Let's get to know Chad Hugo, the secret hero, successful songwriter and producer behind the most known and loved songs of world-famous musicians.
Chad Hugo, born February 24, 1974, is a Filipino-American Grammy-winning songwriter and producer. His real name is "Chase Chad". His family is Filipino, but he was born and raised in Virginia. His father is a retired military officer and his mother is a laboratory technician.
Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. With close friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has produced songs for many recording artists. He is also a member of the band N.E.R.D, alongside Williams and Shay Haley.
He is a member of the production team "The Neptunes", which he founded with the world-famous musician Pharrell Williams. The funk rock band "N.E.R.D", which the duo also formed together, left their mark on the 90s and 2000s. Chad plays the piano, saxophone and guitar.
Chad completes his high school education at Princess Anne High School and then Kempsville High School. The musician, who started playing the saxophone during his school years, meets Pharrell at this time and a close friendship begins between the duo.
This friendship turns into a business friendship over time. The two enter the studio together and start recording demos. In The Neptunes, founded in 1990 in Virginia Beach, Pharell prefers backing vocals and takes part in music videos. Chad, on the other hand, prefers to be behind the camera. It is possible to see Hugo on drums for 1 minute in the clip of Justin Timberlake's song "Senorita". He is also among the authors of the song.
In 1992, he and The Neptunes attend a local talent show and are discovered by Teddy Riley at the studio close to Williams' school. Neptunes started working with Riley and wrote Wreckx-N-Effect's song "Rump Shaker" while still in school.
The main albums that Chad Hugo contributed to are as follows;
*In Search Of...(2001)
*The Neptunes Present...Clones (2003)
*Seeing Sounds (2008)
*Nothing (2010)
*No One Ever Really Dies (2017)
As The Neptunes production team, Chad Hugo and Pharrell contributed to many more artists' albums and songs. Some of these and the most well-known ones are Kelis's "Kaleidoscope" album, Mase's "Lookin' At Me", Blackstreet's "Tonight's The Night", and N.O.R.E's "Superthug". ' is the song.
However, the songs they performed with names such as Britney Spears, Nelly, Justin Timberlake, and Timbaland, who toppled the worldwide music charts and still continue their careers as superstars, took them to the top. Among these songs, we can list the most known and listened to today as follows.
Britney Spears' 2001 song "I'm a Slave For You" topped the charts worldwide at the time. Pharrell and Hugo are both producers and writers of the song. Chad and Pharrell are also writers and producers on Britney Spears' 2002 song "Boys". Pharrell both wrote the song and played a duet with Britney in the music video.
Another name that The Neptunes duo works with is Justin Timberlake. Justin's journey, which started with Disney's Mickey Mouse Club, made him a member of the band "Nsync" and then a superstar. Pharrell and Hugo are among the songwriters of "Girlfriend", one of the most popular songs of the group.
Later, when the dates show 2002, the duo will take place as the writer and production chair of Justin's first solo album, "Justified". The most well-known and popular songs they wrote in this album are songs such as "Like I love U", "Senorita", "Rock Your Body", and "Still On My Brain". Pharrell took part in the clips of the songs Senorita and Like I Love U.
Another name among the names that Neptunes works with is Nelly. The musician, whose real name is "Cornell Haynes", also worked with Neptunes and signed many songs. The most well-known of these songs is Nsync's "Girlfriend". Nelly is among the writers of this song and backing vocals in another version.
In fact, nearly 20 years after the song was released, he performed the song again with his own version, slightly different from the original, in a live broadcast he made in the past months. Another Nelly song they wrote and produced is "Hot In Herre".
What Is He Doing Right Now?
Although the Neptunes duo Hugo and Pharrell did not officially break up, they preferred to take part in different projects in recent years. In 2019, the Neptunes paid Clarence Avant a hefty fee for the Netflix documentary "The Black Godfather." Pharrell's fame that swept the world with his song "Happy" and his increasing fame, as well as the fact that he made a name for himself in his solo career with the songs he made between 2014-2015, affected this separation to some extent.