Fergie might be the star of this week’s Puyallup Fair line-up. The ex-Wild Orchid singer and frontwoman for the hip-hop/R&B group Black Eyed Peas will perform solo on Tuesday.
Add fashion designer, actress, model and voice-over artist (Lucy and Sally in the cartoon series “Charlie Brown”) to her resume, and it’s easy to see why the music magazine Blender named her Woman of the Year in 2007.
Fergie’s 2006 debut solo album, “The Duchess,” earned three Billboard Hot 100 singles and five top-five hits. The single “Fergalicious” topped the same chart.
A year later, she won the American Music Awards’ pop or rock Favorite Female Artist. Her single “Big Girls Don’t Cry” won a Grammy nomination.
The Puyallup Fair ‘tween crowd should flock to tonight’s concert. The lineup includes Varsity Fan Club offering dance-oriented pop and R&B; Mexican-American pop duo Prima J bringing a Latin flavor to hip-hop, pop and R&B; teenage pop singer-songwriter Jordan Pruitt (discovered at age 13 when she was a gothic metal singer) and the pop girl group Clique Girlz.
Ronnie Milsap and the Tacoma Symphony offer a counterpoint three days later. Pop-country singer Milsap was the first blind country singing star and one of its best crossover artists. Milsap has more than 40 chart-topping country songs.
Another concert from the past is the Wednesday show with Frankie Valli and his Four Seasons, members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. Think “Sherry,” “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” and “Big Girls Don’t Cry.”
Seven-time Grammy-winning singer Al Jarreau (wins in R&B, pop and jazz) and vocal group Manhattan Transfer (jazz, big band, pop) share the stage on Thursday.
Whidbey Island Old-Time Bluegrass Pickers Festival: The festival returns for a day-long event with regional musicians, featuring Chickweed, Down the Road, Swords into Plowshares, The Rural Characters and Deadwood Revival.
Endfest ‘08: Punk rockers Bad Religion, Presidents of the United States, dance-punkers The Faint, Irish-American rapper Everlast and indie pop band Ting Tings are among the groups performing at the 2008 version of Endfest.
Michael Franti: The socially conscious hip-hopper, poet and musician gained increased recognition with his band Spearhead. In 2006, the album “Yell Fire” was released, inspired by his Middle East trip. His new studio album is called “All Rebel Rockers.”
Out and about: Showbox SoDo is loaded this week. Rancid is sold out tonight, partly thanks to the band’s rep as one of the revivers of mainstream punk rock. Originally a side project of the industrial music group Front Line Assembly, Delerium (Saturday) ranges through soundscapes and electronic pop. It’s theatrics and electronic dance music when Britain’s Goldfrapp is in charge (Wednesday) with music from “The Seventh Tree.” But the biggest draw may be hip-hopper and film actor Common (formerly Common Sense), who has won two Grammy awards. He’ll share stage time with N*E*R*D on Thursday.
The English group Squeeze was popular during the UK’s New Wave era in the 1980s and 1990s but little known in the U.S. The band is now reunited for tours (Tuesday, Showbox Market) … Be alert if you’re near the stage. Brit electro-rockers Does it Offend You, Yeah? might be busting instruments and flying by the end of the show. Last year Offend was nominated for the DJ Magazine Best of British Breakthrough Artist Award (Wednesday, Chop Suey) … Texas indie rockers Okkervil River have been praised for lyrics and instrumentation. The band’s newest album is “The Stand Ins,” released this month (Wednesday, Showbox Market).
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