Aaliyah

At 22 years old, Aaliyah has this physical status:

Aaliyah Dana Haughton (January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, and model.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, and raised in Detroit, Michigan, she first gained notoriety at the age of ten when she appeared on the television show Star Search and appeared in concert with Gladys Knight.

Aaliyah signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records at the age of 12.

Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who later became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album Age Ain't Nothing But a Number.

The album was awarded double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States, and it was rated double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

Aaliyah resigned from Jive after being accused of an unlawful affair with Kelly. Aaliyah co-produced Timbaland and Missy Elliott's album One in a Million, which has sold 3 million copies in the United States and more than 8 million copies worldwide.

Aaliyah appeared in her first film, Romeo Must Die, in 2000.

She was instrumental in the film's soundtrack, which culminated in the single "Look Again".

The song debuted on Billboard Hot 100 solely based on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this target.

Aaliyah also received a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocalist on "Try Again."

Aaliyah filmed her appearance in Queen of the Damned and released her self-titled third and final studio album in 2001 after finishing Romeo Must Die. After filming the music video for the single "Rock the Boat" on August 25, 2001, Aaliyah and eight others were killed in a plane crash in the Bahamas.

Luis Morales III, the pilot, was unlicensed at the time of the accident and toxicology tests revealed that he had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his body.

Aaliyah's family brought a wrongful death case against Blackhawk International Airways, but it was dismissed out of court.

Aaliyah's music continued to flourish commercially with many posthumous launches, and the country has sold more than 30 million albums.

She has been praised for her efforts to reimagine modern R&B, pop, and hip hop, earning her the nicknames "Princes of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop."

Billboard has named her as the tenth most influential female R&B artist of the past 25 years and the 27th most influential in history.

Early life

Dana Haughton was born in Brooklyn, New York, on January 16, 1979, and was Diane and Michael "Miguel" Haughton, a factory worker (1951-2012). She was of African-American descent. Her name is the feminine form of the Arabic word "Ali" which means "the most respected, most honoured one, the best." The singer loved her name, calling it "beautiful" and claiming she was "very proud of it" and vowed to live up to her name every day. At an early age, Aaliyah's mother began enrolling in voice lessons. She began performing at weddings, church choir, and charity functions. When Aaliyah was five years old, her family and her older brother, Rashad, were relocated to Detroit, Michigan, where she and her older brother, Erica, were raised together. In first grade, she was cast in Annie's stage play Annie, which led to her to be an entertainer. Her father began working in Detroit, and Barry Hankerson, his brother-in-law, began to work in the warehouse industry, as one of his brother-in-law Barry Hankerson's growing ambitions. Her mother stayed home and raised Aaliyah and her brother.

Aaliyah's mother was a vocalist, and Barry Hankerson, her uncle, was a entertainment lawyer who had been married to Gladys Knight. Aaliyah came to New York as a child and worked with an agent, including Family Matters; she went on to audition for commercials and television shows, including Family Matters; she then went on to appear on Star Search at the age of ten. Aaliyah auditioned for the first time. Her mother made the decision to rename her surname. She auditioned for several record labels and appeared in concert with Knight at age 11. During her youth, she had many pet animals, including ducks, snakes, and iguanas. Jomo's cousin had a pet alligator, but Aaliyah was worried it was too much, "that was something I wasn't going to do."

Aaliyah attended Detroit schools and was well-liked, but she was mocked for her short stature when she was growing up. She recalled being on her own prior to age 15 and how she adored her height. Her mother would tell her she was happy that she was young and praise her. Some children reacted negatively to Aaliyah, but she did not remain focused on them. "You always have to deal with people who are jealous, but there were so few that it didn't even matter." The overwhelming majority of children loved me, which was wonderful. I just let it in one ear and out the other when it comes to dealing with negative people. Those people were "invisible to me." She regarded herself small even as a teenager. "I learned to accept and love" herself, but "the most important thing is to think highly of yourself because no one else will."

