Aaliyah

AALIYAH
 
 
Aaliyah  (born Aaliyah Dana Haughton; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, dancer, actress, and model.  R. Kelly initially became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing but a Number.  The album sold three million copies in the United States.  Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million; it sold 3 million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide.  In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first film, Romeo Must Die.  She contributed to the film’s soundtrack, which spawned the single “Try Again”.  The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this goal.  “Try Again” earned Aaliyah a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist.  After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her role in Queen of the Damned.  She is listed by Billboard as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years and 27th most successful R&B artist in history.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

By now, the parade of early deaths of beloved musicians is long indeed.  Not a few of these losses have occurred in small airplane crashes:  Glenn MillerJohn DenverJim ReevesOtis ReddingJim CroceRick NelsonStevie Ray VaughanAaliyah, and three bandmembers in Lynyrd Skynyrd:  Ronnie van ZantStevie Gaines, and Cassie Gaines There is even a parallel to “The Day the Music Died in country music, when Patsy ClineCowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins all died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963

 

(June 2013/1)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021