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FERGIE 'SHAKES IT UP' IN THE BIG APPLE

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31 AUGUST 2006

Fans of the Black Eyed Peas are used to seeing the band's sexy leading lady Fergie dance up a storm in their videos, but the shapely singer let some of her young pretenders do the booty shaking when she judged a competition in New York's Times Square this week.

The chart-topping bombshell, whose real name is Stacy Ferguson, presided over the Shake It Up dance contest in Madame Tussaud's on Wednesday night. And the 31-year-old could identify with any newcomer's nerves the contestants might have been feeling, as she is getting ready to launch her first solo album.

In an apparent nod to her British royal namesake, Fergie has called her new disc The Dutchess. The Californian performer, who overcame a drug habit before finding success on the pop charts, promises her album will offer fans something a little different to the music she has made before.

"I show a lot more vulnerability than on the Black Eyed Peas records," she explained. "This album is kind of introducing myself to people who don't really know who I am. It's interesting because I feel like I'm very open and honest in interviews and such, but I don't know if a lot of people know who I am or what I've been through and all the different phases of my life."