Taboo

Taboo

Jaime Luis Gómez (born July 14, 1975), better known by his stage name Taboo, is an American singer, actor, and rapper best known as a member of the group The Black Eyed Peas.

Gómez was born in Boyle Heights, Los Angeles, California. His father is Mexican American and mother is of Shoshone Native American ancestry. He attended Rosemead High School (class of 1993), and was educated at the Garvey Intermediate. Two days before his 33rd birthday, Taboo married Jaymie Dizon in Pasadena, California on July 12, 2008. will.i.am and apl.de.ap served as groomsmen. The couple had their first child, Jimmy Jalen Gomez on July 19, 2009 and their second, Journey, on April 19, 2011. He has another son from a previous relationship, Joshua, who was born October 13, 1993. An autobiography, “Fallin’ Up: My Story”, co-authored with Steve Dennis, was released in February 2011.

The Black Eyed Peas date back to 1988, when eighth-graders William Adams (will.i.am) and Allan Pineda (apl.de.ap) met and began rapping and performing together around Los Angeles. The pair signed to Ruthless Records (run by Eazy-E) in 1992, catching the attention of Eazy-E manager, Jerry Heller’s, nephew. Along with another friend of theirs, Dante Santiago, they called their trio Atban Klann (ATBAN: A Tribe Beyond a Nation).[9] Will 1X (aka will.i.am)apl.de.ap, Mookie Mook, DJ Motiv8 (aka Monroe Walker) and Dante Santiago formed Atban Klann. Their debut album, Grass Roots, was never released because Ruthless founder Eazy-E had died.

After Eazy-E died in 1995, Atban Klann reformed and changed their name to Black Eyed Pods, and then Black Eyed Peas. Dante Santiago was replaced with Jaime Gomez (Taboo), and Kim Hill became a steady background singer. Unlike many hip-hop acts, they chose to perform with a live band and adopted a musical and clothing style that differed wildly from the “Gangsta Rap” sounds of Los Angeles-based hip-hop acts at the time. Taboo is known primarily for his guttural spoken reprises of the last few words of a sung lyric, as well as emphatic flourishes between vocal parts, such as “Yeah,” “Uh-Huh,” “Hey Hey Hey Hey,” and other such memorable catch phrases. His multi-ethnic appearance provides the “United Colors of Benneton” look the Black Eyed Peas’ marketing team identified as essential for commercial success. After being signed to Interscope Records and releasing their debut, Behind the Front (1998) the group (and their accompanying live band) earned critical acclaim. One of the singles from the album was “Joints & Jam”, and was featured on the Bulworth soundtrack. Their second album was Bridging the Gap (2000), which had the single “Request + Line” featuring Macy Gray.

In 2003 Fergie became the fourth member of the group and the group gained international fame being the today 6 time Grammy Awarded hip hop group with an estimated of 60 million records sold worldwide.They released their third album “Elephunk”, with the hit singles “Where Is the Love?” and “Shut Up”.Their next album Monkey Business, was a worldwide success, certified 4× Platinum in the U.S., and spawning two singles, “My Humps” and “Don’t Phunk with My Heart”.

In 2009, the group became one of only 11 artists to have simultaneously held the No. 1 and No. 2 spots on the Billboard Hot 100, with their singles “Boom Boom Pow” and “I Gotta Feeling”, with the next single “Meet Me Halfway” achieving similar success, from the album The E.N.D.. These three singles topped the chart for an unprecedented 30 consecutive weeks in 2009. The album later produced a third Hot 100 number-one placement with “Imma Be”, making the group one of few to ever place three number one singles on the chart from the same album before being followed with “Rock That Body” which managed to peak in the Top 10 of Hot 100. “I Gotta Feeling” became the first single to sell more than 1 million downloads in the United Kingdom.

The Black Eyed Peas were ranked 12th on the Billboard’s Decade-End Chart Artist of the Decade, and 7th in the Hot 100 Artists of the Decade.In November 2010, they released the album The Beginning. The first single of the album was “The Time (Dirty Bit)” and topped the charts in many countries. In February 2011, the group performed at the Super Bowl XLV halftime show. The album’s second single was “Just Can’t Get Enough” and was released in February 2011. The music video was filmed in Japan one week before the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The third single “Don’t Stop the Party” was released in May 2011. In July 2011 the group announced that they are taking a break and have denied breakup.

Source: Wikipedia