N.E.R.D.

Biography

N.E.R.D. (a backronym of No-one Ever Really Dies) was an American rock and hip-hop band, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1994. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin Records. After producing songs for several artists during the early 1990s, Williams and Hugo formed the band with Shay Haley, as a side project of the Neptunes, in 1994.
N.E.R.D.'s debut album, In Search of... (2001), received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was awarded the second annual Shortlist Music Prize. The band's second album, Fly or Die×Fly or Die22 March 2004 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Don’t Worry About It3:412Fly or Die3:323Jump3:554Backseat Love2:495She Wants to Move3:346Breakout3:507Wonderful Place / Waiting for You7:108Drill Sergeant / Preservation6:549Thrasher2:5210Maybe4:2311The Way She Dances4:0612Chariot of Fire / Find My Way8:15 (2004), also received gold certification.
In 2005, N.E.R.D. ended their contract with Virgin and disbanded. Three years later, the band reunited under Star Trak Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records, established by Williams and Hugo. The band's third album, Seeing Sounds×Seeing Sounds9 June 2008 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Time for Some Action3:422Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)3:273Windows2:594Anti Matter4:015Spaz3:506Yeah You4:067Sooner or Later6:428Happy4:359Kill Joy4:1010Love Bomb4:3611You Know What4:3012Laugh About It4:16 (2008), sold under 80,000 copies in its first week. The album was followed by Nothing×Nothing10 October 2010 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Party People3:522Hypnotize U4:163Help Me4:074Victory3:425Perfect Defect3:426I've Seen the Light / Inside of Clouds4:257God Bless Us All3:298Life as a Fish2:369Nothing on You3:1810Hot-N-Fun3:2311It's in the Air4:2112Sacred Temple4:1113I Wanna Jam3:3414The Man3:1815Ride That Thang3:51 (2010).
After a hiatus, the band signed with Columbia Records to release their 2017 single "Lemon" (with Rihanna). The song peaked within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 and preceded the band's fifth and final album, No One Ever Really Dies (2017).

Formation and early career

Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo met at the age of 12 at a band class in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Hugo was the drum major for the Kempsville High School Marching Chiefs, under the direction of current University of Virginia Band Director, William Pease, while Williams was a drumline member of the Fabulous Marching Cavaliers (FMC) of Princess Anne High School, both of Virginia Beach. They spent their free time making beats and performing in groups with fellow childhood friends Missy Elliott, Clipse, and Timbaland & Magoo. Williams and Hugo met Shay Haley in high school and began performing together. The trio often met in Hugo's garage, where he beatboxed through a speaker system while Haley danced. After watching the duo perform at a high school talent show, producer Teddy Riley signed Williams and Hugo in 1991. After producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, the production duo formed N.E.R.D. in 1994 as a side project known for their appearance on "Ghetto Children" off Kelis' debut album Kaleidoscope.

