Hip-hop band Black Eyed Peas have lost about $500,000 (£273,000) worth of instruments and other items in a fire at a recording studio in California.
The act were recording their new album, Monkey Business, at the Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California.
Band members lit candles during the recording session but forgot to blow them out, Burbank Fire Captain Ron Bell told reporters.
The group had a UK number one in 2003 with Where Is The Love?
They said they were devastated by the loss.
Band member Will I Am told KABC-TV: "Guitars, drums, drum kits, keyboards, microphones, classic instruments that we've collected with our worldly travels are now destroyed."
Black Eyed Peas recently performed at the Democratic National Covention in Boston.
In the UK, they also appeared at Glastonbury and T in the Park.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...lm/3558286.stm