{"id":144006,"date":"2020-05-09T21:32:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-09T19:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blackouthiphop.com\/?p=144006"},"modified":"2020-05-09T21:32:05","modified_gmt":"2020-05-09T19:32:05","slug":"founder-of-uptown-records-andre-harrell-passed-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blackouthiphop.com\/blog\/founder-of-uptown-records-andre-harrell-passed-away\/","title":{"rendered":"Founder of Uptown Records Andre Harrell Passed Away"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Andre Harrell<\/strong>, founder of influential R&B and Hip-Hop label Uptown Records, has died at the age of 59. Harrell<\/strong>‘s passing was first announced by DJ D-Nice<\/strong> on his Instagram Live earlier today. Details of his death are not confirmed, yet.<\/p>\n

Harrell<\/strong> started his music career as half of the early-’80s hip-hop duo Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde<\/strong>. The pair’s biggest hit was Genius Rap<\/em> in 1982. He was later on hired by Def Jam<\/strong> and worked his way up to vice president and general manager of the label. Shortly thereafter he started his own label Uptown Records<\/strong>. It quickly rose to preeminence with hits from Heavy D & The Boyz, B. Sure! & Guy<\/strong>. Andre Harrell<\/strong>‘s biggest discovery was Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs<\/strong>, who started off as an intern in Uptown, and eventually worked there full-time as a talent director. Harrell<\/strong> left Uptown in 1995 to become CEO of Motown Records<\/strong> for a short period of time.<\/p>\n

BlackoutHipHop extends condolences to Andre Harrell<\/strong>\u2019s family and friends.<\/p>\n