The artist Slash called “one of the most phenomenal rock singers ever”
For all of the great talents that Slash has, don’t ask him to get behind the microphone. He has remained the silent one onstage throughout his career for a reason, and considering the amount of great guitar solos he has under his belt, he does a lot of talking with his fingers half the time anyway. But once he decided to dust off some of his old licks for his solo album, there was a round-robin of singers waiting for him, and one of the best rock performances came out of Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas.
Considering how Velvet Revolver had split up just a few years prior, it felt like Slash needed a record like this to get everything out of his system. After all, his last two major bands fell prey to singers who were notoriously difficult to work with, so why not play things in reverse and have everyone come to him?
While there were a few notable exceptions that were left off the track listing, the album reads like an all-star cast of rock vocalists circa 2010, with everyone from Chris Cornell to Ozzy Osbourne to Iggy Pop turning in performances on the record. So, with all those names, how did we land on Fergie?
For everyone who picked up the record upon release, the most that people knew about Fergie was that the singer who sang all of the hooks on every Black Eyed Peas. Sure, her voice was sweet enough playing off of will.i.am, but that’s not exactly someone that fits within the model of rock, right?
Wrong. When Slash first checked out artists for the project, he knew he needed to find a place for Fergie on a song like ‘Beautiful Dangerous’. Instead of the different digitised schlock that the Peas were going through, Slash first got familiar with her voice when working on the touring circuit, with her coming up halfway through a set to sing a version of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Black Dog’.
After playing a handful of shows, Slash thought it was a no-brainer for her to eventually show up on the record, saying, “I heard her do ‘Barracuda’, the old Heart song, and I was like, f—in’ wow! I ended up doing a couple of shows with her where she sang ‘Barracuda’ and ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’. She’s one of the most phenomenal rock ‘n’ roll singers, male or female, I’ve ever heard.”
That attitude is palpable from the minute that she starts singing as well. Although the lyrics aren’t meant to be deep by any measure, the pre-chorus of the song especially shows off her rock chops, almost sounding like the raspier sections of Guns N’ Roses songs when Axl Rose starts getting angry.
A version of Fergie and Slash going on the road could have been the pop crossover that the 2010s needed, but the unintended winner amongst the pack was Myles Kennedy, performing on ‘Back From Cali’ and ‘Starlight’ before eventually working in Slash’s solo band full time during his off days from Alter Bridge. Still, if there is ever a time for Slash to play solo again or Rose decides that he has a sore throat, Fergie could step in as a decent replacement and actually hold her own.
