10 Songs You Didn’t Know Pharrell Williams Wrote For Other Artists
COLLINS INC
Before Pharrell Williams was making music with minions, he was responsible for some of the biggest hits throughout the 2000s—getting his start even further back in the early ’90s. Aside from releasing two of his own solo albums, his work with hip-hop and funk band N.E.R.D., composing for film and TV, his brief stint as a judge on The Voice, and other collaborative projects, Williams has spent a majority of the past 20-plus years, writing for and with other artists across genres—everyone from Jay Z, No Doubt, Britney Spears, Zac Brown Band, Ariana Grande, Swedish rockers The Hives, and dozens more.
Writing his first song, the 1992 Wreckx-n-Effect hit “Rump Shaker,” when he was barely 20, Williams has continued his craft for more than three decades, often working with longtime collaborator and The Neptunes partner Chad Hugo. In 2014, Williams was nominated for an Oscar for his song “Happy” from the 2013 animated film Despicable Me 2 and has already earned seven Grammy Awards.
A singer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Williams and Hugo recently covered Metallica’s 1991 hit “Wherever I May Roam” on The Metallica Blacklist and have continued to produce dozens of albums, including Jon Batiste’s 2021 release Live at Electric Lady, Beck’s Hyperspace (2020), and Anderson .Paak’s Ventura in 2019, among other ongoing projects.
To cover Williams’ diverse career would require several volumes, but here are 10 songs you may not have known the “Happy” writer had a hand in writing.
“Rump Shaker,” Wreckx-n-Effect (1992)
Written by Pharrell Williams, Wreckx-n-Effect’ s Aqil Davidson, Teddy Riley, David Wynn, Darren Callis, Anton Hollins
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