Jamal Edwards: how did he die - and what has mother Brenda said?

Brenda Edwards has said she still talks to her son Jamal every day and that the love she's received from his friends and those he helped has been reassuring.

After founding the music platform SBTV in 2006, the young entrepreneur helped to catapult a slew of UK music performers to popularity, including Ed Sheeran, Dave and Jessie J.

His mother said the blue jewellery she wore on ITV's Good Morning Britain was handcrafted for her by Sheeran's mother in Jamal's favourite colour.

Jamal was just 31 years old when he died in February 2022 - here we take a look back at what happened.

The entrepreneur gained fame from setting up SBTV in 2006, a web-based platform championing new music, particularly in the genres of hip-hop and grime.

Edwards was a teenager when he launched the broadcasting and production film channel to upload clips he had recorded of his friends performing on the estate where he lived in Acton, west London.

By 2014, he had amassed an estimated fortune of around £8 million, and had worked with and helped to launch the UK music careers of the likes of Jessie J, Emeli Sande, Dave, and Ed Sheeran.

He was also an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, a charity headed by the Prince of Wales, and in 2014 he was awarded an MBE for his services to music.

Speaking to PA after being made an MBE, he said he started SBTV to give his friends a platform, and to try to help them get their videos on MTV.

He added: “YouTube was like a year old. I was like ‘I’ve got a camera for Christmas, I’m going to start filming people and uploading it’.

“Everyone was looking at me like ‘what are you doing, like you can compete with these major corporations’, but I think I was early enough to believe that I could make a change.”

In the same interview, he described his working relationship with musicians as “symbiotic”.

“50% is the talent and 50% is the platform,” he said. “I try to focus on people that haven’t got the platform. As well as getting a really well-known artist I want to get the up-and-coming ones as well.”

The official Youtube Twitter account said the industry had “lost a legend”, adding: “Jamal Edwards was an inspiration to so many, supporting artists and shaping culture through @SBTVonline. Sending our condolences to Jamal’s family & community.”

Loose Women’s Denise Welch said: “My heart aches for my friend Brenda. I can’t bear it. Jamal Edwards was a wonderful son and brother.”

Edwards died of a heart attack on 20 February 2022, at the age of 31.

Edwards’ mother Brenda Edwards released a statement at the time of her son’s death, in which she said he died “after a sudden illness”.

Released on the official Twitter account of ITV’s Loose Women, her statement said: “It is with the deepest heartache that I confirm that my beautiful son Jamal Edwards passed away yesterday morning after a sudden illness. Myself, his sister Tanisha, and the rest of his family and friends are completely devastated. He was the centre of our world.

“As we come to terms with his passing, we asked for privacy to grieve this unimaginable loss. I would like to thank everyone for their messages of love and support. Jamal was an inspiration to myself and so many. Our love for him lives on, his legacy lives on. Long live Jamal Edwards MBE, MBA, PhD.”

On 4 May, Brenda Edwards appeared on Good Morning Britain to speak about setting up a trust in her son’s name – The Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust.

She told GMB presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley: “He was this lovely, happy person that always wanted to connect this one to this one, without even thinking about himself most of the time… it was just about helping others.”

She also spoke about how she is managing to “make sense of” her son’s death, saying: “I’m managing to do it, because Jamal’s mantra was about self-belief, which is why I’ve named the trust (the) Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust.”

She later added: “I talk to him every morning and every night. I say ‘Hello, good morning, baby, good night, baby.’

“I just talk about anything. I do get a lot of strength in that and he inspired me a lot.”

According to celebritynetworth.com, Edwards’ net worth was estimated to be around $10 million (£7.3 million).