| Joseph W. Simmons | |
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Simmons at the 2007 Brooklyn Book Festival |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joseph Ward Simmons |
| Born | November 14, 1964 Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Origin | Queens, New York |
| Genres | Old school hip hop, East Coast hip hop, rap rock |
| Occupations | Rapper, Producer, D.J., Reverend |
| Associated acts | Run–D.M.C., Kid Rock, Sean Combs, Russell Simmons, Aerosmith |
Joseph Ward Simmons (born November 14, 1964), known by the stage name Rev. Run or DJ Run, is one of the founding members of the influential hip hop group Run–D.M.C., and a practicing minister, known as Reverend Run. Simmons was born in Hollis, Queens, New York. He is the brother of Daniel "Danny" Simmons, Jr. and Russell Simmons, the co-founder of Def Jam Records.
He found new popularity in 2005 with his family MTV reality show Run's House.
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Before Run–D.M.C., Simmons was the lead vocalist in the hip-hop group called "The Force." He founded Run-D.M.C. as a lead vocalist along with friend Darryl "DMC" McDaniels and the late DJ Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell. Run began using the stage name of "Rev. Run" after he was ordained as a Pentecostal minister[1] by E. Bernard Jordan Jordan, Simmons 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 the Plaza Hotel in New 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" by UK pop band Liberty X in September 2005. The music video for that song was directed by Bill Schacht for Aestheticom and reached broadcast airplay chart positions of #2 Box UK and #4 MTV UK with heavy rotation on 5 other music channels in the UK. Run DMC also is in the rock and roll hall of fame .
It was followed by his first solo album, Distortion. The first single from the album, "Mind on the Road", is featured in the EA Sports's Madden NFL 06 video game. "Mind on the Road" uses samples from the song "I Love Rock 'n' Roll", in the tradition of Run-DMC's 1980s hits using samples like Aerosmith's hit "Walk This Way"
Rev Run appears on the MTV series Run's House, a reality show revolving around his everyday life with his family.
In 2002, he appeared on a special "Rap Stars" edition of The Weakest Link and was the third one voted off.
In 2007, he appeared with his son Diggy Simmons on My Super Sweet 16 while attending a 16th birthday party for Diddy's son, Quincy. Diddy is also the producer of Run's House.
In 2008, Simmons and his wife Justine teamed up with Kool-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 Chrisifer Morrow
On September 8, 2007, Rev Run was honored as a BMI Icon at the annual BMI Urban Awards.
The Weekend of September 17th and 18th of 2011, Rev Run will be making a Special Guest appearence at Bay Area Fellowship with Pastor Bil Cornelius in Corpus Christi, Texas Bay Area Fellowship Church
During the month of October 2011, Rev Run will be a special guest of Fellowship Church based out of Grapevine, TX (Senior Pastor Ed Young).
Simmons married Valerie Vaughn in 1983, and had three children with her, Vanessa Simmons, Angela Simmons, and Joseph "Jojo" Simmons Jr.
He married Justine Jones on June 25, 1994. With her, he had three more children: Daniel "Diggy" Simmons III, Russell "Russy" Simmons II, and Victoria Anne Simmons. Victoria was four pounds, five ounces when she was delivered via caesarean section.[5] She died shortly after being born on September 26, 2006, due to omphalocele, a birth defect that caused her organs to grow outside her body.[6] The Simmons family allowed camera crews (of Run's House) to be in the hospital room as they broke the news to their children. Soon they adopted a baby girl, Miley Justine Simmons.
The Simmons family lives in Saddle River, New Jersey, USA.
''Distortion''
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