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Russell Simmons

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Russell Simmons
Born (1957-10-04) October 4, 1957 (age 67)
Queens, New York City, United States
Occupation(s)Music and Fashion Mogul

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.

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 entertainer, having a net-worth estimate of $325 million [1], third to rapper Jay-Z's $347M and CEO P Diddy's $340M.

Biography

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.

Simmons met model Kimora Lee in November 1992 at New York's fashin week. They dated for six years and married on on December 20 1998 [2] on Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. His "minister" brother Rev Run officiated.

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.

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' [3]. Their divorce was final on 30 January 2009.

In Fall 2006 the couple's put their 49,000 square-foot Saddle River, New Jersey mansion up for sale for $23,888,000 [4]. Located 25 miles northwest of Manhattan, the 1996 built palace is one of the largest homes on the East Coast. A year later with the US economy in a recession the sale price was reduced to $11,623,500 [5].

Simmons biefly dated model Porschla Coleman [6].

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. Rumours say this promotion caused Russell to file for divorce from Kimora [citation needed].

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[7], 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 internet company 360hiphop.com was a spectacular failure, filing for bankruptcy.

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.[1] 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 [8]. On August 24,2006, Simmons hosted a reception in support of Republican United States Senate candidate from Maryland, Michael Steele [9]. 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"[10]. 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[11].

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 calling Howard Stern a nigger and bad mouthing Stern show producer Gary Dell'Abate. When Stern heard this, he called Simmons a hypocrite for using the word nigger 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 has plans to partner in film, business, and publications in the future.

The Laws Of Thinking

Simmons said that the advice of Bishop E. Bernard Jordan has been an indispensable part of his success during an infomercial shown on the American cable television channel BET in December 2006.

In several segments, Simmons indicated that he looks to Jordan as his spiritual leader.

Television

Russell and his brothers were featured in the award-winning documentary, Lemonade Stories. He occasional appears on his brother's reality show Run's House.

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.

References

  1. ^ 2007: Richest In Hip-Hop
  2. ^ http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,1178541,00.html
  3. ^ http://www.nobodysmiling.com/hiphop/news/85981.php
  4. ^ http://homes.realtor.com/search/listingdetail.aspx?poe=realtor&lid=1077673648 Simmons NJ Mansion for sale
  5. ^ http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/101-Fox-Hedge-Rd-Saddle-River-NJ-07458/52910768_zpid 101 Fox Hedge Rd for sale for $11mill
  6. ^ http://hotcelebritycouples.blogspot.com/2008/03/model-porschla-coleman-and-russell.html Russ is dating a new even younger model
  7. ^ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18537941/
  8. ^ Hip-Hop Summit Action Network Press Release
  9. ^ Change the Game Press Release
  10. ^ http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N05327463&WTmodLoc=IntNewsHome_C4_Crises-6 US music mogul, rights groups clash over diamonds
  11. ^ Rap Mogul Wants Racist Lyrics Ban
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