The acronym No One Ever Really Dies will be tested for pop group N.E.R.D., whose lead singer, Pharrell Williams, has announced that the band are no more.
“N.E.R.D. is dead. I don’t agree with the management at Virgin Records so we’re done,” Williams recently told BBC Radio 1.
As for The Neptunes production duo of Williams and Chad Hugo, they’re not going anywhere. The uber-popular producers are definitely still together – they just won’t be doing much singing anymore.
“Me and Chad still do what we do in the studio, Shay is still our best friend, you know, perhaps we’ll do some music for our fans and leak it to the internet or something, who knows?” Williams said. “I’ve been very quiet about it for the last two years, I’m not here to slander or throw dirt, I’m just not happy so therefore N.E.R.D. is expired.”
The Neptunes are currently slated to produce work for N.O.R.E., Beanie Sigel, Mariah Carey, P. Diddy and Mary J. Blige, among a host of others. The duo have produced mega-hits for Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z and Kelis.
In their short history, N.E.R.D. put out a couple of records. Their debut, In Search Of…, was critically acclaimed and established the crew as a serious threat. The album was recorded twice, once with electronic production and another with live instrumentation. Their second album, Fly Or Die, was highly anticipated but ended up flopping.
