Rapper Heavy D was born Dwight Arrington Myers in Mandeville, Jamaica on May 24, 1967. He was born to Eulahlee Lee and Clifford Vincent Myers, who worked as a nurse and a machine technician, respectively. He grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, where he moved with his parents in the 1970s. By 1985, Myers was fronting Heavy D and The Boyz, who were gaining a following around New York City. They caught the attention of Uptown Records founder Andre Harrell, who was then working at Rush Management. “Andre believed in us from the start. And he spent months trying to convince Russell [Simmons] that we could be a hit. And Russell was like ‘But he’s fat,’ and Andre would say ‘Yeah but all the girls love him.’”The group eventually became Harrell’s first singing at Uptown Records.