Can anyone else sing "Happy" like Pharrell Williams?
The Grammy-winning producer revealed to Howard Stern in a radio interview Tuesday that his smash hit was originally meant for former "Voice" coach Cee Lo Green. According to Rolling Stone, Green recorded the song but his version was vetoed after producers declared that the upbeat track "wasn't a fit" for their client.
"(Cee Lo) wanted to do it...and he did do it," the 40-year-old singer told Stern. "He sounded amazing on it. I mean, he burns my version! But the ... how do I say this diplomatically? Um ... he ... um ... The powers that be, at the time, did not see it fit for him. Some folks on his team just felt that the priority should be on [Cee Lo's] album at the time, so they elected not to do that song."
The singer thanked the "powers to be" that led him to the single and reassured Stern that Green was not too upset about losing out on the hit that made Meryl Streep dance.
"There was a much bigger agenda for [Cee Lo], he had an album to put out," Williams claimed. "It's not his fault - he was totally down with it ... [and] he was one of the most gracious people about it when [Happy] came out."
Despite being a current major hit, Williams' "Happy" was not an instant success. The single was released on the "Despicable Me 2" soundtrack in November and reissued a month later. "Happy" Caught fire in early 2014 and hit No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart.
"Happy" sold over 4 million digital copies worldwide. While on Oprah Winfrey's "Prime," the singer was shown a video of fans across the world singing his single and could not contain his emotions.
"It's overwhelming because it's like, I love what I do, and I just appreciate the fact that people have believed in me for so long that I could make it to this point to feel that," Williams said.
