Claim: Shay Haley died in 1972.

N * E * R * D -LRB- a backronym of No-one Ever Really Dies -RRB- is an American funk rock band . Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo were signed by Teddy Riley to Virgin Records as a duo , The Neptunes . After producing songs for several artists throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s , the production duo formed the band with Sarah Atyat Williams as a side project of The Neptunes in 1999 . N * E * R * D 's debut album , In Search Of ... , sold 603,000 copies in the United States and was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America -LRB- RIAA -RRB- . It was also awarded the second annual Shortlist Music Prize . The band 's second album , Fly or Die , sold 412,000 copies in the United States , but shipped at least 500,000 units , certifying it Gold .   In 2005 , N * E * R * D ended their contract with Virgin and disbanded . Three years later , the band reunited under Star Trak Entertainment , a subsidiary of Interscope Records established by Williams and Hugo . The band 's third album , Seeing Sounds , released in 2008 , sold just under 80,000 copies in its first week . The album was followed by Nothing , which was released in 2010 .