Tuesday 7 June 2022 10:01 AM Jamal Edwards, 31, died of cardiac arrhythmia at home after taking ... trends now
Music mogul Jamal Edwards died from a sudden heart attack caused by drugs, his devastated mother revealed today.
Brenda Edwards said she has been left in a state of shock after learning the cause of her only son's death four months ago.
The music mogul died in February, aged just 31, following a 'sudden heart attack' at the Acton home he shared with his mother after DJing the night before.
Brenda, a Loose Women panellist who finished fourth in the second series of The X Factor, is mourning Jamal's death with his sister Tanisha. The YouTube star, 31, was a close friend of Ed Sheeran and Stormzy.
She said in a statement: 'We have been so incredibly touched by the outpouring of love and support, and you are all helping us try and get through the unimaginable.
'I have sadly learned that the cause of Jamal's devastating passing was due to cardiac arrhythmia caused by having taken recreational drugs and I wanted to address this myself to everyone who loved, admired and respected my son'.
The singer previously described her son's untimely death as 'sudden and unexpected', explaining that he 'went into a cardiac arrest and then he passed with me holding his hand.'
She spoke out as the inquest into his death opened in west London, which heard he 'came home late one evening, after which he became increasingly agitated and suffered a cardiac arrest'. He died on February 20. The case has been adjourned for eight weeks.
Brenda Edwards, the Loose Women star Brenda Edwards (pictured together on the show in November 2021), said she and his family and friends are all devastated
The last photo of Jamal, DJ'ing hours before he died in his sleep at home
Brenda Edwards revealed the cause of her son's death today, as an inquest opened
Jamal was 15 when his mother Brenda bought him extra special Christmas present – a £200 video camera.
YouTube had just been launched and Jamal, who like most teenagers spent hours in his bedroom online, decided to upload some footage of foxes in his back garden. 'I thought I was Steve Irwin,' he said in an interview with MailOnline.
But when the footage got 1,000 views, he realised he was on to something.
He went out on to the estate and made some clips of his friends, most of whom were into grime – the music style now defined by stars such as Dizzee Rascal and Skepta.
'Back then, there was no place to showcase our sort of spitting and rapping, so I thought, OK, I want to create that platform,' he said. He took his own rap moniker 'Smokey Barz' to coin his brand name and SBTV was born.
Jamal began his Topman career as a shop assistant but at the same time started hanging out at the BBC, sneaking into raves and messaging record labels to beg for interview time with their artists. His big break came three years later when he secured his first non-grime interview with Kelly Rowland.
From that, Bruno Mars, Nicki Minaj, Trey Songz and countless other A-listers followed. In 2011, he was invited to 10 Downing Street to interview the prime minister after being appointed a Spirit of London Awards ambassador.
Jamal was still hands-on
