The music world is today mourning the loss of Heavy D, real name Dwight Arrington Myers, after he collapsed outside his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday and died shortly thereafter in Cedars-Sinai hospital.

Heavy D & The Boyz were among the first wave of successful hip-hop groups of the late 80's and the first group to sign to the Uptown Records label, who released their debut album Living Large in 1987 which included hits such as 'Now That We Found Love' and 'Who's The Man'. Heavy D became a big star throughout the 90's, eventually transferring his larger than life charisma to television and feature films and became president of Uptown Records.

An ambulance was called for Heavy D at 11.25am (local time) yesterday after he collapsed and was struggling to breathe. He was pronounced dead at 1pm that afternoon, with the cause said to be "respiratory problems".

Just one month ago Heavy D performed in Cardiff's Millennium Stadium as part of a Michael Jackson memorial concert.