Dwight Arrington Myers (May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011), known professionally as Heavy D, was a Jamaican-born American rapper, record producer, and actor. Myers was the leader of Heavy D & the Boyz, a group that included dancers/hype men G-Whiz (Glen Parrish) and “Trouble” T. Roy (Troy Dixon), as well as DJ and producer Eddie F (Edward Ferrell). The group maintained a sizeable audience in the United States through most of the 1990s. The five albums the group released included production mainly by Teddy Riley, Marley Marl, DJ Premier, Myers’s cousin Pete Rock, and “in-house” beatmaker Eddie F. Myers also released four solo albums and discovered Soul for Real and Monifah.
Born Dwight Arrington Myers in Mandeville, Jamaica, the son of Eulahlee Lee, a nurse, and Clifford Vincent Myers, a machine technician. His family moved to Mount Vernon, New York, in the early 1970s. In 1987, Heavy D & The Boyz, the group he founded, was the first act signed to Uptown Records, the record company started by Andre Harrell. The group enjoyed widespread fame in the early 1990s and scored prominent cameos on hit songs with Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. Heavy D also appeared on the theme songs for the popular sketch comedy shows “In Living Color” and “MadTV” and later ran Uptown, the record label on which he’d spent much of his career.
But tragedy found the group at the beginning of its commercial success. Troy Dixon, a member of the group known as Trouble T Roy, died in an accident after a show when he fell from an exit ramp. Dixon’s death inspired Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.).” Heavy D was name-checked on the Notorious B.I.G.’s first hit single, “Juicy,” in which Biggie Smalls remembered growing up and wanting the fame enjoyed by rap pioneers like Heavy D and Salt ‘N Pepa. A young Biggie Smalls appeared on Heavy D’s 1992 album “Blue Funk.” Heavy D, the rapper whose real name is Dwight Arrington Myers, is dead at the young age of 44.
He was known for his heavyset physique, his dancing, and tongue-twisting rhymes. Beverly Hills police told the Associated Press that Heavy D died in a Los Angeles hospital on November 8th, 2011, after collapsing at his condominium building. Heavy D’s death came almost a month after a comeback performance at the 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards, when he performed a medley of his best-known singles, among them “Nuttin’ But Love,” “Is It Good to You” and “Now That We Found Love.” On Twitter, he was known for posting affirming messages. His final tweet appeared early the morning he died, November 11, 2011.
Written by Dianne Washington