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Member Number: 10879
Russell Simmons (born October 4, 1957 in Queens, New York), is an American entrepreneur, the co-founder, with Rick Rubin, of the pioneering hip-hop label Def Jam, founder of another label, Russell Simmons Music Group, and creator of the clothing fashion line Phat Farm and the fragrance label Atman.
Russell Simmons is the younger brother of Daniel "Danny" Simmons, Jr and he is the older brother of Rev. Joseph Simmons, better known as "Run" of Run-DMC, and son of Daniel Simmons, Sr, a public school administrator. His brother Daniel "Danny" Simmons, Jr is an accomplished abstract artist.
Since May 2005 he has been a contributing blogger at The Huffington Post.
Russell Simmons is the third richest hip hop entrepreneur, having a net-worth estimate of $340 million. He is only behind Jay-Z at $547M, and P Diddy at $358M.
Simmons attended City College of New York but left his studies to begin promoting local rap music acts, including Kurtis Blow and Run-DMC (whom he would later sign to his record label), and producing records. In 1984, he met Rick Rubin and they founded Def Jam Records, signing the Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, Public Enemy and other acts.
Personal
Russell is a vegan and practicies yoga.
He married Kimora Lee Simmons on December 20, 1998 on Caribbean island of St. Bart's with his Pentecostal minister brother Joseph Simmons officiating.
Simmons officially filed for divorce in March 2006, releasing a statement saying: ' the couple have been separated "for some time," but have continued living under the same roof'.
The Simmons' have two daughters named Ming Lee Simmons (born January 21, 2000) and Aoki Lee Simmons (born August 16, 2002). Both Ming Lee and Aoki Lee model for Baby Phat Kids Collection.
The former couple's 49,000 square-foot Saddle River, New Jersey mansion is for sale at $23,888,000. Located 25 miles northwest of Manhattan, the 1996 built palace is one of the largest homes on the East Coast.
In 2004 Russell sold Phat Farm to Kellwood Company for $140 million dollars. Kimora--who was already Creative Director of Baby Phat-- was promoted by Kellwood to President and Creative Director of Phat Fashions.
Charity
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Simmons joined 22 other top executives in the apparel and home fashions industry to form Fashion Delivers Charitable Foundation, Inc. to unify the apparel and home fashions industry to donate new product to help needy individuals and families who fell victim to one of the USA's worst natural disaster. In supporting the new charity, Phat Farm underwrote a t-shirt design contest with 100% of the proceeds going to Fashion Delivers.
Politics
In May 2007, Simmons has considered endorsement of Ohio Democrat Dennis Kucinich for the 2008 U.S. presidential election, but seems much more interested in John Edwards as the election gets closer.
Def Jam
Def Jam became just one piece in Simmons' corporation, Rush Communications, which included a management company, a clothing company called Phat Farm, a movie production house, television shows such as Def Comedy Jam, a magazine, and an advertising agency. Simmons sold his stake in the record company for $100 million to Universal Music Group in 1999. The up and coming component of Rush Communications is the sneaker company Run Athletics, a company that produces the Legacy and Arthur Ashe shoes.
Other Projects
Recently, Simmons brought his show Def Poetry to Broadway as a live show, earning awards for the youthful and multicultural cast.
Simmons, in partnership with a financial institution, released a line of re-loadable Visa debit cards aimed at consumers who would otherwise have problems obtaining a credit card account. These prepaid cards include the RushCard and the Baby Phat RushCard.
In July 2006, Simmons, in addition to other members of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, was named a Goodwill Ambassador of CISRI-ISP. According to the press release, Simmons' appointment will help "launch an awareness campaign utilizing hip-hop as a vehicle to address war, poverty and HIV/AIDS, in support of the UN Millennium Development Goals as well as the CISRI-ISP fight against severe poverty and malnutrition. On August 24,2006, Simmons hosted a reception in support of Republican United States Senate candidate from Maryland, Michael Steele . In December 2006, Simmons was criticized for claims that he made following a tour organized by De Beers, of Botswana's Jwaneng mine, one of the world's richest diamond mines. This was part of a nine day, three country trip through Africa. Some expressed concern that this was part of a larger public relations effort organized by De Beers to counter expected controversies following the release of the movie Blood Diamond. Simmons' response was that he felt too much focus has been put on "conflict diamonds" and that his job was "to take what's good and make it better". Russell Simmons also is a U.S. board of directors for Upliftment Jamaica (www.upliftmentjamaica.org) an organization started by Gary Foster, Vice President of Rush Communication which seeks to empower impoverished communities throughout Jamaica and the Caribbean.
Simmons has since gained attention by calling for the removal of the words 'nigga', 'bitch' and 'ho' from the "clean" radio edited versions of rap songs.
In July 2007, Simmons, frustrated that the Howard Stern Show would not book him as a guest to promote his recent book, vented on the Jay Thomas radio show by bad mouthing Stern show producer Gary Dell'Abate. When Stern heard this, he called Simmons and immediately booked Simmons for the show on July 24, 2007 to talk about this. The two are now friends.
In 2007, it's rumored that Simmons met in Detroit with filmmaker, producer, entertainment business consultant Dionciel Armstrong to discuss his plans to buy a stake in Armstrong's Rap Files Enterprises, Inc. that produces a monthly newspaper, dvd series, and internet video magazine to produce a "Nigga Free" publication. Dionciel hasn't made a decision to partner with Simmons but the two have plans to partner in film, business, and publications in the future.
Self Help Book
In March 2007, Gotham Books announced the publication of Simmons' new book Do You! 12 Laws To Access The Power In You To Achieve Happiness And Success. The book is co-written with Chris Morrow and features an introduction by Donald Trump.
- Interview with Russell Simmons and Marc Schneier from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Hip-Hop Guru article in 29 Apr 7 NYT
- Bio and photo of Russell Simmons — Crain's New York Business 40 under 40 — 1992
- Russell Simmons' Written Portrait Of His Family
- Current information on Def Poetry Jam
- Biography from Salon
- Bishop E. Bernard Jordan
- Russell and his brothers featured in the documentary film, Lemonade Stories.
- Russell Simmons Interview on CBC
- Russell Simmons Interview on Soundslam
- Russell Simmons Interview on NPR Onpoint
- Interview with Riz Khan on Al Jazeera English, 20 June 2007
- Is There A Future For Spoken Word? @ dropmagazine.com
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| Born | October 4, 1957 Queens, New York City, United States |
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| Occupation | Music and Fashion Mogul |
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