Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born on January 16th of 1979 in Brooklyn . Her name is Arabic, which means, "The Highest, Most, Exalted one". When she was five years old, Aaliyah and her family moved to Detroit . Her first acting role was at Elementary School, when she performed a small part in the play "Annie". A few years later, she had the chance to participate in TV talent show "Star Search", where she sang "My Funny Valentine", she didn't win however but Aaliyah performance was flawless. Two years after, thanks to her uncle Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah spent five nights in Las Vegas performing as part of Gladys Knight's show on stage with her as a guest appearance.
In 1992, Barry Hankerson who now was the head of Blackground Enterprise happened to be R&B superstar's R. Kelly's manager, soon R. Kelly, began writing and producing songs for Aaliyah. Her debut album "Age Ain't Nothing but a Number" was released in the summer of 1994, which then quickly became a platinum-selling hit on with two smash singles: "Back & Forth" and "At Your Best (You Are Love)". Then at the age of 15 Aaliyah's career had the kick start to stardom.
After a short tour and the ever-questioned controversy surrounding Aaliyah's relationship with R. Kelly. Aaliyah's next album "One In A Million", was a change for her musical direction and Aaliyah had become pillar in the pioneer of the Missy Elliott & Timbaland explosion in 1996. Aaliyah, Missy Elliott and Timbaland's futuristic sound had given Aaliyah's second album “One In A Million” critical acclaim. Hits like "One In A Million", "If Your Girl Only Knew" and "4 Page Letter" kept Aaliyah's success growing steadily.
One year after, Aaliyah's recorded "Journey To The Past" for the animated feature "Anastasia", that song took to Aaliyah to the Oscars with a nomination and a perfomance. Aaliyah had made history at the Academy Awards for being the youngest performer to have walked the stage.
In 1998, Aaliyah struck gold with by recording the track “Are You That Somebody” for the Eddie Murphy movie “Dr. Do Little”. Produced by Timbaland it went to number one in the Usa and without any promotion Number 11 in the UK . The video shot for Are You That Somebody was in the same cave used for all three Batman movies.
In 1999 - 2000, Aaliyah turned her focus onto acing, her first movie with Jet Li, was called "Romeo Must Die" an action drama. Aaliyah being the determined workaholic not only starred in the movie but was the executive producer for the soundtrack with three new music tracks recorded by Aaliyah herself. The theme for the Romeo Must Die Project was "Try Again" (producer by Timbaland) it received two MTV Awards and Grammy nominations. It also secured another number one spot for Aaliyah in USA in the top 5 in the UK .
Aaliyah's next movie role was complete different genre.
Another movie, "Queen Of The Damned", It gave Aaliyah the chance to play a Vampire role, something she always had a keen interest in. However at the same time as filming Queen Of The Damned Aaliyah had managed to also sign to participate in the next 2 "Matrix" sequels. Adding to a busy schedule Aaliyah knew her fans were hungry for a new album so she ended up recording nearly all the album in Australia which was where Queen Of The Damned had been shot.
On July 17th 2001, Aaliyah came back to the music with a new album and a change of record companies with Blackgroud working with Virgin Records now. “Aaliyah” was a mature coming of age from the b-girl who's “Back & Forth” days had matured into “We Need A Resolution” an extremely clever and seductive approach for Aaliyah to re-enter the music charts. Aaliyah, Timbaland, Static of Playa and tank, was some of the producers of the album. The album received a rare 5 stars from Rolling Stone magazine labelling “Aaliyah” the “All For You” that Janet Jackson should have released.
With the new album came heavy promotion Aaliyah had already shot the music video for More Than A Woman, which would be a European single, but a simultaneous single for US called “Rock The Boat”, The shooting of this video would be in the Bahamas with director Hype Williams. After a few sun-kissed days of shooting the video, Aaliyah's flight to return her back to the States would be fatal.
On August 25 th 2001 the pop music world mourned, the R&B star now would now be shining in the sky. With flooding tributes and messages posters and billboards became the home of dedications to Aaliyah. MTV also held a moving tribute to Aaliyah that year at the wards show.
To seal Aaliyah's legacy a hits compilation was released, "I Care 4 U" came out in late 2002 and also featured 5 unreleased tracks and "Miss U" a fitting tribute would lead the album to success.
A short but dazzling career that touched the hearts of millions of fans. Aaliyah, we miss you - RIP