Pharrell Williams

At 51 years old, Pharrell Williams has this physical status:

Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (born April 5, 1973) is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur.

In 1994, Williams and Chad Hugo formed The Neptunes, a record-production team that also produces hip hop and R&B music.

He is the lead vocalist of N*E*R*D, a band he formed with Hugo and childhood friend Shay Haley.

In 2003, he released "Frontin" his first solo single and later followed it with his debut solo album, In My Mind, 2006.

Girl, his second album, was released in March 2014 and featured the commercially hit song "Happy."

Williams has released numerous singles for various recording artists, including two with the Neptunes.

In addition, he is also a two-time Academy Award winner for "Happy" (which was included in Despicable Me 2) and a 2017 Best Original Song nomination as one of the Hidden Figures' creators.

Williams is the owner of I Am Other, a multimedia creative collective that acts as an umbrella for all of Pharrell Williams' ventures, including Billionaire Boys Club.

Early life

Pharrell Lanscilo Williams was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia, on April 5, 1973, the eldest of three sons of teacher Carolyn and handyman Pharoah Williams. His ancestry in Virginia and North Carolina goes back many generations. In 1831, one of his ancestors migrated from the United States to Liberia, causing several relatives to emigrate from the United States to Liberia. Williams performed drums and Hugo performed tenor saxophone in a seventh-grade summer band camp. They attended Princess Anne High School, where they were in the school band. Williams graduated from high school in 1991 and spent two years at Northwestern University before losing out.

Personal life

On October 12, 2013, Williams married Helen Lasichanh, his longtime collaborator, model and fashion designer. The couple have four children together: son Rocket (born in 2008) and triplets (born in January 2017). In honor of their son Rocket, the Despicable Me song "Rocket's Theme" was written.

Williams was named "Best Dressed Man in the World" by Esquire in 2005. He is a huge fan of Star Trek's science fiction film, as shown by his regular use of the Vulcan salute to identify his brand name, Star Trak. Williams is a skateboarder and has a half-pipe in his house. In 2011, Williams declared that he is constructing a $35 million after-school center in his home town, Virginia Beach. Williams bought a home in Los Angeles's Laurel Canyon neighborhood in 2015. Williams also provided internships to 144 students at Promise Academy in Harlem, New York City, in 2019.

After three shootings in the area, Williams' cousin Donovan Lynch was shot and killed by an officer from the Virginia Beach Police Department on March 26, 2021. Williams has ordered that the incident be investigated by the federal probe.

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Career

Williams (with Hugo, Timbaland, and Magoo) formed Surrounded by Idots in the early 1990s; the band disbanded before making any music. With colleagues Shay Haley and Mike Etheridge, he formed the Neptunes, a four-piece "R&B-type" group. They were discovered by producer Teddy Riley, whose studio was next to the school, at a high school talent showcase. The group signed with Riley after graduating.

Riley was a writer who wrote Riley's review of Wreckx-N-Effect's 1992 hit "Rump Shaker." The Neptunes, Williams, and Hugo made Noguaga's 1998 hit "Superthug" adrift. In the late 1990s, the Neptunes began working with rap duo Clipse (rappers Pusha T and Malice) and appeared on Clipse's album Exclusive Audio Footage, which was not released.

The Neptunes produced Mystikal's single "Shake Ya Ass" (2000), Jay-Z's "I Just Want to Love U (Give It 2 Me)" and Nelly's single "Hot in Herre) (2002). They co-produced Kaleidoscope (1999) and Wanderland (2001), the first two studio albums produced by singer Kelis. Williams, Hugo, and Shay Haley, a band made up of Williams, Hugo, and Shay Haley, released In 2001, N.E.R.D., Williams, Hugo, and Shay Haley, recorded their debut album In Search of... Williams and Hugo underwent the sale of Williams and Hugo through Arista Records, which was released by Williams' Star Trak Entertainment imprint. The Neptunes recorded songs on singer Babyface's 2001 album, Face2Face, including "There She Goes," which included lead single "There She Goes." The Neptunes' album "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Boys" were produced by Britney Spears for her third studio album, Britney (2001).

