NEW YORK – Fatman Scoop, who topped the charts in Europe two decades ago with “Be Faithful” and later worked on hits for other artists, died after collapsing onstage at a show in Connecticut on Friday, officials and his family said. He was 53.

The cause of his death was not immediately clear.

He was performing at Hamden Town Center Park when he collapsed Friday night, Chief of Staff Sean Grace said Saturday. Mayor Lauren Garrett posted on Facebook that he was having a medical emergency. Concertgoers and paramedics tried to help the performer, who was taken to a hospital, she wrote.

His family wrote in an Instagram post Saturday that “the world has lost a radiant soul, a beacon on stage and in life.”

The world knew him as a performer who got clubgoers moving, but his family considered him “the laugh of our lives, a constant source of support, unwavering strength and courage,” his relatives wrote.

“His music made us dance and embrace life with positivity. His joy was infectious and the generosity he gave to everyone will be greatly missed but never forgotten,” they added.

Fatman Scoop, born Isaac Freeman III, came from the Harlem neighborhood of New York City and made his breakthrough with 1999’s “Be Faithful”. What started as a minor success in the US, caught on in Europe with a 2003 reissue, which reached number 1 on the charts in the UK and Ireland.

The following year, he appeared in the British television series “Chancers,” in which musicians mentored artists trying to make it in the U.S., the BBC reported. He was also a contestant on “Celebrity Big Brother 16: UK vs. USA,” which was filmed in the United Kingdom and aired in 2015.

But Scoop — sometimes stylized as Fat Man Scoop or FatMan Scoop — was perhaps best known for his starring role in Missy Elliott’s “Lose Control,” a summer 2005 song that also featured Ciara. The song won a Grammy for short-form music video at the 2006 awards show.

The same year as “Lose Control,” he was featured on Mariah Carey’s “It’s Like That.” He has also appeared on tracks by Timbaland, David Guetta, The Situation and Skrillex, among other artists. In 2018, he reunited with Elliott and Ciara for a remix of the latter’s “Level Up.”

Elliott praised Scoop’s “VOICE and energy” on X on Saturday, saying he had contributed to many songs that have made people happy for more than two decades.

“Your IMPACT is HUGE and will NEVER be forgotten,” she added.

His long-time booking agency, MN2S, described him as an artist with “boundless enthusiasm”, a passion for music and a voice and personality that “has left an indelible mark on the industry.”

His MN2S representative, Sharron Elkabas, said in a statement Saturday that she had spoken to him a few days earlier.

“He was so cheerful. It’s hard to believe he’s gone,” she said.

___

Associated Press editor Mallika Sen contributed.