Brenda Edwards on son Jamal: I talk to him every morning and every night
The music entrepreneur and founder of SBTV died in February at the age of 31.
Brenda Edwards said she still talks to her son Jamal every day as she spoke of how comforting she has found the support she has received from his friends and people he helped.
The young entrepreneur found fame after setting up the music platform SBTV in 2006, and was credited with helping to launch a string of UK music acts to stardom, including Ed Sheeran, Dave and Jessie J.
He died on February 20 from a heart attack at the age of 31.
His 53-year-old mother revealed that the blue jewellery she was wearing while appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain was made for her by Sheeran’s mother in Jamal’s favourite colour.
The Loose Women panellist and singer also spoke about setting up a trust in her son’s name – The Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust.
She told GMB presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley: “He was this lovely, happy person that always wanted to connect this one to this one, without even thinking about himself most of the time… it was just about helping others.”
She also spoke about how she is managing to “make sense of” her son’s death, saying: “I’m managing to do it, because Jamal’s mantra was about self-belief, which is why I’ve named the trust (the) Jamal Edwards Self Belief Trust.
“His thing was about giving young people the power to think about the dreams they want to believe and how to achieve them.”
She later added: “I talk to him every morning and every night. I say ‘Hello, good morning, baby, good night, baby.’
“I just talk about anything. I do get a lot of strength in that and he inspired me a lot.
“Both of my children are very inspiring and I would always talk to them about the things I am doing with work, with Loose (Women) or anything that I’m doing – he was always a champion.
“He was the one that started up my social media, because he said I wasn’t doing enough…”
Edwards said Jamal had a will, due to him owning businesses, and told of his passion for helping others and how would spend Christmas every year helping at a homeless shelter.
She told GMB that Jamal is “with my mum and dad and my nan and grandad right now”.
“When we laid him to rest there was a ‘J’ above in the sky, and the other clouds were all moving but that ‘J’ never faltered. I believe that he’s with me. I do have faith, I am someone who believes in that.
“I’m not here to put that on everyone else, everyone deals with grief in their own way. That’s how I deal with it. And when Jamal was here, I would speak to Mum and Dad… It’s a beautiful thing out of something quite sad and negative.”
Jamal was also an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, a charity headed up by the Prince of Wales, and in 2014 was awarded an MBE for his services to music.
