Heavy D

Heavy D (born May 24, 1967 in Mandeville , Jamaica - † November 8, 2011 in Los Angeles , California ; actually Dwight Errington Myers ) was an American rapper , actor and singer . He was best known as the front man of the hip-hop band Heavy D & the Boyz in the 1990s .

Life

Myers grew up in Mount Vernon , New York, USA . Heavy D & the Boyz were the first band to be signed to the record label Uptown Records. She released her debut album Living Large in the fall of 1987 , which was also commercially successful. The formation's breakthrough came with the album Big Tyme , released in spring 1989 .

In June 1990 one of the boyz, Trouble T-Roy, died in a stage accident. The album Peaceful Journey , released in the summer of 1991, was dedicated to him as a tribute album and recorded platinum for the band . Guest musicians such as Big Daddy Kane , Kool G Rap , Grand Puba , Q-Tip , Johnny Gill , CL Smooth , Pete Rock , Aaron Hall and Daddy Freddy were among others involved in this album .

In 1990 the US comedy series In Living Color started , for which Heavy D rapped in the theme song. His next album, Blue Funk, flopped, however, and Heavy D focused on acting with roles in the television shows Roc and Living Single , and later in the films Life and God's Work and Devil's Contribution (both 1999). In 1991 Heavy D contributed the rap part to Michael Jackson's song Jam from the album Dangerous .

Nuttin 'but Love was released in mid-1994 and was relatively successful. The spring released album Waterbed Hev was a commercial success, then Heavy D devoted himself to the television series Boston Public . In the film Lots of Trouble (2002) Heavy D can be seen in the role of an FBI agent and can be heard with the music title Big Trouble .

On November 8, 2011, Myers died at the age of 44 after being admitted to a Los Angeles clinic with difficulty breathing of a pulmonary embolism caused by a blood clot. Shortly before his death, he recorded another song with Ziggy Marley , which is included on his 2011 album Wild and Free . The song is called It .

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1987	Living large	-	-	-	-	US92 (16 weeks) US	First published: October 25, 1987 with The Boyz
1989	Big Tyme	-	-	-	-	US19th platinum (51 weeks)US	First published: May 26, 1989 with The Boyz
1991	Peaceful Journey	-	-	-	UK40 (3 weeks) UK	US21st platinum (41 weeks)US	First published: July 2, 1991 with The Boyz
1993	Blue funk	-	-	-	-	US40 gold (18 weeks)US	First published: January 12, 1993 with The Boyz
1994	Nuttin 'but love	-	-	-	-	US11 platinum (25 weeks)US	First published: May 24, 1994 with The Boyz
1997	Waterbed Hev	-	-	-	-	US9 gold (22 weeks)US	First published: April 22, 1997
1999	Heavy	-	-	-	-	US60 (6 weeks) US	First published: June 15, 1999

More albums

• 12/2008: Vibes
• 09/2011: Love Opus
• 002012: The Track Vault (DJ Earl feat. Heavy D) (32 mp3 files)

Compilations

• 2000: Heavy Hitz
• 2002: The Best of Heavy D. & the Boyz (The Millennium Collection)

Singles

Heavy D & the Boyz

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1986	Mr. Big Stuff Living Large	-	-	-	UK61 (9 weeks) UK	-	First published: November 1986
1989	We Got Our Own Thang Big Tyme	-	-	-	UK69 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: June 1989
1990	We Got Our Own Thang (Peace Love & Heaviness Remix)	-	-	-	UK94 (2 weeks) UK	-	First published: July 1990 Remix: Bryan Chuck New, Phil Chill
1991	Now That We Found Love Peaceful Journey	DE4 (22 weeks) DE	AT8 (12 weeks) AT	CH4 (16 weeks) CH	UK2 (12 weeks) UK	US11 gold (22 weeks)US	First published: June 1991 Original: The O'Jays (1973) Authors: Leon Huff , Kenny Gamble , Heavy D
	Is It Good to You Peaceful Journey	-	-	-	UK46 (3 weeks) UK	US32 (20 weeks) US	First published: September 1991
1994	Got Me Waiting Nuttin 'but Love	-	-	-	-	US20 (20 weeks) US	First published: March 1994
	Nuttin 'but Love Nuttin' but Love	-	-	-	-	US40 (20 weeks) US	First published: June 1994
	This Is Your Night Nuttin 'but Love	-	-	-	UK30 (3 weeks) UK	-	First published: September 1994
	Black Coffee Nuttin 'but Love	-	-	-	-	US57 (15 weeks) US	First published: October 1994
1997	Big Daddy Waterbed Hev	-	-	-	-	US18th gold (19 weeks)US	First published: February 1997

