Eindhoven (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɛi̯nt.ˌhoʊ̯.və(n)] ( listen)) is a municipality and a city located in the province of North Brabant in the south of the Netherlands, originally at the confluence of the Dommel and Gender streams. The Gender was dammed off short of the city centre in the 1950s, but the Dommel still runs through the city. The city counts 217,192 inhabitants (February 2012) and 261,082 if adjacent Veldhoven is included, making it the fifth-largest city of the Netherlands and the largest of North Brabant.

Neighbouring cities and towns include Son en Breugel, Nuenen, Geldrop-Mierlo, Heeze-Leende, Waalre, Veldhoven, Eersel, Oirschot and Best. The agglomeration has some 440,000 inhabitants. The metropolitan area (which includes Helmond) has nearly 750,000 inhabitants. Also, Eindhoven is part of Brabant Stad, a combined metropolitan area with more than 2 million inhabitants. In 2011, Eindhoven was named world's most intelligent community by Intelligent Community Forum.

The name Eindhoven derives from the contraction of the regional words eind (meaning last or end) and hove (or hoeve; a section of some 14 hectares of land). "Eind" is toponymically a common prefix and postfix in local place- and streetnames. A "hove" was a parcel of land that might be given in leasehold to private persons such as farmers by the local lord. Taken in conjunction with the fact that a string of such parcels existed around Woensel, the original location of Eindhoven may be understood to be the "last hove on the land of Woensel".

Pharrell Williams (born April 5, 1973), commonly known simply as Pharrell, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, composer, and fashion designer. Williams and Chad Hugo make up the record production duo The Neptunes, producing hip hop and R&B music. He is also the lead vocalist and drummer of hip-hop band N.E.R.D, which he formed with Hugo and childhood friend Shay Haley. He released his first single "Frontin'" in 2003 and followed up with his first album In My Mind in 2006.

As part of The Neptunes, Williams has produced numerous hit singles for various musicians. The two have earned three Grammy Awards amongst ten nominations. He is also the co-founder of the clothing brands Billionaire Boys Club and Ice Cream Clothing. He is a member of the supergroup V.A. Playaz with Fam-Lay, Clipse, Skillz, Missy Elliott, and Timbaland & Magoo.

Pharrell Williams was born on April 5, 1973, in Virginia Beach, Virginia, the eldest of three sons of Carolyn, a teacher, and Pharaoh Williams, a handyman. He met Chad Hugo in a seventh-grade summer band camp where Williams played the keyboards and drums and Hugo played tenor saxophone. They were also both members of a marching band; Williams played the snare drum while Chad was student conductor. With Hugo, Williams attended Princess Anne High School where they played in the school band; there he got the name Skateboard P.

Theodorus Wilhelmus (Theo) Maassen (born 8 December 1966 in Oegstgeest, Zuid-Holland) is a Dutch comedian and actor who grew up in Zijtaart in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant. He currently lives in Eindhoven. In addition to his shows, he has also made a number of appearances in films.

Maassen won two of the biggest comedy contests in the Netherlands in 1990, the Groninger Studenten Cabaret Festival(GSCF), and Cameretten. The GSCF jury was not pleased with the quality of the contestants that year, and gave Maassen the first prize, remarking he was the best of the year, but still not very good.

In the following years, however, Maassen fame grew steadily, especially amongst students. Maassens style was based on stand-up comedy: Alone on stage, telling jokes and stories to amuse the public, without any musical support (a thing common for most Dutch comedians up to that point).

Since 1995, Maassens shows are shown on Dutch national television, making him more and more a household name.

In 2006, Maassen received the 'Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Theater Prijs 2006' (Prince Bernhard Culture Fund Theatre Prize 2006) for his 'daring combination of theatre and comedy'. The same year he also received the Prijs van de Kritiek (Prize of the critics), a yearly prize by Dutch theatre critics.

Mathieu Valbuena (French pronunciation: [matjø valbwena]; born 28 September 1984) is a French international footballer who plays for Marseille in Ligue 1. He plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger and is known for his quickness, technical ability, and tenacious style of play. He is described by his former coach at Libourne Saint-Seurin Didier Tholot as "an explosive player who is capable of quickly taking two opponents out of the game to create space, above all due to his dribbling skills." Due to his small stature, Valbuena is nicknamed le petit vélo, which translates to "the small bike". This is a play on Valbuena's size and the fact that Marseille's home ground is called the Stade Vélodrome.

Valbuena began his career at professional club Bordeaux. He was let go from the club after two seasons and subsequently joined amateur club Langon-Castets in the fifth division of French football. In 2004, Valbuena joined Libourne Saint-Seurin in the Championnat National, the third level of French football. The midfielder had a good 2005–06 season with the club and signed with Ligue 1 club Marseille, prior to the 2006–07 season. With Marseille, Valbuena played in the UEFA Champions League for the first time and, in the 2009–10 season, was part of the team that won the league and league cup double, as well as the Trophée des champions.