Pharrell Williams aka Skateboard P (born April 5, 1973 in Virginia Beach, Virginia) is one half of the primarily hip hop music production and songwriting duo, The Neptunes (with Chad Hugo) as well as rap/rock group N*E*R*D with Hugo and Shae Haley.

As part of The Neptunes Pharrell has produced numerous number one tracks for megastars such as Madonna, Mariah Carey, Britney Spears, Janet Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Gwen Stefani, Nelly, Justin Timberlake, Mystikal, Jay-Z, *NSYNC, Shakira and others.

In July 2010, Williams composed the soundtrack to the movie Despicable Me, produced by Hans Zimmer and recorded with the Hollywood Studio Symphony. 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, but it may appear on a future album.[16] The following month, N.E.R.D released their fourth studio album Nothing through Pharrell's label Star Trak. In late 2011, Williams worked on three tracks for Mike Posner's second album Sky High.

In 2011, Williams collaborated with singer/composer Adam Lambert, co-writing two tracks for Lambert's album "Trespassing", which was released in May 2012, including the title track and "Kickin' In".

In 2012, it was announced on Lupe Fiasco's website that he and Lupe will work on a collaborative album and work on Waka Flocka Flame's album Triple F Life: Friends, Fans and Family.[citation needed]

He has also collaborated with Pittsburgh rapper Mac Miller on the "Pink Slime" EP. The first track, "Onaroll" was followed by "Glow". It was produced by Pharrell, with vocals from Mac Miller.

Williams composed and produced the music for the 84th Academy Awards alongside composer Hans Zimmer. He is also collaborating with the singer-songwriter Miley Cyrus on her new album and composed the new intro music for Chelsea Lately in 2012. He later contributed four tracks to The Game's California Republic mixtape called "When My Niggas Come Home" and "It Must be Tough"; produced two tracks on Usher's 2012 seventh studio album, Looking 4 Myself, titled "Twisted" and "Hot Thing"; collaborated with Mika on his new track "Celebrate"; co-produced the tracks "Sweet Life" and "Golden Girl" from Frank Ocean's debut album Channel Orange; and is working with Solange Knowles on her third studio album.

Pharrell featured on Daft Punk's fourth studio album Random Access Memories on songs "Get Lucky" and "Lose Yourself to Dance". In addition, Williams contributed to Azealia Banks' debut studio album Broke with Expensive Taste, featuring on the song "ATM Jam."[29]

Williams penned three new original songs, included alongside composer Heitor Pereira's score, for the sequel Despicable Me 2. These were "Just a Cloud Away", "Happy", and "Scream" (featuring Cee Lo Green). His two original songs from the first film were also reprised on the soundtrack - "Despicable Me" and "Fun, Fun, Fun". He also participated in the drummer sessions of the soundtrack of Man of Steel by Hans Zimmer.

In March 2013, Pharrell appeared alongside T.I. on Robin Thicke's hit single "Blurred Lines". The song has been a worldwide hit, has peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and has also reached number one in 13 more countries including the United Kingdom and Germany, making it Pharrell's third Billboard Hot 100 number one single. On June 29, 2013, Pharrell became the 12th artist in the chart's history to simultaneously hold the number one and two positions with "Blurred Lines" and "Get Lucky", respectively.

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".

In August 2013, Busta Rhymes talked about an unreleased "documentary album" by Pharrell where he talks about "inner-city strife and hardship".

In November 2013, Pharrell released the first 24-hour music video to his Despicable Me 2 collaboration song, "Happy". Guest appearances included Magic Johnson, Steve Carrell, Jimmy Kimmel, Jamie Foxx, Steve Martin, Odd Future, Miranda Cosgrove, Janelle Monáe, and many others. It has received approximately 5.5 million views as of Christmas Day, 2013.

It was announced in December 2013 that Williams had been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year.[40] In the same month, a press release from Columbia Records announced that Pharrell had signed a contract with the label and is releasing an album in 2014, featuring the single "Happy" from the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack.[2] For this song, Pharrell has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.