Ed Sheeran and Denise Welch's husband raise £20k for charity in memory of Jamal Edwards

Denise Welch's husband,Lincoln Townley, has honoured Jamal Edwards with a beautiful tribute following his tragic death in February 2022.

Lincoln, 53, who is a self-taught painter that often paints incredible portraits of celebrities has wowed fans with his latest creation after turning UK pop star Ed Sheeran's portrait into an incredible artwork. The money raised from his latest creation has been donated to The Jamal Edwards Self-Belief Trust following his death at the age of 31.

The talented artist, alongside with chart-topping pop star Ed, 34, who was Jamal's best friend, has raised an incredible £20,000 for Jamal, who is the son of Loose Women star Brenda Edwards.

Sharing the news on her Instagram account on Thursday, Brenda's Loose Women co-star and longtime friend Denise, 67, shared her pride as she showcased the image that her husband created in Jamal's honour.

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Speaking to The Mirror about the amazing project, Denise said: "The charity is amazing and it raised £20,000 and bids for it are still open. Ed was Jamal's best friend. His favourite was Chelsea blue and Lincoln depicted it subtly in the portrait."

Jamal tragically died of a cardiac arrest after taking cocaine, an inquest found back in 2022. Loose Women star Brenda's son, Jamal, tragically passed away at the age of 31 after he collapsed at his west London home.

The DJ and founder of online R&B/Hip-Hop platform SB.TV had returned to his home in Acton after 4am after playing a DJ set in north London before he sat up drinking with a pal, Nick Hopper, who was living in an annexe of the house.

Despite the best efforts of Mr Hopper and, later, his uncle, Rodney Artman, as well as paramedics, Mr Edwards did not wake up and was declared dead at 10.36am on Sunday, February 20, 2022.

Jamal was awarded an MBE in 2014 for his services to music, and he was an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust. In a statement following his death, his mum said: "Jamal was a beautiful and selfless person.

"Since growing up with his family in Acton, he made it his personal mission to open doors for others to walk through. To help people through life, to love and to laugh. And most importantly, to just make people happy."

"Jamal helped so many, working tirelessly to give a platform to people. His charitable work stretched near and far, from working at homeless shelters to giving back to his roots in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

"We are so proud of everything Jamal achieved over the course of his 31 years and how he impacted others’ lives. We miss him so much."

Galway Girl singer Ed and Jamal were close friends, and the singer previously opened up about losing him in his series, Ed Sheeran: The Sum Of It All. He admitted that he "hadn't experienced grief and loss" until Jamal's death and said it "took over his whole life".

Ed's wife revealed the singer wasn't able to process his death as it came weeks after her cancer diagnosis.

"I basically lived in his bedroom. His mum thought we were having a relationship," Ed explained. "Jamal died in the morning. I was at his mum's house at midday. It's Caribbean culture, you go to the family home for nine days and nine nights. On the ninth night, they throw a big party.

"Grief instantly ends your youth. The funeral was like 30 people, but he knows like 10,000 people."

A scene from the docuseries showed Ed attending a cookout in memory of the music entrepreneur. He sobbed as he sat in the back of a car while thinking about celebrating Jamal's birthday without him there.

"It's still very raw. It's very real. His grave, we go past it a lot, it just feels so weird that he's in amongst loads of people he didn't know," Ed said. "It's all pure sadness. It's horrible. I know everyone goes through it. It's a common thing that you can't avoid".

The Bad Habits singer continued: "I felt I hadn't really grown up until I experienced grief, loss. It just took over my whole life. It's just weird. I was thinking I don't want to cry in front of 78,000 people. I found myself really close at times. It's just mad, straight back to it. The show must go on." When Jamal died, Ed rushed to his mother's house to look after her and Jamal's sister Tanisha for a whole week.

"There wasn’t anything that he wasn’t sorting out and doing if we needed anything, and everybody has been so so wonderful and so supportive," Brenda previously revealed on Loose Women.

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