Voice star Will.i.am on growing up in tough Los Angeles ghetto

Voice star Will.i.am on growing up in tough Los Angeles ghetto

He said: “I grew up in a Mexican neighbourhood in LA and we were the only black family. There were a lot of gangs. A lot of my friends are dead, were in prison, on drugs or were selling drugs. That is how growing up was.

“You either joined the gang or you did arts or sports. My attire got me through, though. The louder you dressed, it became obvious that you were not in a gang.

“I took safety in dressing up so people knew me to be different from people in T-shirts and baggy pants.

“In the ghetto there is only one outfit and that is long T-shirts. So every ghetto family has them. My mom was strict though and she made me wear suits to school.”

Will vowed to steer clear of trouble on the streets of his Boyle Heights neighbourhood by playing the fool and entertaining pals and relatives.

The star â€" real name Will Adams â€" said: “They called me fool... and that was a term of endearment and I used to rap and that is what kept me out of trouble. It kept me safe.

“I was the kid at the Thanksgiving dinners where I was told, ‘Eh Willy, dance. Do that dance... and I was like, ‘Look mom!’

“That’s how I started, entertaining my grandma and uncles then the neighbourhood knuckleheads. That’s how they talked in my neighbourhood.”

Will soon formed a dance crew called Tribal Nation with his pal Allan Pineda Lindo, who would stay with him to become his Black Eyed Peas bandmate Apl.de.ap.

When The Black Eyed Peas took off, the cash started rolling in and Will was “baffled” to be earning so much.

He said: “When you are from the ghetto there is no financial literacy. When I first got Peas cheques I used to put them in my glove compartment and lock it.

“My friends were like, ‘Let’s go to a club,’ so I used to open it and there were five cheques â€" $400,000 of uncashed cheques. My friends used to ask what I was doing and I told them I was saving.

“I had a bank account but I never wanted to spend the money.

“They used to ask me if I had an accountant but I used to say, ‘What for? There is nothing to count. I know how much is already there.’

“You don’t know anything when you are in the ghetto, especially when everyone is poor. I learned the hard way.

“I bought the house and paid mortgages by sitting in ad agencies on the last Thursday of every month consulting brands for our music. I bought my mom a house doing a Dr Pepper commercial and the money baffled me.”

Will has now made so much cash â€" he is said to be worth up to £50million â€" he is ploughing some of it back into good causes. He said: “I am living pretty, getting crazy cheques just to play music.

“One time I was DJ-ing and I was surprised how much I got and I thought, ‘We should send kids to school with this money and save people’s homes.’

“That is why I started the I.Am.Scholarship programme as I want students to leave college without debts.

“All I want is for kids to excel and not worry about paying the money back.

“All I had to do when I was young was succeed. Yeah, we were poor but my mom took care of me.

“Education is very important to me. We would be like dumb otherwise.”

Will, one of six kids (two are adopted), credits his mum for keeping him on the straight and narrow. He said: “My mom is unique, she is a single parent but looks after me.”

Will has been spending most of his time in the UK recently as he coaches his remaining acts towards The Voice semi-finals this weekend.

He loves London â€" and admits he even pretends to be English to get the girls.

He said: “I have been coming here since 1998. I am a regular here up to the point of going home back to America.

“But when I go home they ask, ‘I thought you were from London by the way you dress and talk. I thought you were from some place in Europe or somewhere exotic or something.’

“Sometime I do say that I’m from London to the girls and I put on the accent.

“But my face gives it away by moving when I talk, so it does not work with the girls.”