Andre Harrell, Uptown Records founder and hip hop mogul who launched P Diddy, Mary J Blige's careers, dies at 59

Andre Harrell began working for Russell Simmons at Def Jam in the ’80s, quickly becoming an executive and helping build the careers for acts such as Run-DMC and LL Cool J. Andre Harrell, the Uptown Records founder who shaped the sound of hip-hop and R&B in the late ’80s and ’90s with acts such as Mary J Blige and Heavy D and also launched the career of mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, has died. “Andre Harrell influenced me the most and I don’t know if that will ever change,” Diddy said in an interview with HipHollywood. Questlove of The Roots wrote an emotional post, calling Harrell’s death “a staggering loss.” “He gave you the best soundtracks of your life man and you didn’t even know it. “We are mourning the loss of a cultural icon, Andre Harrell, a chief architect of the modern hip-hop and R&B sound,” BET President Scott Mills said in a statement Saturday.