 
January 16, 1979 - August 25, 2001
BIGGEST SINGLE:"Try Again" (2000)
BIGGEST
LP: Aaliyah (2001)
GRAMMY AWARDS: 0
"Sensual is being in tune with your
sensual self."
- Aaliyah, 1997
Born January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn, New York, Aaliyah
(Haughton) now makes Detroit her home. Aaliyah began
her performing at the young age of 11 when she sang
on-stage with Gladys Knight's troupe in Las Vegas.
Nicknamed, "Liyah," Aaliyah just graduated
from the Detroit High School for the Fine and
Performing Arts (June, '97). With 2 hit LPs by the
time she was 18 years old, Aaliyah has already
established herself as an up-and-coming R&B
force. After a childhood of intermittent performances
including Star Search and TV pilots, Aaliyah's uncle,
Barry Hankerson (Gladys Knight's ex-husband) introduced
Aaliyah to a performer he was managing, R. Kelly. The meeting resulted in Kelly
producing (and writing most songs on) Aaliyah's debut
LP, Age
Ain't Nothing But A Number.
 # 15 Singles
Artist of the Year
 Entertainment
Weekly said of Aaliyah: "...imagine En Vogue packed into
one teenage body and backed by hip-hop svengali R. Kelly and you have Aaliyah..."
As Aaliyah's star began to rise, rumors surfaced
about a possible marriage between 15 year-old Aaliyah
and 25+ Kelly. The rumor was never confirmed or
denied.
The single "Back And Forth" was certified gold.
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "Back And Forth."
Aaliyah topped the Billboard R&B Singles chart
for 3 weeks and the R&B Singles Sales chart for 5
weeks with "Back And Forth."
 Age
Ain't Nothing But A Number was released and gave
Aaliyah 2 Top 5 pop hits: "Back And Forth" and "At Your Best (You Are Love)." R. Kelly wrote all the songs on the LP
(except "At Your Best (You Are Love)).
Aaliyah hit the Top 10 with "Back And Forth."
Aaliyah topped the Billboard R&B Airplay chart
for a week with "Back And Forth."
Age
Ain't Nothing But A Number was certified gold.
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "At Your Best (You Are Love)."
Age
Ain't Nothing But A Number was certified platinum.
Aaliyah hit the Top 10 with "At Your Best (You Are Love)."
The single "At Your Best" was certified
gold.
Aaliyah was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B New
Artist.
Aaliyah appeared on the soundtrack for Low
Down Dirty Shame with "The Thing I Like."
 # 86
Singles Artist of the Year
Aaliyah could be heard on the soundtrack for Sunset
Park with
"Are You Ready."
Aaliyah's alliance with Kelly was not present on her
2nd LP released - One
In A Million. The LP gave Aaliyah another Top 10 pop
hit with "If Your Girl Only Knew" as well as the hits
"One In A Million" and "4 Page Letter." Another track on the LP was a
remake of Marvin Gaye's "Got To Give It
Up." Aaliyah extended her reputation for sultry,
street-wise sounds and videos. The Source
proclaimed: "...Aaliyah is ready to showcase her
mature side..."
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "If Your Girl Only Knew."
Aaliyah topped the Billboard Hot R&B Singles
chart for 2 weeks and the Hot R&B Singles Sales
chart for a week with "If Your Girl Only Knew."
One
In A Million was certified gold.
Aaliyah hit the Top 10 with "If Your Girl Only Knew."
 # 20
Singles Artist of the Year
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "One In A Million."
"One In A Million" topped the Billboard
R&B Singles Airplay chart for 6 weeks.
One
In A Million was certified platinum.
One
In A Million was certified 2x platinum.
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "4 Page Letter."
A good start with getting into movies came with
Aaliyah's contribution to the Anastasia soundtrack with the track
"Journey To The Past."
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "The One I Gave My Heart To."
The single "The One I Gave My Heart To" was certified gold.
Aaliyah hit the Top 10 with "The One I Gave My Heart To."
