Jamal Edwards, a British YouTube star and founder of SBTV, has died at the age of 31.
His passing was confirmed by representatives of his media company to the BBC on Feb. 20, following reports on social media. No cause of death has been revealed.
Edwards founded the online platform in 2006, with an initial focus on urban music, and has helped launch the careers of many U.K. artists including Ed Sheeran, Jessie J, and rapper Dave.
Tributes to the innovator have begun pouring in from all over the world on social media. Rapper Lady Leshurr tweeted the news of his death was "heartbreaking" and credited Edwards for helping her career.
She wrote, "He gave me opportunity after opportunity to showcase my talent from Brum into London. We need to keep his name and brand alive."
The organizers of the Mobo Awards shared they were "deeply saddened" by news of Edwards' death.
"As the founder of @SBTVonline, his groundbreaking work & legacy in British music and culture will live on," they tweeted. "Our hearts and thoughts are with his friends and family."
Describing Edwards as a "legend," English rapper Jaykae tweeted, "I think I can speak for us all as artists and as supporters of UK grime/rap scene when I say I owe this man so much! Helped me sometimes without even speaking of it."
Denise Welch, who co-stars with the late entrepreneur's mother and X Factor alum Brenda Edwards on the British talk show Loose Women, said her heart aches for her friend.
"I can't bear it," she tweeted. "Jamal Edwards was a wonderful son and brother."
Edwards, who published the self-help book Self Belief: The Vision: How to Be a Success on Your Own Terms in 2013, was an ambassador for the Prince's Trust, a charity headed by the Prince Charles. In 2014 he was awarded The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his services to music, according to PA.
Speaking to the outlet back in 2013, he explained he founded SBTV as a YouTube channel to give his friends a platform.
"It was a frustration of going to school and everyone talking about ‘how do we get our videos on MTV,'" Edwards said. "YouTube was like a year old. I was like ‘I've got a camera for Christmas, I'm going to start filming people and uploading it.'"
"Everyone was looking at me like ‘what are you doing, like you can compete with these major corporations', but I think I was early enough to believe that I could make a change."
In the same interview, he described his working relationship with musicians as "symbiotic."
"50% is the talent and 50% is the platform," he said. "I try to focus on people that haven't got the platform. As well as getting a really well-known artist I want to get the up-and-coming ones as well."