TeeRoy's 2 Cents:
- Rest in power, Andre.
- This must be so hard on Puffy, who has had so much loss in his life in the past couple of years.
- Is 2020 going to be the year of bad news?
Legendary music exec Andre Harrell passed away on Thursday night. He was 59 years old.
DJ D-Nice broke the news through his Instagram Live series Club Quarantine on Friday night. The Uptown Records founder is credited with discovering Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, hiring a young Puffy as an intern and later making him the Vice President of A&R.
Later in his career, Harrell called the shots as the CEO of Motown Records.
According to Harrell’s ex-wife,Wendy Credle, his cause of death was heart failure, which wasn’t completely unexpected since he “had heart problems for some time.”
Tributes have been pouring in on social media from his industry peers. Here's what people are saying:
- Motown Records founder Berry Gordy said, ““I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of my friend, Andre Harrell. I appreciated his expertise, forward thinking and the many contributions he brought to Motown after it was sold to MCA. He will be missed.”
- Mariah Carey: “Why Andre… My heart is breaking and I can't stop crying. He was an amazing friend and I will miss him forever.”
- Maxwell:“WHY . WE . GOTTA . HURT . LIKE . THIS . REST . IN . PEACE .
- 50 Cent:“R.I.P to Andre Harrell God Bless him.”
- John Legend:“RIP Andre Harrell. Whether we knew it or not, he had such a huge influence on the R&B/hip-hop my generation grew up loving. He signed and mentored so many great artists, made so much great music happen, helped shape the culture.”
- Dawn Richard: “Andre Harrell was the first person I saw in my vocal audition for making the band. He said to me that voice, tone, is different, it’s special. He and Laurie Ann believed in my art. i will never forget that. RIP Andre. And Thank You for the open door.”
- Viola Davis:“RIP Andre Harrell...thank you for the gift of so many incredible artists. Gone too soon.”