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Russell Simmons
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Russell Simmons (born October 1 ,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.
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Encyclopedia
Russell Simmons (born October 1 ,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 , 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 practices yoga.
Simmons met model Kimora Lee in November 1992 at New York's fashion week. They dated for six years and married on December 20 1998 on the Caribbean island of Saint Barthélemy. His "minister" brother Rev Run officiated. In March 2006 the couple announced their separation with their divorce finalised in January 2009.
The Simmons have two daughters.
Charity
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Simmons joined 22 other top executives in the apparel and home fashions industry to form 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.
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 failed, filing for bankruptcy shortly after its beginning.
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 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.
External Links
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