Pharrell Williams

Did You Know?

• He attended Northwestern University for two years before dropping out.
• On July 11, 2025, France appointed Williams to the rank of Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour.

Career

Pharrell Williams first tried making music in the early 1990s with a hip-hop group called Surrounded by Idiots, which included Chad Hugo, Magoo, and his cousin Timbaland. That group broke up before releasing anything. He then put together a four-person R&B-style group, the Neptunes, with Hugo and two friends, Shay Haley and Mike Etheridge. They performed at a high school talent show, where producer Teddy Riley noticed them because his studio was right next to the school.

After they finished school, the group signed with Riley. Williams wrote Riley's part on Wreckx-n-Effect's 1992 song "Rump Shaker." As the Neptunes, Williams and Hugo produced Noreaga's 1998 single "Superthug." In the late 1990s, they started working with the rap duo Clipse, made up of Pusha T and Malice, and helped on Clipse's album Exclusive Audio Footage, which never came out.

The Neptunes produced hits like Mystikal's "Shake Ya Ass" (2000), Jay-Z's "I Just Wanna Love U (Give It 2 Me)" (2000), and Nelly's "Hot in Herre" (2002). They also worked with singer Kelis on her first two albums, Kaleidoscope (1999) and Wanderland (2001). In 2001, the band N.E.R.D., made up of Williams, Hugo, and Haley, put out their first album, In Search of.... That same year, Williams and Hugo signed Clipse to Arista Records through Williams's label Star Trak Entertainment.

The Neptunes produced songs for Babyface's Face2Face album and Britney Spears's Britney album, including "I'm a Slave 4 U" and "Boys." In 2002, Clipse released Lord Willin', which the Neptunes produced entirely. That year, the Neptunes also worked on many tracks for Justin Timberlake's Justified, like "Señorita," "Like I Love You," and "Rock Your Body." In 2003, they released a compilation called Clones.

An unnamed survey from August 2003 reported that the Neptunes produced nearly 20% of songs on British radio at the time, while a U.S. survey found they produced 43% of radio songs. In 2004, the Neptunes produced Snoop Dogg's "Drop It Like It's Hot," which also featured Williams singing.

Artistry

Williams has said he has no direct musical influences, though he admires Michael Jackson, J Dilla, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Marvin Gaye, Rakim, and Q-Tip. He credits A Tribe Called Quest's 1990 debut album with being a turning point that showed him music could be art. He also notes his synesthesia has shaped his art and his early love of music. A signature of his production is the "four-count loop" at the start of his beats. In a 2019 interview, Williams explained this loop was accidental—it was simply what remained when he tried to start a song on the beat without a metronome.

Fashion and business ventures

In 2005, Williams partnered with Japanese fashion icon Nigo to create the streetwear brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream footwear. In 2008, he co-designed a series of eyewear and jewelry for Louis Vuitton. That year, he founded the non-profit organization From One Hand To AnOTHER (FOHTA). In 2009, he unveiled a collaborative sculpture with Takashi Murakami at Art Basel.

In May 2011, he became creative director of KarmaloopTV. In May 2012, he launched the social media venture I Am Other. In August 2013, he created a line of sunglasses for Moncler. In 2014, he entered a long-term partnership with Adidas, and his Adidas NMD "Human Race" collection was released on July 23, 2016.

In February 2014, he announced a collaboration between G-Star Raw and his textile company Bionic Yarn called "RAW for the Oceans," a denim collection made from recycled ocean plastic. He released a collection for Uniqlo in April 2014 titled "i am OTHER," created with Nigo. In 2014, he worked on art with Emmanuel Perrotin and Domeau & Pérès. He was executive producer of the 2015 film Dope.

Personal life

Pharrell Williams married Helen Lasichanh, a model and fashion designer, on October 12, 2013. They have four children: a son named Rocket, born in 2008, and triplets born in January 2017. The song "Rocket's Theme" from the Despicable Me soundtrack was written for their son. In 2005, Esquire named Williams the world's best-dressed man.

A fan of Star Trek, he often uses the Vulcan salute to represent his label, Star Trak. He skates and has a half-pipe in his home. In 2011, his foundation, From One Hand to Another, put $35 million toward an after-school center in his hometown of Virginia Beach. In 2019, he gave internships to 144 students at Promise Academy in Harlem.

On March 26, 2021, his cousin Donovan Lynch was shot and killed by a Virginia Beach police officer after brandishing a handgun; Williams called for a federal investigation. In December 2025, the Financial Times reported he paid roughly €62.5 million for a Paris property.