R.I.P. To Jamal Edwards, The Man Responsible For Launching Ed Sheeran's Career, Who Passed Away At The Age Of 31
Mirror - The final Instagram post of SB.TV founder and MBE Jamal Edwards was a sweet tribute to his "brother" Ed Sheeran.
Jamal, son of Loose Women star Brenda Edwards, has tragically died at the age of 31 with the news sending shockwaves through the UK's music industry.
The entrepreneur, who was born in Luton and grew up on an estate in Acton, West London, was friends with some of the UK's top home-grown artists.
He is credited with helping launch such stars as Ed Sheeran and Jessie J to global stardom via his SB.TV YouTube platform and tributes have been flooding in for the music industry pioneer.
The pioneer's cause of death has not be revealed.
This is some really sad and shitty news. Jamal Edwards may not be that familiar of a name for Americans, but he was a huge name in the British music scene.
And the whole world has him to thank for helping to put a lot of excellent artists on the map.
When the UK grime scene was at its peak (think Dizzee Rascal, Kano, Lethal Bizzle) in the mid-2000s, Jamal launched SB.TV. A very popular site and youtube channel.
"Back then, there was no place to showcase our sort of spitting and rapping, so I thought, OK, I want to create that platform," he told MailOnline in 2013.
It took a while for Jamal's idea to take off and in the meantime his mum made him get a job at Topman.
In his free time away from the shop floor he started hanging out at the BBC, sneaking into raves and messaging record labels to beg for interview time with their artists.
Three years later when he secured his first non-grime interview with Kelly Rowland - which kickstarted his career as he went on to interview big names including Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Trey Songz.
Through his platform, he made close friends with several celebrity pals, including Will.i.am, Professor Green and Rio Ferdinand and was awarded his MBE in the New Years Honors list in 2014 for his work in music and his business.
As his star began to rise, he started to cross paths with more and more up and coming talent.
Names like Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, Dave, Skepta, Rita Ora and Stormzy all had their music debut on SB.TV and were featuring in up-and-coming names to watch out for pieces done by Jamal.
Advertisement
Among his many achievements, which include being a Princes' Trust ambassador, Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Sussex and an honorary degree from the University of West London, Jamal was most proud of a documentary about mental health in the music industry he produced.
Advertisement
Sharing on battling with anxiety, the businessman said: "Anxiety comes over me at the most random times. I wanted to create awareness.
R.I.P.