The Story Of How Pharrell Became The Most Influential Man In Music
Let us take you through the story of how Pharrell became the man in music that no one could touch and everyone wants a piece of.
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1. Music was a huge part of Pharrell's life from a very young age.
Pharrell 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. Picture: Facebook
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2. When he was 12 Pharrell went to band camp and met someone that would hugely impact his future.
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. Picture: Idols/Photoshot
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3. Getting things started in the industry.
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. Picture: Instagram
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4. Working with Britney Spears and bagging their first number one.
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.
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5. Everyone wanted Pharrell and The Neptunes sound on their track.
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.' Picture: Getty
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6. In fact, by 2003 The Neptunes had produced 43% of songs played on US radio.
They had also produced approximately 20% of British songs played on British radio in 2003. Songs with Pharrell's name on in 2003 included Jay Z collaboration 'Change Clothes,' Timberlake's 'I'm Lovin It,' Kelis' 'Milkshake' and Snoop Dogg's 'Beautiful.' Pharrell had certainly made his mark.
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7. All this while Pharrell was doing his own thing with new band N*E*R*D
In 2001 Pharrell formed the band N*E*R*D with his The Neptunes partner Chad Hugo and Shay Haley. The band didn't find as much success with their own singles as The Neptunes found on their production of others. But their albums still spawned hit singles 'She Wants To Move' and 'Rock Star,' which found bigger chart success in the UK than in America.
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8. Then, at The Neptunes peak, they released 'Clones.'
Clones was released by The Neptunes by featuring various artists including Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and it also homed Pharrell's 'Frontin.' The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 Chart, with first-week sales of 249,000 copies in the United States.
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9. Pharrell turned heads performing at the Grammys with Sting in 2004.
Williams' music credentials were further boosted by his appearance at the 2004 Grammy Awards, performing The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" on drums with Sting, Dave Matthews, and Vince Gill. Williams received two Grammy Awards that night, one for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical, and another for Best Pop Vocal Album for his work on Justin Timberlake's hit album Justified. (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
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10. Pharrell got his first vocal US number one with 'Drop It Like It's Hot.'
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.
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11. The release of Pharrell's first solo album 'In My Mind' didn't go so well.
In July 2006 Skateboard P's released his first solo album 'In My Mind.' It debuted at number 3 on the US Billboard 200, but generally didn't receive great reviews, and since Pharrell has commented to MTV that he made the album "out of ego… Talking about the money I was making and the by-products of living that lifestyle. What was good about that? What’d you get out of it? There was no purpose. I was so under the wrong impression at that time."
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12. Between his solo release in 2006 and 2013, Pharrell went kind of quiet.
It's not like he disappeared from the music scene, Pharrell was still producing tracks for some of the biggest names in the industry. He worked on albums including Madonna's 'Hard Candy,' Shakira's 'She Wolf' and Game's 'The R.E.D Album,' but he just wasn't making hits and had disappeared from the front of everyone's minds. Picture: Facebook
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13. In 2010 N*E*R*D released a new album called 'Nothing.'
The album was a moderate success, debuting at number 21 on the US Billboard 200 - nothing last his past musical projects. That year N*E*R*D also supported Gorillaz on their 'Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour.' Pharrell simply wasn't dominating the charts like he was back in the early noughties.
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14. Then, last year, Pharrell came to 'Get Lucky'.
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.
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15. 'Get Lucky' was the comeback to end all comebacks.
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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16. 'Get Lucky' became the second best-selling single in the UK in 2013.
Guess what was first?
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17. 'Blurred Lines' came along and broke a ton of records.
Pharrell produced the hit collaboration with Robin Thicke and T.I. In 2013 it broke records for being the best-selling single in the UK, the best-selling digital single in the world and the most downloaded song in UK chart history. Pharrell was absolutely at the top of his game!
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18. And Pharrell wasn't breaking records with just one song, he was doing it with two.
He became the first artist to simultaneously occupy the top two slots of the Billboard Hot 100 chart since 2009. Another interesting fact is that by July 2013 there had only been 137 singles in UK chart history to have sold 1 million copies in the UK; that month Pharrell scored two million-sellers with 'Get Lucky' and 'Blurred Lines.'
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19. Pharell was on a roll, the main man in music. And that was before 'Happy.'
When Pharrell released 'Happy,' written and produced by himself, late last year, the world fell in love with it. Pharrell was absolutely unstoppable.
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20. 'Happy' dominated the charts, giving Pharrell a solid hat trick.
'Happy' slowly climbed the charts before spending four non-consecutive weeks at number one, reaching the peak on three separate occasions. In the same week that 'Happy' returned to number one for the third time, it sold its millionth copy in the UK, making it Pharrell's third in under a year. Pharrell become only the second artist in UK history (the first being the Beatles) to sell over three million-sellers in under a year.
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21. Pharrell wasn't only making music history, but also music video history.
Pharrell released 'the first ever 24 hour music video' to accompany 'Happy'. Filmed in Los Angeles the video hears 'Happy' on repeat as various people dance around to it including Pharrell and celebrity cameos from Kelly Osbourne, Jimmy Kimmel, Jamie Foxx and more.
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22. As of May 2014, more than 1,500 'Happy' videos have been created.
We're sure you've seen the video that went viral of Pharrell watching a selection during his interview on Oprah and crying happy tears. Picture: Youtube
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23. Last year Pharrell was nominated for seven Grammy Awards, including 'Producer Of The Year.'
Williams won four of the seven Grammys he was nominated for at the 56th GRAMMY Awards, picking up both Record Of The Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for 'Get Lucky.' Williams also won Album Of The Year for Daft Punk's No. 1 album Random Access Memories and Producer Of The Year, Non-Classical.
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24. Next up, Pharrell was in a position to go at it alone.
Following Pharrell's incredible year came a press release from Columbia Records, it said; "When we excitedly partnered with Pharrell in January of this year, we felt it was his time again. Since then, 'Blurred Lines' and 'Get Lucky' have defined pop music in 2013, and now we are preparing to launch Pharrell as a global solo superstar in 2014. 'Happy' is just the beginning."
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25. The release of Pharrell's long awaited second studio album 'G I R L'
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.
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26. The question is, what will Pharrell do next?
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. Picture: Getty