Sean Love Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, or Diddy is an American rapper, record producer, record executive and actor. Born in Harlem, Combs worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding his own record label, Bad Boy Records, in 1993. Combs has produced and cultivated artists such as the Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, and Usher.
Combs' debut album, No Way Out (1997), has been certified seven times platinum. The album was followed up with Forever (1999), The Saga Continues... (2001), and Press Play (2006). In 2009, Combs formed the musical group Diddy – Dirty Money with singers Kalenna Harper and Dawn Richard; they released their collaborative album Last Train to Paris. In September 2023, Combs released his fifth studio album, The Love Album: Off the Grid.
Combs has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards and is the producer of MTV's Making the Band. In 1998, Combs founded the clothing retailer Sean John. He was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2000 and won in 2004. He has been the brand ambassador for vodka retailer Cîroc since 2007, and co-founded the television network and news website Revolt in 2013. In 2022, Forbes estimated his net worth at US$1 billion.
Combs became an intern at New York's Uptown Records in 1990. While working as a talent director at Uptown, he helped develop Jodeci and Mary J. Blige. In his college days Combs had a reputation for throwing parties, some of which attracted up to a thousand participants. In 1991, Combs promoted an AIDS fundraiser with Heavy D held at the City College of New York (CCNY) gymnasium, following a charity basketball game. The event was oversold, and a stampede occurred in which nine people died.
In 1993, after being fired from Uptown, Combs established his new label Bad Boy Entertainment as a joint venture with Arista Records, taking then-newcomer Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G., with him. Both Wallace and Craig Mack quickly released hit singles, followed by successful LPs, particularly Wallace's Ready to Die. Combs signed more acts to Bad Boy, including Carl Thomas, Faith Evans, 112, Total, and Father MC. The Hitmen, his in-house production team, worked with Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil' Kim, TLC, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, SWV, Aretha Franklin, and others.
Mase and the Lox joined Bad Boy just as a widely publicized rivalry with the West Coast's Death Row Records was beginning. Combs and Wallace were criticized and parodied by Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight in songs and interviews during the mid-1990s. During 1994–1995, Combs produced several songs for TLC's CrazySexyCool, which finished the decade as number 25 on Billboard's list of top pop albums of the decade