Aaliyah sang "Ave Maria" in its entirety in Italian language during her audition for admission to the Detroit High School for the Performing Arts. Aaliyah, who graduated from high school with a flawless 4.0 grade-point average, believed that education was important. Despite the pressures and time constraints placed on her during the early stages of her career, she felt motivated to keep her grades up. She referred to herself as a perfectionist and said she recalled being a good student. "I always wanted to keep it," Aaliyah reflected, even when I first started to travel in high school. I wanted to keep the 4.0. I don't want my children to worry about learning about school, but rather sing and forget about school.' I think it's vital to have an education, and even more so to have something to fall back on." She did this in her own life as she planned to "fall back" another segment of the entertainment industry. She felt she could teach music history or open her own school to teach that or drama if she didn't work as a recording artist because, as she explained, "when you choose a career it must be something you love."

Personal life

The family of Aaliyah played a major role in her path in her career. Michael Haughton, Aaliyah's father, served as her personal manager from 1995 to 1995. Her mother supported her in her work, while brother Rashad Haughton and cousin Jomo Hankerson worked with her regularly. Her father's illness ended his co-management of Aaliyah with her mother Diane Haughton, which prompted her to follow all of Rashad's instructions.

Aaliyah was known to have been accompanied by family members, and Rashad Haughton's "Rock the Boat" filming was the first and only time her family was not present. Rashad wrote: "It really boggles anybody [that] from Day One, every single video she ever shot there has never been myself or my mother or my father, who was there." My mother had eye surgery and couldn't fly, so the circumstances surrounding this last video were really strange. She was especially worried because she had never been to a foreign country. At that time, my dad had to look after my mother. I went to Australia to visit some of my friends. We couldn't understand why we weren't there. We may have avoided it, if you ask me. However, you can't really answer the question. The question of why" will always be asked. Kidada Jones, an Aaliyah woman, said that her parents had given her more freedom in the last year of her life, and that she had dreamed of having a family.

Gladys Knight, who had been married to Aaliyah's uncle Barry Hankerson, was instrumental in Aaliyah's career, as she gave her many of her previous appearances. One of their last conversations revealed that Aaliyah was having trouble with "another young artist" who she was trying to work with. Knight argued that the argument was "petty" and that she should keep being who she was in spite of the conflict.

Age Ain't Nothing but a Number was published, and rumors of a possible relationship between Aaliyah and R. Kelly, including the suggestion that they had secretly married without her parents' knowledge. A marriage certificate was revealed later in the journal Vibe in Rosemont, Illinois, stating the couple's wedding date. On the certificate, Aaliyah, who was 15 at the time, was listed as 18; R. Kelly was 27. The marriage was annulled by her parents in February 1995, but the pair denied the charges, saying neither was married and that the certificate was a forgery.

During her debut album, Aaliyah is said to have had an intimate friendship with Kelly. As she became ill and went back to work, Aaliyah said to Vibe magazine in 1994 that she and Kelly would "go watch a movie" and "go eat." "Because close," she referred to her and Kelly's friendship as "rather close." Aaliyah told the Chicago Sun-Times that when she was asked about being married to Kelly, she told them not to believe "all the nonsense" and that "people took it the wrong way."

"R. Kelly told me that he and Aaliyah got together, and it was just magic," Jamie Foster Brown wrote in the 1994 issue of Sister 2 Sisterhood. Brown has also spoken out about a sexual relationship between them. "I've been hearing about Robert and Aaliyah for a while -- that she was pregnant." Or that she was coming and going inside and out of his house. With her basketball cap and sunglasses on, she'll be seen walking her dog, 12 Play, 12 Play. Every time I asked the brand, they said it was platonic. However, I kept getting concerns about her being in the studio with all those guys." "You have all the hormones and no brain attached to them at 15," Brown continued later.

