Erick Morillo was found dead at his home in Miami Beach on Tuesday, September 1st, 2020. He was 49 years old.
TMZ broke the news, citing anonymous contacts in law enforcement as their sources. No details surrounding Morillo’s death have been disclosed to the public at the time of writing, but police confirmed it to news outlet Local 10 in an email.
According to Officer Ernesto Rodriguez, Morillo was found when police responded to a 911 call at 10:42 AM on 5660 La Gorce Drive. Mixmag reports that police do not suspect foul play and the cause of death will be determined by the Miami Dade Medical Examiner’s Office.
Remembering Erick Morillo
Erick Morillo was born in 1971 in New York, but he lived with his family in Cartagena, Colombia for much of his adolescence. He began DJing at weddings at the age of 11 after relocating to New Jersey. Upon graduating high school, he took studio engineering courses at the Center for Media Arts in New York City.
Morillo collaborated with reggae artist El General on his first single, “Muevolo,” in 1991, but is perhaps best known for his 1993 single “I Like To Move It” as Reel 2 Real. The song thrust Morillo into the international spotlight and inspired his 1994 album, Move It!.
In the later years of his career, Morillo suffered from an addiction to ketamine that he admitted nearly cost him his arm in an interview with Pete Tong at the 2016 International Music Summit in Ibiza. In August of 2020, it came to light that he had been arrested in Miami on suspicion of sexual battery in connection to a December, 2019 after a rape kit tested positive with his DNA.
No details of a memorial for Erick Morillo have been announced to the general public at the time of writing.
