JASON WILLIAM MIZELLJason Mizell was a revered DJ andco-founder of the influential hip-hop group Run DMC. He died on 30 October,2002, at the age of 37.The group are today credited with bringinghip-hop music into the mainstream and Mr Mizell in particular, a talented percussionist,keyboard and bass player, is said to have led the way for a whole new genre oftalent.As well as establishing the music label 'JamMaster Jay Records', he also founded the Scratch DJ Academy in Manhattan forchildren interested in mastering the turntables."He changed the direction of music,put rock into rap and gave it a whole new persona," said Big Bang Hank ofthe Sugar Hill Gang. "It totally blew my mind."Jason William Mizell was born on 21January, 1965, in Brooklyn, New York. He moved to Queens at the age of 10where, prior to forming Run DMC with friends 'DJ Run' and 'DMC', he playeddrums and bass in several garage bands.Soon after signing a record deal withProfile Records in 1983, Mr Mizell and his Run DMC band-mates released their firstsingle 'It's Like That'. The track was an instant hit and the group'sself-titled debut became the first rap album to go gold.Mainstream success continued well into thelate 1980s, with a US tour, Grammy nomination and the record-breaking album 'RaisingHell'. 'Walk This Way', the album's groundbreaking rap-rock collaboration withAerosmith, became the first hip-hop track to make the US Billboard top 10.In 1989, he established the label 'JamMaster Jay Records' and, with the hardcore rap group Onyx, scored a string ofsuccesses during the early 1990s.Run DMC, meanwhile, despite having becomerenowned for breaking new ground in music, never again reached the dizzyingcommercial heights of 1986's 'Raising Hell'.Mr Mizell's seventh and final release with thegroup was 'Crown Royal', in 2001.It was to have been followed by a 20thanniversary album but, on 30 October, 2002, at the age of 37, Mr Mizell was shotdead while recording at a studio in his hometown of Queens, New York.He is buried at New York's FerncliffCemetery.In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked RunDMC at number 48 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.The group had filmed a 'Dr Pepper' TVcommercial prior to Mr Mizell's murder. When it finally aired in 2003, adedication to the late DJ was appended.The Jam Master Jay Foundation for Music wasformed posthumously to create and improve school music education programmes.
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