Ed Sheeran dedicated a song to late Jamal Edwards at his latest concert.
The 31-year old pop star was performing at Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust on Sunday (28.03.22) and introduced early hit ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ in memory of Jamal, who helped launched his career with online music platform SB.TV back in 2011 and reportedly died from a suspected heart attack aged 31 at the end of last month.
He is quoted by The Metro as saying: “We lost a really, really amazing soul just over a month ago, Jamal Edwards.He was my best friend, he was my brother. He changed my life. The song that I’m going to play is a song that he put onto his channel and this song opened up every single door for me, and I just want to say that this one’s for him. My brother.”
Jamal launched the urban music platform back in 2006 and in doing so helped launch the careers of other stars such as Jessie J, Rita Ora and Stormzy and when he passed away, the ‘Shivers’ hitmaker eventually posted a tribute to his Instagram where he claimed he would not be where he is today without the tragic entrepreneur.
At the time, he said: “I haven’t posted anything coz I can’t find the words, I can’t reply coz I don’t know what to say. Jamal is my brother. His light shone so bright. He only used it to illuminate others and never asked for anything in return. A stars light shines for millions of years after they go, and his will continue to light up every dark moment, we are all witnessing his power. I would not be here without him, professionally and personally. There will never be anything close to what he is, but I’m so grateful to have existed within his orbit. My brother, come on.”