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Celebrities React To The News Of Andre Harrell Death

Andre Harrell, whose Uptown Records is considered one of the key bridges between hip-hop and R&B, died of heart failure Thursday night at his West Hollywood home. He was 59 and his death was confirmed by his former wife

Jodeci Mary J Blige Diddy Biggie Al B Sure Soul For Real Guy Lost Boyz Father MC Christopher Williams …all on Uptown. RIP Andre Harrell. Dj Nice revealed on his instagram live radio show that Club Quarantine radio show that legendary Andre Harrell 59 a music veteran music executive had die. Harrell was the Founder of uptown records , founder Nuamerica music. Co founder n chair of THE REVOLT MUSIC CONFERENCE . Andre Harrell and Uptown’s legacy includes: Teddy Riley Guy Heavy D & The Boyz Jodeci Mary J. Blige Al B Sure Father MC Soul For Real Christopher Williams New York Undercover (FOX TV) And gave a young Sean Combs & Biggie their first break.

Andre Harrell, founder of the influential R&B and hip-hop label Uptown Records, has died. He was 59. The cause of Harrell’s death, which was announced early on Saturday by DJ D-Nice and confirmed by media outlets, was not immediately known.

Harrell started out as half of the early-80s hip-hop duo Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde but was best known for schooling an intern, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, in the music business.

Combs, now known as Diddy, launched the careers of 90s R&B megastars Mary J Blige and Jodeci on his own Bad Boy label with his friend Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious BIG, who with his wife Faith Evans also achieved stardom.

Harrell was chief executive of Motown for a short stint, and launched other careers including that of Robin Thicke.

Harrell created Uptown Records, where Sean “Puffy” Combs got his start in the business, who later went on to head Motown Records .

A native of New York, Harrell started his career in music as an artist, one-half of the early rap duo Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, whose single “Genius Rap” was a minor hit in 1981. In 1983 Harrell teamed with Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam Records, and had one of his early experiences in the business working as a vice president and later GM of the label.

Harrell would later find a home for Uptown at MCA where he simultaneously developed multiple projects in film and television in the 1990s, including the movie and soundtrack “Strictly Business.” In 1995, he went on to run Motown Records as president and CEO for a brief period not long after the label’s acquisition by PolyGram.Harrell and Combs remained longtime friends and business associates and Harrell served as vice chairman of Revolt, Combs’ multi-platform music network, and a producer on its panel show “State of the Culture.”

A pioneer of hip-hop and R&B and black entertainment in general, serving as executive producer of the series “New York Undercover,” Harrell could be seen at many red carpet events on both coasts. He appears in Diddy’s 2017 documentary “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story” and, according to IMDB, had been working on a TV miniseries about Uptown that was in the the development phase at BET .The three-part miniseries titled “Uptown” had Harrell on board as executive producer and was scheduled to hit the airwaves in 2020.

Andre said, “What we were doing at Uptown Records was a lifestyle. We were representing like an urban chic, which we called ‘ghetto fabulous,’ and [Diddy] loved it. He loved it so much he would be walking around in the office with no shirt on, Timberland boots, and jewelry… He was art imitating life.”

“Diddy learned how to produce. And then he always had style. He was able to take his style and give it to the other artists, shape and mold them, especially Jodeci. He came up with the sagging pants and boots. He also did the first hip-hop soul remix; the “Come and Talk to Me” remix was really important at that time. He did that.”

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