2001–2004: In Search of... and Fly or Die

The band's debut album, In Search of..., was released in Europe in September 2001. Williams and Hugo used similar digital production techniques as they did for other artists. However, the band decided that they wanted to sound different from their previous work. This led them to rerecording the album using live instruments with rock band Spymob for a worldwide release in 2002. The album debuted at number 61 on the Billboard 200 and peaked at number 56. It failed to replicate the success of the Neptunes' previous productions. The album won the second annual Shortlist Music Prize, an accolade awarded to albums released in the United States that have not achieved mainstream success and have sales of 500,000 copies or less at the time of nomination. The album sold 603,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The album's lead single, "Lapdance×Lapdance22 May 2001 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 4 tracks1Lapdance3:372Rock Star - Poser4:323What's Wrong With Me5:104Lapdance (instrumental)3:33", peaked at number 36 of the Hot Rap Tracks chart and number 85 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The second single, "Rock Star×Rock Star2001 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Rock Star (Jason Nevins remix edit)3:512Rock Star (Formerly Rock Star - Poser)4:203Rock Star (Nevins Classic Club Blaster - edited)7:44", peaked at number 36 on the Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. A 6.1 surround mix of this album was released by DTS Entertainment on a DVD-Audio disc in 2005.
The band recorded its second album, Fly or Die×Fly or Die22 March 2004 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Don’t Worry About It3:412Fly or Die3:323Jump3:554Backseat Love2:495She Wants to Move3:346Breakout3:507Wonderful Place / Waiting for You7:108Drill Sergeant / Preservation6:549Thrasher2:5210Maybe4:2311The Way She Dances4:0612Chariot of Fire / Find My Way8:15, in 2003. They learned to play the songs live, as Chad Hugo told MTV News on December 9, 2003: "We're the ones playing the instruments live this time. I just started playing guitar last year so I'm learning as we go. Pharrell's playing drums. [Last time] we didn't have time to learn certain instruments so we got Spymob to help us out."
Fly or Die was released in March 2004. The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, selling 119,000 copies in its first week. The album sold 412,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the RIAA. The first single, "She Wants to Move×She Wants to Move2003 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 2 tracks1She Wants to Move (album version)3:372Rock Star (Jason Nevins remix edit)3:48", has gone top 5 in the United Kingdom, top 20 in Norway, Ireland, and Denmark, and top 40 in Australia and the Netherlands. The music videos for "She Wants to Move" and its follow-up single, "Maybe×Maybe2003 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 3 tracks1Maybe (radio edit)3:362She Wants to Move (Native Tongue remix)4:473Maybe (live)4:26", have received strong support from the digital cable network VH1 Soul in America.

2005–2008: Hiatus and Seeing Sounds

In 2005, N.E.R.D. ended their contract with Virgin Records over a label dispute and the band disbanded. While touring, the band became "hooked" on the energy from their fans, which led them to begin recording their third studio album, spending their own money while still unsigned. Williams and Hugo later established Star Trak Entertainment, a subsidiary of Interscope Records. In March 2008, the band performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. While there they filmed a PSA for Rock the Vote saying why they thought voting was important and the issues they cared about that election year.
From April to June 2008, the band toured with Kanye West as an opening act along with Rihanna and Lupe Fiasco as part of the Glow in the Dark Tour. On June 13, they gave an energetic performance at the Isle of Wight festival, however they almost missed their scheduled show because they didn't know where the island was. On June 25, they performed in front of 40,000 people at the Isle of MTV 2008 at the Floriana Granaries, Malta with free admission. On August 9, 2008, the band played at the Way Out West music festival held in the city park of Gothenburg, Sweden. In September 2008, N.E.R.D. performed to a sold-out crowd at the House of Blues in Chicago, Illinois, and brought special guest Bad Brains onstage.
N.E.R.D. released their third studio album, Seeing Sounds×Seeing Sounds9 June 2008 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracks1Time for Some Action3:422Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)3:273Windows2:594Anti Matter4:015Spaz3:506Yeah You4:067Sooner or Later6:428Happy4:359Kill Joy4:1010Love Bomb4:3611You Know What4:3012Laugh About It4:16 in June 2008. The first single off the album, titled "Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)×Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)13 May 2008 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Everyone Nose (All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom)3:27", was first mentioned on their Billionaire Boys Club blog in January 2008. The second single off the album, titled "Spaz", was used in a television commercial for the Microsoft Zune. The group toured with American rock band, Linkin Park on the European leg of their Projekt Revolution tour in 2008 with artists like HIM, the Used and Jay-Z. The group also played at the National Bowl, Milton Keynes before the recording of Road to Revolution by Linkin Park.

