Pharrell Williams Trivia: 55 interesting facts about the producer!

Pharrell Williams  is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Let’s see some amazing facts and trivia about him!

1.His full name is Pharrell Lanscilo Williams.

2.He was born on April 5, 1973.

3.He was bonr in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

4. He is the oldest of three sons of Pharaoh Williams, a handyman, and his wife Carolyn, a teacher.

5. His roots extend for generations in Virginia and North Carolina, and one of his ancestors journeyed to West Africa in 1831, prompting other relatives to emigrate from America to Liberia in 1832.

6. He met Chad Hugo in a seventh-grade summer band camp where Williams played the keyboards and drums and Hugo played tenor saxophone.

7. They were also both members of a marching band; Williams played the snare drum while Hugo was drum major.

8. Pharrell Williams and Hugo attended Princess Anne High School where he played in the school band; there Pharrell got the name Skateboard P.

9. Hugo attended Kempsville High School. In the MTV show When I Was 17, Pharrell stated that he was a nerd and often did things that stood out from most of his peers.

10. In the early 1990s, Hugo and Williams formed a four-piece “R&B-type” group, the Neptunes, with friends Shay Haley and Mike Etheridge.

11. They later entered a high school talent show where they were discovered by Teddy Riley, whose studio was next to Princess Anne High School.

12. After graduating from high school, the group signed with Riley.

13. Through working with Riley, Williams went on to write a verse and help produce for Wreckx-N-Effect’s 1992 hit “Rump Shaker”.

14. That same year, he also performed a small rap solo on SWV’s second hit, “Right Here (UK Remix)”.

15. Williams and Hugo met rap duo Clipse in Virginia Beach in 1993, where they were signed to Arista Records through Williams’ Star Trak Entertainment imprint.

16. In 1994, Hugo and Williams had established themselves as a production duo under their old name “The Neptunes”, and assistant-produced “Tonight’s The Night” from Blackstreet’s self-titled album.

17. Over the next three years they continued to produce occasionally, and some of the results had little resemblance to the Neptunes’ sound later.

18. However, some like Mase’s 1997 song “Lookin’ at Me” from his album Harlem World, and the most definite beginning of the distinctive “Neptunes sound”, came with N.O.R.E’s “Superthug” in 1998, reaching number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100, and gaining them widespread attention for the first time

19. . In 1999, a mutual friend introduced Williams to Kelis, and their resulting collaboration produced her first album Kaleidoscope.

20. At this point the Neptunes were gaining a wide fanbase and audience. In 2001, the Neptunes produced Britney Spears’ single, “I’m a Slave 4 U” gaining their first worldwide number one.

21. The same year, N*E*R*D, consisting of Williams, Hugo and Haley, released their first album, In Search of…, in Europe, where the first Kelis album was better received.

22. The album sounded very much like their previous production work; the group decided that they should make their work as N*E*R*D sound different, and re-recorded the album with the rock band Spymob.

23. In September 2004, Williams was featured on the Snoop Dogg single “Drop It Like It’s Hot.” The song would eventually peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 two months later, marking Williams’s first number one single in the United States.

24. The song was named “Rap Song of the Decade” by Billboard in 2009.

25. In July 2010, Williams composed the soundtrack to the movie Despicable Me, produced by Hans Zimmer and recorded with the Hollywood Studio Symphony.

26. In October 2010, Williams and his group N*E*R*D supported Gorillaz on their Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour. On the tour, Damon Albarn recorded a song with Williams but this was not featured on Gorillaz’s album, The Fall.

27. The following month, N*E*R*D released their fourth studio album Nothing through Williams’sStar Trak. In late 2011, Williams worked on three tracks for Mike Posner’s second album Sky High.

28. On March 31, 2014, Williams was announced as a new coach for the seventh season of The Voice, replacing CeeLo Green.

29. On May 18, 2015, Team Pharrell had 16-year-old Sawyer Fredericks win the eighth season of The Voice. In June 2014, it was announced that Williams would make a guest appearance on the docu-series Sisterhood of Hip Hop.