1987: The Overweight Lovers in the House 1987: Chunky but Funky 1987: Money Ernin 'Mt. Vernon (feat.Al B. Sure) 1988: Don't You Know 1988: Overweighter 1989: Somebody for Me 1989: More Bounce 1989: Gyrlz, They Love Me 1989: Big Tyme

1991: Peaceful Journey 1991: The Lover's Got What U Need 1991: Don't Curse 1992: Who's the Man? 1992: Truthful 1994: Sex wit You 1994: I Got Love for Ya 1994: Megamix

Other singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	US
1992	Jam Dangerous	DE18 (19 weeks) DE	AT28 (3 weeks) AT	CH22 (4 weeks) CH	UK13 (6 weeks) UK	US26 (14 weeks) US	• Music label: Epic (with Michael Jackson )
1997	Need Your Love Timeless	-	-	-	-	US70 (5 weeks) US	Big Bub feat. Queen Latifah & Heavy D

1989: Just Coolin ' ( LeVert feat. Heavy D) 1992: Respect Due (with Daddy Freddy ) 1993: Respect Due (The Sly & Robbie Remixes) (Daddy Freddy feat. Heavy D and Frankie Paul ) 1993: More Love (with Robert Ffrench) 1993: Run Check 1993: Hotness (with Buju Banton ) 1994: Let's Get It On (with 2Pac , Grand Puba , The Notorious BIG and Spunk Bigga) 1995: Walls Come Tumblin 'Down (with Cocoa Tea )

1996: Big Daddy 1997: Keep It Comin 1997: I'll Do Anything 1999: Don't Stop 1999: A World Celebration (Cunnie Williams feat. Heavy D) 2003: SupaStar Remix ( Montell Jordan feat. Heavy D) 2005: Never Did It Before

Filmography (selection)

• 1990: Booker (TV series, an episode)
• 1991: The Prince of Bel-Air (Season 1, Episode 9)
• 1992: Tales from the Crypt (Tales from the Crypt) (TV series, one episode)
• 1993: Roc (TV series, four episodes)
• 1995: New Jersey Drive
• 1999: Life imprisonment (Life)
• 1999: God's Work & Devil's Contribution (The Cider House Rules)
• 2000: Next Afternoon
• 2000–2003: Boston Public (TV series, 13 episodes)
• 2002: A lot of trouble
• 2003: Black Listed
• 2005: Bones - The Knochenjägerin (Bones) (TV series, three episodes)
• 2006: Step Up
• 2011: Temporary gangster (Tower Heist)

Honors

• 1990: Soul Train Music Award in the Best Rap Album category for Big Time , further nominations in 1988, 1990 and 1992
• four nominations for a Grammy Award in 1992, 1995, 1997 and 2009

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} US rapper Heavy D dies in the emergency room. In: Spiegel.de. November 9, 2011, accessed November 9, 2011 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Heavy D, Smooth-Talking Hip-Hop Star, Dies at 44 at nytimes.com, accessed November 9, 2011
3. ↑ Background information  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. too much trouble  
4. ↑ Rapper Heavy D died of a pulmonary embolism In: Bild.de. December 28, 2011, accessed December 28, 2011.
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Chart sources: Singles with The Boyz / Albums / UK Billboard 200
6. ↑ Awards: US

Web links

• Heavy D at Allmusic (English)
• Heavy D at Discogs (English)
• Heavy D & The Boyz at Discogs (English)
• Heavy D in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Heavy D in the nndb (English)
• Literature by and about Heavy D in the catalog of the German National Library
• Singles discography on 45cat.com
• Discography on rateyourmusic.com
• Charts and data on chartsurfer.de