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Pharrell Williams (born April 5, 1973) is an American producer, singer, rapper, and songwriter. He is one half of the production duo The Neptunes (with Chad Hugo) with whom he produces hip-hop, R&B and pop music. He is also the lead singer and drummer of the funk-rock band, N*E*R*D. He released his debut single "Frontin'" in 2003 and followed up with his debut album In My Mind in 2006.
As part of The Neptunes, Pharrell has produced numerous hit singles for various music stars. He plays the drums, keyboard, and sings in a falsetto voice. Pharrell's works have earned him three Grammy Awards amongst ten nominations. He is also the co-founder of the clothing brand Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream Footwear.
Pharrell was born in Virginia Beach, VA. He has two younger brothers; Cato and Solomon and two half-brothers; Pharoah Williams III and David Williams. Cato is a professional skateboarder. David is a business owner in Delaware.
Pharrell and Hugo met at a junior high school band camp where Williams was a drummer and Hugo played tenor saxophone. They were also both members of a marching band, where Pharrell played the snare drum, and with Chad as a student conductor. In the 1990s, Hugo and Pharrell formed a 4-piece "R&B type" group along with friends Shay and Mike Etheridge, which they named The Neptunes. They later entered a high school talent show where they were discovered by Teddy Riley, whose studio was close to Pharrell's school Princess Anne High School. After graduating from high school, they signed with Riley as a group.
Through working with Teddy Riley, Pharrell went on to write Riley's verse for Wreckx-N-Effect's 1992 hit "Rump Shaker" (#2 Billboard Hot 100, 2x Platinum). In 1994, Hugo and Williams had established themselves formally as a production duo under the previously used name "The Neptunes", and produced "Tonight's The Night" from BLACKstreet's self-titled debut (Riley being a member of BLACKstreet). Over the next three years they continued to produce occasionally. Some of the production had little resemblance to the trademark Neptunes sound present today, including some of the productions for SWV (1996). However, some like Mase's 1998 No.8 (Billboard Hot 100) hit "Lookin' At Me" (from the Harlem World album, and the most definite beginning of the distinctive Neptunes Sound, came with N.O.R.E.'s Superthug in 1998, reaching #36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and gaining them widespread attention for the first time. The duo then went on to work heavily with Kelis, producing her first album Kaleidoscope and Ol' Dirty Bastard's record Got your money, on which Kelis was featured, followed by Mystikal's Shake Ya Ass and (a then newly-renamed) Diddy's single Diddy.
In 2001, Pharrell, Hugo and Haley released their first album as N*E*R*D; In Search Of..., in Europe (where the first Kelis album was better received), with a style similar to their Neptunes production. However, the group decided that they should make their work as N*E*R*D sound different, and re-recorded the album, with the funk-rock band Spymob, for worldwide release in 2002.
In 2001, The Neptunes gained their first world-wide #1 with Britney Spears' single, "I'm a Slave 4 U". The following year they reached #1 in the U.S. with Nelly’s single, "Hot in Herre". In August of the same year, The Neptunes were named "Producers of the Year" at both The Source Awards and the Billboard Music Awards.
Also in early 2001, The Neptunes worked with The Clipse, a rap duo from Virginia Beach that Pharrell had met back in 1993. Williams signed the duo to Arista Records through his recently established Star Trak Entertainment imprint. Clipse released their commercial debut album, Lord Willin' on August 20, 2002. The album opened at #1 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-hop Album chart and #4 on the Billboard Hot 200, fueled by the strength of its first two singles, "Grindin'" and "When the Last Time," which peaked at #34 and #19 respectively on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2003, The Neptunes released a self-credited album called The Neptunes Present... Clones, featuring songs and remixes from various artists. This album topped the US Billboard 200 Albums Chart. The Neptunes and Pharrell specifically were also kept in public eye largely due to ties with Jay-Z, producing several hit singles for him and landing two tracks on his album The Black Album.
"Frontin'" was a big summer hit (the 34th biggest single of 2003 according to Billboard Magazine), and kept Williams' momentum running up to the release of N*E*R*D's second funk/rock-oriented album, Fly or Die, released in March 2004. Williams' rock credentials were further bolstered by his appearance at the 2004 Grammy Awards, performing The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" on drums along with Sting, Dave Matthews, and Vince Gill. Pharrell went home with two Grammy Awards that night, one for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, and another for Best Pop Vocal Album for his work on Justin Timberlake's No.2 Billboard hit Justified. A survey in August 2003 found the Neptunes produced almost 20% of songs played on British radio at the time, a survey in the US had them at 43%.
They also gained their first UK #1, again with Nelly, and Flap Your Wings.
On September 9, 2005, Pharrell performed the opening single from his debut solo album "In My Mind". The song, "Can I Have It Like That", featuring Gwen Stefani did not do well in the US, reaching only #48; however, it fared better in the UK, reaching #3. Between then and the release of "In My Mind" (on July 25, 2006), he released "Angel" (Europe only), and later Number 1 with fellow producer/rapper Kanye West. Several songs were also leaked to the internet before the album was released, most notably "Mamacita" featuring Daddy Yankee, which was subsequently cut from the final version. "That Girl" featuring Snoop Dogg is confirmed to be the fourth single. In 2006, he gained another hit single with Ludacris with "Moneymaker". It is believed that Pharell will help produce two songs for Madonna's next album to be release at the end of 2007. During a telephone interview on Friday 9th February to Sirius Radio, Madonna mentioned that Pharrell was downstairs in her London home at the time.
Pharrell has been confirmed as one of the artists to perform in the Live Earth concerts on July 7th 2007. The event is expected to reach a global audience of over 2 billion people.
On May 16, 2007, for seven days only, the first collaboration with Madonna, entitled "Hey You," was made available for free download from MSN.com. It is a song they recorded together, inspired by the Live Earth concert, and MSN, in conjunction with Madonna, donated 25 cents for each of the first 1 million downloads to the Alliance for Climate Protection, in support of Live Earth.
Williams, who drives an Enzo Ferrari and often wears a trucker hat, was voted the "Best Dressed Man in the World" in 2005 by Esquire. He is a fan of the science fiction series Star Trek, as indicated by his consistent use of the Vulcan salute and choice of label name. He also enjoys the works of the late astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan, whom he calls "a genius". Williams has a half-pipe inside his home, and is one of few rappers who says he skateboards.
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