It was exciting on a musical level and a symbolic level. “It felt like a perfect match for creating this one-time band with Nile and the robots. “We’re fans of hip-hop and Pharrell as a performer, as a singer, as a rapper and as a human being is someone who we consider to be extremely special,” he said. As the piña coladas flowed, Bangalter explained to me why they’d chosen Pharrell to front the band he described as being their “dream scenario in a dream environment”. The next day, Daft Punk hosted a party at the house they were renting in Palm Springs: Bing Crosby’s former villa, where JFK and Marilyn Monroe are said to have consummated their affair. In truth, Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo were down the front of the VIP area, unrecognizable without their helmets, watching amongst the crowd with wide grins splayed across their faces. In typical Daft Punk fashion the stunt was completely unannounced, so when the video first burst into life showing Pharrell fronting a fantasy band with Nile Rodgers on guitar and the robots on bass and drums, half the festival sprinted across the field thinking they were about to catch an impromptu live set. I was in California attending Coachella in the company of Daft Punk, who were at the festival to premiere the video for their omnipresent global hit ‘Get Lucky’ on the big screens. I FIRST spoke to Pharrell back in April 2013, at the start of his annus mirabilis. At 41, Pharrell Williams is having the year of his life.
#Pharrell in my mind hat full#
He’s on a run of singles which make him the envy of every other songwriter and producer on the planet – and he’s done it a full decade after he last dominated pop music. It isn’t hard to see how Pharrell’s unreserved faith in the power of music has made him the man he is in 2014. There are such incredible degrees of music, frequency-wise, that I believe science will prove that we’ll be able to use exact musical notes to cure certain things.” When people are feeling melancholy and down and they need something to relate to they can play a blues record and it can help purge them and get those feelings out. “In the Western world there are certain songs that come on and make people feel better. “The Tibetans have singing bowls that they tune chakras with,” he points out, referring to the Buddhist belief that upturned bells of different pitches can affect the body’s seven energy points. Replacing medicine with melodies might sound far-fetched, but as well as having three million-selling UK singles in the last year alone, Pharrell is also a scholar of world musical traditions. “I believe in maximising the therapeutic and holistic properties of music and what it can do for you.” “I believe in the medicinal property of music,” he tells us. On a flying visit to London the most successful and ubiquitous producer of his generation took the time to explain his philosophy to Loaded. You see, music isn’t a matter of life and death to him – it’s much more important than that. Pharrell Williams believes he’s tuned into how we’ll be curing diseases in the future. Who is Pharrell’s wife? Pharrell married Helen Lasichanh in 2013.HE’S not just a pretty (expensive) hat. What is Pharrell’s real name? Pharrell Lanscilo Williams is Pharrell’s full name. What ethnicity is Pharrell Williams? Pharrell Williams is Black. Williams eventually went on to partner with brands such as adidas, Chanel and G Star Raw, bringing his particular brand of star power to each. This eventually lead to Pharrell starting Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream, both of which proved to cement Williams as a cultural force whose expertise reached far beyond the studio. Williams himself became a style icon during this time, with his fits-spanning red carpets and music videos-serving as inspiration for a generation who loved hip-hop culture but didn’t feel comfortable with the mainstream look the culture pushed at the time. Williams rose to fame as a gifted producer of rap, R&B and pop music in the ’90s and ’00s his solo production along with his work as part of The Neptunes dominated the Billboard Hot 100 chart for several years.
It’s hard to believe that Pharrell Williams, a man whose most notable achievement at one point was a lyrical contribution to “Rumpshaker”, is now a major player in the fashion world.