 Aaliyah
Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001),
professionally known simply as Aaliyah, was an African-American
R&B singer. She also branched out into acting before
her death in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of 22.
Life and career
Aaliyah was born in
Brooklyn, New York and grew up in Detroit, Michigan.
Aaliyah signed on to her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground
label in 1993, and released her debut album, Age Ain't
Nothing but a Number, in 1994. The album eventually
reached platinum status and featured the successful
singles "Back And Forth", "Age Ain't
Nothing but a Number," and "At Your Best (You
Are Love)," previously a cover of a 1976 Isley
Brothers single.
It was briefly rumored that in
1994, when she was 15, she was married to singer/songwriter
R. Kelly, the producer of Age Ain't Nothing but a Number.
VIBE magazine published a copy of their marriage certificate
in 1995, claiming that Aaliyah falsified her age and
claimed she was 18 so that she and Kelly could be married,
and that both parties had the marriage quickly annuled
when the press found out about the union. Neither party
ever publicly admitted to the union, and R. Kelly did
not work on any of Aaliyah's future recordings.
"Rock The Boat" video shoot
Aaliyah traveled to
the Bahamas in August 2001 to film the "Rock The
Boat" video with director Hype Williams. After
shooting had wrapped, Aaliyah and her entourage boarded
a small airplane, which was to take them to Miami, Florida.
The plane took off, but quickly descended and crashed
in the forest. All nine people aboard, including Aaliyah,
the pilot, and the other seven passengers, were killed
in the crash. Some died immediately; some, later, in
the hospital. Investigators determined that the plane
was overloaded by several hundred pounds and an autopsy
revealed cocaine and alcohol in the pilot's blood. Reports
have also suggested that the pilot of the plane falsely
obtained his licence from Black Hawk Airways by showing
hundreds of hours which were never flown and this suggests
that he was not qualified to pilot the plane in the
first place.
Legacy
Aaliyah's death affected her family,
friends, fans, and the entertainment industry as a whole.
Friends such as Missy Elliott and Timbaland praised
Aaliyah as an inspirational and talented individual.
"Rock the Boat" went on to become an posthumous
hit on radio and video channels, and the news of Aaliyah's
death gave her album a notable sales boost, pushing
it to #1 on The Billboard 200. The album's two subsequent
singles, "More Than A Woman" and "I Care
4 U," were also hits, the latter attaining success
even without the promotional push of a music video.
Aaliyah was to have had a supporting
role as the wife of Harold Perrineau Jr.'s character
in the two sequels to The Matrix; her role was ultimately
filled by Nona Gaye.
In 2002, a posthumous greatest hits
collection, I Care 4 You, was released in Aaliyah's
name. In addition to well-known hits, it also included
a number of previously unreleased songs from the Blackground
vaults that Aaliyah had recorded over the course of
her career, including "Miss You," which became
the album's lead single. Its video features Missy Elliott,
Lil Kim, Toni Braxton, and DMX, among others, paying
tribute to Aaliyah.Aaliyah is interred in the Ferncliff
Cemetery and Mausoleum in Hartsdale, New York.
Trivia
During Aaliyah's 1995 European tour
she gave British director Pogus Caesar exclusive access
to film a mini documentary for the Windrush Productions
award winning BritishTV series Xpress . Shooting footage
in and around Amsterdam, Aaliyah spoke about her family,
her influences, and the rumours of her marriage to R&B
star R Kelly. At the Escape Club, Aaliyah and her live
band performed songs from her chart-topping LP Age Ain't
Nothing But A Number.
Aaliyah and former Beatle George Harrison made UK Chart
History in January 2002 when they scored the first,
and to this date only, back-to-back posthumous number
one hits. Aaliyah's "More than a Woman", released
on January 7 and topped the chart on January 13, was
followed by Harrison's "My Sweet Lord", re-released
on January 14 and topped the chart on January 20.
Discography
Age Ain't Nothing But
a Number (1994)
One In A Million
Aaliyah (2001)
I Care 4 U" (2002)
Filmography
Romeo Must Die (2000)
Queen Of The Damned (2002)
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