Russell Simmons

He got married to Kimora Lee on the Saint Barthélemy Island, located in France in 1998. They have two daughters but their marriage ended in divorce in 2009.

He is a vegan and believes in the principle of Ahimsa. He is also an animal rights activist and supports ‘Farm Sanctuary’, an animal rights protection organisation.

Russell Simmons was born on October 4, 1957, in Queens, New York to Daniel Simmons, Sr. and Evelyn Simmons. His father was a public school administrator and his mother worked as a park administrator.

In 1975, he attended the City College of New York for a brief period of time, after which he dropped out and went on to promote local musicians like Run-D.M.C and Kurtis Blow.

In 1983, he joined hands with Rick Rubin and founded the record label; ‘Def Jam’ which soon began releasing hip-hop singles of several artists.

In 1984, ‘Def Jam’ released American rapper LL Cool J's hip-hop single ‘I Need a Beat’ and American hip-hop band ‘Beastie Boys’ single ‘Rock Hard’.

He produced the feature film, ‘Krush Groove’ in 1985, which was directed by Michael Schultz. The plot of the film was centred on the early days of the record label ‘Def Jam’.

By 1986, ‘Def Jam’ was discovering new talents and they began to venture into the mainstream. They topped the music charts with releases like ‘Licensed to Ill’, and ‘Raising Hell’.

In 1988, he worked with more new talents, which made the ‘Def Jam’ label one of the most successful hip-hop labels of that time. That year, Rick Rubin left the company.

He is the founder of the clothing line, ‘Phat Farm’, which initially began as a small showroom in New York. The clothing line expanded and turned into a multibillion dollar business.

He was the co-founder of the record label, ‘Def Jam’, which was an immensely successful record label that helped launch the careers of many hip-hop artists in the industry.