Clipse's debut album, Lord Willin', was released entirely by the Neptunes in 2002. During Justin Timberlake's debut album Justified, the Neptunes recorded several songs, including "Segra," "Like I Love You" and "Rock Your Body." The Neptunes released Clones, a compilation album released in 2003. According to an unidentified August 2003 survey cited by The Age, the Neptunes accounted for over 20% of songs on British radio at the time; another survey in the United States revealed that they had sold 43% of radio songs. The Neptunes released Snoop Dogg's single "Drop It Like It's Hot" (2004), which also featured vocals from Williams.

The Neptunes released Gwen Stefani's single "Hollaback Girl," which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 82 on April 2, 2005, and topped the charts within six weeks of its debut. Williams' debut solo album, In My Mind, was released in 2006. It debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200's Top 200. Clipse's second album, Hell Hath No Fury, was produced by the Neptunes. On Stefani's second album, The Sweet Escape (2006), the Neptunes produced several songs, including the promotional single "Yummy," which features Williams. Williams was announced as a performer at Concert for Diana in Wembley Stadium, London, in December 2006. The Neptunes were on Jay-Z's tenth studio album, American Gangster, in 2007.

Williams' Hard Candy (2008) was her eleventh studio album and she collaborated with Madonna. Williams was interested in releasing the next album of American rock band The Strokes, according to an NME article in June 2008. Williams later this year, he appeared on a remix album called Call and Response: The Remix Album. N.E.R.D. Seeing Sounds, the company's third studio album, was released in 2008.

Williams co-produced "Did It Again," "Why Wait," "Good Stuff," and "Long Time" for her sixth studio album, She Wolf (2009), and she sang with Shakira on her album "Did It Again," "Why Wait," "Why Wait," "Good Stuff," and "Long Time." Williams made a guest appearance on French rapper Uffie's debut album, which was released in early 2010. On Clipse's third album, Til the Casket Drops (2009), the Neptunes performed many songs.

Williams appeared on the music score for the animated film Despicable Me with composers Hans Zimmer and Heitor Pereira in 2010. Nothing is N.E.R.D's fourth studio album, and it was released by Star Trak in 2010. Williams appeared on three tracks on Mike Posner's second album, Sky High, in late 2011. Williams composed and performed the music for the 84th Academy Awards in 2012, alongside Hans Zimmer.

Williams collaborated with French experimental group Daft Punk on the songs "Get Lucky" and "Lose Yourself to Dance," both included on Daft Punk's fourth studio album, Random Access Memories. On the UK Singles Chart and number two on the US Billboard 200, "Get Lucky" ranked first and second.

Williams performed with Azealia Banks on "ATM Jam" in 2013. The song was intended for Banks' debut studio album, Broke with Exquisite Taste (2014), but it was later deleted from the album after Banks blamed Williams for the song's poor commercial success. Williams wrote three new original songs for the film Despicable Me 2 (2013), which was also included in composer Heitor Pereira's score. These were "Just a Cloud Away," "Good," and "Scream" (featuring CeeLo Green). The Despicable Me 2 soundtrack reprised his two original songs from the first film, "Despicable Me" and "Fun, Fun, Fun," respectively. He also appeared in the drum sessions of Hans Zimmer's Man of Steel. Robin Thicke's single "Blurred Lines," written and produced by Williams, was released in March 2013. The song reached number one in many countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. Williams appeared on two albums in the United Kingdom in mid-2013: "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines."

Busta Rhymes talked about Williams' unreleased "documentary album" about "inner-city strife and poverty" in August 2013. Magic Johnson, Steve Carell, Jimmy Kimmel, Odd Future, and others appeared on "Happy" in November 2013. Williams appeared with a gospel choir at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where nine black parishioners were shot and killed on June 17, 2015.

Williams had been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, in December 2013. Williams signed a deal with Columbia Records last month and revealed that "Happy" would appear on the album, which is set to debut in 2014. Williams was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song for his song "Happy." Major Lazer revealed in February 2014 that they would debut Apocalypse Soon on the 25th of that month. Williams and Sean Paul are among others on the EP, which was released via Mad Decent and Secretly Canadian. The EP's first single, which features Williams, is titled "Aerosol Can." Williams performed a verse on Future's "Move That Dope," which also starred Pusha T and Casino over Mike Will Made It's production.

