R.I.P. Aaliyah: More Than A Woman!

I Miss You, Aaliyah!

With all the talk of the death of Neil Armstrong, I haven't forgotten about another legendary talent we've lost. 

Before I and most of the world was glued to the television on September 11, 2001, I remember the day that I've heard that R & B singer Aaliyah was killed in tragic plane accident in the Bahamas.

I remember buying Aaliyah's third album on the whim of her first single "We Need A Resolution". My sister begged me to buy that album because she was at work and didn't have the cash to get it at the time.

I was 20 at the time of the tragedy. I was going to community college and I was going to work and struggling to live on my own. One night I came back from the club and I decided to sleep over at my parent's house.

I come in at 3am and told my parents that I'll be sleeping in my old room tonight. As I entered the home, I went to turn on the television and watched MTV's The Lyricist Lounge Show, a show that once featured comedian Tracy Ellis Ross. Across the screen ticker was an announcement that Aaliyah was killed in a plane incident according to the Associated Press. I remember that Kurt Loder and Sway Calloway were talking about it on the MTV News updates. 

I told my sister about it the next day. She was attending a nearby university at the time. We were both saddened by the lost of this great talent.

It's been over 10 years since the tragedy and new album is in the works. Timbaland, Missy Elliot and rapper Drake are collaborating on an album based off some of her unreleased tracks.

Aaliyah's death came after finishing up the single "Rock The Boat". This video was directed by hip-hop video director Hype Williams. The plane that carried Aaliyah, the pilot her manager, some of her personal staff and two of her family members crashed upon takeoff. The pilot was inexperienced and was on cocaine at the time of flight. 

Gladys Knight is the godmother of the late singer and Damon Dash former CEO of Roc-A-Fella Records was to marry the singer after the filming of her last movie Queen of The Damned. They were devastated by this tragedy.

From Wikipedia, She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of 10, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside Gladys Knight. At age 12, Aaliyah signed with Jive Records and her uncle Barry Hankerson's Blackground Records. 

Drake announced that he will produce Aaliyah album.

Hankerson introduced her to R. Kelly, who became her mentor, as well as lead songwriter and producer of her debut album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number. The album sold three million copies in the United States and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). After facing allegations of an illegal marriage with R. Kelly, Aaliyah ended her contract with Jive and signed with Atlantic Records.

Aaliyah worked with record producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott for her second album, One in a Million; it sold 3.7 million copies in the United States and over eight million copies worldwide. In 2000, Aaliyah appeared in her first major film, Romeo Must Die. She contributed to the film's soundtrack, which spawned the single "Try Again". The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 solely on airplay, making Aaliyah the first artist in Billboard history to achieve this feat. "Try Again" earned Aaliyah a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female R&B Vocalist.

After completing Romeo Must Die, Aaliyah filmed her part in Queen of the Damned. She released her third and final album, Aaliyah, in July 2001. On August 25, 2001, Aaliyah and eight others were killed in an airplane crash in The Bahamas after filming the music video for the single "Rock the Boat". The pilot, Luis Morales III, was unlicensed at the time of the accident and had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system. 

Aaliyah's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. Since then, Aaliyah's music has continued to achieve commercial success with several posthumous releases. Aaliyah is estimated to have sold 24 to 32 million albums worldwide. She has been credited for helping redefine contemporary R&B and hip hop, earning her the nicknames "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop". She is listed by Billboard as the tenth most successful female R&B artist of the past 25 years, and 27th most successful R&B artist overall.