UB Remembers: The Life of Music Executive Andre Harrell

Andre Harrell was one of the leading entertainment entrepreneurs and cultural architects of our time. His legacy includes the founding of the seminal music label, Uptown Records, the launching of Bad Boy Records, serving as the CEO of Motown Records, the Creator and Executive Producer of Fox TV’s “New York Undercover” – the first multicultural major television network drama ever, the Creator and Executive Producer of the two motion pictures that launched the careers of both Halle Berry (“Strictly Business”) and Jessica Alba (“Honey”), and the founder of the “cross-cultural” advertising agency, “Nu America.”

With Uptown Records, Harrell launched and molded the careers of Heavy D, Jodeci, Al B. Sure, Teddy Riley, Guy, Sean Combs, and the legendary queen of hip hop soul, Mary J Blige, effectively changing the sound of R&B music and receiving the Billboard Magazine award for the most number of charted singles in 1994.

As the CEO of Motown, Harrell oversaw the careers of iconic artists such as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Queen Latifah, while launching the careers of Mario Winans and 98 Degrees. In 2002 Harrell founded his second record label, Nu America Records, where he signed Robin Thicke and executive produced the biggest single and most played song in the history of radio with Thicke and Pharrell’s “Blurred Lines”.

Harrell identified a set of cultural behaviors and consumption patterns in the 1990s within the black community and coined what has since become two of the most popular phrases: “Ghetto Fabulous” and “Black Excellence” which he defined respectively as a, “a highly aspirational fashion and lifestyle approach developed by black Americans that allowed them to define their self-worth and self-dignity on their own terms”, and “an embrace by the young black community of the notion of excelling within mainstream culture.”

Harrell’s legacy is that of one of the top executives and architects of hip hop culture who effectively changed the way not only America, but the world now identifies with and emulates black American culture on a global stage. Ultimately, Harrell’s work and mission has been to serve a higher purpose: to elevate black culture in a way that gives black Americans a sense of self-worth and self-dignity, while providing a pathway of empathy so that all people can relate to and draw from the beauty of that culture.

UB Sends Our Condolences to Andre’s Family, Friends and Fans!

We’ve posted some selected photos of Andre Harrell & Friends.