In Memoriam : Heavy D dies at 44

Dwight Arrington Myers better known as Heavy D has died. He was 44.

Circumstances of his death

It was reported by TMZ yesterday, Heavy D died around 1 p.m. after having difficulty breathing as he walked into his Beverly Hills, CA condo. Dwight Meyers had just returned from a shopping trip and as he began walking up the steps, he started having trouble breathing.

The Los Angeles coroner’s office confirmed the death Tuesday evening. Heavy D collapsed at his home and was taken to Cedars Sinai Medical Center where he died a short time later. The cause of death was not known as of Tuesday night, but coroner’s believe there was no foul play and the death appeared to be medically related.

In the 90s, Heavy D was one of the most influential rappers in hip-hop having massive hits including “Now That We Found Love.” He also wrote and performed the theme song for “In Living Color” and appeared as an actor in the movie “Life.”

About Heavy D

Dwight Arrington Myers came on the scene in the late 1980s as the frontman of the hip-hop group Heavy D and the Boyz, which he formed with neighborhood friends Eddie F (Edward Ferrel), G-Whiz (Glen Parrish) and Trouble T-Roy (Troy Dixon).

The Boyz were the first group signed to burgeoning Uptown Records, and their 1987 debut, “Living Large,” reached the No. 10 spot on the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

Their 1989 album “Big Tyme” went platinum and yielded the hits “We Got Our Own Thang,” “Somebody For Me” and “Gyrlz, They Love Me.”

They went on to release three more albums and recorded the theme songs for the TV shows “In Living Color” and “MADtv” before Myers delved on a solo career.

Born May 24, 1967, in Jamaica, Myers was the youngest of six children. His mother Eulah, a nurse, and father, Clifford, a film technician, moved the family to Mount Vernon, N.Y., when he was young.

He found success in the music industry despite having dropped out of school after the eighth grade. Myers garnered praise for his radio-friendly, playful flows and was embraced as an unlikely sex symbol by female fans who called him a “big teddy bear.”