Aaliyah could be heard on Timbaland & Magoo's LP Welcome
To Our World on the track "Man
Undercover."
 # 36
Singles Artist of the Year
Aaliyah could be heard on the Dr.
Doolittle
soundtrack with the Top 5 hit "Are You That Somebody?" (and seen in the film
with a cameo appearance).
As for her next LP, Aaliyah told MTV: "I haven't
really started anything just yet... I do have some
ideas... I'm gonna keep them a secret... but
definitely I will be working with my family
(including Missy
Elliott and Ginuwine)... but
as far as other ideas, I haven't really decided a lot
of things just yet."
Aaliyah was nominated for a Soul Train Award for Best
R&B/Soul Single, Female ("One In A Million").
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "Are You That Somebody?"
Aaliyah topped the Billboard R&B Singles Airplay
chart with "Are You That Somebody?" for 8 weeks.
Aaliyah hit the Top 10 with "Are You That Somebody?"
Aaliyah could be heard on Timbaland's LP Tim's
Bio: Life Fram Da Basement on the track "John
Blaze."
Aaliyah was nominated for an American Music Award for Favorite
Soul/R&B Female Artist.
Aaliyah was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance - Female ("Are You That Somebody?").
Aaliyah was nominated for a NAACP Image Award for
Outstanding Music Video (all for "Are You That Somebody?").
Aaliyah was nominated for 2 Soul Train Lady of Soul
Awards for Best R&B/Soul Song and Best
R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video ("Are You That Somebody?").
Aaliyah was nominated for 2 MTV Video Music Awards for Best
R&B Video
and Best Video from a Film ("Are You That Somebody?").
Aaliyah could be heard on the soundtrack for Music
Of The Heart with "Turn The Page."
Aaliyah showed up on the soundtrack for Next
Friday
with "I Don't Wanna."
 # 34
Singles Artist of the Year
New material by Aaliyah could be found on the
soundtrack for Romeo
Must Die
including a track with DMX, "Come Back In One
Piece" and the tracks "Try Again" and "Are You
Feelin' Me?" Aaliyah also starred in the film.
She also talked with MTV about the movie and her next
LP: "I had to stop the album to do the movie and
then stop it again to do the soundtrack."
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "Try Again."
The Romeo
Must Die
soundtrack was certified platinum.
Aaliyah hit the Top 10 with "Try Again" which also hit #1 on the
Billboard Hot 100 for a week (the first song without
a commercial single release to ever do so).
Aaliyah was nominated for 2 Soul Train Lady of Soul
Awards for Best R&B/Soul Single - Solo and Best
R&B/Soul or Rap Music Video ("Try Again").
Aaliyah took home 2 MTV Video Music Awards for Best Female Video and Best
Video from a Film ("Try Again") and the video was also
nominated for Best Choreography (Fatima Robinson). The video
was also nominated for 2 Billboard Music Video Awards
for Maximum Vision Video and Best R&B Clip of the
Year.
 # 110
Singles Artist of the Year
Aaliyah was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance - Female ("Try Again").
Aaliyah released Aaliyah. Aaliyah said of her
new LP to Billboard: "There is always a
bit of pressure to do a good album... to do good
work, period. I really put a lot of pressure on
myself, more so than other people. But I try not to
let that overwhelm me to the point where I can't even
do good work. I just put it aside and do the best
that I know I can."
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "We Need A Resolution."
Tragedy struck on August 25th, when Aaliyah and 8
others were killed when their plane crashed in the
Bahamas shortly after take off on route toward Miami.
Aaliyah had just finished shooting a new music video
for the single "Rock The Boat" and was returning to Florida.
Reports about the plane crash cause vary from engine
failure to the plane being overloaded with baggage.
Aaliyah had been set to start filming her role in the
sequel to The Matrix. Aaliyah did finish her
work with the film Queen
Of The Damned which was released in 2002. Aaliyah had
also planned to work on a remake of the film Sparkle
which was to be produced by Whitney
Houston.
Aaliyah was certified platinum.
