Aaliyah Haughton (1979-2001), better known as just Aaliyah, was an American R&B singer who sold 24 million records worldwide and was an up-and-coming Hollywood actress. She died eight years ago today at the age of 22 in a plane crash. She called her singing “street but sweet”. As one fan at her funeral put it, she was beautiful both on the outside and on the inside.
Her number one songs on the American R&B charts:
- 1994: Back & Forth
- 1996: If Your Girl Only Knew
- 1996: One in a Million
- 1998: Are You That Somebody?
- 2002: Miss You
I mainly remember her for these (their chart position in parentheses):
1998: Are You That Somebody? (#1)
2001: More Than a Woman (#7)
2002: Rock the Boat (#2)
Aaliyah was born in Brooklyn but mainly grew up in Detroit. Her mother gave up being a singer so that she could bring up Aaliyah and her older brother, Rashad. (Despite their Arab names, they seem to be Catholic.)
Aaliyah had singing lessons from an early age, took part in school plays and at age 11 appeared on the television talent show, “Star Search”:
1990: My Funny Valentine
She lost, but later that year she performed with Gladys Knight in Las Vegas and a year later got her first record deal. You see, her uncle was married to Gladys Knight and managed R. Kelly! Kelly wrote and produced Aaliyah’s first album, “Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number” (1994).
It came out when she was 15 and produced a number one hit, “Back & Forth”. But she was not the only 15-year-old girl with a number one hit that year: Brandy had one too: “I Wanna Be Down”.
That summer Aaliyah and R. Kelly got married! They both deny it but there is a marriage certificate. Aaliyah put down her age as 18, not 15. Her parents had the marriage annulled because she was underage.
After that Aaliyah and R. Kelly parted ways. She went to Atlantic Records where Timbaland and Missy Elliott wrote and produced her second and third albums: “One in a Million” (1996) and “Aaliyah” (2001).
She graduated from high school in 1997 and then went into acting, her second love. She appeared in “Romeo Must Die” (2000) opposite Jet Li and in Anne Rice’s “Queen of the Damned” (2002). At the time of her death she was set to appear in the Matrix films and was on a level with the likes of Rosario Dawson, Jessica Alba and Zoe Saldana in terms of the sort of parts she was getting.
Flying back to Florida from the Bahamas on August 25th 2001 after doing the video for “Rock the Boat”, the plane went down right after take-off and blew up. She and seven others on board died instantly. The plane was overloaded.
At her funeral in New York her body was taken to the church in a silver casket inside a glass carriage pulled by horses. At the end of the funeral they let 22 white doves fly into the sky, one for each year of her short life.
– Abagond, 2009, 2015.
See also:
- Aaliyah: More Than a Woman
- Zoe Saldana – a year older
- Rosario Dawson – same age
- Kelis – same age
- Beyonce – two years younger, but also on “Star Search”
524
It’s so hard to believe 8 years have come and gone. She made really good R&B music worth listening to. Aaliyah is truly missed.
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I enjoyed her music during her brief life on earth.
May Aaliyah always be remembered.
La Reyna
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aw, I still miss her. Mind you, if she was still alive, Beyonce WOULD HAVE NEVER been as popular as she is know. I truly believe that Aaliyah would have just continued to become greater and greater.
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i’m still shocked that she’s gone. to me she was a beautiful woman that was classy but at the same time didn’t have to show off her body to be a sex symbol. my favorite song of hers is “try again” and “one in a million”.
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DaliSalvadorAde:
Interesting, though I do not agree: unlike Beyonce, Aaliyah was not a celebrity whore, she had integrity. Beyonce makes herself into whatever we want, she feeds our need.
It is hard to believe that it has been eight years.
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she might have ended up as a celebrity whore is she had lived longer.
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I DISAGREE…she paced herself and came out with music that was good unlike beyonce
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why is beyonce in this?
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See comment #3. That is where it started. DaliSalvadorAde said that if Aaliyah had lived Beyonce would not be so famous now. I disagreed, etc.
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i also disagree myself. although maybe it could’ve happen if she was alive. i will say beyonce is talented but not better than aaliyah.
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RIP I love Aaliyah so much.
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I agree with comment #8 this has nothing to do with beyonce this is all about aaliyah!!! RIP aaliyah i love you
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You never know anything about artists besides the strategic orchestrated stuff about their personal lives, but Aaliyah really seemed like a down to earth lady. And so beautiful!
I adored her and her music! I was an Aaliyah wannabe growing up, hair and all Lol.
Ahhh to be a teenager back then 🙂
So much lost potential, her death touched me deeply 😦
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Yes Aaliyah was beautiful. One in a million is my favorite CD of hers. Her flat trademark stomach inspired me to get in shape. She is truly missed.
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@Leaveum
OMG I forgot that tum, yep I had her image down pat, the flat belly as well, lol, but its easy when you’re a skinny teenager anyway!
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Yeah, what a tragedy. She is really beautiful and talented.
The movie with Jet Li was cool and how I got my first real look at her.
RIP
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Time flies! It’s been ten years ago today, the almighty man upstairs called one of R&B’s greatest angels back to him. Aaliyah’s music resonated strongly with me; bringing me through some rough spots. No one today compares to her. Her act was tough to follow. Her legacy will live on.
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Aaliyah, R.I.P.
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I wish I could’ve grown up listenening to her music, cuz it’s so damn good!! One in a Million,More than A Woman, If Your Girl Only Knew, 4 Page Letter and so many others are some of my overall favorite songs!! If Aaliyah had lived longer, whoknows where she would’ve been??
RIP, Baby Girl! 😦
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In an alternate universe Aaliyah is turning 40 today and Dr King turned 90 yesterday.
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Wow, what a tragedy especially in wake of the R Kelly documentary and her being underage. And for her to die so tragically.
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I wonder if she had lived would we know who Beyoncé is? She was a gorgeous girl. She was a whisper singer like Janet Jackson. I actually liked a few of her songs. I wonder do her parents and uncle have remorse for introducing her to R. Kelly?
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