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Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 –
August 25, 2001), professionally known simply as
Aaliyah, was an African American R&B singer and
dancer. Notable for recording several hit records,
including three #1 R&B hits ("Back and Forth", "If
Your Girl Only Knew", and "Miss You") and one #1
pop hit ("Try Again"), Aaliyah also collaborated
with record producers and songwriters R. Kelly,
Missy Elliott, Timbaland, and Steve "Static"
Garrett|Static during her career, and also
modelled for Tommy Hilfiger and acted in two
motion pictures. In 2001, Aaliyah's career was cut
tragically short when she died in a plane crash at
the age of 22. 

==Life and career==
Aaliyah was born in Brooklyn, New York and grew up
in Detroit, Michigan. Aaliyah signed with 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 record|platinum status and
featured the successful singles "Back and Forth",
"Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" and "At Your Best
(You Are Love)," a cover of the 1976 Isley
Brothers single.

It was briefly rumored that in 1994, when she was
15, she was married to R&B singer/songwriter R.
Kelly, the producer of Age Ain't Nothing But A
Number. Vibe magazine|VIBE magazine in 1995
published a copy of their marriage certificate and
claimed Aaliyah had falsified her age as 18 so she
and Kelly could be married.  Both parties had the
marriage quickly annulled when the press found out
about the union. R. Kelly did not work on any of
Aaliyah's future recordings.

===One in a Million (1996)===
One in a Million (album)|One in a Million,
Aaliyah's second album, was chiefly written and
produced by then unknowns Missy Elliott|Missy
"Misdemeanor" Elliott and Tim "Timbaland" Mosley
and released in late 1996. The album eventually
went double platinum, making Aaliyah a major R&B
star and igniting the successful careers of
Elliott and Timbaland. One in a Million featured
the international smash hit "If Your Girl Only
Knew," the platinum single "One in a Million," and
the gold single "The One I Gave My Heart To," a
ballad written by Diane Warren. Other singles from
the album included "4 Page Letter" and "Hot like
Fire". She began to model for Tommy Hilfiger and
appeared in several commercials. During this
period, Aaliyah would also make guest appearances
on albums by artists such as Missy Elliott,
Timbaland & Magoo, Ginuwine and Playa
(band)|Playa, and Elliott, Timbaland and Playa's
frontman Steve "Static" Garrett would remain
Aaliyah's principal collaborators for the duration
of her career.

===Movie roles and soundtracks===
In 1997, Aaliyah appeared on the soundtrack album
for the 1997 Fox Animation Studios animated
feature Anastasia (1997 movie)|Anastasia, singing
the pop version of "Journey to the Past". The song
was nominated for an Academy Award, and Aaliyah
performed the song at the 1997 Academy Awards
ceremony, becoming the first and youngest
African-American female recording artist to
perform at the yearly ceremony.

Aaliyah had a huge hit in 1998 with "Are You that
Somebody," the main single from the Doctor
Dolittle (movie)|Doctor Doolittle soundtrack. Its
video was the third most played on MTV that year,
and the song's success began to make Aaliyah a
household name.

In 2000, she co-starred with Jet Li in the
martial-arts film Romeo Must Die. The film was
notable for its mainstream success when featuring
Asian and African American characters in the lead
roles with few white Americans in the cast.
Aaliyah contributed four songs to the film's
soundtrack album, including "Back in One Piece," a
duet with DMX_(rapper)|DMX (who has a minor role
in Romeo Must Die), and the international smash
"Try Again." "Try Again" was the first song ever
to reach number one on the Billboard
magazine|Billboard Hot 100 based solely on the
strength of its radio airplay, without any single
sales factored (a 12" maxi single was released for
consumer purchase, but only after the song had
peaked).

In 2002, she was showcased in her final role as
Akasha in the film adaptation of the Anne Rice
novel The Queen of the Damned.

===Aaliyah (2001)===
"We Need a Resolution," the first single from
Aaliyah's self-titled, double-platinum Aaliyah
(album)|third album, was released in spring of
2001. The album was a critical success, and the
video for "We Need a Resolution" received heavy
MTV2 play. Most of Aaliyah (album)|Aaliyah was
recorded in Australia, as the singer was filming
scenes for Queen of the Damned, released by Warner
Bros. in 2002.