Williams revealed on Twitter on February 18, 2014, that his second album, Girl, would be released on March 3, 2014. The album was backed by a European concert tour, the Dear Girl Tour. Williams' "Happy" was compared to Frozen's "Let It Go" at the 86th Academy Awards on March 2, 2014. "My face was...frozen" as GQ magazine asked Williams "how badly" he wanted the Oscar." Then I thought about it, but then I remembered it and then decided to...let it go." He wore a tuxedo with shorts at the Oscar Awards the same year. Williams received an Innovator Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards in May 2014.

Comme des Garçons would debut an unisex fragrance with Williams in March 2014, named after his album Girl. Williams was unveiled as a new coach for the seventh season of The Voice on March 31, 2014, replacing CeeLo Green. Williams would make a guest appearance on the docu-series Sisterhood of Hip Hop in June 2014. Hans Zimmer, Johnny Marr, Michael Einziger, and David A. Stewart co-composed the score for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014). Williams was the executive producer of Atlanta rapper T.I. Paperwork, Grand Hustle and Columbia Records' ninth studio album, was released on October 21, 2014, bringing "Paperwork" to a close. In May 2014, Williams curated an art show named after his album, Girl, at the Galerie Perrotin in Paris, France. Among others, the show featured artists Takashi Murakami, JR, Daniel Arsham, and Marina Abramovi. Williams performed "Shine" in the animated film Paddington (2014), alongside Gwen Stefani.

Williams was named as the musical director for a 7-continent Live Earth concert on June 18, 2015, in an attempt to raise concerns about and press governments to take action on climate change. Williams appeared in "Walking Big & Tall" on February 8, 2015, where he appeared in a Springfield, OH, anthem for the town. Sponge Out of Water, Williams' soundtrack to the 2015 animated film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, a song by the singer. Team Pharrell's 16-year-old Sawyer Fredericks won the eighth season of The Voice on May 18, 2015.

Williams performed an orchestral version of "Happy" with Hans Zimmer and pianist Lang Lang, which included a nod to the Black Lives Matter movement, inspired by Eric Garner's death and the Ferguson protests. A unanimous jury found that "Blurred Lines," a Williams co-wrote and produced, was an abuse of the 1977 Marvin Gaye hit "Got to Give It Up." Based on profits earned, the jury awarded the Gaye family $7.4 million in damages for the copyright infringement. Williams was named Artist-in-Residence at Tisch School of the Arts in New York University in October 2015. On May 17, 2017, he delivered the commencement address at the University and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. Williams collaborated with Ariana Grande on her fourth studio album, Sweetener (2018), in 2018. On the album, he performed several songs and was featured on the song "Blazed."

Williams and the city of Virginia Beach, Virginia Beach, announced the launch of Something in the Water, a three-day music and cultural festival that will be held on the Virginia Beach Oceanfront in March 2019. Travis Scott, Migos, Janelle Monae, SZA, Rosalia, Anderson Paak, Jhene Aiko, Anderson Paak, Jhene Aiko, Mac DeMarco, Maggie Rogers, Lil Uzi Vert, Missy Elliott, Pusha T, Dave Matthews Band, and DRAM were among the festival's performers. Due to severe storms, the first day of the festival was postponed. The "Pharrell and Friends" set that concluded the festival's second day featured Williams and a lineup of visitors, including Jay-Z, Diddy, Busta Rhymes, Usher, Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliott, Timbaland, Charlie Wilson, and Tyler, the Creator. Trey Songz, Chris Brown, Lil Duval, and representatives of SWV and Blackstreet were among the festival's final day. Williams wrote five songs for Walt Disney Pictures' The Lion King (2019), marking his third collaboration with composer Hans Zimmer. Williams said in October 2019 that he regrets being associated with the 2013 album "Blurred Lines," which received a lot of flak over for its apparent sexist themes.

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