Loose Women presenter Brenda Edwards has paid a heartbreaking tribute to her son Jamal, following his death at the age of 31.
Jamal’s management confirmed that the SB.TV founder died on Sunday morning, with tributes immediately pouring in from his friends, colleagues and those he inspired.
On Monday morning, his mum Brenda paid her respects publicly in a statement shared by Loose Women’s social media accounts. In her statement, she also confirmed that Jamal had died after a “sudden illness”.
“It is with deepest heartache that I confirm that my beautiful son Jamal Edwards passed away yesterday morning after a sudden illness,” she wrote.
“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 ask for privacy to grieve this unimaginable loss. I would like to thank everyone for their messages of love and support.”
Brenda added: “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.”
Jamal was still a teenager when he set up SB.TV, the youth broadcasting and production film channel, which would go on to help launch the careers of countless artists including Stormzy, Ed Sheeran, Dave and Jessie J.
Speaking to PA after being made an MBE, he said he started SB.TV to give his friends a platform.
He said: “It was a frustration of going to school and everyone talking about ‘how do we get our videos on MTV?’.
“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.”