Pharrell Williams began his musical career back in 1992 when he and his friends Shay Haley, Mike Etheridge, and Chad Hugo formed an R&B group called The Neptunes. The group was discovered at their high school talent show by manager Teddy Riley. Shortly after being signed, the group turned the name into a production company for artists, and produced for groups like Blackstreet and Mase. Williams and The Neptunes gained attention after producing N.O.R.E’s “Superthug” in 1998; the hit charted number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the early 2000’s Williams and The Neptunes came out with their own funk hip hop band known as N.E.R.D. The group sold over 600,000 copies in the United States alone upon the release of their debut album In Search Of… And sold over 400,000 copies with their second album Fly or Die, both albums were certified Gold by the RIAA. In September 2004 Williams was featured in Snoop Dog’s single “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” which charted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 making it Williams first number one single in the United States! N.E.R.D. ended as a band along with their contract to Virgin Records in 2005. Three years later they reunited with Star Trak Entertainment a sub division of the record label Interscope Records, one established by Williams and Hugo. N.E.R.D. went on to produce two more albums, Seeing Sounds (2008) and Nothing (2010). During this time Williams continued collaborating and producing with different types of artists such as Gwen Stefani, Beyonce, Clipse, Madonna, The Strokes, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, and many others! In 2010 Williams composed the soundtrack to the animated film Despicable Me, along with N.E.R.D. touring with Gorillaz on their Escape to Plastic Beach tour. In 2012 he composed and produced music for the 84th Academy Awards show and for Chelsea Handler’s talk show Chelsea Lately. In 2013 Williams was featured in french duo Daft Punk’s, fourth album Random Access Memories on their hit songs “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself to Dance.” “Get Lucky” became Williams second number one hit single. He also wrote three new songs for Despicable Me 2 including, “Happy,” “Just A Cloud Away,” and “Scream.” Williams was featured in Robin Thicke’s hit single “Blurred Lines,” the song charted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 as well as charted number one in 13 other countries, making it Williams third number one hit! Williams sold over 2 million singles for the “Get Lucky” and “Blurred Lines!” He became the 12th artist in the chart’s history to have two number one hits on the chart simultaneously! Today the multi-talented star is collaborating with Major Lazer and the two are working on releasing a five track EP on February 25th, 2014. He also plans to release his own second solo album G I R L, on March 3rd 2014. So how does Pharrell Williams stay in the celebrity lime light after all these years? It is because of his versatile skills in producing and performing various types of music genres, artists, and projects! Not only does he keep up with the evolving music genres and trends every year, he also explores his other artistic talents such as co-founding two clothing brands Billonaire Boy Club and Ice Cream Footwear. Williams knows that being able to adapt and evolve other skills is what keeps one successful in the music and entertainment industry. In other words one can say he is a man of many hats!
Check out the official music video for “Happy” here!
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