Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythmic style. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly stated that "just about every current pop trend can be traced back to him—from sultry, urban-edged R&B songstresses [...] to the art of incorporating avant-garde sounds into No. 1 hits." He has won four Grammy Awards from 22 nominations.
Timbaland's first major production credit was on the album Ginuwine... the Bachelor (1996) by R&B singer Ginuwine. Further commercial success on his following productions—including Aaliyah's album One in a Million (1996) and Missy Elliott's album Supa Dupa Fly (1997)—made him a sought-after producer for R&B and hip-hop acts. He performed as a recording artist himself while doing so, releasing three albums as part of the Virginia-based hip-hop duo Timbaland & Magoo, along with his debut solo album, Tim's Bio (1998). He produced Justin Timberlake's 2002 single "Cry Me a River", and thereafter produced the majority of Timberlake's subsequent releases—including FutureSex/LoveSounds (2006) and The 20/20 Experience (2013)—along with their respective hit singles.
Timbaland's 2007 single "Give It To Me" (featuring Nelly Furtado and Justin Timberlake) peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and preceded the release of his second album, Shock Value (2007). It spawned the singles "The Way I Are" (featuring Keri Hilson) and "Apologize" (with OneRepublic), which peaked at numbers three and two on the chart, respectively. His third album, Shock Value II (2009), was supported by the top 40 singles "Carry Out" (featuring Justin Timberlake), "Say Something" (featuring Drake) and "If We Ever Meet Again" (with Katy Perry). Meanwhile, Timbaland's production credits throughout this time expanded to include songs for Michael Jackson, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Madonna, Kanye West, Rihanna, Alicia Keys, and Lil Wayne, among others.
Timbaland founded the record labels Beat Club in 2001 and its successor, Mosley Music Group in 2006, through which he has signed artists including Nelly Furtado—whose album Loose (2006) peaked the Billboard 200—as well as OneRepublic, Keri Hilson, Bubba Sparxxx, and Chris Cornell. Beat Club is namesake of a service in which Timbaland mentors upcoming producers, launched in 2020. Along with fellow producer Swizz Beatz, he co-created the webcast series Verzuz that same year.
Early life Timothy Zachery Mosley was born on March 10, 1972, in Norfolk, Virginia, to Latrice, who ran a homeless shelter, and Garland Mosley, an Amtrak employee. He graduated from Salem High School of Virginia Beach. During his time as a DJ, he was known as "DJ Tim" or "DJ Timmy Tim". He has a younger brother named Sebastian."Timbaland's little brother, Sebastian, has his own hit" .HamptonRoads.com. ("Timbaland is 38; Sebastian declines to give his age but is likely around 29.") His sister Courtney Rashon is a makeup artist and an author from New Jersey. While attending high school, Timbaland began a long-term collaboration with rapper Melvin (Magoo) Barcliff. The teenage Mosley also joined the production ensemble S.B.I. (which stood for 'Surrounded By Idiots') which also featured Neptunes producer, his cousin, Pharrell Williams. Mosley was also high school friends with brothers Terrence and Gene Thornton, who would become known as Pusha T and Malice of the rap group Clipse, respectively. In 1986, when Timbaland was 14 years old, he was accidentally shot by a co-worker at a local Red Lobster restaurant and was partially paralyzed for nine months."A History of Rappers Getting Shot and Surviving" January 28, 2013 During this time, he began to learn how to DJ using his left hand.
Career 1992–2005 Rapper Missy Elliott heard Timbaland's material after being introduced by Magoo. She and her R&B group, Sista, auditioned for DeVante Swing, a producer and member of the R&B act Jodeci. DeVante signed Sista to his Swing Mob record label and Elliott brought Mosley and Barcliff along with her to New York, where Swing Mob was based. It was DeVante who renamed the young producer Timbaland after the Timberland boot. He and Magoo became part of Devante Swings's label called Swing Mob. The label featured signees known as "Da Bassment" crew, joining artists such as R&B singer Ginuwine, male vocal group Playa (Smoke E. Digglera, Static Major and Digital Black), and the girl group Sugah which members included Rolita White, Susan Weems, and Charlene "Tweet" Keys. Timbaland did production work on a number of projects with DeVante, including the 1995 Jodeci LP The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel, and Sista's (unreleased) début LP 4 All the Sistas Around da World. Elliott began receiving recognition as a songwriter for artists such as R&B girl group 702 and MC Lyte. Due to Timbaland's connection with her, he was often contacted to produce remixes of her songs.
