Jamal Edwards, the music entrepreneur who started a string of UK music careers died at the age of 31. He died on Sunday morning, and there is little information regarding the cause of his death at the moment.
Jamal Edwards – Death
The 31-year-old British entrepreneur Jamal Edwards passed away on February 20. His manager revealed the news of his demise to the PA news agency. Following confirmation from his agency, the BBC first confirmed that he had died on Sunday evening. The cause of his death has not been revealed at the moment.
Jamal Edwards – Musical Career Explored
In addition to being the founder of the music platform SBTV, Jamal Edwards established many other artists and made grime popular. Edward was reportedly performing a DJ set in London on February 19 after attending the BRIT Awards on February 8.
During his early years, Jamal Edwards lived in Luton, England, before relocating to Acton, West London, where he lived with his mother Brenda, stepfather Patrick, and younger sister Tanisha. He aspired to be successful in the music industry despite the wishes of his mother, who wanted him to pursue acting and drama. After receiving a BTEC Diploma in Media Moving Image from Ealing Green College, Edwards started rapping and recording videos with his friends for YouTube during his school years. For the past four years, he worked at the retail chain Topman and then operated SBTV to support himself financially.
His first venture into the music industry was to launch SBTV in 2006 as a YouTube channel, which he operated as a youth broadcaster, gaining many viewers to sign with record labels. Jamal’s stage name, SmokeyBarz, inspired the channel’s name. The channel initially aired music from artists such as Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, Bugzy Malone, Stormzy, and others. It has about 1 billion views on YouTube and 1.22 million subscribers.
In 2021, Jamal Edwards launched a project to refurbish youth centers as a result of SBTV’s success. Among his other affiliations, he was a Prince’s Trust ambassador, a Prince of Wales-led youth charity that assists young entrepreneurs. The MBE was awarded to Edwards for his contribution to music in 2014.
The news of the SBTV founder’s demise has saddened and shocked the audience deeply. Netizens took to Twitter to pay their condolences to the late entrepreneur.