was a model and teacher's assistant, and his father, Melvin Earl Combs, served in the U.S. Air Force. At age 33, his father was shot death while sitting in his car on Central Park West, when Combs was 2 years old. His debut album No Way Out (1997) has been certified seven times platinum. Combs has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and is the producer of MTV's Making the Band.
In 2017 Forbes estimated his net worth at $820 million. Combs was a business major at Howard University but left after his sophomore year. In 2014, he returned to Howard University to receive an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and deliver the University’s 146th Commencement Address. In 1998, Combs started a clothing line, Sean John. It was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2000, and won in 2004. California billionaire Ronald Burkle invested $100 million into the company in 2003.
Combs owns a home in Alpine, New Jersey, which he purchased for a reported $7 million. Combs founded Daddy's House Social Programs, an organization to help inner city youth, in 1995. Programs include tutoring, life skills classes, and an annual summer camp. Along with Jay-Z, he pledged $1 million to help support victims of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and donated clothing from his Sean John line to victims. He has donated computers and books to New York schools. He is the father of six children. His first child, Justin, was born in 1993 to his high-school sweetheart, designer Misa Hylton-Brim. Happy birthday to him.