Black Eyed Peas - Will.I.Am Spreads His Success

Will.i.am thinks people are only successful when they give to charity.

The Black Eyed Peas star - who set up the i.am scholarship fund to fund college education for underprivileged teenagers two years ago - believes it is important to be generous with wealth and to help others.

He said: "It's one thing to make it - and you've got your own apartment, or house, or car - and you keep it for you. That's not making it. Making it is spreading it."

The 'Boom Boom Pow' star came up with the idea of a scholarship - which covers rent, food and books - after receiving a large pay cheque for deejaying at a private party.

He explained to People magazine: "I did the math and I could send three kids to school."

Will.i.am maintains regular email contact with the four students currently in receipt of his scholarship - Elijah Williams , Jaiquann Beckham, and brothers Darien and Barien White, all 19 - and recently invited them to a Black Eyed Peas concert in Philadelphia, where they hung out backstage.

In order to keep the quartet focused on their studies, will.i.am has offered them the incentive of a holiday to anywhere they want to go to after they graduate.

He told them: "Let's do a little contest where your grades are up and you come with us anywhere on the planet. You just pick a country and we go there. We'll do it for four years."

The i.am scholarship fund will offer at least five new scholarships this year, with the chosen students also receiving an internship at the star's social networking website, Dipdive.com and a job with the site on graduation.