Kelly's former tour guide, Demetrius Smith Sr., revealed that Kelly married Aaliyah after she told him she was pregnant in his 2011 book The Man Behind the Man. Smith portrayed how he helped Aaliyah forge the necessary documents to demonstrate she was 18 in order to marry Kelly in the 2019 documentary Surviving R. Kelly. Smith also said that he is "not proud" of his contribution to their marriage. In addition, Jovante Cunningham, a former backup dancer, reportedly witnessed Kelly having sex with Aaliyah on his tour bus, according to the film.

Aaliyah confessed to lying about her age in legal documents. She filed a lawsuit in Cook County in May 1997, requesting that all records of the marriage be deleted because she was not old enough under state law to marry without her parents' permission. After the marriage was annulled and no longer had contact with Kelly, it was reported that she severed all professional and personal ties with him. In a 2014 interview, Aaliyah's cousin Jomo Hankerson said she "got chastized" because of Kelly's marriage, and that the drama surrounding the break made finding producers for her second album difficult. "We were coming off a multi-platinum debut album, but it was difficult for us to find producers on the record," Jermaine Dupri and Puffy. Hankerson also expressed confusion over why "they were so upset" with Aaliyah given her age at the time.

Following the career break, Aaliyah was known to avoid answering questions about Kelly. During an interview with Christopher John Farley, she was asked if she was still in contact with him and if she'd ever work with him again. Aaliyah's response to both of the questions, according to Farley, was a "firm, frosty 'no'." According to a Vibe magazine, Aaliyah changed the topic anytime "you bring up the marriage with her." In 2000, a spokeswoman for Aaliyah said that "R. Kelly" doesn't even know his name, and that no one's allowed to ask about it at all." Aaliyah had the opportunity to address the pair's marriage after they separated professionally but did not want to, according to Kelly. Aaliyah did not even discuss her personal life with Kelly in private, according to Hip Hop Motivation in 2019, but she would only say that Kelly was a "bad guy." Dash said he was unable to attend Surviving R. Kelly because it was made of how Aaliyah behaved when attempting to recount her history with Kelly. In 2020, Dash appeared in Surviving R. Kelly, Part 2 of Surviving R. Kelly.

In the years leading up to her death, Kelly would have other charges regarding underage girls, and his marriage to Aaliyah was used as an example of his involvement with them. He has refused to comment on his relationship with her, blaming her death. "I will not comment on Aaliyah out of respect for her, her mother, and her father." That was a whole other time, a whole other thing, and I'm sure that people were aware of it." Kelly said in 2016 that he was as in love with Aaliyah as he was with "anybody else." Diane Haughton, Aaliyah's mother, expressed concern about everything "that went wrong" in her life beginning with her friendship with Kelly.

After the documentary Surviving R. Kelly aired in January 2019, the public's use of the Mute R. Kelly hashtag increased, and RCA Records dropped Kelly from the site. Kelly was charged on ten counts of aggravated criminal assault in February 2019. He was arrested on federal charges charging with child exploitation, child pornography, racketeering, and obstruction of justice in July 2019. Kelly was facing 22 federal criminal charges involving allegedly assaulting 11 girls and women between 1994 and 2018. In the court lawsuit, Aaliyah's illicit marriage to Kelly was prominent. A federal court jury found R. Kelly guilty of nine counts including racketeering, sexual abuse of a child, kidnapping, bribery, and a breach of the Mann Act. Kelly was ordered to remain in detention pending sentencing, which was scheduled for May 4, 2022. Kelly was sentenced to thirty years in prison on June 29, 2022.

At the time of her death, Aaliyah was tracing Damon Dash, the co-founder of Roc-A-Fella Records. Though they were not officially engaged, Dash said the couple had intended to marry in interviews given following Aaliyah's death. Aaliyah was introduced by his accountant to Dash in 2000 and the two friends formed a friendship. Aaliyah has never explicitly stated that their relationship was anything but platonic. Aaliyah and Dash were separated for long stretches of time due to their hurried work schedules. In the remix of her song "Miss You," Jay-Z talked about Aaliyah and Dash. "I was reflecting [that] there hasn't been one day since she's passed away, not one in the 20 years, that I haven't heard her name, heard her name, or seen a snapshot of her] Every single day, she's present in my life, and I'm grateful for it."