Timbaland began his producing career for R&B acts. In the early to mid-1990s, he produced a few songs for R&B acts such as Jodeci and Sista. In 1996, he made his mainstream breakthrough by producing the majority of both Aaliyah's second album One in a Million and Ginuwine's debut album Ginuwine...the Bachelor. This included the major hit singles "If Your Girl Only Knew" by Aaliyah and "Pony" by Ginuwine. While Timbaland was initially producing for R&B artists, his trademark sound was very much rooted in hip-hop with its fast-paced nature and clear drum breaks. He was taking a hip-hop sound and applying it to R&B, and in this way his sound was instrumental in blurring the distinction between hip-hop and R&B production. In 1997, he fully produced Supa Dupa Fly, the debut album of Missy Elliott, who had been a childhood friend of Mosley. In this album Timbaland continued with his now trademark electronic production style, but since Missy frequently rapped the music was considered hip-hop. Also in 1997, he released his first album with his partner Magoo, Welcome to Our World, also a hip-hop album. In the late 1990s, his hip-hop production sound would become very influential and common as he produced for many high-profile hip-hop artists including Jay-Z, Nas, and The LOX. In 1999, he scored a major hit with Jay-Z and rap group UGK with the hit "Big Pimpin'. He also fully produced Missy's second album in 1999, Da Real World. During this time, Timbaland continued to produce primarily for R&B artists. He continued to produce for Ginuwine, Tank, Aaliyah, as well as contributing significantly to albums by Xscape, Nicole, and Total. He remixed Usher's major hit "You Make Me Wanna". In the early 2000s Timbaland produced songs including Ludacris' "Roll Out (My Business)", Jay-Z's "Hola' Hovito", Petey Pablo's "Raise Up", and Beck's cover of David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" during this period. He also contributed three songs, all eventually released as singles, to Aaliyah's self-titled third album, the exotic lead single "We Need a Resolution" (featuring himself rapping a verse), "More Than a Woman", and the ballad "I Care 4 U". He also makes an appearance in Aaliyah's single "Try Again", which he also produced and co-wrote.
Timbaland & Magoo's second album together was slated for release in November 2000. Indecent Proposal was to feature appearances by Beck, Aaliyah, as well as new Timbaland protégés—some from his new Beat Club Records imprint--Ms. Jade, Kiley Dean, Sebastian (Timbaland's brother), Petey Pablo, and Tweet (who was a member of Sugah during the Swing Mob days). The album was delayed for an entire year, finally released in November 2001. It was a commercial disappointment. Beck's vocals for the track "I Am Music" were not included on the last version, which instead featured Timbaland singing along with Steve "Static" Garrett of Playa and Aaliyah. The first release on Beat Club was the début album by Bubba Sparxxx in September 2001, Dark Days, Bright Nights. The loss of Aaliyah deeply affected Timbaland. In a phone call to the MTV show Total Request Live, Timbaland said:
Timbaland contributed three tracks to Tweet's debut album, Southern Hummingbird, and produced most of Missy Elliott's fourth and fifth LPs, Under Construction and This Is Not a Test! He also produced tracks for artists such as Lil' Kim ("The Jump Off") and southern rapper Pastor Troy during this period. Collaborating with fellow producer Scott Storch, Timbaland also worked on a number of tracks on former *NSYNC lead singer Justin Timberlake's solo debut, Justified, including the song "Cry Me a River".
Late in 2003, Timbaland delivered the second Bubba Sparxxx album, Deliverance, and the third Timbaland & Magoo album, Under Construction, Part II Both albums were released to little fanfare or acclaim even though Deliverance was praised by reviews and embraced by the internet community. In 2004, Timbaland produced singles for LL Cool J, Xzibit, Fatman Scoop, and Jay-Z, and he produced the bulk of Brandy's fourth album, Afrodisiac. Timbaland co-wrote two tracks ("Exodus '04" and "Let Me Give You My Love") and produced three tracks of the American-Japanese Pop star Hikaru Utada's second English album, Exodus. He continued working on tracks for Tweet and for Elliott's sixth album, The Cookbook: "Joy (feat. Mike Jones)", and "Partytime" and continued to expand his reach with production for The Game and Jennifer Lopez ("He'll Be Back" from her fourth studio album, Rebirth).
2006–2011
Timbaland started a new label, Mosley Music Group along with old friend and legendary Australian music producer John Servedio, also known as his stage name 'ServidSounds' who helped Timbaland bring in some talent from his former Beat Club Records label. On the new label were Nelly Furtado, Keri Hilson, and rapper D.O.E. In 2006 he produced Justin Timberlake's second solo studio album FutureSex/LoveSounds. His vocals feature on the songs "SexyBack", "Sexy Ladies", "Chop Me Up", "What Goes Around... Comes Around" and on the prelude to "My Love" entitled "Let Me Talk to You". Timbaland provided vocals on several singles: The Pussycat Dolls' "Wait a Minute", Nelly Furtado's "Promiscuous", "Ice Box" by Omarion and Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack". In an interview published in August 2006 in the UK Timbaland revealed he was working on a new LP by Jay-Z and that he had worked on tracks with Coldplay's Chris Martin.
Timbaland worked on seven songs for Björk's 2007 album, Volta, including "Earth Intruders", "Hope", and "Innocence" and he later worked on tracks for the new Duran Duran album, Red Carpet Massacre, including one featuring his frequent collaborator Justin Timberlake. Later in the year, Timbaland produced songs for Bone Thugs-n-Harmony's LP, Strength & Loyalty and the song "Ayo Technology" on 50 Cent's album Curtis. Timbaland also produced most of the tracks on Ashlee Simpson's third CD, Bittersweet World, including the song "Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)". On April 3, 2007, Timbaland released a collaboration album featuring artists including 50 Cent, Dr. Dre, Elton John, Fall Out Boy, Nelly Furtado, Missy Elliott, and others called Shock Value. A rivalry flared up between Timbaland and record producer Scott Storch in early 2007. The tension initially started on the single "Give It to Me", when Timbaland anonymously backlashed Storch: "I'm a real producer and you['re] just the piano man". In an interview, Timbaland confirmed that he was talking about Storch. The dispute partly stemmed from controversy regarding writing credits for Timberlake's "Cry Me a River".