Aaliyah Biography

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born in Brooklyn and started voice lessons at a very young age. From an early age, Aaliah started to find satisfaction and peace through music. On star search, she was unable to win a youth vocal competition as a pre-teen the ‘Aliyah singer’. However, this could not hold her back from singing. At the age of 11, she performed at Las Vegas with Gladys Knight, a five-night stint.

In the year 1997, she graduated with a 4.1 GPA from Detroit Performing Arts High School. Aaliyah's death was very unfortunate and unpredictable. She was returning home from a music video shoot in 2001, and a plane crash killed Aaliah and her eight cabin crew members. A fatal plane crash took away her life at the height of her stardom.

Aaliyah’s Early life

Aaliyah was born in the mid-1980s on 16th January in New York. She was unsuccessful at completing a television program named star search. At the age of 11 years, her first failure could not abide her; she was determined. The same year she got the opportunity to perform with an R & B legend. Gladys Knight is her uncle’s former wife and manager with whom she performed at a five-night stand in Las Vegas.

She gave her educational success to her family, her mother. Her mother home-schooled her and helped her learn. She was also thankful to Dr. Sylvia Twyman, Dr. Denise Cotton from the education Center. She was grateful to Dr. David Snead, the superintendent of Detroit School, who helped her parents meet Doctor Cotton. She also had plans to join College.

Big Achievements at Young Age

Aaliyah’s age was 15 when she hurled onto the R&B charts herself with her debut album. It was in 1994, the album named “Age Ain't Nothing But a Number.” The album was produced by the famous singer R. kelly. Immediately it earned platinum status and sold millions of copies. The platinum status was earned due to two successful singles named "Back and Forth" and "At Your Best (You Are Love)." These singles reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and ranked second on R & B radio.

 She was worried at times, before every performance. Due to her young age and being inexperienced, she was curious if people would accept her songs. After getting the gold status, she got this answer. Teens got inspired by Aaliyah's songs and followed in her footsteps. Her dressing styles are still loved by her fans and co-artists. Aaliyah set the prototype for the young and teen female artists of the '90s was admitted by Teen Vogue.

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Aaliyah’s Dressing Styles

Aaliyah always preferred wearing baggy jeans and loose shirts that were double her size. She claimed that she would never wear a girly dress or carry a purse. Aaliyah developed such maturity at such a young age that fashion was followed by other teens as well. Aaliyah’s height was tall like her brother and father, so she usually borrowed clothes from them. She took center stage after winning the MTV award with her brother. There she wore her Roberto Cavalli dress with her brother.

Aaliyah was suspected of having glass eyes since she wore sunglasses in every picture. People thought she was hiding her eyes through fashion. When her second album was released in 1996, she changed her look and took off the glasses. Instead, she chose a hairstyle that will cover her left eye. This style was inspired by classic film star Veronica. Aaliyah kept this style as her fashion statement, besides all the rumors about her healthy eyes.

Extraordinary Commercial Success 

When Aaliyah recorded "Journey to the Past" in 1997, she also got a chance to record for Oscar Telecast. The theme song was nominated for an academy award and was featured in an animated series and motion picture Anastasia. Her next soundtrack in 1998 for doctor Dolittle starring Eddy Murphy went to rank one on R&B charts. "Are You That Somebody?” was a pop crossover hit. She earned her first Grammy award nomination through this work.

Aaliyah’s song was primarily known for its infectious baby crying effects that amplified its hit rate. Fatima choreographed the famous, classy flamenco dance moves. They went to a Flamenco specialist to learn the moves and discover new things. She performed it live on the Academic award show, the year of Titanic.

Her Film Career 

She debuted in the film industry through the hit action movie “Romeo Must Die” starring opposite Martial art star Jet li. It was a Romeo and Juliet Movie-inspired story set in modern days Los Angeles. In a movie's track, she was an executive producer and performed the hit single “Try Again.” Aaliyah’s song won her another Grammy award Nomination and two MTV music video awards for best film video and best female singer.

In 2001 her third album was released and ranked second on the Billboard album chart. Based on the best-selling novels of Anne Rice, she played the title role in “Queen of the Damned.” It was released in the theatre in 2002. She scored a major casting coup starring Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne when she signed to appear in two upcoming sequels to the blockbuster sci-fi thriller “The Matrix.”

She was excited about completing her collaboration with Timbaland. She always hoped to discover new producers, songs and work with famous artists. She explained her favorite part from the movie RMD where she and Jet Li performed a hot dance. She preferred MTV Awards to nominate awards for Best Hug and Dance scene.

End of her Stardome

 A small Cessna passenger plane was carrying the singer and her video crew on 25th august 2001. It crashed and burst into flames shortly after the plane departed from Abaco Island in the Bahamas to arrive at Miami, where they completed their last video. The pilot, seven crew members, and Aaliyah died on the spot, while the ninth crew died at the hospital. At the age of 22 years, she died with all her dreams and passion sinking. She would have become the best singer and most famous one till now, but her fortune did not make it.

She was a teen idol who transformed herself into a hip-hop soul artist, a singer who was critically acclaimed to be a beautiful actress in her life later. However, her life span was short, but she achieved fame and inspired the youth. Christopher John Farley beautifully wrote all about Aaliyah in his book “Aaliyah: More Than A Woman”. Aaliyah’s book left a profound impact on our youth generation.

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