Pharrell Williams Cuts Happy Picture Book Deal

Posted on February 17, 2015

Pharrell Williams has a cut a deal with Putnam Books for children's books inspired by his hit song, "Happy." The deal include four picture books with Putnam Books for Young Readers. The first book will be published on September 22 and will have a first print run of 250,000 copies.

"Happy" is the biggest hit of Pharrell's music career and it is now helping him expand into other forms of entertainment. The song - which has sold over 12 million copies worldwide - was on the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack and on his latest album, G I R L. It was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song last year. This year Pharrell won two Grammys for "Happy," including Best Music Video and Best Popo Solo Performance. Pharrell also performed a new version of the song at the Grammys award ceremony with Lang Lang and Hans Zimmer.

Pharrell teared up in April 2014 when talking to Oprah about the success of "Happy." He told Oprah, "It's overwhelming because I love what I do and I just appreciate the fact that people believed in me for so long, that I could make it to this point."

Rolling Stone reports that the first "Happy" picture book will feature photographs of children from all over the world. The photos will show the kids celebrating what it means to be happy.

Here is the official music video for "Happy," which is approaching 600 million views. Take a look: