Deezer D has died at 55.
The “ER” actor and rapper — whose real name was Dearon Thompson — was found unresponsive at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, according to reports.
His brother Marshawn told TMZ that he is thought to have suffered a suspected heart attack, but there is no official cause of death as of yet.
The star — who played nurse Malik McGrath in the medical drama in almost 200 episodes across 15 years after his 1994 debut — had a history of heart problems, and underwent six hours of major heart surgery in 2009 to replace his aorta and fix a leaky heart valve.
He said at the time: “I have a heart valve that is leaking and the aorta had expanded to way beyond what it is supposed to be.
“As soon as the doctor identified what was going on, he put me in here… What I was going through for the last year – that was scary. I’m fearless about the surgery.”
He also revealed that he had experienced “over 10 episodes of heart failure in the last eight months alone.”
Referring to actor John Ritter — who died at 55 from a previously undiagnosed aortic dissection in 2003 — Thompson added: “The problem with my aorta is the same thing that killed John Ritter.
“I am so grateful that my doctor found it in time.”
As well as appearing in “ER” alongside George Clooney, he also starred in the likes of Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Fear of a Black Hat and CB4 and branched out into motivational speaking and hip-hop.
As a rapper under his Deezer D stage name, his most recent album was 2008’s Delayed, But Not Denied. He was about to release a new single this week, which he teased a few days about on his Instagram page.
Speaking in 1999, he said: “The music thing came so natural. It actually came first, but I got paid as an actor first.
“I write stuff that people can relate to. But I let you know that Jesus Christ is running my life. Not everything I rap about his biblical, in the sense that I’m not trying to be Mr. Scripture in all my songs.”
