Music: 'Timbaland' - Biography of a Producer
Timothy Zachery Mosley otherwise known now as Timbaland was born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1971.
As a child of 1970s and 80s, he had a fascination with Casio Keyboards which lead to his interest in music production. He went to school with Pharrell Williams (of The Neptunes) where their interest in making hip hop backing tracks together lead them to form a group called S.B.I. By the time they graduated from Salem High school, Timothy was known locally as 'DJ Timmy Tim'.
He soon found an outlet in DJ-ing and established a good reputation around clubs where he befriended Missy Elliott and Melvin 'Magoo' Barcliff and began producing music for them. When Missy Elliott's all-girl group Sista got a record deal with producer Devante's 'Swing Mob' Label in New York, she convinced neighbourhood friends Timbaland and Magoo to move there with her where they could all further their music careers. 
It was there where 'Timothy' joined a rake of artists including Ginuwine and Aaliyah and where Devante labelled him with the name Timbaland due to his wearing of 'Timberland' construction boots (a Hip Hop trademark 'look’ at the time) but also because of his rhythmic backing tracks. The signees of Swing Mob Label called themselves Da Bassment Crew.
Timbaland worked with Devante on a number of Da Bassment Crew projects including the 1995 Jodeci LP: 'The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel' and Sistas debut LP: '4 All The Sistas Around the World' which was never actually released. All of these artists at the time would’ve been considered part of the New Jack Swing Sound which mixed R&B/Soul Vocals with sampling and the beats of a Hip Hop Rhythm. This sound would be were Timbaland’s music grew from – his influence and experience of mixing Hip Hop & R&B. These two genres merged as one during the late 90s. His first major production credit was for the 702 single 'Steelo' and his first major production credit for an album was Ginuwine’s 'The Bachelor' which went platinum in the States and its title track 'Pony' went to number 1. 
From 1995 onwards Da Bassment Crew including Timbaland started doing individual projects and left producer Devante. Missy Elliott wrote a lot of music for 702 & MC Lyte and mostly called in Timbaland to produce or mix them. By this time, Timbaland had developed his own sound. His Southern roots in Virginia would have been home to Jazz, Gospel & Blues Music which mixed together became R&B later on. An experimental music trend of the late 90s for this generation of Black American Artists was mixing R&B with 70s/80s Hip Hop.
The Timbaland Sound (1996-2000) embraced shifting syncopated rhythm similar to samba or jungle music, stuttering high-hats from Southern bass music within basic drum sounds, use of snare & kick drum on non-accented beats and a short snare with heavily amplified/reverberation. He created melody through using vocal/sound effects & cartoon slide whistles and enjoyed using a vocoder or sampling keyboard. His R&B/HipHop sound sometimes incorporated foreign music instrumentation like Asian, for example. 
Timbaland created hit singles for many artists including SWV, Jay-Z, Aaliyah, Beck, Linkin Park, Brandy, Nas, 50 Cent, Bjork, Fatman Scoop, LL Cool J, Ludacris, Destiny's Child and The Pussycat Dolls. One of his biggest achievements being Aaliyah’s album 'One In A Million' which went on to sell 11 million copies worldwide making huge stars of Aaliyah, Timbaland & Missy Elliott.
He went on to manage Beat Club Records Label where Interscope records managed the distribution of the label. Artists such as D.O.E. Bubba Sparxx and Sebastian (Timbaland’s younger brother) were signed to it but it has since folded. Timbaland has since set up Mosley Music Group. It was his collaboration work with Justin Timberlake on 'Cry Me A River' on his debut solo album 'Justified' that brought him a new level of fame. The Song and video in which Timbaland raps and stars in, broke Justin away slightly from his teeny-bop image as it had more of an adult theme/sound.
In April 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 'Timbaland Presents Shock Value'. It received rave reviews. He has since provided vocals on the singles for the Pussycat Dolls' 'Wait a Minute', Nelly Furtado's 'Promiscuous', Justin Timberlake's 'SexyBack', and 'Ice Box' by Omarion. In 2010 he has already worked with Katy Perry and X Factor winner Leona Lewis but it has also been reported that he is teaming up with Steve Tyler (Aerosmith) to record a rap album. Timbaland has been nominated for a Grammy award 13 times and has won twice. He has won four Teen Choice Awards after 7 nominations and one prestigious award from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.