In the summer of 2001, Aaliyah filmed the video
for Aaliyah's intended second single, "More than a
Woman". After the video was completed, however, it
was decided "Rock the Boat" should be the second
single instead, and the "More than a Woman" video
was temporarily shelved.

==="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 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 the
plane was overloaded by several hundred pounds,
and an autopsy revealed cocaine and alcohol in the
pilot's blood. Reports have also suggested the
pilot of the plane falsely obtained his licence
from Black Hawk Airways by showing hundreds of
hours never flown, which suggests 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. At the
time of her death, Aaliyah has been dating
Roc-a-Fella Records CEO Damon Dash, who grieved
publicly over her passing. Friends such as Missy
Elliott and Timbaland praised Aaliyah as an
inspirational and talented individual. "Rock the
Boat" went on to become a 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.

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 six
previously unreleased songs from the Blackground
vaults 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_(rapper)|DMX, among others, paying tribute to
Aaliyah.

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.  Other films in which Aaliyah
was signed to star in were Honey (movie)|Honey
(which instead was filmed with Jessica Alba as the
star), and a Whitney Houston-produced remake of
the 1976 film Sparkle (1976 film)|Sparkle. In
addition, Aaliyah and one of her agents had
pitched and inked a deal with Fox Searchlight
Pictures for her to star in a film based upon a
true story that was based about interracial love.

Aaliyah is interred in the Ferncliff
Cemetery|Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum in
Hartsdale, New York.

==Trivia==

*Aaliyah and former The Beatles|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==
===Albums===
====Studio albums====
*1994: Age Ain't Nothing But A Number (RIAA
certification: 2x platinum)
*1996: One in a Million (album)|One in a Million
(RIAA certification: 2x platinum)
*2001: Aaliyah (album)|Aaliyah (RIAA
certification: 2x platinum)
====Compilations====
*2000: Romeo Must Die Soundtrack (includes four of
her songs) (RIAA certification: platinum)
*2002: I Care 4 U (released posthumously, RIAA
certification: platinum)

===Singles===
*1994: "Back and Forth" (featuring R. Kelly) (US
#5, R&B #1)
*1994: "At Your Best (You are Love)" (US #6, R&B
#2)
*1994: "Age Ain't Nothing But A Number" (US #75,
R&B #35)
*1995: "Down With The Clique"
*1995: "The Thing I Like"
*1996: "I Need You Tonight" (with Junior MAFIA)
*1996: "If Your Girl Only Knew" (US #11, R&B #1)
*1996: "One in a Million"
*1996: "Got To Give It Up"
*1997: "4-Page Letter" Remix
*1997: "Hot Like Fire"
*1997: "The One I Gave My Heart To" (US #9, R&B
#8)
*1997: "Journey To The Past"
*1997: "Up Jumps the Boogie" (Timbaland & Magoo
(rapper)|Magoo featuring Missy Elliott|Missy
"Misdemeanor" Elliott, Aaliyah, and Playa
(band)|Playa).
*1998: "Are You That Somebody?" (US #21)
*1999 "I Don't Wanna" (US #35, R&B #42) *
*2000: "Try Again" (US #1, R&B #4)
*2000: "Come Back in One Piece" (featuring DMX
(rapper)|DMX)
*2001: "We Need a Resolution" (featuring
Timbaland) (US #59, R&B #15)
*2001: "Rock the Boat" (US #14, R&B #2) ^
*2002: "More Than a Woman" (US #25, R&B #7)^
*2002: "I Care 4 You" (US #16, R&B #3)*^
*2002: "Miss You" (a 2003 remix features Jay-Z)
(US #3, R&B #1)^

(*) denotes radio-only single, no music video.
(^) denotes single released postumously

==Filmography==

*Romeo Must Die (2000)
*The Queen of the Damned|Queen Of The Damned
(2002)

==External links==
*http://www.Aaliyah.com Official Aaliyah Website
*imdb name|id=0004691|name=Aaliyah
*http://www.lyricsquest.com/A/aaliyah/index.html
LyricsQuest.com: All 'Aaliyah' Lyrics
*http://dmoz.org/Arts/People/A/Aaliyah/ Open
Directory category for Aaliyah