The Black Eyed Peas to Replace Fergie With Ashanti?

Are The Black Eyed Peas in the midst of finding a new female lead? According to a report from MediaTakeOut.com, The Black Eyed Peas intend to replace singer Fergie with R & B singer Ashanti. A source tells the site that the group has been "looking for a replacement for some time."

Multi-platinum recording artist Fergie began her career early, first as the voice for the cartoon series Charlie Brown as both Sally and Lucy, later as a cast member of Kids Incorporated during her teen years, followed by joining the all-female pop trio Wild Orchid. She joined The Black Eyed Peas in 2002, and was on hand when the release of their first disc together, Elephunk, went triple platinum.

The mega-single "Let's Get It Started," earned The Peas an award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Two years later the follow-up Monkey Business yielded five Top 40 hits including "Don't Phunk With My Heart" and "My Humps" and has sold over nine million copies worldwide. Once again, The Black Eyed Peas won an award for the Best Rap Performance for "Don't Phunk With My Heart." In 2006, Fergie released her debut solo album, The Dutchess, which sold over 6 million copies worldwide.

The Black Eye Peas fifth CD, The E.N.D. entered the Billboard Top 200 chart at #1. "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling" spent 26 consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The Black Eyed Peas made Billboard history with the longest successive stay at the top of the chart.

Fergie had a starring role in the award-nominated feature film, NINE.