter, I’m here, I’m there, I’m everywhere. Boom, boom, boom!’ he said. ‘My character’s name is John Wraith.
He’s a black Texan. He’s not a cowboy, but his gear suggests that he is. He’s just a badass who’ll whoop your ass.’

He was so excited to land the part, and had a battle scar
to show for his involvement. He explained that he acquired the scar during the filming of an intense scene.
‘It was my fight scene. I was real into it, and then I missed my mark, and I punched the camera and broke the lens! But that goes to show you. I ain’t to be messed with, because I break
lenses!’

The camera was fixed and filming resumed, but, by Will’s own admission, the scene had to be reshot a number of times before he nailed it. ‘It probably took me fifty times, but I got
it. It was hard for me, but it was cool and fun at the same time.’ (Another challenge the experience threw up was its placing of Will alongside the action-movie hero actor Hugh Jackman. Will
said that this made him feel fat in comparison. ‘Hugh is ripped, man,’ he told the
Daily Mail
. ‘I saw him every morning and felt bad about my body.’)

While filming in Australia, he had asked some youngsters where the best hip-hop clubs could be found. They could not know it at the time, but their reply would ultimately shape the sound of the
next Black Eyed Peas’ album. They told him that as far as they were concerned it was not hip-hop that was cool any more, but electro music. He investigated the scene and was enlivened and
inspired as a result. He loved this new sub-genre of dance music, with its basic, but almost hypnotizing, beats.