Pharrell Williams: How He Became The Music Superstar

He's currently promoting the release of 'G I R L' singles including 'Marilyn Monroe' and 'Come Get It Bae,' and has just signed up as a coach on The Voice US. What else? All we know is that whatever it is Pharrell will continue to influence music that is yet to come. 

Pharrell Williams today is one of the most influential musician around was always passionate about music, so much so that he played in the school band at his high school Princess Anne High School in Virginia. Meeting Chad Hugo, who Pharrell would eventually form The Neptunes with, got the ball rolling with Pharrell's musical career. He played the keyboard and drums and Hugo played the saxophone. Like most things in life their step into the music industry was mostly hard-work and part luck – Teddy Riley's studio was next door their school, when he visited the school talent show Pharrell caught his attention and he signed Pharrell and Hugo as production duo 'The Neptunes' after graduation. 

In the early 90's The Neptunes established themselves by producing Blackstreet's 'Tonight's The Night,' 'Mase's 1997 song 'Lookin' At Me' and N.O.R.E's 'Superthug' – which reached number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 and so their skills caught everyones attention.

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After a mutual friend introduced both the guys to Kelis in 1999, they worked on her debut album 'Kaleidoscope.' The result meant they started to get an audience and big jobs including producing Britney Spears 2001 single 'Slave 4 U,' followed. It was that song that got the duo their first number one.

Other famous songs you might not have known Pharrell produced? Nelly's 2002 number one single 'Hot In Herre,' Usher's 'You Don't Have To Call,' Beyoncé's 'Work It Out,' and Justin Timberlake's debut album 'Justified,' including 'Senorita,' 'Like I Love You' and 'Rock Your Body.’

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Pharrell produced the hit 2004 Snoop Dogg song 'Drop It Like It's Hot' and also provided vocals for the first verse. The song went on to become Pharrell's first US number one and was called 'Rap Song Of The Decade' by Billboard in 2009.

Pharrell featured on the lead single from Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories' – and it took the world by a storm. 'Get Lucky' received critical acclaim across the board and it was about to break a lot of records. The song broke records with the highest number of plays of any song in a single day on music streaming application Spotify, received awards for both Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Record of the Year at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards and sold 38,887 copies in three days, making 'Get Lucky' the best-selling digital single in a one-week period.

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March this year saw Pharrell release his first studio album in eight years and his second ever, G I R L – it went straight to number one in the UK and currently holds the record for the fastest selling album in the UK this year.

He's currently promoting the release of 'G I R L' singles including 'Marilyn Monroe' and 'Come Get It Bae,' and has just signed up as a coach on The Voice US. What else? All we know is that whatever it is Pharrell will continue to influence music that is yet to come. 

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