Despite Solo Work, Black Eyed Peas Will Go On, Assures Apl.De.Ap/Live Earth's Macy Gray Happy To Be Back In Tour Mode by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith on Creators.com

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Will.i.am and Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas have had tremendous success with their recent solo projects, but band member Apl.de.ap assures us it will have no effect on the band.

"We're not breaking up," he told us. "We're doing another album and a Pepsi tour in August."

Apl.de.ap said they've all been through way too much together to let anything get in the way of their group's success now. "We're the kind of group where we just kept on going. We played wherever we could play. We practiced a lot. We love performing, and it just happened for us. We're really grateful for that."

Standing underneath a large replica of Bumblebee at the "Transformers" premiere last week, Apl.de.ap said that the Peas couldn't be more supportive of each other branching out. "Fergie's album's incredible. I'm really happy for her. Will has an album. I'm working on my solo project as well. I incorporated a lot of original Filipino instruments and mixed it up with hip-hop," explained the singer of his first solo venture, which had will.i.am serving as a producer. "We always help each other out even in our side projects."

He was at the "Transformers" festivities to support one of the movie's stars, Josh Duhamel, the boyfriend of Fergie. "I know he had to do a lot of training and hard work." The premiere, which was a part of the Los Angeles Film Festival in Westwood, brought out a number of other big stars, including Helen Mirren, Garry Marshall, Dane Cook, Brandon Routh, "SNL's" Andy Samberg, Busta Rhymes, and "Heroes" star Masi Oka. The summer blockbuster, which stars Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, hits theaters today (7/3).

MEANWHILE: The Black Eyed Peas are part of the lineup (along with the likes of The Police and Madonna) for this Saturday's (7/7) gigantic, multi-city, multi-continent Live Earth concert event spearheaded by Al Gore — which will be seen in some 100 countries.

Macy Gray is among those performing at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil along with Lenny Kravitz, Pharrell and lots of Brazilian talent. For her, it's part of a year of nearly non-stop traveling. The Grammy-winning songstress, whose distinctive voice Steve Harvey once described as "like a drunken baby," played European dates through the spring and started her current U.S.

summer tour without a break — and once she's finished her North America tour leg, "I'll go back to Europe for a while, then South Africa, Australia and other countries. I haven't been on a real tour-tour in a while, and it's fun," she adds. "I love touring, getting back into that whole mode."

Gray's latest album, "Big," "got off to a slow start," she admits. But it's been gaining momentum, and it won't hurt that she has a PBS "Soundstage" special coming up Thursday (7/5). On it, she'll be seen performing tunes from her "I Try" 1999 Song of the Year Grammy nominee to selections from "Big," including the favorite "Finally Made Me Happy" and the funky "Ghetto Love."

GREEN TO GO: "Eureka" regular Jordan Hinson says she's learned so much about being eco-friendly from doing promo spots for the Sci-Fi Channel's Eureka $mart House Challenge (cq), "I plan to get more involved. I'm so excited about this. There are the littlest things you can do to make a difference like insulating windows properly and having the proper lightbulbs." The Challenge, which kicked off June 26, is a national drive for energy-efficiency and savings, and "contestants can win a home energy efficiency makeover," says the 16-year-old Hinson. "All they have to do is send in a 250 words or less essay on why they should have their home made over. The first day of the Challenge they got 1,700 applicants." For further information go to www.visionsfortomorrow.net.

Carter, who plays the sheriff's rebellious daughter in the Sci-Fi Channel hit about a town filled with brilliant, mad scientists, adds that in the new season of "Eureka" debuting July 10, "The writers have started putting eco-friendly messages into the plotlines, like a machine to counteract global warming and a way to harness the sun's energy."

WATCHING: Another challenging casting task involving look-alikes is underway — for Warner Bros.' "Watchmen" adaptation of Alan Moore's 1980s graphic novel set in an alternative universe's United States. Names include Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, H.R. Haldeman, Ted Koppel, John McLaughlin, Annie Liebowitz, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Fidel Castro, Albert Einstein, Norman Rockwell, JFK and Jackie Kennedy, Andy Warhol, Mao Tze Tung and Larry King. That's going to be quite a movie.

(With reports by Stephanie DuBois and Emily Feimster)

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

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