N.E.R.D. (a backronym of No-one Ever Really Dies) was an American rock and hip-hop band, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1994. Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin Records. After producing songs for several artists during the early 1990s, Williams and Hugo formed the band with Shay Haley, as a side project of the Neptunes, in 1994. N.E.R.D.'s debut album, In Search of... (2001), received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America... [more on Wikipedia]