Pharrell Williams Biography

Pharrell Williams is an Award-winning producer, songwriter, and performer that helped change the face o pop since the late 90s.

Early Life

Pharrell Lanscilo Williams was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia on April 5, 1973, as the oldest of 3 sons. Williams was part of his school’s marching band, playing various instruments like snare drums and piano.

Career Beginnings

Together with his longtime friend Chad Hugo, they formed the R&B based The Neptunes. They were quickly noticed by Teddy Riley, who signed them to his record label as songwriters and producers. The duo was slowly making their way into the mainstream, writing for artists like Britney Spears, Clipse, and Babyface. The sound they were making was becoming recognized by the public and by fellow artists as well.

Success

Williams started to provide background vocals and made music video appearances with the people he was collaborating (Jay-Z and Snoop Dog). In 2003, Williams finally released his own single called Frontin’ which was soon a summer hit. The Neptunes released the debut The Neptunes Present… Clones followed by N.E.R.D. In terms of his solo career, after some delay, Pharrell was able to release his debut solo album as In My Mind in 2006. The LP debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. After that, numerous successful collaborations occurred with Britney Spears, Jay-Z, Solange, and Madonna. Pharrell was nominated for Grammy awards as a result and finally won in 2007 for Ludacris’ track Money Maker as Best Rap Song. The following year he released the album Seeing Sounds with friends Hugo and Shay as a trio called  N.E.R.D.

Bigger Accomplishments

Starting the 2010s, Pharrell embarked in a number of activities. He was the main music producer and songwriter of the animated movie Despicable Me. In addition, he also produced and wrote several successful singles and albums for Gloria Estefan, Kendrick Lamar, and Frank Ocean. Along with N.E.R.D., they released the 4th album Nothing. He won another Grammy for his collaboration with Frank Ocean. His breakthrough started with Robin Thicke’s international hit Blurred Lines featured by rapper T.I and himself.Other hits were made with duo Daft Punk for tracks like Get Lucky and Lose Yourself to Dance. As a solo artist, Williams truly broke expectations with the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack and hit Happy. He was nominated for 7 categories at the 2014’s Grammy Awards and won Record of the Year and Album of the Year with Daft Punk. In addition, he also won Producer of the Year. The same year he revealed his second solo album G I R L. The LP was number 2 on the charts. Later on, Happy became one of the best-selling digital songs of all time. Pharrell has started serving as a judge and mentor on the singing competition The Voice.

Photo credit: Vanity Fair