30. Pharrell Williams was the executive producer of Atlanta rapper T.I.’s ninth studio album, Paperwork, which was released on October 21, 2014 by Grand Hustle and Columbia Records.

31. In May 2014, Williams curated an art show named after his album, “Girl,” at the Galerie Perrotin in Paris, France. The show included 37 artists including Takashi Murakami, JR, Daniel Arsham, and Marina Abramovic among others.” Comme des Garçons developed a unisex fragrance with Williams scheduled for release in late 2014. Artist KAWS designed the bottle.

32. In the past, Williams has stated that he does not have any direct musical influences,  but he has expressed his admiration for several musicians, including Michael Jackson, J Dilla, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Rakim, Q-Tip and David Bowie.

33. Pharrell Williams explained that A Tribe Called Quest’s 1990 album, People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, caused a “turning point” in his life, which “made him see that music was art”

34. In May 2012, Williams launched i am OTHER, a multimedia creative collective and record label; i am OTHER also serves as an umbrella for his additional business endeavors, including a dedicated YouTube channel and apparel/textile lines.

35. In 2005, Williams partnered with Japanese fashion icon Nigo to create and launch the streetwear brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream footwear. BBC has flagship store in SoHo, New York City and an official Ice Cream store in Tokyo, Japan.

36. In 2008, Williams co-designed a series of jewelry (“Blason”) and glasses for Louis Vuitton.

37. He has also worked on furniture with Emmanuel Perrotin and a French manufacturer, Domeau & Pérès. One of his works, a molded plastic seat with human legs, was created because he “wanted to know what it was like to be in love.” The chair depicts a sexual scene with a pair of female legs and male legs.

38. In 2009, Williams unveiled a collaborative sculpture with Takashi Murakami at Art Basel, which spoke to the metaphor of value.

39. On August 1, 2011, Williams launched his new YouTube channel, “i am OTHER” as part of YouTube’s $100 million original channel initiative.

40. In 2014, Williams entered a long-term partnership with Adidas. His Adidas NMD “Human Race” collection was released on July 23, 2016.

41. In February 2014, Williams announced a collaboration between G-Star Raw and his textile company Bionic Yarn called “RAW for the Oceans,” a collection of denim made from recycled plastic that is found in the ocean. The project was presented at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City

42. Pharrell Williams was the executive producer of the 2015 crime comedy-drama film Dope.

43. Williams co-composed The Amazing Spider-Man 2 with Hans Zimmer, Johnny Marr, Michael Einziger and David A. Stewart.

44. Williams owns a non-profit organization called “From One Hand To AnOTHER” (FOHTA). FOHTA is an educational foundation. According to its website, its mission is to “change the world one kid at a time by giving them the tools and resources to meet their unique potential”. FOHTA’s vision is to modernize the community center concept by empowering kids to learn through new technologies, arts, media and motivation.

45. Pharrell Williams married his longtime girlfriend, model/designer Helen Lasichanh, on October 12, 2013.

46. They have a son, Rocket Williams, born in November 2008.

47. The Despicable Me song “Rocket’s Theme” was written in honor of his son.

48. In 2005, Williams was voted “Best Dressed Man in the World” by Esquire.

49. He is a fan of the science fiction series Star Trek, as indicated by his consistent use of the Vulcan salute to signify hisname, Star Trak.

50. Pharrell Williams is a skateboarder and has a half-pipe inside his home.

51, Williams is building a $35 million afterschool center in his hometown Virginia Beach.

52. His charity “From One Hand To AnOTHER'” is a foundation developed for youth between the ages of 7 and 20 in at-risk communities throughout the country.

53. In 2014, Williams was made into a cartoon in a video called “Jellyfish” by Takashi Murakami

54. In 2015, Pharrell bought a home in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles.

55. His height is 1,75 metres.