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Aaliyah strikes a beautiful pose. The young musician
is climbing the charts thanks to her soft voice.
Aaliyah passed away in
2001 in a plane accident, but she still deserves her
own spot in our network. |
Young R&B star Aaliyah was
poised to become a dual threat in both the recording and
film industries when her life was tragically cut short
in an airplane accident in August 2001.
She was born Aaliyah Haughton on January 16, 1979, in
Brooklyn and moved to Detroit when she was five. By the
time she turned nine, Aaliyah was performing publicly,
even turning in a five-day stint at age 11 in Las Vegas
with Gladys Knight, her uncle's ex-wife. Four years
later, under the tutelage of R. Kelly, she recorded and
released her first album, Age Ain't Nothin' but a
Number. During this time, rumors surfaced that the pair
married despite their significant age difference (and
Aaliyah's status as a minor), but neither party
confirmed or denied them, although the music magazine
Vibe printed what appeared to be a marriage certificate
showing it to be true.
Aaliyah quickly ended the marriage and moved on to work
with producers Missy Elliot and Timbaland, who helped
get some of her work onto soundtracks -- including her
hit single "Are You That Somebody?" from the Dr.
Doolittle soundtrack. Her work on soundtracks --
including Anastasia and Next Friday -- led to an
interest in film. She composed songs and made her acting
debut in 2000's Romeo Must Die. The film was a financial
success, raking in 55.9 million dollars in the U.S.,
despite receiving lukewarm reviews.
As for Aaliyah, many reviewers overlooked her
performance to comment on Jet Li's first American
leading role, but those who didn't gave her
more-than-passable marks. This attention helped her win
parts in the Anne Rice vampire tale The Queen of the
Damned -- which turned out to be her second and final
film appearance (with the film still in post-production
at the time of her death) -- and in The Matrix: Reloaded
(the first sequel to the 1999 blockbuster The Matrix),
which was only one month away from beginning principal
photography when her fatal accident occurred.
Aaliyah and eight other people were killed on August 25,
2001, when their chartered plane crashed shortly after
takeoff. The group was returning to the United States
from the Bahamas after having shot a music video for a
song from her third album. An investigation into the
incident revealed that the plane had been severely
overloaded with luggage, thus causing what appears to
have been an entirely avoidable and unmistakably tragic
accident.
Filmography
•
Queen of the Damned (2002)
• Aaliyah - Losing Aaliyah (2001)
• Romeo Must Die (2000)
Featured
• Aaliyah - So Much More Than A Woman (2004)
Music Performer
• Cradle 2 the Grave/Romeo Must Die (2005)
• Aaliyah - I Care 4 U (2002)
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