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Joseph Simmons | |
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 Simmons in 2000 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joseph Ward Simmons |
| Also known as |
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| Born | (1964-11-14)November 14, 1964 (age 60) Queens,New York City, U.S. |
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Joseph Ward Simmons (born November 14, 1964), better known by the stage nameRun,Rev. Run orDJ Run, is an American rapper, producer, DJ, and television personality. Simmons is one of the founding members of the influentialhip hop groupRun-DMC. He is also a practicingminister, known asReverend Run.
He found new popularity in 2005 with his family'sMTV reality showRun's House.
Simmons was born November 14, 1964, inHollis, Queens,New York. He is the younger brother of artistDanny Simmons andRussell Simmons, the co-founder ofDef Jam records.
Before Run–D.M.C., Simmons was the lead vocalist in the hip-hop group named "The Force". He founded Run-D.M.C. as a lead vocalist along with friendDarryl "D.M.C." McDaniels and the lateDJJason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell.
Run began using the stage name of "Rev. Run" after he was ordained as aPentecostal minister[1] byE. Bernard Jordan, Simmons's spiritual mentor.[2] Jordan also named him "Protege of the Year Award" in 2004. The same day, symbolic of his "Prosperity Ministry", there was a "Rolls-Royce parade outside thePlaza Hotel inNew York City, "featuring Jordan's Phantom Rolls-Royce.[3] The new $325,000 Phantom had been a gift from Reverend Run as a "thank you" for Jordan's mentoring support.[4]
His first work as Rev. Run was a feature in the single "Song 4 Lovers" byUKpop bandLiberty X in September 2005. The music video for that song was directed by Bill Schacht for Aestheticom and reached broadcast airplay chart positions of No. 2 Box UK and No. 4 MTV UK with heavy rotation on 5 other music channels in the UK. "Song 4 Lovers" also reached No. 5 on the Official Charts Company's UK Top 40 Singles Chart, becoming the band's seventh top ten hit.[5][6]
It was followed by his first solo album,Distortion. The first single from the album, "Mind on the Road", is featured in theEA Sports'sMadden NFL 06 video game. "Mind on the Road" uses samples from the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", in the tradition of Run–D.M.C.'s 1980s hits which use samples like Aerosmith's hit "Walk This Way".
In 2002, he appeared on a special "Rap Stars" edition ofThe Weakest Link,[7] and was the third one voted off.
Rev Run appeared on theMTV seriesRun's House, a reality show revolving around his everyday life with his family, from 2005 to 2009.
In 2007, he appeared with his sonDiggy Simmons onMy Super Sweet 16 while attending a 16th birthday party forDiddy's son, Quincy.Diddy is also the producer ofRun's House.
In 2008, Simmons and his wife Justine teamed up withKool-Aid and a non-profit organization called KaBOOM! to help build playgrounds in underserved communities. With Kool-Aid, they are helping to build twenty four playgrounds over the course of 2008 and hope to raise awareness for the need for safe play spaces.
On August 5, 2008, Gotham Press published Simmons' book,Take Back Your Family: A Challenge to America's Parents, co-authored by his wife, Justine Simmons, and Chris Morrow.
On September 8, 2007, Rev Run was honored as aBMI Icon at the annual BMI Urban Awards.
The weekend of September 17 and 18 of 2011, Rev Run made a special guest appearance at Bay Area Fellowship with Pastor Bil Cornelius in Corpus Christi, Texas Bay Area Fellowship Church.[citation needed]
In October 2011, Rev Run was a special guest ofFellowship Church based out ofGrapevine, Texas.[citation needed]
Simmons has also created three other cable series, two premiered in 2014;Rev Run's Renovation which runs on both theDIY Network andHGTV, andRev Run's Sunday Suppers forCooking Channel, the otherRev Runs Around the World premiered on theTravel Channel in 2016.
Simmons married Valerie Vaughn in 1983. They have three children:Vanessa Simmons,Angela Simmons, andJoseph "JoJo" Ward Simmons, Jr.
He marriedJustine Jones on June 25, 1994.[8][9] With her, he had three more children:Daniel "Diggy" Simmons III,Russell "Russy" Simmons II, andVictoria Anne Simmons. Victoria was four pounds, five ounces when she was delivered viacaesarean section.[10] She died shortly after being born on September 26, 2006, due toomphalocele, a birth defect that caused her organs to grow outside her body.[11][12] The Simmons' allowedMTV camera crews ofRun's House to document baby Victoria's death, tellingPeople that "God, in my mind, gave us something to go through in front of America, so we documented it on-camera – not so much to show you sadness, but to show you how we, as ministers, would handle this tragedy. [The kids] found out on-camera. Diggy was waiting to see, 'How's Mommy?' And the first words we said were, 'The baby didn't make it.'"[11] Soon they adopted a baby girl,Miley Justine Simmons.[13]
The Simmons family lives inSaddle River, New Jersey[14] in a six-bedroom colonial-style home that was listed for sale in 2007 for $5.5 million.[15]
In 2017, Simmons said he was adoptingvegetarianism because God advised him to.[16]
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