It's Pharrell's Birthday!
Time to sit back and regail the career of one of the most influential producers in history!
Williams with his school friend Chad Hugo, would come together with Timbaland and Magoo to form the group Surrounded by Idiots. Disbanding before making any records, Pharrell would then formed The Neptunes, with Shay Haley and Mike Etheridge. They would be discovered by producer Teddy Riley, and Pharrell would write Riley's verse on Wreckx-N-Effect's 92 hit "Rump Shaker". As the Neptunes, Williams and Hugo produced Noreaga's "Superthug", and began working with Clipse in the late 1990s. The Neptunes would go on a tear producing Mystikal's "Shake Ya Ass", Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)", and Nelly's "Hot in Herre".
In 2001, N.E.R.D., a band composed of Williams, Hugo and Shay Haley, released In Search of...., as Williams and Hugo signed Clipse to Pharrell's Star Trak Entertainment. The Neptunes would branch out and produce Babyface's "There She Goes" and Britney Spears' "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Boys" for her third studio album, Britney.
In 2002, Clipse released Lord Willin' which was produced entirely by the Neptunes, who turned around and produced Justin Timberlake's debut album Justified's singles "Señorita", "Like I Love You" and "Rock Your Body". By 2003, it was found the Neptunes produced almost 20% of songs played on British radio and in the US 43% of radio songs. They would add to that by producing Snoop Dogg's single "Drop It Like It's Hot".
The Neptunes would maintain their dominance producing Gwen Stefani's single "Hollaback Girl", Williams debut album, In My Mind and Clipse's second album, Hell Hath No Fury. They would return to Stefani as well producing songs on Stefani's second album, The Sweet Escape and Jay-Z's tenth album, American Gangster.
In 2013, Pharrell collaborated with Daft Punk on the songs "Get Lucky" and "Lose Yourself to Dance", and penned three songs, alongside composer Heitor Pereira's score, for the film Despicable Me 2 which were "Just a Cloud Away", "Happy", and "Scream" (featuring CeeLo Green). Robin Thicke's single "Blurred Lines", would be written and produced by Williams, and peaked at number one. By, December Williams had been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year. "Happy", was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Happy Birthday Pharrell your legend is glorious and rare.