Pharrell has been named Chief Creative Officer of U.K. music technology start-up ROLI, the company announced Wednesday (October 25).
ROLI creates next-generation musical instruments that are digitally driven and accessible to all.
As part of the partnership, Pharrell will invest in the company and become a co-owner alongside founder Roland Lamb.
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“Music touches all of us, and for a long time I’ve been passionate about finding ways to share the power of music with more people,” Pharrell said in a statement. “When I met Roland and ROLI, I immediately felt we were working towards exactly the same goals, and so I’m super excited that we’re kicking off this partnership.”
“Our mission is to empower everyone to create music, and more broadly to empower people as creators,” Lamb said. “Pharrell is not just an extraordinary musician, he embodies creativity. His ideas will take us in exciting new directions, and we’re thrilled to share our first collaboration — the ‘Happy by Pharrell’ studiopack — today.”
To mark the start of their partnership, ROLI and Pharrell have launched “Happy by Pharrell,” a free studiopack for ROLI’s NOISE app that lets users create their own songs with the beats, vocals, and basslines of Pharrell’s Grammy-winning hit. The studiopack deconstructs the chords, basslines, and vocals of “Happy” to provide users with the raw materials to recreate the song one layer at a time.
