Aaliyah

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City, New York to Michael and Diane Haughton.At age 5, Aaliyah and her family moved to Detroit, Michigan. At age 6 she appeared in the stage play Annie and in 1989, she appeared on the TV talent show Star Search at age 10, singing her mother's favorite song, "My Funny Valentine". Although she did not win, she continued to perfect her skills. Aaliyah traveled with Gladys Knight, and worked with an agent in New York and auditioned for TV shows, including Family Matters. Aaliyah attended the Detroit School of Arts and graduated in 1997 with a 4.0 GPA.

After signing with her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records label in 1993 at the age of 14, Haughton was putting the final touches on her debut album with rapper and producer R. Kelly, when she was 15. Kelly became Aaliyah's mentor and was a leading songwriter and producer on her debut album, which went platinum within months. Her debut album Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, a collection of hip hop soul-oriented jazz tunes, reached number 18 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and number 3 on the Top R&B Albums chart. In 1996, Aaliyah found a new hometeam which included rapper and producer Tim "Timbaland" Mosley and Missy Elliott. The upcoming producers contribute to Haughton's second album when she was 17 years old, One in a Million, which was released on August 27, 1996 internationally. "We Need a Resolution", the first single from Aaliyah's highly-anticipated junior studio album, was released in April 2001. The self-titled Aaliyah was released four months later on July 17, 2001. The album was a critical success.

Early in her career, she appeared as herself on a 1994 episode of the gritty cop drama New York Undercover. She appeared on the Nickelodeon original series All That performing "Age Ain't Nothing But a Number" in 1995. She then returned again in 1997 to perform her hit "One in a Million".

She also garnered much success from her songs being featured on movie soundtracks. In 1997, Aaliyah appeared on the soundtrack album for the Fox Animation Studios animated feature 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 1998 Academy Awards ceremony, becoming the youngest singer to perform at the ceremony.

In 2000, Aaliyah landed her first major movie role in Romeo Must Die, which was a smash debuting at number one at the box office. A loose adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Aaliyah starred opposite martial artist Jet Li, playing a couple who fall in love amid their warring families. In addition to acting, Aaliyah and Timbaland executive produced the film's soundtrack album and she contributed four songs: "Are You Feelin' Me?", "I Don't Wanna", "Come Back in One Piece," a duet with DMX which landed at #10 on "BET: Notarized" Top 100 videos of 2000, and the international number one hit "Try Again."

Looking ahead, Aaliyah had a supporting role in the two sequels to The Matrix as Zee, the wife of Harold Perrineau Jr.'s character, Link. The directors initially tried to find a way to incorporate her footage into the movies but decided against it due to lack of material available. The role was recast with Nona Gaye playing the role.

On August 25, 2001, at 6:45 pm (EST), just after finishing filming of the music video to "Rock the Boat", Aaliyah and various members of her record company boarded a twin engine Cessna 402B (N8097W) at Marsh Harbour, Abaco Island, Bahamas to travel to Opa-locka Airport near Miami, Florida. The crew had a flight scheduled the next day, but since the video wrapped early, Aaliyah and her entourage were eager to return to the US. Aaliyah's entourage was in a rush to get back to New York so they demanded that their heavy equipment from the shoot be on the plane rather than leave it behind which resulted in the aircraft being well beyond the standard weight and balance tolerance provided by Cessna.

The plane crashed shortly after takeoff about 200 feet (60 m) from the runway. Aaliyah, pilot Luis Morales III and the seven other passengers, including her hair stylist Eric Forman, Anthony Dodd, her security guard Scott Gallin, Douglas Kratz (a director of video production for Virgin Records), stylist Christopher Maldonado, Keith Wallace and Gina Smith (both employees of the Blackground label) died.

According to findings from an inquest conducted by the coroner's office in the Bahamas, Aaliyah suffered from "severe burns and a blow to the head", in addition to severe shock. The coroner theorized that, even if Aaliyah had survived the crash, her recovery would have been virtually impossible given the severity of her injuries.

Aaliyah's funeral was held on August 31, 2001 at Saint Ignatius Loyola Roman Catholic Church in Manhattan, New York City.