Jamal Edwards
Online music entrepreneur, Youtube star and philanthropist
JAMAL EDWARDS, who has died aged 31 following what his family described as a brief illness, was an entrepreneur, philanthropist and Youtube star who founded the online music platform SBTV, which kickstarted the careers of musicians as diverse as Stormzy, Ed Sheeran, Skepta, Jessie J, Emeli Sandé and Dave; he went on to build an extensive portfolio of charity work, including projects with the Princes Charles, William and Harry.
Jamal Edwards was born in Luton on August 24 1990, and was brought up with his sister by his mother Brenda and stepfather Patrick; he never knew his father, who had had a brief relationship with Brenda. She would go on to finish fourth on the talent show The X Factor in 2005 and become a presenter on the lunchtime talk show Loose Women.
The family moved to Acton in west London when Jamal was young; his mother took him for lessons at stage school, though he was always more musically inclined. He attended Acton High School, then Ealing Green College, receiving a BTEC Diploma in Media Moving Image.
By then he had already begun rapping, posting videos of himself and his friends on Youtube filmed in his bedroom – initially on “a £20 phone” and then on a camcorder, a Christmas present from his parents when he was 15. “Everyone in my area was an MC and I remember thinking: ‘Why can’t I find these online?’ ” he recalled. “‘I’m going to film people in my area and upload it to Youtube’. ”
Beginning with grime – “like the punk movement, in terms of lyrics and rebellious attitude”, said Edwards – he began to feature such nascent stars as Dizzee Rascal, Wiley, Chipmunk and Tinchy Stryder; the operation evolved into the SBTV channel, named for his early rapping moniker of Smokeybarz. While getting the platform up and running he worked for Topman.
SBTV posted its first video in February 2007, quickly establishing a reputation for breaking new talent. In 2010 the channel was the first to feature an up-and-coming musician named Ed Sheeran.
Edwards was happy for the artists he featured to take centre stage – “I wanted to be the Banksy. I wanted no one to know who I was” – but when he appeared in an advertisement for Google Chrome (which received more online hits than a similar ad featuring Justin Bieber) his name spread, and he began to be approached in the street for selfies.
Edwards built up a young team at SBTV, which now has 1.2 million subscribers and curates stages at festivals such as Wireless, Outlook and Bestival, and he interviewed such global stars as Drake, Nicki Minaj and Wiz Khalifa (not to mention David Cameron). In 2016 SBTV began working with the Press Association to expand its coverage further.
Edwards’s own profile continued in the ascendant, and he began raising awareness of mental health issues – he spoke of his own struggles with anxiety – funding youth centres, and becoming an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, the Prince of Wales’s youth charity that helps young people set up businesses.
He worked with William and Harry, launching the Queen’s Young Leaders Programme in 2014. That year, Time magazine named him as one of their “Next Generation Leaders”.
He also expanded into fashion, releasing a headwear line with his former employer, Topman. He was one of the faces of a Kurt Geiger collection, and fronted Primark’s AW19 campaign to celebrate the retailer’s 50th anniversary in his belief that “affordable fashion is important”.
Edwards, who was appointed MBE in 2014, and was thought to be worth around £8 million, published an ebook, Self Belief: The Vision: How to Be a Success on Your Own Terms, and regularly visited schools and colleges for motivational question-andanswer sessions. In 2021 he appeared on Loose Women with his mother. “I feel like I’ve done a lot,” he said. “But there’s a lot more I can do.”
Jamal Edwards, born August 24 1990, died February 20 2022