"He was just amazing," said Xea Myers, 11, Heavy D's daughter, when she made a short tribute at the two-and-a-half-hour funeral service at Grace Baptist Church. "That's why we're all here today. To celebrate his love and passion."
Mourners filled the sanctuary and its overflow rooms to remember Heavy D, 44, who died Nov. 8 in Los Angeles from pneumonia complications, according to his family. The funeral drew several celebrities, including Jay-Z, Queen Latifah, John Legend and Sean "Diddy" Combs.
"It's clear why Heavy is such a beautiful and respected person, 'cause of his family and the way he was raised," said Combs during a tribute he delivered, which he began by thanking Heavy D's parents, Clifford and Eulahlee Myers.
"Coming up, I remember how proud I?was knowing I was from the same town as Heavy D," Combs said.
Heavy D was born in Jamaica and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1971. The family first lived in the Bronx and moved to Mount Vernon in 1976.
Combs told uproarious stories about Heavy D, including about how Combs schemed to meet him.
"The first thing I?tried is that I was going to take walks on the block that he lived on because I?knew there was a chance that he would drive by and he would see me and I would be, like, 'Yo! Hev!,'" Combs said. "And he would roll down his window and I would introduce myself to him and he would introduce himself to me and I would become his manager. And that plan didn't work too well because he would just keep driving by every time."
Through further attempts, Combs said he eventually got Heavy D to help him break into the music industry and get an internship at Uptown Records.
Before the funeral began, Heavy D lay in front of the church in his open casket surrounded by white calla lilies, a large portrait of him to the right of the altar. His family sat and stood by the casket before the funeral, paying their final respects before it was closed at the beginning of the 11 a.m. service.
During his words of comfort, the Rev. Al Sharpton praised Heavy D for his positive attitude.
"You don't have to cover no scandals. You don't have to make no excuses. This man changed the world and he did it without getting ugly or violent or degrading," said Sharpton, urging everyone at the service to take the same higher road. "The real challenge is what will you leave here to do, and what can we say about you."
The Rev. Franklyn Richardson, pastor of Grace Baptist, said he had been touched by the faith of Heavy D's family, some of whom worship at his church.
"I've been encouraged by the galiant posture of mother Myers," said Richardson, noting that, in the first days after her son's death, her voice was somber. "I called her the third day and she was effervescent, a woman of power. I said, 'What has happened to you? Your voice has changed.' She said, 'Jesus came by.'"
Mount Vernon Mayor-elect Ernest Davis praised Heavy D for his generosity.
"Many of us know about the celebrity, but how many of us know about the man? The man who cared. The man who knew that we would be judged by what we do for the least of us," said Davis, recalling parties thrown for the public by Heavy D and Combs in a city park. "We need to do less hating and more loving, more giving and less taking. That's what Heavy was about."
After the service, pall bearers, including some of the original members of Heavy D and the Boyz, took the casket outside. Mourners then accompanied the Myers family to Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, N.Y.
