Fergie’s biggest hit Big Girls Don’t Cry nearly didn’t get released by the singer.
The song’s co-writer, Toby Gad, was concerned that the it wasn’t going to make the cut on the former Black Eyed Peas star’s 2006 debut solo album, The Dutchess, and claimed that she had to be “convinced” by label bosses to put it on the LP.
He exclusively told BANG Showbiz: “Big Girls Don’t Cry wasn’t going to be Fergie’s song, and in the end, Jimmy Iovine and my manager David Sonnenberg were the ones who convinced Fergie in the end, it must be on her album.
“And just before the album came out, I was looking at the online tracklisting and the song was not on there. I was panicking
“And then when the album came out, I saw that it was actually on the album, and I was so relieved. And then it ended up as a fourth single, and the world loved it.”
Big Girls Don’t Cry – which was produced by her former bandmate will.i.am – was a huge hit that year, topping the Billboard Hot 100, and me Fergie the first female artist with three number-one singles from one album since Christina Aguilera in 2000.