Heavy D - Biography

Biography

Myers was born on May 24, 1967 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, where he was raised.

Heavy D & the Boyz were the first group signed to Uptown Records, with Heavy D as the frontman and only rapper, and Eddie F was his business partner in the group, DJ, and one of the producers. The other two members, T-Roy and G-Wiz were the dancers. Their debut, Living Large, was released in 1987. The album was a commercial success; Big Tyme was a breakthrough that included four hits.

Dancer Troy "Trouble T. Roy" Dixon died at age 22 in a fall on July 15, 1990, in Indianapolis. Dixon's death led to a tribute on the follow-up platinum album, Peaceful Journey. Pete Rock & CL Smooth created a tribute to Trouble T. Roy called "They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)" which is regarded as a hip hop classic.

Heavy D gained even more fame by singing the theme song for the television program In Living Color and also MADtv. Heavy D performed the rap on Michael Jackson's hit single "Jam" as well as sister Janet Jackson's hit single "Alright". Heavy D then began focusing on his acting, appearing in various television shows before returning the music charts with Nuttin' But Love. After appearing in the off-Broadway play Riff Raff at Circle Repertory Company, Heavy D returned to recording with the hit Waterbed Hev. In 1997, Heavy D collaborated with B.B. King on his duets album Deuces Wild rapping in the song "Keep It Coming". Heavy D was referred to in the song "Juicy" by the Notorious B.I.G., and appeared in his music video for "One More Chance".

While still an artist at Uptown Records, Myers was instrumental in convincing Andre Harrell to originally hire Sean “Diddy” Combs for his first music business gig as an intern. Then also to his credit, in the mid-1990s, Myers became the first rapper to head a major music label, when he became the president of Uptown Records. During this time, Myers also developed the R&B boy band Soul for Real, and was the executive producer and principal writer of several songs on the group's breakout album, Candy Rain. He later became the senior vice president at Universal Music.