Hip-hop artist Fatman Scoop dies at 53 after collapsing on stage in Connecticut

NEW YORK (AP) — Fatman Scoop, the hip-hop artist who topped charts in Europe with “Be Devoted” within the early 2000s and later lent his distinctive voice and ebullient vibe to hits by artists together with Missy Elliott and Ciara, died after collapsing on stage at a present in Connecticut, in keeping with officers and his household. He was 53.

The reason for his demise wasn’t instantly clear.

He was acting at Hamden City Middle Park when he collapsed Friday night, city chief of employees Sean Grace mentioned Saturday. Mayor Lauren Garrett posted on Fb that he had a medical emergency. Concertgoers and paramedics tried to help the artist, who was taken to a hospital, she mentioned.

His household mentioned in an Instagram publish that “the world misplaced a radiant soul, a beacon on stage and in life.”

With a gravelly voice and dance-floor-friendly sensibility, Fatman Scoop was a mainstay of membership playlists across the flip of the millennium. But when the world knew him because the “voice of the membership,” his household cherished him as “the laughter in our lives, a relentless supply of help, unwavering power and braveness,” his family members mentioned.

“His music made us dance and embrace life with positivity. His pleasure was infectious and the generosity he prolonged to all can be deeply missed however by no means forgotten,” they added, saying he leaves a legacy “of affection and brightness.”

Born Isaac Freeman III, Fatman Scoop was from New York Metropolis’s Harlem neighborhood and broke out with 1999’s “Be Devoted.” What began as a minor success within the U.S. took off in Europe with a 2003 re-release, hitting No. 1 on the singles charts within the U.Okay. and Eire.

The subsequent yr, he appeared on the U.Okay. tv collection “Chancers,” by which musicians mentored artists who needed to make it within the U.S., the BBC reported. He additionally was a contestant on “Superstar Large Brother 16: UK vs USA,” which was filmed within the U.Okay. and aired in 2015.

Scoop — typically stylized as Fats Man Scoop or FatMan Scoop — collaborated with Elliott on “Lose Management,” a 2005 music of the summer time that additionally featured Ciara. The observe received a short-form music video Grammy on the 2006 award present.

The identical yr as “Lose Management,” he was featured on Mariah Carey’s “It’s Like That.” He additionally was featured on tracks from Timbaland, David Guetta, The Scenario and Skrillex, amongst different artists. In 2018, he reunited with Elliott and Ciara for a remix of the latter’s “Stage Up.”

Elliott praised Scoop’s “VOICE and power” Saturday on X, saying he had contributed to many songs that made folks completely satisfied over greater than twenty years.

“Your IMPACT is HUGE & can be NEVER be forgotten,” she added.

His longtime reserving company, MN2S, described him as an artist with “boundless enthusiasm,” a ardour for music and a voice and persona that “made an indelible mark on the trade.”

His MN2S consultant, Sharron Elkabas, mentioned in an announcement Saturday that she had spoken to him a couple of days earlier.

“He was in such good spirits. It’s arduous to imagine he’s not with us,” she mentioned.

___

Related Press author Mallika Sen contributed.

Jennifer Peltz, The Related Press