2009–present: Nothing and No One Ever Really Dies

In 2009, a song entitled "Soldier" featuring Santigold and Lil Wayne was featured on the soundtrack of the teen drama series 90210. In 2010, N.E.R.D. announced the release of their fourth studio album entitled Nothing×Nothing10 October 2010 · Studio albumSpotifyYouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 15 tracks1Party People3:522Hypnotize U4:163Help Me4:074Victory3:425Perfect Defect3:426I've Seen the Light / Inside of Clouds4:257God Bless Us All3:298Life as a Fish2:369Nothing on You3:1810Hot-N-Fun3:2311It's in the Air4:2112Sacred Temple4:1113I Wanna Jam3:3414The Man3:1815Ride That Thang3:51, which had a scheduled release date for September 7, 2010, but was pushed back to November 2, 2010. The first single from the album, "Hot-n-Fun" (featuring Nelly Furtado), was released on May 18, 2010, on iTunes. It was released in the United Kingdom on August 30, 2010. On August 20, 2010, a track titled "Party People" leaked onto the internet. It was rumored to be the second single from the album. On September 28, 2010, they premiered another track from the album titled "Hypnotize U×Hypnotize U2010 · SingleSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 1 track1Hypnotize U4:19", produced by electronic music duo Daft Punk, on Late Show with David Letterman. On September 30, 2010, in an interview with Mark Hoppus on A Different Spin with Mark Hoppus, Williams explained the album cover as "a mix of so many things. The feathers represent the peace, and the helmet represents the war. It's like where we are right now. There's a lot of war, that people can't necessarily explain. The economy sucks, girls are still beautiful. We wanted to make music that reflected that. So people can look back twenty years from now, and say 'this is what was going on'". They then announced in the interview that the next two singles would be "I've Seen the Light" and "Hypnotize U".
Williams described "Hypnotize U" as being "so different from the rest of the album", stating he was "very pleased because it serves a different purpose" in the album. On October 17, 2010, the standard edition and the deluxe edition of the album became available for pre-order on iTunes. It was later announced that they would support Gorillaz on the North American leg of their 2010 Escape to Plastic Beach Tour. In 2013, Williams confirmed an N.E.R.D. album was in progress, but also mentioned that the album would not be released that year due to the projects he was working on with other artists. He has also said the album will be "nature-based". The group reunited on December 26, 2014, to release the songs "Squeeze Me", "Patrick Star", and "Sandy Squirrel" for the film The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.
N.E.R.D.'s fifth album, No One Ever Really Dies, was released on December 15, 2017, through I Am Other and Columbia Records. It features guest appearances from André 3000, M.I.A., Gucci Mane, Wale, and Ed Sheeran among others. It was preceded by three singles; "Lemon" with Rihanna (on November 1), "1000" with Future (on November 29), and "Don't Don't Do It!" with Kendrick Lamar (on December 13). The group did shows throughout 2018 such as the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards and the Reading and Leeds Festivals. They also released a popular remix to "Lemon" with Drake. In 2024, Hugo filed a legal action against Williams.

Musical style

The band's sound generally contains elements of rock, funk and hip-hop, while also encompassing R&B and pop. Their sound has also been described as featuring funk rock, alternative hip-hop, rap rock, experimental hip-hop, avant-funk, and progressive pop. They have been praised for their heavy use of electronic, bass and funk beats, while others have suggested that the Neptunes are unable to blend R&B and rock.
N.E.R.D.'s lyrics have been criticized. Ian Cohen of Pitchfork called the band's lyrical writing ability "far down the list of what N.E.R.D is actually good at", where Williams is often criticized for being excessively sexual. With the release of Fly or Die, the album was advertised in Kerrang! magazine, which made Alexis Petridis of The Guardian feel that N.E.R.D.'s lyrics tried to "empathize with the alienated teenagers who make up Kerrang!'s readership".

Band members

Pharrell Williams – lead vocals, piano, keyboards, drums, percussion, programming
Chad Hugo – guitars, piano, keyboards, saxophone, bass guitar, programming, keytar, turntables, backing vocals
Shay Haley – drums, percussion, backing and co-lead vocals

Touring members

Thaddaeus Tribbett – bass guitar
James Darrell Robinson – drums, percussion
Junius Bervine – keyboards
Brent Paschke – guitars
DJ Jus Ske – turntables

Dancers

Eddie Eskridge
Jesse Sanchez
Angelo Saunders
Mette Towley
Kenitia Coleman
Natsuki Miya