Aaliyah
Aaliyah Dana Haughton widely recognized by the mononym Aaliyah was an American singer, model and actress who first rose to fame at age 10 for her appearance on the television contest Star Search, where she performed along with Grammy-Award winning singer-songwriter, Gladys Knight.
She was signed to Jive Records and Blackground Records at the young age of 12 and was soon introduced to R.Kelly who would later become the producer of her debut hit album; Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number.
The singer tragically died on August 25, 2001 in an airplane accident when the aircraft she boarded crashed in the Bahamas, killing all nine passengers on board. It was later discovered that the aircraft was overloaded by 700 pounds and an extra passenger, while the pilot had traces of alcohol and cocaine in his body and was not qualified to fly that aircraft.
Aaliyah has earned the nicknames of ‘Queen of Urban Pop’ and ‘Princess of R & B’ while her music has been commercially successful due to posthumous releases which have sold at least 32 million albums globally.
Interesting Aaliyah Facts
She was born to Michael Miguel Haughton and Diane Hankerson, and raised alongside her older brother Rashad. Her uncle was entertainment lawyer Barry Hankerson, who had been married to singer-songwriter Gladys Knight.
Her debut album had sold over three million copies in the United States as of October 2020 and received double platinum certifications from the RIAA.
Aaliyah was named Favorite Soul/R&B Female Artist at the American Music Awards in 2002 and 2003.
She posthumously received the Entertainer of the Year Award at the Prestige Awards and was named the Best R&B/Soul Act at the NME Awards in 2002.
Back & Forth, the singer’s debut single, stayed on top of the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for three consecutive weeks, earning a Gold certification by the RIAA.
Her second album titled One in a Million sold out over eight million copies globally and more than three million copies in the United States.
Following rumors of a relationship between R. Kelly and Aaliyah, Vibe revealed an illegal marriage certificate that showed that the two had secretly married on August 31, 1994 in Sheraton Gateway Suites in Illinois. Though Aaliyah was 15 at the time, the age listed on the certificate was 18. Her parents annulled the illegal marriage in February 1995, while the pair denied the allegations and cut all contact.
Her music has influenced a number of artists including Beyonce, Adele, Chris Brown, The Weeknd, Rihanna, Hayley Williams, Omarion, J.Cole, Ciara, Zendaya, Kelly Rowland, Keyshia Cole, Ryan Destiny, Azealia Banks among others.
Aaliyah’s musical career began from 1989 and ended with her tragic demise in 2001. Aaliyah died tragically at the age of 22 on August 25th, 2001. She was killed along with eight other passengers in a plane crash that occurred in the Caribbean nation of Bahamas. She was actually in Bahamas to shoot the music video for her hit song “Rock the Boat”.
A List of Aaliyah’s Top Songs
- “Try Again”
- “(At Your Best) You Are Love”
- “Rock the Boat”
- “One in a Million”
- “Are You That Somebody?”
- “Enough Said”
- “I Can Be”
- “I Refuse”
- “Loose Rap“
