The band, Williams told Rolling Stone last year, is now 'dead' due to disputes with the label, Virgin Records. He also fronted the rock-punk hip-hop band he formed with Hugo and their friend Shae Thornton, NERD, which stands for No One Ever Really Dies. Using his signature raspy falsetto, he sang the hook on Jay-Z's 'I Just Want to Love You' and on Snoop Dogg's 'Beautiful.' And more and more, he appears in the videos alongside rappers and voluptuous female dancers. Williams emerged to become the more visible of the two. 'It has more of an '80s new wave feel - great club music.' 'The whole Neptunes sound was a really different sound when they first started producing,' Leah Rose, music editor of the hip-hop magazine XXL said. The company also produced Gwen Stefani's 'Hollaback Girl' and Snoop Dogg's 'Drop it Like Its Hot.' Remember Justin Timberlake's 'Senorita' and Britney Spears' 'I'm a Slave 4 U'? The Neptunes is the company behind those songs.

Williams and Hugo are behind some of the biggest hits in recent memory. Riley enlisted Williams to write a verse in the 1992 rap hit 'Rump Shaker ' by Riley's group, Wreckx-N-Effect. Their big break came when they were discovered by Teddy Riley, the producer who'd created the 'new jack swing' style of hip-hop. The two later formed the Neptunes production company. His musical palette craved diversity from an early age, and he found a kindred spirit in Chad Hugo, whom he met in junior high. A biker group called the Renegades lived across the street and exposed Williams to rock. When he was 9, his family moved from the projects to a modest suburban home that he said was often filled with the sounds of soul music by Earth, Wind and Fire, and the Jackson Five. Williams' musical story began at age 12, when he started playing the drums, but he had long been surrounded by music.

Pharrell in my mind root