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Career

Hankerson signed Aaliyah to his Blackground Records label at the age of 12. Hankerson introduced her to recording artist and producer R. Kelly, who became Aaliyah's mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, which was released when she was 14 years old. Age Ain't Nothing But a Number was Aaliyah's debut album on May 24, 1994, Jive and Blackground Records' "Aaliyah" debuted on her mononym "Aaliyah" on the Billboard 200 chart, selling 38,000 copies in the first week. The RIAA designated it as Platinum twice by the RIAA and peaked at number 18 on the Billboard 200. In the United States, the album has sold over 3 million copies to date. Music Canada awarded the album gold in Canada for 50,000 copies. According to Vibe magazine, the album had sold six million copies around the world in 2014.

Age Ain't Nothing But a Number's received generally positive feedback from music critics on its first release. Some writers noted that Aaliyah's "silky vocals" and "sultry voice" combined with Kelly's latest jack swing helped define R&B in the 1990s. Her music was also compared to that of female quartet En Vogue. The album's Christopher Farley of Time magazine called it a "beautifully restrained work," noting that Aaliyah's "girlish, breathy vocals rode calmly on R. Kelly's rough beats." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic said the album had its "share of filler," but that the singles were "sly seductive." On the album, he also said that the songs on the album were "usually better" than that of Kelly's second studio album, 12 Play. Billboard chastised "At Your Best (You Are Love)" for being out of place on the album and length.

"Back & Forth," Aaliyah's debut single, debuted at number 5 on the Hot 100 and topped the Hot R&B/Hip Songs chart for three weeks. Two more singles charted: "At Your Best (You Are Love)" by the Isley Brothers topped the Billboard Hot 100 at number six, while the album's title track, "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number," reached No. 71 on the Billboard Hot 100. In addition, she released "The Thing I Love" as part of the 1994 film A Low Down Dirty Shame's soundtrack.

Aaliyah left Jive Records in 1996 and signed with Atlantic Records. Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who made her second studio album, One in a Million, worked with her. Timbaland and herself were both excited to work with Aaliyah since Aaliyah had already released her debut album, although Missy Elliott and Timbaland were still insecure. Missy Elliott feared she'd be a diva, but Aaliyah "came in and was so warm; she made us feel like family right away." The album featured lead single single "If Your Girl Only Knew," which debuted at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Songs chart for two weeks. The singles "Hot Like Fire" and "4 Page Letter" were also released. One in a Million reached number 18 on the Billboard 200, and the RIAA designated it as double platinum on June 16, 1997, denoting two million copies. The album has since sold 3 million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide. Aaliyah appeared on Timbaland & Magoo's debut single, "Up Jumps da Boogie," the following year.

Aaliyah graduated with a 4.0 GPA from the Detroit High School for the Performing Arts, where she concentrated on drama. Aaliyah began her acting career in the same year; she appeared in the police drama television series New York Undercover. Aaliyah performed in the Children's Benefit Concert, a charity concert at the Beacon Theatre in New York, during this period. Aaliyah also became the Tommy Hilfiger Corporation's spokesperson. During Tommy Hilfiger's tenure, the company sold over 2,400 pairs of the red, white, and blue baggy jeans she wore in their advertisements. "What Child Is This?" she performed in December 1997. The annual Christmas in Washington, D.C. special. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty earned a nomination for Best Original Song on the Academy's soundtrack album Anastasia's animated film Anastasia. At the 1998 Academy Awards ceremony, Aaliyah performed the song and became the youngest singer to perform at the ceremony. In addition, she released the song "Are You That Somebody?" in 1998. The Dr. Dolittle soundtrack was included on the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack. The song debuted at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it earned Aaliyah her first Grammy Award nomination.

