Pharrell Williams

Position
Rapper; Singer-Songwriter; Record Producer; Film Producer
Biography

Redefining cool for a new generation, Pharrell Williams is a creative force, using music, fashion, and design to express his distinctive style. From his beginnings as a teenage prodigy and multi-instrumentalist in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in the early 1990s to his current status as multimedia superstar, he hasn’t stopped creating.

Starting his producing career as one-half of the Neptunes with Chad Hugo, Williams has helped create classics such as Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Jay-Z’s “I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me),” and Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You.”

The music industry has honored Williams with 11 Grammy Awards and ASCAP’s prestigious Golden Note Award in 2012. He also received a 2014 Academy Award Nomination for his original song “Happy,” which was featured in the animated film Despicable Me 2 and remained atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 consecutive weeks.

In 2016, Williams announced co-ownership of denim label G-Star RAW and has continued designing his own line of footwear and sportswear with adidas, among many other business ventures. In 2008, he founded From One Hand To AnOTHER (FOHTA), a foundation focused on supporting the Pharrell Williams Resource Centers’ learning programs for underserved youth in at risk communities across the nation.