How a Virginia Beach drummer became the sound behind a dozen hits

It started with a seventh-grade summer band camp in Virginia Beach, where Pharrell Williams played drums and a boy named Chad Hugo played tenor saxophone. In 1992 they founded the production duo the Neptunes. Fifteen of their productions reached the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, including four that topped the chart. In 1999, with Shay Haley, they formed N.E.R.D., with Williams as lead vocalist.

In 2001 Williams and Hugo co-founded the label Star Trak Entertainment as an imprint of Arista. His own 2003 debut single “Frontin'”, with Jay-Z, peaked at number five, and his first album, In My Mind, reached number three on the Billboard 200 despite mixed reviews. Then came 2013. He produced and appeared on Robin Thicke's “Blurred Lines”, which topped the Hot 100 and reached diamond certification, and with Nile Rodgers sang on Daft Punk's “Get Lucky”, which won Record of the Year at the Grammys.

The same year “Happy”, written for the soundtrack of Despicable Me 2, became his second number one that year and led his album Girl, which reached number two. He has contributed music to every Despicable Me film. He has won 13 Grammy Awards, three of them for Producer of the Year, and earned two Oscar nominations: one for “Happy” and one as a producer of Hidden Figures.

Beyond records, he founded the media company I Am Other in 2012, which houses a label and his fashion label Billionaire Boys Club, and since 2023 he has been men's creative director for Louis Vuitton. A track like “Feels” shows the thread: rhythm first, polished until it sounds effortless. He has been regarded as one of the most influential producers in modern popular music.