N.E.R.D

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N*E*R*D
N.E.R.D performing at a UK concert in April 2003
Background information
Origin	Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States
Genre(s)	Funk Rock Alternative Rock Experimental Rock Hip hop
Years active	2001–2005 2008–present
Label(s)	Virgin Interscope
Associated acts	Spymob The Neptunes Skateboard P
Website	Official website
Members
Pharrell Williams Chad Hugo Shay Haley

N.E.R.D is an alternative rock band formed in 2001. Their music is best described as funk rock, with various other influences, including hip-hop, soul music, alternative rock, and blues rock. Pharrell explains:

“

What is a N.E.R.D? N.E.R.D stands for No-one Ever Really Dies. The Neptunes are who we are and N.E.R.D is what we do. It's our life. N.E.R.D is just a basic belief, man. People's energies are made of their souls. When you die, that energy may disperse but it isn't destroyed.

”

^[1]

Contents 1 History 1.1 In Search Of... 1.2 Fly or Die 1.3 Seeing Sounds 2 Band members 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 Singles 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] In Search Of...

Williams and Hugo originally recorded the band's debut album, In Search Of..., for European release in 2001 using similar digital production techniques used on Neptunes-produced records. However, they decided that if N.E.R.D was to be different from the Neptunes, it should sound different. This led to them re-recording the album (still titled In Search Of...) with the power pop band Spymob for worldwide release in 2002.

In Search Of... achieved moderate success in the U.S.: the album reached number 59 on the Billboard 200; its first single, "Lapdance", reached the top 40 on the "Modern Rap" charts; and its second single, "Rock Star", reached the top 40 of the "Modern Rock" charts in the US. "Lapdance" also went top 40 in the Netherlands and its music video received heavy airplay on American MTV2. The album was well-received by critics even though it was not as successful as many of the Neptunes' previous productions.

The album won the second annual Shortlist Music Prize, awarded (by a group of musicians, journalists, and other music professionals) to the best album of the year which had sold less than 500,000 copies at the time of nomination. The band performed at the show, bragging that the week prior to the ceremony, the album had, in fact, achieved gold status by selling over 500,000 units.

A 6.1 surround mix of this album was released by DTS Entertainment on a DVD-Audio disc in 2005.

[edit] Fly or Die

The band recorded its second album Fly or Die during 2003. The band actually learned to play the tunes 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."

Several of the tracks discuss issues of particular concern to adolescents, for example "Thrasher", which is about bullies and street violence; "Drill Sergeant", about rebellion and war, "Backseat Love", which talks about first love, and "Maybe" talked about a first time break up.

Fly or Die went on sale on March 22, 2004. The album has so far gone top 10 in the U.S., while the first single, "She Wants to Move", has gone top 5 in the UK, 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", have received strong support from the digital cable network VH1 Soul in America.

[edit] Seeing Sounds

The third album from N.E.R.D and follow-up to 2004's Fly or Die is called Seeing Sounds. The album was released on June 10, 2008. The first single off the album, titled Everyone Nose, was first mentioned on their Billionaire Boys Club blog on January 22, 2008 and was confirmed at SXSW to be the first single from the album. In June 2008, the second single off the album, titled Spaz, was used in a TV commercial for the Microsoft Zune.

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. They have been confirmed to play the 2008 Isle of Wight festival on June 13, 2008, as special guests to the Kaiser Chiefs. They have also been confirmed to play on the "Projekt Revolution's" UK show at Milton Keynes Bowl supporting the two headliners, Linkin Park and Jay-Z. On June 25th, they will be performing in front of 40,000 people at the Isle Of MTV 2008 at the Floriana granaries, Malta, and the admission will be free.^[2][3]

[edit] Band members

• Pharrell Williams - vocals, piano/keyboards, guitar, percussion (2001–2005, 2008–present)
• Chad Hugo - guitar, piano/keyboards, saxophone, bass (2001–2005, 2008–present)
• Shay Haley - drums, percussion, vocals (2001–2005, 2008–present)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Year	Album details	Peak positions											Certifications
		U.S. [4]	UK	GER [5]	FRA [6]	AUS [7]	NZ [8]	NLD [9]	NOR [10]	BEL [11]	SUI [12]	SWE [13]
2002	In Search Of... Released: March 12, 2002 Label: Virgin Format: CD, LP, DVD-A	56	28	—	—	—	—	34	40	—	—	17	RIAA:[14] Gold (500,000)
2004	Fly or Die Released: March 23, 2004 Label: Virgin Format: CD, LP	6	4	20	31	11	22	5	4	9	27	9	RIAA:[14] Gold (500,000)
2008	Seeing Sounds Released: June 10, 2008 Label: Interscope Format: CD, LP, DI	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or have yet to chart.

[edit] Singles

Year	Title	Peak positions									Album
		U.S. [15]	U.S. R&B [16][17]	U.S. Rap [18]	U.S. D/CP [16]	U.S. Mod [16]	UK	AUS [7]	SWE [13]	NLD [9]
2001	"Lapdance" (feat. Lee Harvey and Vita)	—	85	29	—	—	33	—	47	56	In Search Of...
2002	"Rock Star"	—	—	—	—	36	15	32	—	74
	"Provider"	—	—	—	—	—	20[I]	—	43	95
	"Lapdance" (re-release)	—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—
2004	"She Wants to Move"	43[II]	69	—	6	—	4	21	58	8	Fly or Die
	"Maybe"	—	—	—	19	—	25	48	—	37
2008	"Everyone Nose"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	Seeing Sounds
	"Spaz"	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or have yet to chart.

• I ^  "Lapdance" was re-released in the UK as a double A-side with "Provider". It was released twice in the UK only.

• II ^  "She Wants to Move" obtained a peak position of number 43 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart in June 2004.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• N.E.R.D at MySpace