Aaliyah was nominated for a Soul Train Lady of
Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the
Year ("Try Again").
Remembrances: Gladys Knight: "...Her star had just
begun to shine so brightly. Though she was ours for
only a short time, what a time it was. I love
Aaliyah, and I will miss her for the rest of my
life." "Quincy Jones: "She was like one of my
daughters, she was one of the sweetest girls in the
world." Timbaland: "She was like blood, and
I lost blood." DMX: "(she was a)...
down-to-earth sister with enough energy to put anyone
on a cloud." Puff Daddy: "She was one of those
individuals that would light up a room. She always
greeted you with a smile."
 Aaliyah, topped the Billboard 200
Albums chart for a week - selling over 300,000 copies
in the US during the week after her death.
"Rock The Boat" hit the Top 40.
Aaliyah was certified 2x platinum.
Aaliyah could be heard on Timbaland & Magoo's LP Indecent
Proposal
on the track "I Am Music."
Aaliyah's brother, Rashad, helped with the finished
product of Aaliyah's film Queen
Of The Damned by adding dialogue touch-ups.
Critics in Rolling
Stone
voted Aaliyah as Best R&B Artist of the Year.
 # 47
Singles Artist of the Year
Aaliyah was awarded 2 American Music Awards for Favorite
Soul/R&B Female Artist and Favorite Soul/R&B
Album.
Aaliyah topped the UK Singles chart for a
week with "More Than A Woman."
Aaliyah was nominated for 2 Grammy Awards for Best R&B Vocal Performance - Female ("Rock The Boat") and Best R&B Album (Aaliyah).
Aaliyah's film Queen
Of The Damned was released and was the #1 movie in
its opening week.
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "More Than A Woman."
Aaliyah won a Soul Train Award for Female
R&B/Soul Single ("Rock The Boat").
Aaliyah's parents filed a lawsuit against Virgin
Records and Blackhawk International Airways accusing
them of negligence and contributing to the death of
their daughter.
Reports serviced that cocaine and alcohol were found
in the system of the pilot flying that plane that
crashed with Aaliyah. The pilot had also been
sentenced to probation for 3 years for possession of
crack cocaine only 2 weeks before the flight.
Aaliyah's "Rock The Boat" won the Best R&B/Soul Single,
Solo award and R&B/Soul or Rap Song of the Year
at the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards.
Aaliyah's video for "Rock The Boat" was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best
R&B Video.
Aaliyah ranked # 36 on VH1: 100 Sexiest Artists.
Aaliyah hit the Top 40 with "I Care 4 U."
Age
Ain't Nothing But A Number was certified 2x platinum.
 I
Care 4 U
was released. The LP included 6 new tracks Aaliyah
had been working on before her death along with some
previously released hits.
I
Care 4 U
topped the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart
for 7 weeks.
 # 45
Singles Artist of the Year
"Miss You" hit the Top 40.
Aaliyah topped the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop
Singles & Tracks chart for 3 weeks and
R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay chart for 3 weeks with "Miss You."
I
Care 4 U
was certified platinum.
Aaliyah was nominated for a Grammy Award for BestBest R&B Vocal Performance - Female ("More Than A Woman").
"Miss You" hit the Top 10.
"Miss You" topped the Billboard Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart.
Aaliyah topped the Billboard R&B/Hip-Hop Singles
Sales chart for 2 weeks with "Miss You."
Aaliyah's video for "Miss You" was nominated for a MTV Video Music Award for Best
R&B Video.
Aaliyah won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B
Female Artist.
Aaliyah topped the Billboard Year-End Charts as the Top R&B/Hip-Hop
Artist - Female (singles & albums), Top
R&B/Hip-Hop Album Artist - Female, and Top Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks Artist - Female.
# 65 on the Top Pop Artists of the Past 25
Years
chart.
| Note: Song title and position links lead
you to the song's ARC Weekly Top 40 chart run and LP links
take you to Amazon.com for that LP (often
including track listings and sound samples). |
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