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Young R&B star Aaliyah
was poised to become a dual
threat in both the recording
and film industries when her
life was tragically cut short
in an airplane accident in August
2001. She was born Aaliyah Haughton
on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn
and moved to Detroit when she
was five. By the time she turned
nine, Aaliyah was performing
publicly, even turning in a
five-day stint at age 11 in
Las Vegas with Gladys Knight,
her uncle's ex-wife. Four years
later, under the tutelage of
R. Kelly, she recorded and released
her first album, Age Ain't Nothin'
but a Number. During this time,
rumors surfaced that the pair
married despite their significant
age difference (and Aaliyah's
status as a minor), but neither
party confirmed or denied them,
although the music magazine
Vibe printed what appeared to
be a marriage certificate showing
it to be true.
Aaliyah quickly ended the
marriage and moved on to work
with producers Missy Elliot
and Timbaland, who helped get
some of her work onto soundtracks
-- including her hit single
"Are You That Somebody?"
from the Dr. Doolittle soundtrack.
Her work on soundtracks -- including
Anastasia and Next Friday --
led to an interest in film.
She composed songs and made
her acting debut in 2000's Romeo
Must Die. The film was a financial
success, raking in 55.9 million
dollars in the U.S., despite
receiving lukewarm reviews.
As for Aaliyah, many reviewers
overlooked her performance to
comment on Jet Li's first American
leading role, but those who
didn't gave her more-than-passable
marks. This attention helped
her win parts in the Anne Rice
vampire tale The Queen of the
Damned -- which turned out to
be her second and final film
appearance (with the film still
in post-production at the time
of her death) -- and in The
Matrix: Reloaded (the first
sequel to the 1999 blockbuster
The Matrix), which was only
one month away from beginning
principal photography when her
fatal accident occurred.
Aaliyah and eight other people
were killed on August 25, 2001,
when their chartered plane crashed
shortly after takeoff. The group
was returning to the United
States from the Bahamas after
having shot a music video for
a song from her third album.
An investigation into the incident
revealed that the plane had
been severely overloaded with
luggage, thus causing what appears
to have been an entirely avoidable
and unmistakably tragic accident.
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