Record producer and singer-songwriter Pharrell Williams will received the 2,537th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, honoring an artist who has sold more than 100 million copies of his productions and won seven Grammys. Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres joined Williams in speaking at the ceremony in front of the W Hollywood Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard.
Born April 5, 1973, Williams was a teenage prodigy and multi- instrumentalist in his hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia. Williams started his producing career as one half of The Neptunes with Chad Hugo, helping create such memorable songs as Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines,” Nelly’s “Hot in Herre,” Jay-Z’s “I Just Wannna Love U (Give it 2 Me),” Britney Spears’ “I’m A Slave 4 U,” and Justin Timberlake’s “Like I Love You.”
Williams received four Grammys at this year’s ceremony as a performer on Daft Punk’s record of the year “Get Lucky,” its album of the year “Random Access Memories,” and best pop duo/group performance for “Get Lucky.”
Williams also received the Grammy for non-classical producer of the year. He also won the award in 2004 as part of The Neptunes. Williams’ other Grammys came in 2007 as a songwriter for the best rap song, “Money Maker” and 2004 as a producer of the best pop vocal album, “Justified.”
Williams also received a best original song Oscar nomination this year for writing “Happy” from the animated film “Despicable Me 2,” losing out to “Let It Go” from “Frozen.” “Happy” topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 10 consecutive weeks and peaked at No. 1 on iTunes in 103 markets worldwide. Williams is a coach on the NBC singing competition, “The Voice.”
Williams’ creativity extends outside of music. He has designed accessories and jewelry for Louis Vuitton, T-shirts for Uniqlo, sportswear for Adidas and a sculpture with the Tokyo-born artist Takashi Murakami. A perfume collaboration with Comme des Garcons is set to be released soon.
