will.i.am
will i am is a performer, music producer, creative innovator, technologist and social entrepreneur.
He first rose to fame as a member of , who have sold over thirty million albums and fifty eight million singles worldwide. As a producer he has worked with some of the biggest names in pop including , , , , and .
In 2012 will became the first recording artist to send a song to the planet Mars when his 鈥樷�� was played from NASA鈥檚 Curiosity Mars Space Lab.
During the 2008 American presidential campaign, putting the words of candidate Barack Obama to music called 鈥榊es We Can鈥� was credited with having a major impact on younger voters, and the video went viral online.
In Britain, will is a coach on , and he is about to take a similar role on The Voice Australia in 2014.
will grew up in a social housing project in the Boyle Heights district of East Los Angeles, where he was brought up by his mother. He travelled across the city daily to be educated at a high school in Brentwood as part of the Magnet program for gifted students, and credits his exposure to this kind of education as life-changing. He is now a passionate advocate for education, in particular in skills to prepare students for a technological future 鈥� science, technology, engineering and maths.
His i.am angel foundation promotes the importance of a good education, and the i.am scholarship provides future innovators with financial assistance for college. The foundation is also active in the UK through an education and computer skills joint initiative with The Prince鈥檚 Trust.
In 2013 will embarked on his as a solo artist, and at the same time put the finishing touches to his own new centre in East LA devoted to creative innovation called 鈥楾he Future鈥�, which includes space for computer programmers, music and media producers, and devisers of new technology.