Aaliyah's debut in Romeo Must Die was in 1999. Jet Li, a martial artist, starred in a couple who fall in love among their warring families. The film, which was released on March 24, 2000, grossed US$18.6 million in its first weekend, ranked second at the box office. Aaliyah deliberately avoided reading the film in order to "make it simpler on" herself, but she learned that people were able to get inside me, which is what she wanted." Some commentators, on the other hand, felt that there was no chemistry between her and Jet Li, as well as the film being too simplistic. Elvis Mitchell of The New York Times said that although Aaliyah was "a natural" and that the film was designed as a spotlight for both her and Li, "they have so little chemistry together that they might want to put out a fire rather than blowing off sparks."

Aaliyah performed as an executive producer of the film's soundtrack, for which she contributed four songs. The song "Try Again" was released as a single from the soundtrack, making Aaliyah the first artist to chart solely on airplay; the album was released in a 12-inch vinyl and 7-inch single. At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, the music video received the Best Female Video and Best Video from a Film Awards. In addition, she was given a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist. In the United States, the soundtrack has gone on to sell 1.5 million copies.

Aaliyah began to work on her second film, Queen of the Damned, after completing Romeo Must Die. Queen Akasha, the ancient vampire who was described as a "manipulative, wild being," she played. Both Romeo Must Die and Queen of the Damned have been postponed, so the album's debut was postponed. Aaliyah had no intention of presenting her albums with such a void. "I wanted to take a break after One in a Million to just relax, but think about how I wanted to get to the next album." Then, as I was set to resume, "Romeo" happened, and I had to take another break to film the film and then do the soundtrack, then promote it. The break turned into a longer break than I had expected. Aaliyah loved balancing her singing and acting careers. Though she described music as a "first" for her, she also had been acting since she was young and wanted to start "at some point in her career," but "wanted it to be the right time and the right way" and decided Romeo Must Die "was it." According to Connie Johnson of the Los Angeles Times, Aaliyah's inability to concentrate on her film career may have prompted her not to give the album "the attention it deserved."

Aaliyah's publicist said that the album's launch date was most likely in October 2000 during the recording sessions. She stopped recording the album in March 2001, after a year of recording sessions that began in March of the previous year. Aaliyah came five years after One in a Million was released on July 17, 2001, and the brand debuted on July 17, 2001, selling 187,000 copies in its first week. "We Need a Resolution," the album's first single, debuted at number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. The week after Aaliyah's death, her third and self-titled studio album, climbed from number 19 to number one on the Billboard 200. "Rock the Boat" was released as a posthumous single. The music video premiered on BET's Access Granted, and it became the most viewed and highest rated episode in the show's history. On the Billboard Hot 100, the song ranked at number 14. Aaliyah's promotional posters were put up in major cities such as New York and Los Angeles, and the homeless citizens were made into makeshift memorials. The album was awarded double platinum by the Royal Institute of British Architects in February 2002.

"More than a Woman" and "I Care 4 U" were among the top-five singles and peaked inside the Billboard Hot 100's top 25. Aaliyah became the first female deceased artist to reach number one on the UK singles chart, with "More than a Woman" debuting at number one on the UK singles chart. "More than a Woman" was replaced by George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord," the only time in the UK singles chart that a deceased artist has replaced another deceased artist at number one.

Aaliyah has been cast in numerous future films, including a romantic film called Some Kind of Blue and a Whitney Houston-produced version of the 1976 film Sparkle. Aaliyah was "too enthusiastic" about the film, according to Houston; the initiative was shelved after she died. Aaliyah filmed some scenes for The Matrix sequels before her death as the character Zee. In the tribute segment of the Matrix Ultimate Collection series, a portion of her appearance in The Matrix Reloaded was shot; these unused scenes were included in the tribute section of the Matrix Ultimate Collection collection series.

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