The Black Eyed Peas Gives “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” New Life

Will.I.Am released the Black Eyed Peas’ new single “The Time (The Dirty Bit)” on Thursday, October 24 on his social networking site. The Black Eyed Peas’ forthcoming album is titled The Beginning, and this first single samples the chorus of the hit song “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” which was featured in the movie “Dirty Dancing.” The writer of “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life,” Franke Previte calls the Black Eyed Peas’ sampling “an out-of-this-world coincidence.” Previte is excited that the pop group has made “The Time (The Dirty Bit)” their new single especially because it comes on the heels of the release of the original demo recording of “I’ve Had (The Time of My Life)” to raise money for the Patrick Swayze Pancreas Cancer Research Fund at Stanford. Previte also notes the timing of the song, with the re-emergence of “Dirty Dancing” actress Jennifer Grey as the favored contestant on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. “What amazes me the most is timing,” said Previte who won an Oscar and Golden Globe for writing his hit song. “As we’ve started working to fight cancer in Patrick’s memory through the release of the original demos, first it was Jennifer coming back into the public spotlight in a big way on TV, and now the Black Eyed Peas come along and cover it-all in a matter of weeks. The Black Eyed Peas bring a whole new level of awareness to our charity efforts that we couldn’t have dreamed of in a million years.” “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” is really the song that has nine lives,” Previte goes on to say. “To have a group like the Black Eyed Peas do it gives it lives 10, 11, and 12. It just reconfirms to me that the song is cross-generational. The song has now crossed over to the next generation in a huge way. There couldn’t be any group, cooler, edgier, and more hip than the Black Eyed Peas to record it.”