Russell Simmons, the founder of Def Jam has quit his companies after being accused of sexual misconduct.
Screenwriter Jenny Lumet has said he directed his driver to take her to his apartment after she’d said she wanted to go home, before they had sex.
He denies the claims saying her memory of that evening in 1991 was “very different from mine”.
For many, Simmons may not be a household name.
Who is Russell Simmons?
He is one of the most powerful men in music and has been credited with redefining the hip hop genre. He started from humble beginnings.
Speaking to the Guardian in 2003 about the war on drugs in the black community in the US, he said: “I used every drug there is, back in the day, but it didn’t make me a bad person. It just made me a sad person, a diseased person. It didn’t make me a criminal.”
His roots to hip hop are engrained. His brother, Joseph or Rev Run, is one of the founding members of the legendary group Run DMC.
Image caption Simmons with his brother Rev Run (R)
Simmons produced some of the threesomes most popular tracks including Sucker MCs and It’s Like That.
“Because of the way it sounded and the impact it had on how people heard rap records, I believe co-producing ‘Sucker MCs’ is the single most creative thing I have ever done,” Simmons said in his autobiography.
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How did he become one of the most powerful men in hip hop?
Now estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds, Simmons began the legendary Def Jam records in the New York University dorm room of record producer Rick Rubin in 1981.
Together they produced music and signed artists like LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy to Def Jam Recordings.
“We did it effortlessly, with love and appreciation for the music.” Simmons told Rolling Stone magazine.
Image caption Simmons’ brother was a member of the legendary hip hop act Run DMC
Having pushed hip hop into the mainstream and with his label flourishing, he sold his stake in 1999 to Universal for a reported £74m.
Def Jam Records now looks after some of the biggest musicians in the world from Justin Bieber to Kanye West.
He has expanded his empire into other forms of entertainment.
After selling the label, he founded Rush Communications which is one of the largest African American owned media companies in America.
It brings together a variety of different companies from fashion to philanthropic organisations. He was awarded Variety Magazine’s Philanthropist of the Year award in 2016.
In his autobiography, called Success Through Stillness, he wrote that he was “constantly on a mission to make more money, have sex with more women, and snort more coke than the next man.”
He says that he’s changed his life through yoga and veganism.
As well as kick-starting the careers of several musicians, Simmons gave many African American comedians their big break too.
Together with HBO, he produced Def Comedy Jam in 1992, which featured legendary performances from Chris Rock and the late Bernie Mac.
HBO announced that they would be removing Russell Simmons’ name From ‘All Def Comedy’, a new series he was producing in light of the recent allegations.
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