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Born in Luton, Jamal Edwards was a highly successful entrepreneur working primarily within the music industry and videography, aiming to give a platform to up-and-coming artists and boost them to stardom. Many of today’s household names (including Ed Sheeran and Jessie J) credit Edwards for their success. Listed as a potential Leader for the next generation by Time Magazine, it is difficult to picture what the music industry of today would look like without the work of Jamal Edwards.
Founded in 2006 by Edwards, SBTV is an online media platform used to discover emerging artists. During Edwards’ school years, he began rapping and would shoot videos of his friends rapping using a video camera that he’d been gifted for Christmas. He would then upload these videos to YouTube, which was still a fresh platform at the time. In fact, Edwards joked that “Everyone was looking at me like ‘what are you doing, like you can compete with these major corporations’”, but he believed that he was early enough to be able to make a change. Well, he was right! These videos soon became his business and were what later led to SBTV (the SB standing for Edwards’ briefly used rapper name: SmokeyBarz).
Initially focusing on grime dance music, SBTV gradually broadened its horizons and explored other genres of music. After featuring in an advertisement for Google Chrome, SBTV quickly became more and more popular, with one of their videos being the second most viewed on YouTube in the UK for 2011. Today, the SBTV YouTube channel has over a million subscribers and Edwards continued to work as a highly successful music entrepreneur supporting stars-in-the-making.
Similar to the early works of Edwards, Nuse Media proposes the What Say You project: if you are interested in becoming involved in films, media, journalism, music or any other work similar to that of Edwards’ interests, you can get involved here.
As well as being the CEO of SBTV, Edwards was also invested in a variety of other fields and projects including fashion, DJing, mental health and more. An example of one of Edwards’ projects involves his e-book: “Self Belief: The Vision: How To Be A Success On Your Own Terms” which he wrote in 2013, becoming a #1 best seller. In fact, this book was so victorious that Virgin Books bought the rights to publish a printed edition.
Furthermore, Edwards had a particular passion for supporting today’s youth. He was an ambassador for The Prince’s Trust, a charity founded by King Charles III, which supports young people in setting up their own businesses. Additionally, Edwards was a partner of the Department of Education, encouraging young people to take an apprenticeship. He also set up a project aiming to refurbish and reopen youth centres.
Similarly, Edwards created a documentary surrounding male suicide in 2017, paving the way for the later-held open forum discussion about mental health which he hosted alongside Adwoa Aboah.
The field of fashion was one that Edwards had always been tied to through working for Topman as a way of supporting himself during his time in college and the beginnings of SBTV. Later on in his ever-growing career, Edwards ended up releasing a collection of headwear with Topman. He also walked in the Hermès: Step into the Frame catwalk show.
By 2021, Edwards had launched his DJing career under the name Jamal Artman. Turning his attention to the club scene, Jamal launched “Cultivation“: a London club night that focused on showcasing up-and-coming dance music talent, including sets from some of the UK’s most promising new DJs and producers. Edwards claimed that he wanted Cultivation to be a platform for young people to express themselves and their talents, without having to worry about conforming to any particular genre or sound.
Providing an early platform to names such as Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, Stormzy and Emeli Sandé, it is difficult to imagine what the music scene of today would look like without the influence of Jamal Edwards. Ed Sheeran even claimed that he owes his success to Edwards, stating that “He was just all about finding people and showing people new opportunities”.
Also conducting the first UK-based interviews with over-seas stars such as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Wiz Khalifa, it could be claimed that perhaps Jamal Edwards has had an influence on the introduction of American & Canadian stars into the UK music scene.
Throughout his inspirational career, the SBTV CEO racked up an admirable number of accomplishments. In 2015, Edwards was awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the music industry through SBTV. His contributions to the online music industry were also recognised by the BIMA (British Interactive Media Association), via inducting Edwards into their Hall of Fame in 2016.
The MBE holder also received recognition from a number of universities. He received an honorary MBA from the University of Bedfordshire and a Doctor of Letters degree from the University of West London. He was also appointed Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of Sussex.
After his death, Edwards received a MITS award (Music Industry Trusts) in recognition of his overwhelming contribution to the music industry.
Tragically, Jamal Edwards died of cardiac arrhythmia at the home of his mother on 20th February 2022 following cocaine use, at the young age of 31. He had spent the previous night DJing at a gig in North London.
Brenda Edwards, Jamal’s mother, set up the Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust in his memory. With this, she aims to keep supporting those causes that were the dearest to Jamal’s heart, including providing young people with key life skills, addressing mental health problems and tackling homelessness. Through this Trust as well as the music industry, Jamal Edwards’ memory will be kept alive.
“Jamal made it his personal mission to open doors for others to walk through. To help people through life, to love and to laugh.” -Tracey Parry-Knight, CEO of The Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust.
“Jamal was one of the nicest, most down to earth and humble men I’ve met in this industry. He always gave me time even when no one else would.” -Adam Deacon: actor, rapper, director & writer.
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